Clark County, WA: Model-train club's outreach is on track

From the Columbian:  Model-train club's outreach is on track

Sporting a railroad engineer's cap, Zachary Casahover, 4, of Battle Ground perched on his stroller to peek over the acrylic glass protecting the Southwest Washington Model Railroaders' railroad layout. He watched, enraptured by the scene of miniature trains, tiny enough to suit a colony of ants, speeding along rail lines, whistling and huffing.
"He's just like a fanatic," said Zachary's grandmother Sue Skinner. "He could stay here and look at this all day. Me and my daughter would like to get going."
Zachary wasn't the only train fanatic at the model railroad club's annual open house at Safe Harbor Church of the Nazarene in East Vancouver.
Hundreds of model train enthusiasts -- from Clark County and farther out along the West Coast, including British Columbia, Canada -- converged on the club's small outbuilding at the church to see the club's collection of trains of every time and technology.
"Kids don't grow up; their toys just get more expensive," quipped model-train enthusiast Peter Gilbertson of Vancouver Island, Canada. The club's open house Saturday was just one stop on Gilbertson's West Coast model-train road trip. He and his wife, Cheryl, planned to continue south Saturday to Medford, Ore., to see a steam-powered model train demonstration. Their next stop would be Sacramento for the California State Railroad Museum and then, San Diego for another train show.
Models on display included Thomas the Tank Engine and a train with a miniature camera in the front seat. The footage broadcast on a TV screen mounted on the wall allowed viewers to feel what it would be like to be the train's engineer.
Trains can be interesting to history buffs, but they also appeal to people interested in technology, said Vancouver resident Bill Wheeler, club vice-president.
"Bells and whistles are literal in this hobby, plus squeaks, clinks and hissing air," said club member Gary Bergeson of Ridgefield.
The club's 40 members range in age from 10 to their 80s, said Vancouver resident Rick Wedrick, club president.
"Our No. 1 goal is to have fun," Wheeler said. "All of us have an interest in model railroading. We kind of pool skills. Some do electrical work, some do scenery, and some repair tracks and cars. We can have a better layout because we all work together."
Only about 20 percent of the members have or had careers associated with a railroad, Wedrick said.
Bergeson, for example, is a retired insurance agent.
"I always wanted to be an engineer," Bergeson said. "I got my first train when I was 4. My grandfather worked for the railroad. My uncle was a railroad hobbyist."
A laundry list of positive associations with the railroad helped instill his love of model trains. Trains illustrate amazing technology, and it's one of the most ecology-friendly modes of transportation, he said.
"When I was a kid in Eastern Oregon, my grandma came to visit us on the train," he recalled. "My grandfather worked for Union Pacific and then Railway Express Agency (the equivalent of today's UPS). Unlike many railroad workers, he got to keep his job during the Great Depression. As result, my mother and uncle got to go to college when many others didn't."
The club meets every Monday at 7 p.m. behind Safe Harbor Church of the Nazarene, 8100 E. Mill Plain Blvd. Membership is $10 per month or $100 per year, but visitors are welcome, Wedrick said.
The open house has been held the last Saturday of each September for the past 20 years. Last year, about 400 people passed through the exhibit.

Bismarck, ND: Hobby Shop Prepares to Shut Down

From :KFYR.TV  Hobby Shop Prepares to Shut Down

A longtime business in Bismarck is closing shop after 18 years.

Dave`s Hobbies, located off of Main Avenue and Mandan Street, is going out of business. Owner Dave Brandt says competition from chain stores and online sellers has hurt his business. The shop became well known for its model trains, as well as its craft items. But Brandt says hobbies like building model trains aren`t so popular with customers anymore.

"The idea of doing something that takes a week is unthinkable to anybody anymore," Brandt said.

Dave`s Hobbies closes Monday. 

 

Miniature trains fill Pepsi Building for Old 97 Rail Days

From GoDanRiver:  Miniature trains fill Pepsi Building for Old 97 Rail Days

Myriad trains travel through big cities, small towns and over trestles and mountains all over American every day, but some avid rail fans also recreate those scenes in a much smaller form: N-scale models.

