Air Cargo Asian Pacific: Air-train model under test
A California, USA group has developed an air-propelled train - currently in model form - that it hopes will change the face of high-speed rail.
Max Schlienger, the owner of Flight Rail Corporation, says its Vectorr model uses vacuum pressure to push magnets through a tube below the train. Because the train also has magnets, it moves as well and at very high speeds due to a lack of friction.
Wheels grip the track at a 45-degree angle to make sure it does not derail. Compared to traditional rail stock that struggles with inclines of more than three degrees, Vectorr is claimed to be able to climb a 10 per cent gradient. Schlienger also said the Vectorr is environmentally sensitive.
"We think these trains could be as green as any trains running," he said, adding that Vectorr would be ideal for inter-city use, such as for shuttles or light freight, and would not need electrical wires connected to it.
Many types of power could be used to power the vacuum tubes, such as electricity, solar or wind, and the power stations could be placed 50 miles apart.
The group now seeks funds to build a full-scale test model of the Vectorr.
The current model is 1/6th scale.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Train op eds: U.S. rail boosters are missing the bus
From Boston Herald (an op ed piece): U.S. rail boosters are missing the bus
Not long ago, I wrote about how the private sector outraces and laps government. While governments dither and dispute, the private sector discovers.
Now across my laptop comes news of another area in which private sector actors have overtaken government. Again an older technology has been improved and adapted to fill a need, while government dithers. The old technology in this case is buses.
While the Obama administration has been desperately seeking to spend $53 billion on so-called high-speed rail lines, private businessmen have developed Chinatown and Megabus lines that provide intercity service that has attracted legions of price-conscious travelers.
Chinatown bus service (they go by several names) started in 1998 to provide a cheap way for Asian immigrants to get from New York to Boston. You lined up at the curb, paid your $20 fare to the driver and settled into a comfortable bus for four hours or so.
Now there’s service to multiple destinations (including gambling casinos) from New York and on the West Coast, too. And competitors have arisen. Megabus routes exist between Maine and Memphis and Minneapolis, notably including many college towns.
The buses have bathrooms, AC power outlets and free wi-fi. They’re not as fast as the much more expensive Acela train, but they tend to run on schedule.
Chinatown and Megabus operators opted for a model that works for travelers for whom money is scarce and time plentiful. Who needs a station? Intercity buses can occupy curb space briefly just as city buses do. Who needs multiple stops? You can make money on people who want to go from one specific location to another.
Needless to say, the cost to the taxpaying public is minimal.
Private bus operators have effectively taken a 100-year-old technology, the bus, and adapted it seamlessly to the 21st century.
Compare high-speed rail. It is tethered to enormous stations that must be built or refurbished and limited to particular routes that, once the rails are laid down, cannot be changed except at prohibitive expense.
And it is enormously costly. In just two years, the estimated cost of the Obama administration’s pet project, California high-speed rail, in the “flatter than Kansas” Central Valley has risen from $7.1 billion to $13.9 billion.
Operating costs almost always end up higher than fares. And fares always turn out to be expensive, comparable to airfare if you book a popular flight the day before your trip.
So high-speed rail is a form of transportation on which government subsidizes business travelers. You don’t see backpackers anymore on the Acela or Amtrak trains from Washington to New York. They’re taking the Chinatown bus or one of its competitors.
Finally, most of the high-speed rail lines the Obama administration is touting are a whole lot slower than France’s TGV or Japan’s bullet train.
So the private sector provides cheap intercity transportation while government struggles to waste $53 billion. Please remind me which is the wave of the future.
Author Michael Barone is senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner.
Not long ago, I wrote about how the private sector outraces and laps government. While governments dither and dispute, the private sector discovers.
Now across my laptop comes news of another area in which private sector actors have overtaken government. Again an older technology has been improved and adapted to fill a need, while government dithers. The old technology in this case is buses.
While the Obama administration has been desperately seeking to spend $53 billion on so-called high-speed rail lines, private businessmen have developed Chinatown and Megabus lines that provide intercity service that has attracted legions of price-conscious travelers.
Chinatown bus service (they go by several names) started in 1998 to provide a cheap way for Asian immigrants to get from New York to Boston. You lined up at the curb, paid your $20 fare to the driver and settled into a comfortable bus for four hours or so.
