Newsletter June 2019

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This has been a very unforgettable month. The club lost LeRoy Hickey on the second day of May. Several members attended the funeral and then the internment, and served as pallbearers. More pleasantly, both of the new Dexter Yard sections were installed and the inevitable track and switch problems are being slowly identified and repaired. Now there are new operations challenges and opportunities. An unexpected bit of news is the donation of an individual’s N-scale layout and a little bit of HO equipment. Rob D and I have already cataloged 61 N-scale locomotives, and Rob is working of two very large boxes of rolling stock. I believe the main emphasis of the club is to enjoy railroading and have fun. Each of us needs to exercise their equipment to check track and equipment operation. The idea is to have fun! — Thanks, Paul

Dexter Yard is IN – A team of four — (from left to right) Ron M, Rob D, Bob T and President Paul (under the table between Ron and Rob) use all the levels available to true up the installation. The preplanning proved its worth, as the two modules fit together without a lot of fuss. When they were done, it mostly functioned. Subsequent refinements, mostly at track joints and turnouts, resolved most of the remaining issues.

LeRoy Passes – Longtime member LeRoy H died May 2, after several years of poor health. He suffered two serious strokes earlier in the year, and he never fully recovered from them. His funeral was in Greenville May 6 and burial in Wolfe City. Five club members were recruited as pallbearers by Paul at the zero hour at the request of LeRoy’s wife Ruth. To the very end, when he could barely talk, he said that he was deeply grateful to ETMRC club members for being the “brothers he never had.”

THE ROAD AHEAD

Dexter yard is in, but many other projects remain to be completed, and even the new yard needs scenery. As soon as the weather permits, the outside drainage projects need attention. The weekend heavy rains have turned the sidewalk into a canal. In some places, the water water was more than 6 inches deep, so water filled shoes were inevitable. Paul has procured the pipe and fittings to connect to the existing drains to keep the accumulations of water away from the building.

Better, he found time at the end of the month between rainstorms to install some 6-inch high metal barriers and bricks along the sidewalk to divert some of the runoff from the parking lot and neighboring properties. During the next rain, a day or so later, it worked! He’ll need all the help he can get when things dry out enough to install the drains.

Much Better – The top two photos show why runoff is a problem. The lower two shots show the benefits Paul’s work to divert some of the runoff away from the sidewalks after a late May storm. The downspouts from the roof must still be repaired and connected to the underground drain near the sidewalk to the right to eliminate the accumulated water between the walk and the building.

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.

NOTICE — The next scheduled business meeting is 9:00 am, Saturday, June 1, 2019.

May BUSINESS MEETING SUMMARY

COUNCIL MEETING REPORT: Submitted by Council Rep Paul F
The Council’s bid for the Fall (Ft Worth) show was received after Plano Centre was booked for every every Sunday for the remainder of 2019 by a church group, so the fall show will be a single day, October 12 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Since a one-day show will likely dramatically reduce the number of vendors and depress show attendance, Paul opted to skip the show and not to rent a table for the club to sell unnecessary stuff. We are signed a table for both days of the January show.

CLUB BUSINESS:
Even though Paul was fairly confident that everyone present already knew, he announced the passing of long-time member LeRoy H on Thursday, May 2. LeRoy’s wife Ruth requested six members to be pall bearers for the funeral. In addition to Paul, members Ron, Tom M, Tom B had volunteered, and Paul planned on calling some of the members not at the meeting to fill out the list. Funeral information at the time of the meeting was very incomplete. Except that internment was to be in Wolfe City, the date, location and time of the funeral was still unknown. (before the lunch break after the meeting, Paul learned that the date would be Monday, May 6 at the Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Greenville, at 2:00 pm). Rob bought a card for Ruth, and after everyone present signed it, got it ready to mail before the meeting was over.

Moving on to lighter topics, the heavy rains of early May underscored the importance of moving ahead with the outside drainage. Paul noted that the downspouts were in bad condition or missing entirely. Most of the members present agreed that this was indeed a problem that should be addressed. Since industrial scuppers and downspouts are not usually available at Wal Mart, the discussion turned to “where might we get them’? Tom M and Rob explained that most sheet metal shops can do it, and they agreed that a local supplier is desirable for various reasons. The members agreed. Paul then (again) urged members to be a little more responsible for their behavior by cleaning the coffee pot after the last cup, or (horrors) brewing a new pot. VP Rob urged members please to clean up after work on their projects. Failing to do so means that dust gets everywhere, and that of course, messes up operations. And clean up includes putting all club toys back where they belong, so you and everyone else can find them next time. Jared brought in some samples of things he had printed on his new 3-D printer. Everyone was suitably impressed.