Since 2003, some of those fans — the Eastern N Lines Partnership — have gathered in Danville to set their dioramas up, connect them to each other and fill the Pepsi Building at the Crossing at the Dan with an impressive recreation of rail traffic in miniature.

It was all part of the Danville Science Center’s Old 97 Rail Days, held Saturday and Sunday.

The event commemorates on of the worst disasters that had happened in Danville at the time: the 1903 train crash Old 97, which fell off the Stillhouse and killed 11 men and injured six others.

Tiny cows and horses graze in fields, water flows under trestles and tress grow along the routes. The scenery depicted is fairly typical, though there are some humorous touches, such as the little concrete trucks parked at a construction site that, if you look closely, you’ll see are from “Hoffa Concrete.”

There were five groups from the Eastern N Lines Partnership were in Danville for the weekend: New Jersey Southern, Richmond Area N-Trak, Lynchburg Area N-Scalers, North Raleigh Model Railroad Club and the Grand Strand Railroad club from Myrtle Beach, N.C.

John Wallis, of the N. Raleigh Club said his group handled organizing the event this year. He explained that N-trak models are created to international standards that determine the spacing of the tracks and the wiring underneath the displays that operate the trains.

While some members of the clubs walked around talking to guests and keeping an eye on the trains, others sat at computers making sure all the trains were where they were supposed to be, and letting the others know when there was a problem. Sometimes, just like in real life, trains waited patiently on the tracks for another train to get out of the way before it could continue its journey.

Wallis said he has been coming to Old 97 Rail Days since 2003, and the event is looked forward to not just for running the trains, but for the socializing with like-minded modelers.

The group meets are the Pepsi building each year on Friday at about noon to set up, which takes about five hours, Wallis said. Saturday morning, the drapes around the tables go up, and they are ready to show off their intricate creations. The display fills the building with just enough space around for guests to walk around and watch the display.

As elaborate as the displays look, it only takes about 90 minutes to disassemble them all, Wallis said. In most cases, only the trains have to be packed up separately; the other pieces are all permanent parts of the display that is created in sections that can easily be taken apart and transported, he said.

In the lobby of the Danville Science Center sits a diorama of the Old 97 wreck, built by the Lynchburg club. There was also a 1948 Norfolk & Western caboose that lives on the Danville tracks and could be toured Saturday and Sunday.

 

Posts resume Sep 24 2012

My mom, who is 75, wants to go up to teeny tiny town near Rapid City, to see her sister, who is 80. They live in a house in the boonies and have no internet.

I'll be back online on Monday the 24th and promise not to miss another day.

Please bear with me, your patience is appreciated!

ILL: ‘TRAINS – All Aboard Art!’ exhibit to make stop at DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville

From My Naperville:  ‘TRAINS – All Aboard Art!’ exhibit to make stop at DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville

Naperville, Ill. — Young train lovers can put themselves in the engineer’s seat with an on-board train camera; load cargo onto train cars; or design their own tracks when DuPage Children’s Museum opens the new exhibit ‘TRAINS – All Aboard Art!’ on Monday, Sept. 17.

Located on the second floor of the museum, the Interact with Art Gallery exhibit will feature many new arts-based learning opportunities, with plenty of interactive features to keep young hands and minds busy as children discover the wonder of train transportation.
“Young children have a special love for trains, and this exhibit will allow them to learn about the different types and uses of trains through expressions of art,” says Marcia MacRae, DuPage Children’s Museum’s interdisciplinary arts specialist. ‘TRAINS – All Aboard Art!’ builds on exhibits we’ve done in the past by introducing even more opportunities to use art to explore the world of trains.”
At the exhibit, children will enter one artist’s interpretation of trains by role-playing engineer, passenger or conductor in a child-size train based on cubist artist Gino Severini’s “Red Cross Train.” The style and colors in the painting will be reflected in the play train, as well as in a new model train setting. An engine-mounted video camera gives children the engineer’s point of view, as the train travels the brightly colored cubist landscape.
The exhibit also includes an 8-foot-wide “hidden pictures” mural of artist Don Stewart’s “Steam Train.” Children and adults can work together to find the list of objects making up the huge locomotive. Children also can use “seek and find cards” to search for objects found in a variety of train art displayed on the walls. The artwork and activities are designed to encourage child-adult interaction and conversation, helping to build an appreciation for art while developing creativity and critical thinking skills.
Specially designed wooden train tables and a huge interactive crane are among the other new experiences awaiting discovery.
“DuPage Children’s Museum has a special connection to trains,” adds MacRae. “We hope children who visit this exhibit will gain a better understanding of the role and importance of the real-life trains right outside our door.”

