ETMRC  RAILNEWS

June 2013 www.coslar.us/etmrc

Anybody see the air conditioner? – Actually, the supporting structure for the air conditioner was installed in the window frame, shortly before this photo was taken of the work crew replacing the particle board covering the window. Work crew members (left to right): Bob E; LeRoy H (on ground); Ron M (on ladder); Bob T (Holding the sheeting).

MEETINGS

The official weekly club meeting time is 9:00 to noon on Saturdays. Club members are usually present for work sessions Wednesday and Friday mornings at the same time as the Saturday schedule. If evenings are a better fit into your schedule than the mornings, consider 7:00 pm each Tuesday evening until about 9:00 pm. For those who care to have Saturday breakfast, club members meet at 8:00 am at McKay’s Restaurant, on Park Street, near the railroad crossing, Commerce.

CLUB ACTIVITY

New Member – we welcome George M as a new member. George has visited the club a few times, and finally signed on the dotted line in early May. His prototype road of preference is the Santa Fe, so he has lots of company. He works in HO, and is learning how to install DCC decoders under the tutelage of Bob T and Ron M. Maybe we’ll have three master installers. Welcome aboard, George!

The air conditioner installation is underway. The supporting structure has been built and installed by Paul F and Rob D, with most of the rest of the membership supervising from the sidelines. So far, so good. The worker bees hope to have the deed done before the June meeting. This appears possible, but similar forecasts on other projects have been, well, more optimistic than accurate. And the air conditioner unit is big and heavy. We shall see, and hope that this prediction is on the money. In the meantime, members not directly involved with the a/c have begun to sort through the mountain of old magazines, so one can find something if they are looking.

Our resident Michaelangelo, er, Bob E, has mostly completed the new sky everywhere, including the entire west wall and south partition. The lighter colors have noticeably brightened up the entire layout, especially in the southwest corner. Still to be done is to blend the background landscape with the new work along the west wall. The landscape styles and colors between the two areas are not very compatible. A big challenge will be to do the painting behind the trolley track and wire. The clearance between the wall and the trolley line poles is mostly nonexistent and access is complicated by the proximity of the overhead wire. Michaelangelo has been threatened with serious bodily harm if he paints the trolley wire. And, of course, the issue of clouds is yet to be resolved. Right now there is a cute corner cottony cumulus cloud cluster that is not matched anywhere else.

The southeast corner of the farm (or ranch – it is really much more of a ranch and a farm — sprouted an new dose of grass during the month in two colors of green. More is expected sometime in the future. Meanwhile, LeRoy H is mostly happy with new locations for the village buildings, but now is looking for some additional buildings to complete the scene. Stay tuned for further developments.

Price yard is often filled to capacity, with every inch of track occupied. The down side to this welter of rolling stock is that the yard is totally plugged: all the functional yard tracks are full to capacity, as are all the entry and departure tracks, even extending to the staging yard access. But this really isn’t much of a problem — almost no one running trains ever uses the yard anyway. But it will be interesting when members bring more rolling stock to store on the layout. Perhaps it will result in a push to finish the engine servicing tracks and turntable so more stuff can be accommodated.

JUNE BUSINESS MEETING

The next scheduled business meeting is 9:00 am, Saturday, June 1, 2013. Our business meeting is usually on the first Saturday of each month, unless it isn’t. Since the peak of the show season is past, it mostly will be.

MAY BUSINESS MEETING SUMMARY

Submitted with difficulty by Secretary Bob Erwin

Minutes May 4, 2013

MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: 9:37 am

PRESENT: LeRoy H, Rob D, Paul F, Ron M, Bob E

PROXIES: 2

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: Approved as published.

TREASURER'S REPORT: Submitted by Treasurer Ron M
This section is redacted

COUNCIL MEETING REPORT: Submitted by Council Rep Paul F
North Texas Council of Railroad Clubs regular monthly meeting was April 16. The Treasurer's Report indicated $deleted on account. Deposits for both Plano and Fort Worth shows have been paid. Fort Worth will start charging a fee of $deleted per electrical outlet needed. Last year there were 14 layouts and 10 dealers requiring electricity. A motion was made and seconded to charge dealers $deleted at both shows to defray electrical costs. This will be an increase of $deleted for the Plano show. Following a discussion of the admission price, a motion was made and seconded to keep prices the same as last year. Motion carried. The contracts for this year's shows will be ready for the May meeting and will be mailed out at the end of May. Several dealers have retired or passed away, which means we have more tables available this year at both shows than in previous years. Two announcements: Advertising duties for this year will be given to someone else, and the Lockheed Martin show has been canceled.
Next meeting will be held 21 May 2013.

OLD BUSINESS: Air Conditioner installation will begin today following meeting.