Now there’s service to multiple destinations (including gambling casinos) from New York and on the West Coast, too. And competitors have arisen. Megabus routes exist between Maine and Memphis and Minneapolis, notably including many college towns.
The buses have bathrooms, AC power outlets and free wi-fi. They’re not as fast as the much more expensive Acela train, but they tend to run on schedule.
Chinatown and Megabus operators opted for a model that works for travelers for whom money is scarce and time plentiful. Who needs a station? Intercity buses can occupy curb space briefly just as city buses do. Who needs multiple stops? You can make money on people who want to go from one specific location to another.
Needless to say, the cost to the taxpaying public is minimal.
Private bus operators have effectively taken a 100-year-old technology, the bus, and adapted it seamlessly to the 21st century.
Compare high-speed rail. It is tethered to enormous stations that must be built or refurbished and limited to particular routes that, once the rails are laid down, cannot be changed except at prohibitive expense.
And it is enormously costly. In just two years, the estimated cost of the Obama administration’s pet project, California high-speed rail, in the “flatter than Kansas” Central Valley has risen from $7.1 billion to $13.9 billion.
Operating costs almost always end up higher than fares. And fares always turn out to be expensive, comparable to airfare if you book a popular flight the day before your trip.
So high-speed rail is a form of transportation on which government subsidizes business travelers. You don’t see backpackers anymore on the Acela or Amtrak trains from Washington to New York. They’re taking the Chinatown bus or one of its competitors.
Finally, most of the high-speed rail lines the Obama administration is touting are a whole lot slower than France’s TGV or Japan’s bullet train.
So the private sector provides cheap intercity transportation while government struggles to waste $53 billion. Please remind me which is the wave of the future.
Author Michael Barone is senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Train News: For the C Train’s Rickety and Rackety Cars, Retirement Will Have to Wait
From New York Times: For the C Train’s Rickety and Rackety Cars, Retirement Will Have to Wait
There is the telltale wheeze, then an ominous rattle. And then the C train, that least loved of New York City subway lines, rumbles sadly into the station, its faded tin-can siding a dreary reminder to passengers of an earlier subterranean era.
The cars on the C line are not only the oldest in the New York subway: They also rank among the oldest city subway trains still in regular operation anywhere in the world. And they are not leaving anytime soon.
Like an employer pushing back a valued worker’s retirement, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has responded to budget problems by extending the lives of the C cars, known by their model number as R32s. The cars will now run through at least 2017, when they will be 53 years old, well past the tenure envisioned upon their gleaming debut during the Johnson administration in 1964.
To be sure, there is Buenos Aires, with its fleet of 100-year-old wooden subway cars still rattling on. (Local preservation groups have held up plans for replacements.) And the London tube has its creaky Metropolitan Line, whose 51-year-old trains are just now being replaced.
But many major metro systems, including those in Boston and Paris, have phased out most of their elderly trains, leaving New York at the forefront of the subway senior citizens club.
In a modern city that prides itself on Bloombergian efficiency, the C is a throwback, said Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer at the Straphangers’ Campaign, the riders’ group. “It is a grim reminder of what the past looked like.”
Some riders relish the retro feel of the R32, its dim taupe interiors, old-fashioned roll signs, and an unusual front window that allows an unobstructed view of the track.
Time, however, has taken a toll. This week, the Straphangers’ Campaign released its rankings of the city’s subway lines, and for the third year in a row, the C ranked dead last.
The survey found that C trains break down three times as often as the average subway car, arrive only once every 10 minutes at peak periods, and have the least understandable announcements in the system.
It can be hard to imagine that when the trains were introduced in September 1964, in a ceremony at Grand Central Terminal complete with a 20-piece marching band, the R32s carried the optimistic nickname “Brightliners” and were heralded as the most technologically advanced trains yet seen in the New York City subway.
“The cars, which gleam of steel on the outside, are finished in shades of blue inside,” according to a contemporary report in The New York Times. “Contoured fiberglass seats are arranged along the sides.”
The Brightliners, manufactured by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, were the first subway cars in New York to be made of stainless steel, and they are often cited for their superior durability and craftsmanship, according to James Greller, a subway historian who has written widely on the topic.
In fact, the R32s have outlasted some of their younger brethren. Five other classes of subway cars built between 1964 and 1973 have been retired by the transportation authority, in some cases due to structural defects. One type of train, built around the same time as the R32, can still be found in Queens — as a mounted museum display outside of Borough Hall.
