ETMRC  RAILNEWS

October 2015 http://etmrc.org

When a plan comes together – President Paul presents the check from the city for the roofing repair materials and supplies to treasurer Ron to replenish the club treasury. Paul bought all the materials using his own credit card, and to date, the treasurer has covered his costs and now the city has covered our costs.

THE ROAD AHEAD

September was a big month. Not only did we finish the roof reciting process, but the City of Commerce came through with a check covering all the expenses for supplies and materials $642.and some small change. And if that wasn’t enough, Ron M purchased a shiny new computer for the club. The new one is already hooked up and functional, with a link to the world. Even the knuckle draggers can see what’s going on now. We may even have an email address someday. The old computer was also provided by Ron, but it could not be connected to the WiFi regardless of what was updated, changed or deleted. So Ron got a replacement. He’ll leave it at the club as long as his home computer is happy and healthy. If his home computer gets sick, he’ll trade them. For now we have a faster, more current machine. Then the big question will be: if we really get internet access, will anything get done, or will we all hunker around the new computer to see what’s on eBay?

Remember the air conditioning unit in the main room that didn’t work? Well, now it does. On Saturday, September 19, a team headed by Paul and Rob (it is never entirely certain who of these two are responsible for whatever project they are on), Bob A and Ron M took the offending monster down to see if they could figure what the problem might be. There was lots of speculation that it might need a dose of refrigerant, or sone new seals to slow refrigerant loss, and several other more arcane ideas. It was block D: none of the above. In fact they discovered hat there was no failure of any AC system, but rather dirt. The condenser coils were so clogged with dirt that the cooling coils were effectively insulated – no cooling at all. It is evidently very dirty outside, and now that we know one cause of failure to cool, perhaps we can make next summer and what’s left of 2015 a lot cooler.

Only Dirt — The facilities crew (left to right) Ron Means, Rob Dove, Bob Austin (hiding) and Paul Fogle clean out the condensing coils on the air conditioner, which was all that was needed to get it working again. The Junction is now much more comfortable, and we only needed to hire our own people to do it.

MEETINGS

The official weekly club work sessions are 9:00 to noon on Saturdays. The business meeting is the first Saturday of the month at sort of the same time. Some members are often present for work sessions, or just plain lollygagging on Wednesday and Friday mornings, about the same time as the Saturday schedule. but lately this has become a bit uncertain. If you want to come on a weekday morning and don’t have a key, it is best to call someone. For those not yet retired, a group meets starting about 7:00 pm on Tuesday evenings for a couple of hours. Many meet at 8:00 Saturday mornings at McKay’s Restaurant on 1113 Main Street, Commerce for breakfast, and extend an invitation to any who care to join them.

OCTOBER BUSINESS MEETING

The next scheduled business meeting is 9:00 am, Saturday, October 3, 2015.

September BUSINESS MEETING SUMMARY

submitted by Robert E

MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: 9:18 am, September 5, 2015

PRESENT: Ron M, Bob E, Paul F, Bob T, Bob A, George W, Rob D, Jared P

PROXIES: None

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
Treasurer's Report: The Council has $deleted in the bank. The September Plano show has already paid out $deleted in advertising. Next year, the show will be the third week end in September because of venue conflict, and will therefore conflict with the Temple Show. Consequently, there will be vendors who will be unable to attend. Also next year there will a venue rate increase to $deleted. This number includes $deleted catering fee. There will be 20 layouts on the Home Tour. There are those looking into increasing the content of the Home Tour brochure without increasing its size. Show floor plan has been approved, email announcing the show is ready to be distributed, and our insurance policy is good until November 1, 2015. Next meeting is scheduled for September 15 or 22.

OLD BUSINESS: Paul reported that the new exterior door is ready to be installed except for trimming the top and bottom. It is a very heavy door and will require several of us to install it. He also reported that he has the receipts for the roof material. He gave them to Ron so that they could be handed over to Tom.

Discussion of the construction work on the on the back room continued, without any noticeable progress, much the same as the reconstruction itself, which was effectively stopped to finish the roof. We need to prepare for the Open House. When asked why we did not expect reimbursement for the exterior door. Paul explained that the city has agreed to the roof expenses, but has not yet considered those for the door.