“TRAINS – All Aboard Art!” is sponsored by CenterPoint Properties, BNSF Foundation and Kinder Morgan Foundation. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council help support the arts throughout the year at DCM.
About DuPage Children’s Museum
DuPage Children’s Museum is a top Chicago area cultural attraction — “where learning comes in to play.” Via interactive exhibits and programs that make learning fun for children and adults playing together, DuPage Children’s Museum helps develop curiosity, creativity, thinking and problem solving in young children.
The museum is at 301 N. Washington St., Naperville, a quick walk from the Naperville Metra train station. Parking is free. For information about hours, museum admission and membership packages, visit www.dupagechildrensmuseum.org or call (630) 637-8000.

 

GA: Roger Roush, Pembroke's model train man

From Savanna Now:  Roger Roush, Pembroke's model train man

Roger Roush of Pembroke made his living teaching and directing band for almost 50 years, but after retirement in 1999, his lifelong interest in trains again surfaced. He had some pieces when he went off to college, which his grandmother gave away, feeling that he “wouldn’t play with toys anymore.”
But when his best friends gave him a train set, his interest was rekindled, and even though he doesn’t consider himself a collector, he certainly has quite a collection of trains and a scenic layout. When his wife told him he “had too much junk on the floor,” he built a separate outside building to house and display his hobby.
Two trains Roush runs on the track in his building are a Coke 125th anniversary train in the 1880s and 1890s style, which his wife saw in a catalog and asked him to order; and the Baltimore and Ohio, which ran in the 1940s and 1950s.
At present, Roush says he has 21 locomotives and about 125 cars, plus a whole town with a trestle and bridge. “I run some of them and then the others,” Roush said. “I’m old-fashioned and just like to watch the trains go round.”
The oldest locomotive he owns is a 1946 steam engine like the one he had with first train he ever owned, the one that his grandmother gave away, and two others that are 1947s. The other engines are all newer and from the 2000s, although some of the cars are older.
“Locomotives and tenders can easily cost $1,000 to $1,500”, Roush commented. “None of mine cost over $300, and most are less expensive than that. A whole set, the locomotive, three cars and track new in 1946 would have sold for about $25, and now would be $150 to $200; they are considered antiques.”
Roush has built a scenic layout to go with his trains; a whole town in detail which he works on about 15-20 minutes a day. The buildings are wired to light up, and part of the town looks about 1950s to ’60s and the other part about 1990s to 2000.
He has an industrial district with an office with a factory (a furniture company) and a bottling company (Black Rock Beverage). There is a man standing in the road to stop cars for the train to go by, like it was back before there were warning signals. There are many small touches, such as a man with a front-end loader waiting to be told his next job, another man jogging and a couple of homeless guys.
In another part of town is the Broadway Diner with train stations and people waiting to take to get on board. There are checker players with their board set up, a cat on a post, folks on a picnic, and a man with a dog. Next to this area is the Harley-Davidson Diner, complete with guys and their motorcycles.
Over by the bridge and trestle is another part of town, where there is a bakery, another café, clothing store, kids on bikes and an old red coke machine, a garbage truck, and another truck delivering drinks. There is a water tower with a light that blinks, made by Lionel, the brand which “made trains for kids but fathers ran them” Roush said. “Now, you can buy models of Lionel trains in Hallmark Card stores; folks who like trains buy them like crazy.
“When I was 4 years old, my uncle worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and brought me into the locomotive cab. It’s a big deal when you’re 4; that ride was something. I’ve always been fascinated with trains and anything connected to trains,” Roush said.
There are a number of railroad memorabilia displayed on shelves and hanging on the walls of the building as well. He is presently working on more trees and bushes in part of the landscape, and commented that there is a “lot he has to do to this yet.”