NEW BUSINESS: Paul shared that for whatever reason, we have had many more visitors so far this year than in years past, and they have come from varied backgrounds. Ron M confirmed that he had sent a thank you card to the family that donated $20.00 to the club.

MEETING ADJOURNED: 9:48 am.

WHAT THE %*##% --?

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

Some of the problems of multiple members working more or less independently on complex projects have surfaced recently. In trying to complete the master electrical manual, Bob T has uncovered several instances where leads and drops should be, they aren’t. And there are some that weren’t documented. Lesson: if you change anything electrically on the layout, coordinate it with Bob. That includes making or closing rail gaps. We have a large and complex system, and tinkering with it without a fairly comprehensive idea of the possible effects could close everything down, at least until some can figure out what’s wrong.

PEOPLE:

We have a much needed new member in George Warren (see above in this edition for more details). We need to be on the lookout for more new members to keep the club interest healthy, and to ensure continuity and financially stability. Know somebody interested in trains? Invite them by to see our efforts. Maybe we can get a few more new members.

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:

June 15 — LSR 3 – Northeast Texas Division – Nicholson Library, 4845 Broadway Blvd, Garland.

July 14–20th — NMRA National Convention – Peach Tree Express 2013. Atlanta, GA. For more information: http://nmra2013.org/

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.

Quite a bit this month on the the McKinney Avenue streetcar extension project. There seems to be a lack of regular railroad news that I’ve stumbled over, and besides, I think the M-Line is kind of exciting.<.p>

Museum of the American Railroad – The Museum's old location in Dallas' Fair Park is looking pretty sparse these days. The Frisco 4-8-4 #4501 was sort of scheduled to move Sunday, May 19, followed by the UP 4-8-8-4 about two weeks later. Did it happen? I have no idea, but suspect that it didn’t – there has been nothing in the Dallas media, broadcast or print about the move, and there has been in the past moves. The Frisco locomotive and tender are equipped with conventional bearings, which require a higher level of maintenance than newer roller bearings. Each journal box will be drained, cleaned, and repacked with new lubricating pads and oil. The locomotive's driving wheels will require special attention, with each "Hennessey" lubricator being bench tested before reassembly.

The museum hoped that the Frisco Railway "Meteor" graphics could be applied to the locomotive before the move. The striking red "Meteor" graphic would certainly be a visual plus to the move. Whenever it happened/happens, the locomotive will move at a maximum speed of 10mph and will have five modern freight cars coupled to each end for additional braking. Plans are being finalized for additional logistical needs, including inspection points along the route.

The bearing work for the 4-8-8-4 is pretty much done, so that may speed things along when the move is actually made. At last report, they were undecided if it would be made with or without side rods. An interesting complication has emerged with the centipede tender, which has a history of a tendency to derail in backup moves, especially if empty. This was reported when the tenders were in regular service by most users, because of the long rigid wheelbase. (for example, the Michigan trains of the New York Central that used the Illinois Central station in Chicago that had been re-equipped with centipede tenders were declared locomotive non-grata by the IC because of derailing problems at the yard throat. Most got their old, non-centipede tenders back.) The museum plans to jack several of the five wheelsets in the centipede truck so they will not be on the rail for the move, to try to ensure that the move is uneventful.

MATA M-Line extension — This project is moving right along, with most of the new track along Olive Street complete, except for the turnout from McKinney Ave to Olive Street. A piece of this track, from McKinney to Bryan Street is supposed to open for service this summer, and the entire loop, next summer. The huge popularity of the new park (opened in October 2012), now served by the existing M-Line track on St. Paul Street, has drastically improved M-Line ridership to the point that the existing fleet of four cars is hard pressed to keep up. Total ridership for 2012 was 433,108, more than 29% above 2011, and is still growing. Not bad for what began 20 years ago as a midtown trolley museum.

Close, but no cigar – the M–Line extension just needs the installation of the turnout from the main line onto Olive Street and the installation of the overhead trolley wire to be operational beyond the Klyde Warren Park over the expressway. That’s car 122, the oldest on the line, in the background. (MATA photo)

The MATA shop crew is almost ready to place ex-Dallas car 754 in service. This car has traditional trucks from Melbourne, Australia, the same as the existing car 186, but all new solid-state controls and modern ac motors. It is in testing and when it enters service, at least one of the cars now in service will be withdrawn for overhaul. Does it have the garish array of air conditioners that disfigure car 186? I’m afraid to look. The next new car will be ex-Toronto PCC 4614, already in work, but won’t enter service until the new downtown loop is complete. As a single ended car, it requires loops on both ends of the line.

The total M-Line fleet (including car bodies to be restored) is up to 15, and includes another Toronto PCC, an original Dallas double ended PCC, and two other PCCs, and five vintage ex-Dallas cars that need controls and running gear. The PCC cars are mechanically complete, but will require a complete overhaul before entering service.