Subway officials had intended to replace the R32s a few years ago with the stylish new R160s, those sleek trains with the digital displays that now ply the E, F, M and other lettered lines. But another type of train, this one from the 1970s, began breaking down and had to be retired first.
New York City Transit will spend about $24 million to refurbish the R32s for their extended careers. (The cars already underwent a major overhaul in the late 1980s.)
A subway spokesman, Jeremy Soffin, said the extension was the most cost-efficient way to provide reliable service at a time when transit financing is scarce. “We’re stretching the dollars we have,” he said, adding that, ideally, the agency could provide every customer with the digital amenities that come standard in the newer fleet.
“The financial situation has forced our hand a little bit,” Mr. Soffin said. “We’re not able to do exactly what we’d like to do.”
Special measures must be taken to keep the R32s in adequate shape. This summer, about half of the cars were switched onto the A line as a way to lessen the demands on overtaxed air-conditioning units. (The C runs entirely underground in stifling conditions, while the A has a long outdoor run in Queens that provides natural cooling.) The cars are expected to return to the C line after Labor Day.
On a Brooklyn-bound R32 on Thursday, stone-faced passengers watched a fly buzz around walls that resembled the color of curdled milk. “It’s loud, it’s bad,” Ron Goldbrenner, 69, said of the C, which he has ridden since he was a child growing up in Washington Heights. In that time, he said, the cars had changed little: “It’s much more the same than different.”
Opinion was not always so negative on the R32s. Mr. Greller, the historian, said that when they made their debut, the shiny Brightliners were warmly welcomed by riders accustomed to ugly, drab subway cars. Stainless steel, at the time, was a well-received novelty.
“People were impressed,” he said, citing the original robin’s-egg blue interior and aquamarine seats. “Rail fans love the R32s. They are very pleased they are not going to replace them.”
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Model Railroad Club keeps chugging along
From BlueRidgeNow.com: Model Railroad Club keeps chugging along
Three little girls raced around a model railroad layout Friday night at the Historic Train Depot on Seventh Avenue. They were each following a train as it chugged around the tracks, vanishing into tunnels and reappearing in different rooms.
Junior Engineer's Program
Krista Newman traveled two hours from Rock Hill, S.C., to bring her kids to the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club that night. The club offers the Junior Engineer program on the third Friday of every month, and Newman's second-youngest daughter, 9-year-old Dorothy, wanted to come for her birthday.
“We like it up here,” Newman said. “They get to do something they enjoy.”
Dorothy's favorite part? “Everything.”
The program, started about a year and a half ago by Apple Valley member Brian Tucker, helps young model railroad enthusiasts learn about the hobby. The kids participate in an operating session, where they run the model trains on schedules similar to those of real trains.
The kids are able to learn what they want, Tucker explained.
“We leave it up to their imagination,” he added. “Some want to see how many cars their locomotive will pull.”
The model railroad club has about 50 members, along with 16 junior engineers. Club members limit the number of junior engineers to eight to 10 per Friday session to give them a better opportunity to learn.
“I joined Apple Valley about four-and-a-half years ago, and I noticed there were a lot of the same kids coming in,” Tucker said. Some of the kids had their own model railroad layouts, while others were looking for a place to learn.
“A lot of the members are retired,” Tucker said. “There's a lot of talent — each one of them in their own way.”
His daughter, 15-year-old Morgan Tucker, also participated last Friday.
“I've been coming here for a few years, ever since my dad started it,” she said. “I just have a huge interest in trains and all the history that comes with it.”
“The kids, a lot of them, came with a lot of knowledge,” Brian Tucker said. “A lot of them work together.”
He added that it's interesting to watch as the parents get involved with the children. When the program first started, the parents would segregate themselves. Yet by the end of the night, “every one of them was involved with their son or daughter,” Brian Tucker said.
The program is by invitation only. The model railroad display is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. During the Apple Festival, the display will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with a locomotive from Operation Lifesaver that people can explore.
For more information, visit www.avmrc.com.
Three little girls raced around a model railroad layout Friday night at the Historic Train Depot on Seventh Avenue. They were each following a train as it chugged around the tracks, vanishing into tunnels and reappearing in different rooms.
Junior Engineer's Program
Krista Newman traveled two hours from Rock Hill, S.C., to bring her kids to the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club that night. The club offers the Junior Engineer program on the third Friday of every month, and Newman's second-youngest daughter, 9-year-old Dorothy, wanted to come for her birthday.
