ETMRC  RAILNEWS

September 2011 www.coslar.us/etmrc

Switching – Engineer Paul prepared to move his locomotive to pick up a boxcar at the McCamey-Westwood plant after switchman Bob E sets the crossovers.

TUESDAY EVENING MEETINGS

If Tuesday evenings are a better fit into your schedule than the morning meetings, consider 7:00 pm each Tuesday evening until about 9:00 pm.

Greenville Hobby Depot New Location

Gerry Satterwite’s little store in Greenville is now in Uptown Forum, home of the Calico Cat on Lee Street. Gerry is in business and is slowly trying to build his inventory.

CLUB ACTIVITY

Bob T reached track occupancy system installation completion – installation, test, troubleshooting – it’s all done. Of course, glitches can occur at any time so . . . To receive the maximum benefit of the occupancy system, most cars will need installation of microresistors to pass the occupancy signals. This is especially important with cabooses to mark the end of a train. If a caboose is lighted, resistor installation is unnecessary, but all others will need them. Installation on regular freight cars is desirable as it will provide redundance for accurate recognition, but this is a secondary priority. Bob contributed all the circuit components he used to develop the Block Occupancy system.

Member emeritus Ron L donated a large number of water-based acrylic paints to the club across a very wide range of colors. Most of the colors do not duplicate any of the paints already on hand, so it you need something special, look there first. Ron’s paints are in three small cardboard boxes at the resource rack in the working room.

Bob E and Tom B organized an informal operational session following the August meeting just to see what would happen. Some of the major findings were:

• The track MUST be clean
• Most of the turnouts in the Chyrokes main yard were stuck
• One really must watch the turnouts to make sure they are properly aligned. That you have thrown the electrical switch to change the direction means nothing
• All rolling stock needs to be in good condition – endlessly rerailing cars or locomotives gets old fast
• Expect many run arounds to get what you want where you want it
• Remember that if your train is going out and back, everything need not be set out on the outbound trip. Many moves will be a lot easier on the return trip.

September BUSINESS MEETING

The next scheduled business meeting is 9:00 am, Saturday, September 9, 2011. Due to weather and activity conflicts, the August meeting was delayed a week, and since a quorum of members was not available, the meeting was delayed at the last minute. Our usual schedule is the first Saturday of each month. For those who care to have Saturday breakfast, club members meet and eat at 8:00 am at the Mi Casita restaurant, diagonally across from Braum’s in the Commerce mall. Notice this change. It’s not new, as the members have been meeting there for a couple of months. The newsletter is following the old motto: “last to know, first to go.”

August 13 BUSINESS MEETING SUMMARY

MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: 9:30 am

PRESENT: Paul F, LeRoy H, Ron M, Bob T, Ray Y, and Tom B

PROXIES: None

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: Approved By Acclamation. (NOTE: I try to have the RAILNEWS available at least a week before the regularly scheduled meeting. For those of you living in the 21st century with email, you should get it automatically. Those who don’t (knuckle draggers?), I leave hard copies on the extreme north end of the bookcase in the main layout room. Please look for them – it will save time if you read at least the meeting discussion part before the next meeting) – or not if you choose.

TREASURER'S REPORT: Submitted by Treasurer Ron M
This section is redacted. Ron reported that he is now receiving regular bank statements, so the transition is closer to complete.

COUNCIL MEETING REPORT: Submitted by Council Rep Paul F
The July council meeting was Tuesday, August 16. Paul F and Bob T attended.

Treasurer: There is $deleted deposited and $deleted not yet deposited, for $deleted total.

Tables sold: Ft Worth 114; Plano 162. Both are lower than the same time last year.

Show flyers: Mailed fliers are done. Members to take remainder to hobby shops.

Advertising: Advertising in area magazines has been placed. The practicality of radio spots and the cost is being studied. Members are working with Ft Worth Metro Transit for bus advertising. Use of door hangar ads in metro residential areas was considered but rejected because of cost. Inclusion of show details in Val Packs with commercial advertisements mailed to at least half of metro families with children is under study.

Preliminary Work Assignments: Requirements are 17.5 hours per share. Since ETMRC has only one share, requirements are much less than last year. Assignments at Ft Worth are about the same as last year; Plano is much less.

Floor Plans: Ft Worth plan should be complete for approval before next meeting. Plano planning is in beginning stages. Other business:

• Irving Convention Center still being studied. Earliest available open date is February 2013.
• Youth Organization just beginning in area, wants to participate in Ft Worth show. Member ages range from 8 to 18 years.

Next council meeting is September 20.

OLD BUSINESS: Paul has called the city twice re: repair of the roof. No one has returned his calls, and he has been too busy at work to stop by. There was no sign of leakage from the last heavy rain.

NEW BUSINESS: Bob T reported that the dead spot at Dexter has been repaired by adding two drops.