 

Missouri, Sept 27: Model Train Display Being Planned for Railroad Day

From The Missourian:  Model Train Display Being Planned for Railroad Day 

The model train show that drew an estimated 1,000 train lovers to the Eagles large hall last March, will be repeated Saturday, Sept. 27, for Railroad Day.

The Route 66 Model Railroad Club and Pacific Partnership will host the event.

Some 40 model railroad dealers operated 70 tables in the March show, according to Bob Bober who co-chaired the event with Ron Sansone.

The model trains ran the gamut. The Amtrak Model Railroad Club ran half-a-dozen trains around a loop layout that included towns, trestles, wooded hills, tunnels and bridges.

The models exhibited and offered for sale ranged from the tiny Z gauge to the big standard gauge.
Two large model railroad layouts also were set up with moving trains.

The Jefferson County & Southern Model Train Club set up a 20- by 32-foot HO gauge with three trains running in both directions and a panoramic backdrop.

The Amtrak Model Train Club set up an 8- by 20-foot looped display that had half a dozen trains traveling through small towns, country landscapes and through tunnels under mountains. It was not unusual for three trains to pass each other in one location.

A Museum of Transportation booth inviting people to volunteer at the museum as conductors, tour guides, restoration or in the museum library, displayed a panel of photographs of restored engines and cars.
When trains arrive at the museum they’re usually rusty and dirty. The restoration volunteers clean, sand and repaint the engines or cars.

Funds raised by the show will be used to build a model train display in the Route 66 Railfan building at 100 E. St. Louis St.

The show will again take place at the Eagle Hall.

 

Model trains to depart for the right price

From the Somerset:  Model trains to depart for the right price

 

A LIFETIME'S collection of model locomotives from renowned train enthusiast Keith Summers will go up for auction in Sherborne shortly.

The miniature trains and accessories are stationed at Charterhouse Auctioneers, due to depart from the Long Street salerooms on Thursday, September 20.

The collection of more than 200 engines of 00 gauge models, belonged to the late Mr Summers, from Taunton, a member of the Chard Model Railway Club, and was discovered during a home valuation.

Associate Partner Matthew Whitney, an expert in the model and collectors field, said: "A client took advantage of our free home visits, and asked us to come and value the extensive collection of locomotives and rolling stock belonging to Mr Summers.

"Keith was a leading light in the Chard Model Railway Club and was well respected within the model community.

"He amassed his collection over a period of almost 40 years, having over 200 engines, the majority of which are boxed, and had literally thousands of coaches, wagons and vans."

Mr Whitney said the market for 00 gauge models is still very buoyant with numerous enthusiasts on the lookout for the next addition to their own shunting sheds.

He said: "Collectors' auctions at Charterhouse are always popular, because of the diverse and eclectic items on offer and this sale will be no exception."

The collection is in a two-day sale of collectors' items on September 20 and 21.

NJ: Model Steam Tuckerton Railroad Park Gets a Boost With Grant

From the SAndpaper,net:  Model Steam Tuckerton Railroad Park Gets a Boost With Grant 