“We like it up here,” Newman said. “They get to do something they enjoy.”
Dorothy's favorite part? “Everything.”
The program, started about a year and a half ago by Apple Valley member Brian Tucker, helps young model railroad enthusiasts learn about the hobby. The kids participate in an operating session, where they run the model trains on schedules similar to those of real trains.
The kids are able to learn what they want, Tucker explained.
“We leave it up to their imagination,” he added. “Some want to see how many cars their locomotive will pull.”
The model railroad club has about 50 members, along with 16 junior engineers. Club members limit the number of junior engineers to eight to 10 per Friday session to give them a better opportunity to learn.
“I joined Apple Valley about four-and-a-half years ago, and I noticed there were a lot of the same kids coming in,” Tucker said. Some of the kids had their own model railroad layouts, while others were looking for a place to learn.
“A lot of the members are retired,” Tucker said. “There's a lot of talent — each one of them in their own way.”
His daughter, 15-year-old Morgan Tucker, also participated last Friday.
“I've been coming here for a few years, ever since my dad started it,” she said. “I just have a huge interest in trains and all the history that comes with it.”
“The kids, a lot of them, came with a lot of knowledge,” Brian Tucker said. “A lot of them work together.”
He added that it's interesting to watch as the parents get involved with the children. When the program first started, the parents would segregate themselves. Yet by the end of the night, “every one of them was involved with their son or daughter,” Brian Tucker said.
The program is by invitation only. The model railroad display is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. During the Apple Festival, the display will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with a locomotive from Operation Lifesaver that people can explore.
For more information, visit www.avmrc.com.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Two-day Train Expo at Lake Miona Recreation Center draws hundreds of children of all ages
From The Villages Sun: Two-day Train Expo at Lake Miona Recreation Center draws hundreds of children of all ages
By KATIE BACKMAN, DAILY SUN The Villages Daily Sun
THE VILLAGES — Three-year-old Luke Ring sat on his father’s shoulders Sunday afternoon as he pointed to the model trains buzzing around the tracks at Lake Miona Recreation Center.
Luke, his brother, Jack Ring, their father, Michael Ring, along with Michael’s mother, Mary Ring of the Village of Orange Blossom Gardens, wandered throughout the recreation center looking at all the displays and vendor booths.
But the Rings’ visit to the third annual Train Expo wouldn’t be complete without the young boys walking away with some new toys.
Luke opened his train engine, coal car and red caboose at a table in the recreation center’s lobby. Once the train was connected, Luke pulled the train engine around the table while saying “choo-choo.”
“My brother really likes Thomas the Train,”
5-year-old Jack said. “I like seeing all the trains, too.
I think it’s fun.”
The Rings were among the hundreds of people who crowded into the recreation center during the two-day Train Expo.
Al Goldberg, president of The Villages Railroad Historical Society which points on the event, said Saturday brought in 739 people and Sunday’s crowd was steady, too.
The slower economy has effected the model train hobby, but the show in The Villages has had one of the better turnouts in the area, Goldberg said. He said the 34 vendors on hand were pleased with the turnout and all expressed interest in participating in next year’s expo.
He said he was pleased to see many of the residents brought their grandkids, too.
“If kids get hooked on model trains when they’re young it will stick with them for life,” Goldberg said. “They might not be as interested in high school or college, but they will gain it as a hobby later on in life again.”
Michael said everyone in the family likes trains, and especially watching models trains. He said he remembered playing with trains when he was younger, especially around Christmastime, and his sons have those memories, too.
Michael’s said his children mostly associate model trains with Thomas the Train, the fictional steam locomotive character. But for him, he mostly thinks of the Lionel trains of his youth.
Mary wanted to bring her grandsons to the event because she knew they would enjoy seeing the trains.
“I love seeing my grandsons and I’m glad this is here in
The Villages for us to see while they’re here,” Mary said. “We like seeing all the collectibles, but we really look forward to the Christmas train show.”
By KATIE BACKMAN, DAILY SUN The Villages Daily Sun
THE VILLAGES — Three-year-old Luke Ring sat on his father’s shoulders Sunday afternoon as he pointed to the model trains buzzing around the tracks at Lake Miona Recreation Center.
