Newsletter Mar 2016

Prez Pic The Prez sez —

Here we are already at the end of February. The time is sure flying by. This makes me wonder how much can be accomplished by this crew at the East Texas Model Railroad Club (notice I left off George W’s idea that our name should include carpentry). Looking at how much we’ve finished over the past year or so, I’m impressed. We’ve made great progress. And, the big projects are getting done, and new ones are farther apart and less urgent.

When we have our next operation day, it may take all day to set out the cars. There may even be a training session required to help people like me learn the proper way to run a model railroad. Then after we live through the operating session, we can critique how we did to make it better next time. I’m looking forward to that, and I hope you are too. — Paul

Almost there – Work on New Room 2 is moving along, and has progressed since this photo was taken. The ceiling is reinstalled and insulated. The biggest remaining task is the completion of the plumbing and installation of a ladies’ restroom. Rob Dove photo

THE ROAD AHEAD

Except for plumbing, New Room 2 is almost done. The old air handler in the ceiling is gone, new ceiling four new overhead lights installed, ceiling insulation installed, and the ceiling tile up. Who’s responsible: mostly Paul and Rob for the air handler removal, and Tom McC for the wiring and lights. What’s left? Mostly toilets and associated plumbing for the the ladies restroom. Maybe even we will get hot water sometime soon! The room looks much better. It is bright and freshly painted, but still full of stuff used for the rebuilding, so it ain’t over yet. What’s next? Probably the sealing and finishing of the west wall between our layout and the gymnasium. And while more building construction is viewed by many members as a fate worse than death, it probably makes sense to finish it before rebuilding the southwest corner of the layout for the connection to Price yard. Work on the newly discovered storage area can wait, but probably won’t. Improving the layout in other small ways? Read on.

A major new development is the turntable associated with Chyrokes Yard has been installed. This paves the war for the completion of the engine terminal area. This project was delayed for years by the installation and troubleshooting of the streetcar line addition, which mostly seems complete. Bob Austin has started to improve the previously installed rock work on the middle peninsula, extending it to the bottom of the cuts, The appearance is greatly improved, and will further enhanced when completed and painted. Elsewhere, the addition of a spur to service the newly added Yoakam Hardware and Lumber store in Williamsburg proceeds very slowly. When complete, it will offer more local switching, as well as finishing more of the cityscape. Bob T has completed the new control panel for the N-gauge layout and the old control module.

The new panel is a work of art. All that remains now is to rework the layout wiring access. The N-gauge layout will soon be set on edge to facilitate and the new controls installed, since most of the club members’ aging legs make working under the table a significant problem. We earnestly hope that no serious problems arise with the HO layout, because it really can’t be turned on edge – anywhere.

They Said it Couldn’t be done — LeRoy Hickey, in an only slightly posed photo, was actually surfing the internet on the club computer. More amazingly, he seemed to enjoy it. Although he has an old computer at home, LeRoy is one of the last club knuckle draggers in joining the digital age. Is this a new beginning? Only time will tell. Rob Dove photo.

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.

The next scheduled business meeting is 9:00 am, Saturday, March 8, 2016. We are finally back on our usual business meeting schedule.

February BUSINESS MEETING SUMMARY

PRESENT: Paul F, Tom B, Bob E, Ron M, LeRoy H, Bob T, Bob A, Rob D, George W, Ray Y, Bill L, Tom McC

COUNCIL MEETING REPORT: Paul Fogle, Representative
Met January 12, 2016. Council treasury has $deleted in the bank, approximately $deleted ahead of where we are normally at this time. 281 tables were sold for the Plano Show which is ten fewer than usual. Advertising money went to WBAP ($deleted), KLUV ($deleted), and Model Railroad Hobbyist e-magazine ($deleted). No ads were placed in the Dallas Morning News. A TRE trainset valued at $deleted was donated for the raffle. Raffle tickets were $2.00 per ticket or three for $5.00.The raffle brought in some extra money. In future, Plano will charge us for up to 12 hours for the Friday show set. This year is the first for having to buy table holder meal tickets before, rather than after the show. Next meeting is February 16, 2016.