New Gretna in Bass River Township is a whistle stop of a town: Route 9 goes through it and ends at the entrance to the Garden State Parkway. Its most recognized edifices are the giant concrete wine bottle at a dead man’s curve in the road and the “Jaws” shark head jutting out of Allen’s Clam Bar, a low-key, yet must-stop restaurant for the seafood lover. A recent addition to the oddities is a giant T-rex that used to hover over the wall of a mansion complex just before town, but recently the dinosaur has turned its toothy grin away from traffic.
But on most weekends, a sign on Route 9 directs traffic down Oak Lane toward a little-known free, fun activity.
The Tuckerton Railroad and Steamship Co. has been running a ride-able model train loop in Bass River’s “Woods of New Gretna Park” for six years now, giving rides to all who stop by, only asking for a small donation. Local schoolchildren know about it because the Bass River Elementary School students get a ride on the “Polar Express” around Christmas time and have a chance to enjoy a yearly “Pumpkin Run,” where they get a scavenger hunt and a ride.
The TR&SC members have been promoting live steam model railroading throughout Southern Ocean and eastern Burlington counties for about nine years now; the park has been their home for six years.    
Tim Lovingham, president of the nonprofit Jersey Shore Live Steam Inc., said it’s been a bit of an uphill climb for the 20 or so hard-core members dedicated to 1½ inch scale model railroading. Just a year ago they thought they might have to pack it in, but then came good news: The Burlington County freeholders awarded the park a $75,000 grant that has rocketed the group into the second phase of building the park. Now the TRS&C is able to run electricity to the park, dig a well, and put in septic for a soon-to-be-built restroom. Ten thousand dollars of the grant is earmarked for signage.
“The signs will be three-fold,” said Lovingham. “First they will give a history of the 15 Tuckerton Railroad stations; second, they will have a history of New Gretna; and third, they will inform about the environmental importance of the forest. There are Native American Indian artifacts, and indigenous plants and animals. Did you know there are 40 different types of mushrooms on the site? 
“We’ve just renewed our five year lease (with the township), and it’s wonderful that we’re being taken seriously enough to apply for and get grants,” said Lovingham.
The 65-acre wooded park itself is open daily for walking, trail bike riding and soon, horseback riding on the 20,000 feet of trails. 
“Township leaders, Mayor Debbie Cope and (former deputy mayor) Rich Bethea and (former) Councilman Gary Smith were instrumental in getting us the grant,” said Lovingham.
The nonprofit group, with help from Eagle Scout Troop 1, local Boy Scout troops and West Point cadets, has worked hard to clear trails and has completed a 350-foot loop of track for the train to wind through the oak and laurel forest. Part of the grant helped pay for Greenwood and Adams Tree Service to groom the trails and cut 50 dead trees from the grounds.
Recent additions include a small Tuckerton Railroad station that had been used as a shed in someone’s back yard. “I think it was in Ship Bottom and was moved to Tuckerton. A Little Egg Harbor police officer donated it to us.” The barrel-type arched roof marks it as railroad-type construction built to resemble a train’s caboose.  Lovingham has installed a pot-bellied stove in the station, which now serves as the office. “(Member) Brett Kaplan donated 10 tons of coal that had been sitting in his Absecon basement; it’s 50-year-old coal.”
On Sunday, three other members of the group were on hand to assist Lovingham in maintaining the ride. Boiler specialist Pete Fiore drove all the way from Old Bridge and was busy testing the pea-size coal in the engine’s boiler. Vice President Vinnie Lutz came from Carteret, and Frank Amerman drove from East Hampton; both men don’t mind the drive, they said. As Fiore stoked the boiler, steam rose from the 1½-inch scale model “Baldwin” engine, and to any model railroader, it was a thing of beauty.
“Our motto is if it’s not fun, don’t do it,” said Lutz.
The TRS&C owns two other trains; one runs on gasoline and the other on electricity. On Sunday, the electric battery-run Tuckerton Railroad was in service for the 15-minute ride around the tracks. It can hold up to 20 people, adults and children, and although it can move along at 30 mph, 5 mph is the norm for park rides.
Before anyone takes a ride, the Tuckerton Railroad and Steamship Co. will ask people to sign up as members for the day as this helps maintain the group’s nonprofit status. “We’re not an amusement ride,” said Lovingham. “What makes us a historical museum is that we are re-creating the Tuckerton Railroad in small scale. Eventually we hope to have all 15 stations as stops on the bigger loop; 3,000 feet of track is planned.”
The next big event is a first-ever Haunted Halloween run through the forest. On Monday, Lovingham got word from New Gretna Volunteer Fire Co. Chief Tom Wetmore that members had voted to assist in that endeavor. “We had $2,000 worth of Halloween decorations given to us.” Lovingham also plans a milder Halloween Run for autistic children. These events, as well as a Christmas Run through a decorated park, will be announced as plans unfold.
“Our point is you don’t have to go to a Hershey Park or Stroudsburg, Pa., to see a steam engine; we have it right here on a smaller scale,” said Lovingham.
To join the TRS&C, volunteer or for more information, call 609-234-6218 or visit jerseyshorelivesteam.org.

