ETMRC

Vol 16, Nr. x — xxx 2016 http://etmrc.org

Storage and Workspace – Two elegant cabinets, acquired as discards from corporate rebuildings where President Paul works were acquired at no expense to the club. Both have been permanently installed. (Upper photo) Paul is installing insulation along the west wall of the new workroom On the northeast portion of the room, (Lower photo) Another new cabinet provides work and storage space, while enhancing privacy to the new restroom facilities. A third set will be installed to close off the east side of the restroom while providing additional storage space and access to the the newly—installed plumbing.

THE ROAD AHEAD

We have about a month to clean and prepare for the next open house. All the layouts performed reliably tor the fall open hours, so the layouts aren’t in crisis. The new revisions of the N-gauge track to eliminate kinks that derailed long 6-axle diesels (but not any 4-axle units) was completed before the end of October. The interchange to the west end of Price yard was installed but not connected about the same time. Ron M has been busy upgrading buildings on both the main HO and King trolley layouts, and a couple of new buildings have been added. If the new connection to Price yard is finished, both track and electrical connection, that should offer some new operation opportunities. To the surprise of nearly everyone, the Jared cleanup seems to have mostly survived the open house and following weeks, so getting ready for the January show and open house should be doable. The only challenge should be staffing the open house and the show.

PEOPLE

Bob E will be missing for the next almost three months. he and wife Esther will be visiting some of Bob’s old friends in France. Bob met these folks back in the 1961 when he was in the Army, then visited again for most of 1965 and has kept touch since. “I have to visit them while I still can and they are still around. We’re not getting younger, Bob explained.

Club member Tom M and wife returned to northeast Texas a week before the end of the month, and they won’t be going back to Washington state except to visit. The weekend of October 22 — 23 members Paul F, Rob D, Bob A, and Jarrel P visited their now permanent home near Point to help them unload their automobile and a 28 foot rental truck. All helping members and Tom and Loni (the missus) survived the epic move, although Tom had a sore back from the three day trip. Welcome back!

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, November 5, 2016.

OCTOBER BUSINESS MEETING SUMMARY

MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: 9:20 am, October 8, 2016.

PRESENT: Tom B, LeRoy H, Bob T, Paul F, Ron M, Bob A, 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
The council has $deleted in the bank after bills were paid and outstanding checks deposited in December. Any outstanding bills will be paid after the January show. All activities for the fall show are on track or complete. Five hundred twenty four booklets featuring 15 layouts are on hand. Table sales to date for the October show 207, down four from last year. For the January show, 202 tables are taken and perhaps an additional 20 will be sold before the show. The numbers are below last years show season for both shows. Opinions for why are numerous, but most agree conflicts with other area family events is the probably reason: in the fall, the State Fair and football games for just two possibilities.

Work on the 2017 — 2018 show season dates have begun. For the fall show, available dates at Plano are the last weekend in September, and the first and second weekends in October. All three have conflicts with other area shows, or other activities, the the decision will be based on minimizing attendance losses, if that is possible. Advertising expenditures to date are $deleted under budget, and this year, the advertising activities have been well organized and reported, with emphasis on printed messages attached to newspapers. The next meeting in October 18.

CLUB BUSINESS: Problems with the Council train shows attendance, costs, and scheduling continued into the club business meeting. Participation in the metro area shows is the main source of club income for expenses of projects other than rent. Club dues cover rent, but with little left over. This increases the importance of attracting and retaining club members. We need more members! There were lots of concerns voiced about trends in the hobby, especially rapidly escalating costs for locomotives and rolling stock, and the long time health of the council show program.

Bob T reported that he has finished the off-site work on the new transition from the southwest corner of the layout to the west end of Price yard. All the trackwork and unit wiring, including signals. is complete and ready to go. Bob has added basic scenery, which will help with the visual compatibility of the elements on both sides of the large hole in curved wallboard. He plans to wait until after the fall Plano show for installation. He hopes to trouble shoot analog DC controller 3 to return it to reliable performance.

Paul reported that we had more than 20 visitors during the Bois d’Arc Bash-Plano fall show weekend. Two mentioned some interest in possibly joining the club. Four — two on Saturday and two on Sunday — were train people interested in our club. The Saturday visitors were in Commerce attending the Cotton Belt Symposium on the University campus, and the Sunday two came from the Plano show. One visitor remarked that our layout could use more animated projects. He liked the oil well in Dexter and thought more might increase visitor interest.

Following Paul’s report, a general discussion of what we might do followed. Some suggestions included workable crossing signals and gates, building lights, and traffic lights. Bob T said that he was planning some grade crossing signals, and maybe a few crossing gates, at least in Willliamsburgh, He wondered about ithe compatibility of of traffic lights with the trolley wire for the streetcar. Tom B said that either street corner or suspended traffic lights should be doable. Suspended signals over a street with double tracks could be in the middle of the street between the wires. On a single track street, a signal to the left or right of the wire should work, and both were common prototypes.

Bob T reported that he, Ron M, and Bob A were working on the north end of the N gauge layout to remove kinks that regularly derail 6-axle diesels. Paul reported that the installation of the cabinets to form storage of model projects and a privacy partition for the new restrooms in the new room was complete except for sheathing to stabilize the back surface and to stabilize the installation was complete. The new cabinets are discards from one of Paul’s company sites and were rescued from the scrap heap at no cost to the club. A second set of cabinets will be enclosed at the east end of the existing set to provide even more storage and tocloser off that end of the restroom.

MEETING ADJOURNED: 9:41 am.

Almost there — Rob D (center with hat) adjusts the alignment of the new interchange between the southwest corner of the main layout and the western end of Price Yard, while Leroy and Bob T supervise. Since the photo was taken, the track work is in, and only the wiring connections in the main room remains to be completed.

WHAT THE %*##% --?

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

Nothing to fix. But we’ve set some records of accomplishment in the last couple of weeks that are awesome! Some electrical problems were traced to loose wires.

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.

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:

November 15, 2016 — North Texas Council of Railroad Clubs Irving.

November 19, 2016 — NMRA LSR Division 3 Meeting Christ the Servant Lutheran Church, Allen

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.

Texas Central Railroad — the proposed high-speed passenger rail line between Dallas and Houston, or Dallas — Austin — San Antonio — Houston has been splashed around recent television and newspaper accounts. A live representative, Mr. Travis Kelly, attended the recent Cotton Belt Symposium, which made the project a lot more real. What follows is a mix of his comments and and the TC web site.

The TC is very much a going concern, despite resistance from some of the rural citizens who are afraid of it. The planning is progressing, and applications for government approvals in in progress. What follows below is a summary of what they are now thinking.

• Technology: The engineering and basic system is based on the Shinkansan line between Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, in service for 50 years without injury or loss of live accident.

• Route: Right now, they are considering a single 240-mile route between Dallas and Houston. This approach It has sufficient traffic potential to be profitable; The run is just the right length to be competitive with scheduled airline schedules; and is the simplest option.

• Dallas terminal site: Downtown, east southeast of Union Station.

• Performance: top speed is over 200 mph, to yield a 90 minute run between Dallas and Houston. Current airline schedules are 65 minutes flying time, with about an hour of terminal time. Tracks would be mostly following high voltage power lines which avoid population centers, and avoid curves, and about 60 percent of the track milage would be of precast concrete viaducts. The elevated track structure provides maximum security. One intermediate station, Brazos Valley about 2/3 of the way to Houston.

To be in Texas – A 16-car Shinkansen train, as it races through the route between Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. On the TC, the transets will be eight cars long, with departures from each end of the line every 30 minutes. (Photo courtesy of TC)