Bob T has talked to Josh with the Fire Department re: our hook up to the city's wifi. Josh has decided that it will better to hook ETMRC to the city's backup system which will cause less chance of a problem. He will make the installation Tuesday night. Bob also said that he has been considering possibilities for the selection of power on the N scale layout, and has decided he will go with a switch. Rob D suggested that we use plywood to close off those areas restricted to visitors to keep their wandering to a minimum.

NEW BUSINESS: George W wanted to know why the A/C unit needed to run all the time. He feared it would cause a too hasty demise of the unit. It was quickly explained that the A/C unit prevents expansion and contraction of the layout. Bob A was quick to offer his support by saying, “All kinds of weird things happened to my layout until I figured out what was happening.” He did not explain his “weirdness.”

Rob D asked if we had discussed how we will situate the new coal unit. Bob T suggested leveling the new one with the old one. Rob D offered that we could put a shaft in at Hickeyville and run a conveyor to the old mine. Bob T leaned back in his chair as if he were really considering Rob's suggestion, but offered no comment.

Ron M announced that he had written the new password down by the computer for Windows 10 for those who wanted to use it. He also warned that Windows 10 is very different. Rob asked if Ron had replaced software or the computer. Ron replied that he had replaced the old computer. When Rob asked if he had asked the club for reimbursement and Ron replied that he had not, but he did have a caveat: “If my computer at home crashes I will take this one home,” he said. Rob thought it would be easier if that happened, for the club to keep this computer, buy Ron a new one. Rob put this into a motion which George Warren seconded. Motion passed.

MEETING ADJOURNED: 9:53 am.

WHAT THE %*##% --?

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

No layout problem this time. With all the facility projects, it has seen little use. Certainly the bugaboo of dirty track is still with us, but this isn’t a problem unless the layout is used. We’ll probably find them in bushels as we prep the layouts for the upcoming open houses.

INFORMATION:

The following web sites are excellent sources of supplies (1) and technical data (2). (3) Is Rob D’s blog on the Model Railroad Hobbyist website. It is updated almost daily. Two of our members also have personal web sites (4) and (5). Site (6) 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://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/18644?
4. http://www.coslar.us for Ed M's personal web site
5. http://geusnet.com/~rteeter/ for Bob T's personal web site
6. www.tamu-commerce.edu/library/collections/digital for Commerce Texas photos

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

October 10, 2015 – Texas Western Show — Forest Hill Convention Center

October 12, 2015 – NMRA LSR Division 3 — Christ the Servant Lutheran Church, Allen

October 15, 2015 – North Texas Council of Railroad Clubs, Irving

November 14, 2015 – Cowtown Show — Handley Center, Ft Worth

January 16 – 17, 2016 – NTCRC Plano 2 Show — (Dallas) Plano Centre

February 28, 2016 – Allen Show — probably in station along the old and mostly nonexistent former H&TC (SP) line to Denison

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.

El Paso streetcar restoration — Texas’ newest streetcar operation moved from concept towards reality this summer with the selection of a general contractor to construct a 4-mile streetcar line along two streets in El Paso. The line will run from the downtown shopping district, near the International Bridge to Juarez, Mexico (which once included streetcar tracks for the El Paso International Line) northwest to the University of Texas-El Paso campus. The tracks will be all new, running in the curb lane out one street for two miles, and returning on a parallel street one block away. Initially there will be eight streetcars, with an option for one more, all reconditioned air-electric PCCs that were in service for the last 20 years of streetcar service in the city. Seven of the nine cars in all were stored intact on the grounds of the El Paso international airport. The cars, which were among the first PCCs, were originally built for service in San Diego in 1936 and ran there until replaced by buses in the 1950s. They will be restored to their El Paso service appearance, but with updated motors, controls, and air conditioning. The only significant external change will be use of a single Faivley pantograph (like these used by DART light Rail cars) in place of the existing trolley poles. Service could begin as early as 2017.

Not Quite Dead Yet – Former El Paso prewar PCC 1501 with five sisters, sits in the sands of the El Paso airport earlier this year. All six have been moved for shipment to the project general contractor for restoration. Although they look pretty rough, the desert atmosphere has kept them physically sound, and their restoration is considered to be much less costly than new cars. Three additional cars have been stored downtown and two will be included in the initial restoration, with an option for the ninth car to also be restored.