VA: K.G. man seeks museum for model train

From the News Desk:  K.G. man seeks museum for model train

When Dira Stout Jr. looks at the locomotive models his father made—without blueprints, plans or instructions of any kind—he marvels at the man’s ability to re-create such intricate details from memory.

His father, the late Dira S. Stout, had been working on the railroad for most of his livelong days. He tinkered with steam-powered locomotives that carried logs down from the mountain, as well as diesel engines that hauled the heavy guns used on warships.

“He was fascinated by trains,” his son said. “It was like he was born in another world.”
The elder Stout worked in the West Virginia lumber town of Nallen during World War I and moved to the Navy base at Dahlgren at the beginning of World War II.

He even held a patent for a piece that’s part of a crankshaft of a steam engine.

Stout died in 1988 at the age of 94. His wife, Winnie, lived to be 96, and the two of them were married for 73 years.

As the younger Stout ponders his own mortality, he wants to find a proper place for the train model his father built from scratch.

“I’m getting quite old, I’m 86 now, and I’m running out of time,” said Stout, who lives near Dahlgren in King George County. “I’d like to get this in a museum. I think it’s a real piece of art.”

Stout’s brother, Robert, who lives in Fredericksburg and has a smaller locomotive made by their father, also would like to see his model on display.

Dira Stout spent his career in some of the same machine shops at Dahlgren where his father worked. He’s amazed that his dad could put together a working model, down to the pistons and rods.

“My father had a fifth-grade education,” all that was available after his parents died, Stout said. “I often wonder what he could have done, had he had a formal education.”

The elder Stout started as a timber cutter and eventually became an engineer on small locomotives that pulled log cars to the mills. There were a lot of wrecks on the rickety tracks.

“He liked to work on the trains better than he did run them, so he worked in the machine shop,” his son said.
When Dira Senior started re-creating the two miniature engines, he brought scraps of aluminum and lead home and melted them—on the kitchen stove—then made them into wheels.

He named the one Dira Junior has, which sits atop a shelf in the living room, the “999 D&W Special.” It probably hauled coal or passengers, not logs.

Stout doesn’t know whether “D&W” refers to his parents, Dira and Winnie, or the railroads his dad worked on, Dahlgren and Wilderness.

He didn’t know details of the patent his father held, either—or that his dad even filed one on July 6, 1918—until his daughter happened to do an online search of the name “Dira Stout.”

“You’d think I would have talked to my dad about it,” Stout said. “If I had to do it over again, there are so many questions I would have asked.”

 

Railways drops live TV, Net plan for Shatabdis

From the Financial Express:  Railways drops live TV, Net plan for Shatabdis

New Delhi: The Indian Railways has dropped its ambitious plan of providing live TV service and Internet on Shatabdi trains after it failed to get any response from private players. Last year, the railways had come up with the plan of installing seven-inch LCD screens in Delhi-bound Shatabdi trains on a PPP model and had invited bids.
“The idea was to provide free of cost value-added service to Shatabdi passengers and allow service providers to air advertisement and share a part of the ad revenue with the railways,” said a senior official.
“The railways had planned to provide this service on all Delhi-bound Shatabdi trains by the end of last fiscal year, but wasn’t able to do so because of technical delays. The railways conducted a trial run in Kalka Shatabdi before deciding to introduce it in other trains.”
“There were no technical delays but the contractor didn’t find the project viable as 20% airtime

 

Train enthusiasts enjoy U.P's No. 844 Locomotive

From KOTA:  Train enthusiasts enjoy U.P's No. 844 Locomotive

 Dozens of train enthusiasts flocked to Gering to see the last steam locomotive Union Pacific built.

The legendary No. 844 is touring the nation as part of U.P's 150th Anniversary.

Many people came out Thursday afternoon to the Gering rail yard to see the massive steam engine in person.
Sandra Ayala says she brought her three boys out because they love playing with model trains.

She says having them see the real deal would be a truly unique experience for them.

"They've been excited about seeing the steam roller, so it was very exciting and brought them out here."

The locomotive left town this morning, and is heading east toward the Nebraska State Fair.