OLD BUSINESS: Bob T reported that the N-gauge control system rework is coming along nicely. Two boards will be required. Both have been designed and the top level completed. It features full color display on both sides, with all the control functions identified on the underside. Now that the Open House is over, the N scale layout can be unpowered and turned on its side for the make-over. The next task is building the switch for Price Yard on the HO layout. Ron has volunteered to assist Bob Teeter in building the switch.

NEW BUSINESS: Rob D said that we had a squirrel in the building that came in from the gym. The only way to prevent a repeat is to close the gaps that exist between the two spaces. Bob A said that in his experience a five galleon bucket of water and bait work well as traps. Paul has found a hallway that has been boarded up and appparently, only the ETMRC know about it. This discovery delighted Paul and Rob no end for it allows them to continue their square footage grab from the city, but George W announced his annoyance with Paul for finding another space(s) that requires carpentry work. Paul will show this space to those members who are sworn to secrecy. Paul continued with the likely need for a new booster for the HO layout.

Tom McC reminded membership that he discussed at breakfast the possibility of adding a separate power source. Bob T stated that it already exists. There are two loops each has its own booster. Another booster could be added which would divide the loop into a North and south section. Each loop would have a 10 A capacity. Rob D stated that the real need is to prevent a venue for a short. Tom McC said that his club in Washington hooked the programing computer to the main layout. Doing that here might prevent the crazy locomotive decoder problem we have. Also, Tom suggested that a filter should be added. Rob D agreed that a filter would be a good idea.

Paul stated that the tool box is ready to be finished and final prep done for its use. Anyone can volunteer for this.

Bob T announced that he brought several VHS tapes covering various aspects of railroading. He will also bring some magazines. He thought that those which are duplicates of the ones we have could/should be made available to visitors. LeRoy H stated that a neighbor gave him an old train set and and several magazines. He said that he intended to take them to be recycled, but will bring them to the club first. If anyone wants some or all of them, they are welcome to take them. If not he will throw them away.

WHAT THE %*##% --?

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

The new tool chest has ben filled with the tools previously in the club toolbox, which is now most, but not all, empty. The drawers in the new cabinet have been nicely labeled and the tools neatly stowed on foam. Will they stay that way for any time? That is this month’s mystery.

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 (5) is Bob T’s summary of northeast Texas railroads. Site (6) has some interesting photos of Commerce area railroading over the years.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

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

March 12 — NMRA LSR Division 3 Meeting — Christ the Servant Lutheran Church, Allen

March 15 — North Texas Council of Railroad Clubs, Irving.

June 22 – 25, 2016 NMRA Lone Star Convention, Sheraton Arlington Hotel, Arlington,TX

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.

DGNO Track Changes — The Dallas, Garland and Northeastern , the current operators of that former MK&T mainline from Dallas north, disconnected the spur leading to a TOFC loading facility in Caddo Mills in late January. The spur/loading facility had seen little or no use for a long time, so evidently was not worth the maintenance cost of the track switch. The Dallas Junction to Greenville segment of the former MKT appears to be well maintained, with lots of fresh ballast and new ties. This part has fair number of rail customers, although the DART Blue Line from Rowlett to downtown Dallas shares the right-of-way and has isolated some former sidings. On the segment north of Greenville, there are few towns large enough to provide rail customers. There is a long siding at Trenton used for car storage, and a siding to a gravel pit near Whitewright, possibly the reason for the line’s continued existence. At Bells, there is a junction with the former Texas and Pacific line from Texarkana via Paris, most of which is out of service, and has been removed between Texarkana and Paris. The Katy north of Bells to Dennison was removed more than a decade ago. The line is only a shadow of what there once was the Katy mainline to St Louis, but at least it is mostly still there. DNGO even somewhat upgraded the line north of Greenville last year, which was almost impassable due to deferred maintenance. Bob T was at Caddo Mills when an eastbound train of empty drop-bottom gondola cars, headed by Union Pacific power passed. Almost looked like the old Katy.

Caddo Mills Looking west – The former location of the turnout to the Caddo Mills loading facility is obvious in the shot left. The dead switch materials are now trackside at the right center of the photo.The loading gantry is visible in the far background. Minutes after the first shot, a eastbound freight appeared, with UP power, moving at the glacial speed of about 10 mph. (Bob Teeter photos)

ETMRC