INFORMATION:

The following web sites are excellent sources of supplies (1) and data (4). (3) Is Rob D’s blog on the Model Railroad Hobbyist website. It is updated almost daily. One of our members also has a personal web site (3). Site (3) is Bob T’s summary of northeast Texas railroads. Site (4) has some interesting photos of Commerce area railroading over the years.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

June 15 – 10:00 am – LSR Div. 3 Meeting Christ the Servant Lutheran Church, Allen
September 28 – 33rd Annual Bois d’Arc Bash ETMRC open house
October 5 – 9:00 am 14th Cotton Belt Symposium Raeburn Student Center, Commerce
October 12 9:00 am - 4 pm. – (“Ft Worth”) Model Train ShowPlano Centre, Plano

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. This month, the focus is on finding the remains of dead Commerce railroads. Next time, it will be Greenville.

Finding the Remains of Dead Commerce Railroads
In its heyday, Commerce had two different railroads crossing near the station. And the Cotton Belt had a major branch, also starting at the station. It was a Cotton Belt division point with a 13-stall roundhouse, a 60 foot turntable, and fueling, first coal, then oil, and watering facilities. Since each line had both passenger and freight service and separate schedules, it was a busy place. But time has not been kind to Commerce railroads. Now only the former Commerce line to Dallas and Fort Worth still exists, and that line is broken between Greenville and Wylie. Operated by the Blacklands Railroad whenever the traffic warrants it, rarely more than one train a week can be seen. And this one train is usually about a dozen or so cars. Of the numerous railroad buildings, only a single one is left. The tracks of the other routes are long gone. But traces can be seen, if you look in the right places. Some are shown below.

Remains of the Texas Midland, later the Southern Pacific
The Texas Midland (TM) was a shortline running from Ennis via Greenville and Commerce, to Paris. In its early years, it was very aggressive and dynamic, using steel passenger cars before any other Texas Railroad. The TM offered through service to St. Louis, until 1923, when it was bought by the SP. The SP abandoned the branch is segments, starting in the late 1930s. By 1949, the line south of Greenville was gone, but the line to Paris became important, as it had most of the business from the Paris Campbell Soup factory. It had one train a day in both directions every day but Sunday, until 1972, when it was washed out in two places by heavy rains. It was never rebuilt.

The TM line between Greenville and Commerce was abandoned in 1937 in favor of trackage rights on the Cotton Belt. The TM grade from Greenville is now used by Texas Hwy 224 from the junction of FM 4130 to Commerce. Going north from Commerce, it passed north of the Commerce Union Station past its freight house and what is now a wooden pallet factory and manufactured house factory. It’s first stop was Cooper. The Cooper depot now is a museum.

Remains of the Cotton Belt Sherman Branch
The Cotton Belt line from Commerce to Sherman was built in 1878, right after the track to Commerce from Mr Pleasant reached town. A single track with passing sidings at on-line towns was laid using 55 pound rail, heavy for the time. It passed through Farlie. Wolfe City, and Tom Bean on the way. On-line traffic was mostly cotton. By the end of WW II, the branch was in need of massive upgrading. The original 55 lb. rail was badly worn, and many ties rotted. The traffic did not justify the cost or rebuilding. It was abandoned in September, 1952. Usual motive power were 2-8-0 Consolidations 207 and 213, among the last steam locomotives in regular service.

The Sherman Branch left Commerce going straight northwest just west of the station. In this photo the Commerce station was directly behind the camera. The track went through a shallow cut to drop beneath Hwy. 24 The grade is now used by Hwy 11 all the way to Sherman, one of the reasons the road has few gentle curves and minor changes of elevation. The ramp from the station toto Hwy 11 is easily visible if you stay on business Hwy 11 east of the underpass on your right.

The End of the Beginning. – The Union Pacific’s newly restored Big Boy 4014 and Northern 844 made the trip to Ogden and back to Cheyenne in grand style. Departing from Cheyenne,WY, double headed locomotives headed out on May 6 on a trip marked by numerous stops along the way to display the dynamic duo before. arriving on May 9 in time for the Promontory Point extravaganza on May 10. It was undoubtably the zenith of the railfan year!

Almost there – Big Boy 4014 and Northern 844 about 30 mi east of Ogden at Echo, UT. Photo by James Guffey via RailPictures.net