The club has received assorted railroad kits, parts, electronics and more from Sam W's estate. We need to go through the various boxes to determine what we have and what we can use, then store it somewhere. Right now all of it is in a couple of boxes on the floor in the back room.

Bob T proposed a variation of the point-to-point approach which seemed to be accepted by the members present. The most important points are that we should consider the available trackage as belonging to two railroads and handled as though that is the case, which will require more operators if we plan a through freight on each, plus two locals, one from each end of each railroad. (this is more of a long term goal than something to start with.) Passenger trains, if any, would be relegated to third class status and be obliged to wait at the nearest depot until the switching is done. This is a very contemporary concept. He also emphasized that we need car cards and waybills prepared and suggested that we devote a couple of hours to do so. He also emphasized that we need to ensure that the cars on the layout have been tested for weight, rolling capability, and proper coupler function, and that this process be a part of car card preparation, so that any car with a card has also been recently tested to ensure proper ooperation. Leroy Hickey commented that he needed practice before working in a full-scale operation session, and most of the members present thought they would need some too.

The focus of the club layout period was pegged at the late 1950s for the transition era when steam was fading and diesels becoming dominant some years ago, but since much more contemporary equipment is popular, the members present decided to let the period issue apply only to the scenery. Even then, most felt that it was not that important, that members could run pretty much anything anytime, and the scenery be the same – whatever. While this is a less rigorous approach, it sort of duplicates the real world.

PEOPLE:

Know anyone interested in model railroads? Invite them over. We really need new members and who knows? Maybe one will be interested enough to join. Remember Tuesday evenings is a new club session – that may make things easier for potential new members than the morning only sessions we have had in the past.

WHAT THE %*##% --?

A section to list strange happenings that really should be tracked down and fixed:
Anyone? Anything?

The other evening, a couple of trains became uncontrollable. They wouldn’t slow, stop or do anything but blunder madly forward. Order was restored by physically picking up the offending loomotive. Some have suggested it is the result of changing speed too suddenly. Does anyone know for sure?

While not necessarily an unknown problem, the informal operations session uncovered some urgent needs:

• The turnouts leading to all sidings to be used in operations need to be exercised to make sure they are functional. Many were stuck. You CANNOT assume that a track is properly aligned because you threw the electrical switch.
• Track must be clean – a stash of Bright Boy track cleaning pads should be established and maintained so that each crew has one to take care of dirty spots.
• Make sure your cars and locomotives are properly weighted and the couplers work. Fun in operation is directly related to trouble-free operation.
• If you have any questions on what’s where, or how things work, find the answers before you begin. Makes things a lot more fun for everyone.

INFORMATION:

The following web sites are excellent sources of supplies (1) and technical data (2). Two of our members also have personal web sites (3) and (4). Ed McCamey’s site (3) hosts the club website. Site (5) has some interesting photos of Commerce area railroading over the years.

1. Cyberspace World Railroad for supplies
2. http://www.geocities.com/budb3/index.html for technical data
3. http://www.coslar.us for Ed M's personal web site
4. http://geusnet.com/~rteeter/ for Bob T's personal web site
5. www.tamu-commerce.edu/library/collections/digital for Commerce Texas photos

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

The fall meeting schedule is already full. The Commerce Bois d’Arc Bash will be sometime in late September, and we need prioritize what needs to be done so that all things are pretty well de-bugged before the event.

August 20 — LSR 3 – Northeast Texas Division – Nicholson Library, 4845 Broadway Blvd, Garland.

September 17–18 — Temple show

September 23–24 — Cotton Belt Symposium, Commerce

October 8–9 — Lockheed Martin show

November 12–13 — Ft Worth show

January 15–16 — Plano show

REGIONAL RAILROAD PROTOTYPE NEWS

This is just a sampling of that’s going on in our area, which is defined to be whatever I think interesting, so the area can be fairly large. Or not.

More on the Denton A-Train — The first set of the new Swiss-built Diesel Multiple-unit (DMU) trainsets arrived in Denton the week of August 13. According to a bit in the Dallas Morning News, there is some assembly required before it can be tested. In all, 11 sets were ordered; the final set will not be delivered until June 2012. Test runs of the first DMU is expected to begin sometime in September. Until then, the leased RDCs will continue to provide baseline service until September 2012 when the RDCs will be returned to the Trinity Railway Express owners, according to the Denton Area Transit Authority website.

New A-Trains – The first of these modern articulated diesel trainsets arrived recently at the Denton County Transit Authority facility. The leased TRE RDCs now in service will continue until late next year.

The DART Blue Line Extension, just under 4 miles from the Garland station to the new end in Rowlett is currently on schedule for the planned opening in December 2011. As with the rest of the east end of the Blue line, the extension is on the former MKT right–of-way with bridges over most of the roads crossed. Most of the ROW has been prepared and most bridges are nearing completion, so track and wire installation is likely to begin in the near future. While the new extension uses the MKT grade, the original track remains at ground level, in service for freight traffic by the Dallas, Garland, and Northeastern (DGNO).