Luke, his brother, Jack Ring, their father, Michael Ring, along with Michael’s mother, Mary Ring of the Village of Orange Blossom Gardens, wandered throughout the recreation center looking at all the displays and vendor booths.
But the Rings’ visit to the third annual Train Expo wouldn’t be complete without the young boys walking away with some new toys.
Luke opened his train engine, coal car and red caboose at a table in the recreation center’s lobby. Once the train was connected, Luke pulled the train engine around the table while saying “choo-choo.”
“My brother really likes Thomas the Train,”
5-year-old Jack said. “I like seeing all the trains, too.
I think it’s fun.”
The Rings were among the hundreds of people who crowded into the recreation center during the two-day Train Expo.
Al Goldberg, president of The Villages Railroad Historical Society which points on the event, said Saturday brought in 739 people and Sunday’s crowd was steady, too.
The slower economy has effected the model train hobby, but the show in The Villages has had one of the better turnouts in the area, Goldberg said. He said the 34 vendors on hand were pleased with the turnout and all expressed interest in participating in next year’s expo.
He said he was pleased to see many of the residents brought their grandkids, too.
“If kids get hooked on model trains when they’re young it will stick with them for life,” Goldberg said. “They might not be as interested in high school or college, but they will gain it as a hobby later on in life again.”
Michael said everyone in the family likes trains, and especially watching models trains. He said he remembered playing with trains when he was younger, especially around Christmastime, and his sons have those memories, too.
Michael’s said his children mostly associate model trains with Thomas the Train, the fictional steam locomotive character. But for him, he mostly thinks of the Lionel trains of his youth.
Mary wanted to bring her grandsons to the event because she knew they would enjoy seeing the trains.
“I love seeing my grandsons and I’m glad this is here in
The Villages for us to see while they’re here,” Mary said. “We like seeing all the collectibles, but we really look forward to the Christmas train show.”
Friday, August 19, 2011
Tiny trains, big fun
From Our Tri Lakes News.com: Tiny trains, big fun
Members of the Pikes Peak “N” Gineers Model Railroad Club get around just about as much as the trains they model. They go on field trips to train-related attractions, take rides on “real” trains and, about once a month, put on a model railroad show somewhere around the state.
Most recently the club could be seen at the Rocky Mountain Chautauqua Assembly in Palmer Lake.
Their passion, model railroads, come in a variety of sizes. N-scale trains, for instance, have 9 mm between the rails. The club was formed by about 60 N-scale, model-train enthusiasts in 1989 and has recently opened a small facility in Colorado Springs.
Over the years they’ve moved around quite a bit but they’ve kept their Monument mailing address. Members live all over the Front Range from Woodmoor to Fountain and some members live in California, Tennessee and even Germany.
“When we formed the club there wasn’t a Z-scale, which is about half the size of N-scale, but there were a lot of larger scales,” said club charter member and superintendent Mike Peck. “There is the HO-scale, about 18-20 mm between the rails, the O-standard scale and the G-scale, also called Garden Scale — you’d need a lot of outdoor space for that one.”
Club member Lester Coburn said the N-scale locomotives have Digital Command Control chips inside them that control lights and sounds and allow two model trains to run on the same tracks at the same time.
“N-scale is standard around the world,” he added. “If I take my trains to Australia, I can run them there with no modifications.”
The club’s model railroad layout is housed at 32 S. Sierra Madre St. in Colorado Springs, in the old Denver & Rio Grande Western depot. That’s where club members come to work on the models. The train yard module, where all the electronics are located as well as the drawbridge — which opens to let people inside the layout — are owned by the club. The rest of the modules on site are built by club members. Some of these are modeled after actual places, such as the Moffat Tunnel, a 6-mile long tunnel through James Peak that was originally built for the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railroad.
As might be expected of a charter member, Peck’s association with trains and modeling started early. He was introduced to the hobby by his father as a boy.
“He and his brother used to go down to the Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek (District) railroad tracks and measure the cars,” he said. “Then they would come home and build models to scale from scraps.”
One of the first models Peck and his father worked on was a flat car.
“I thought I could finish it in one day but he made me take five,” Peck said. “He wanted me to be meticulous but that took me awhile.”
Most modelers don’t make their own cars because they can be bought ready to run.
“Railroad modeling isn’t just about the trains,” Peck said. “It’s about making everything look as real as possible.”
That’s why the club offers monthly scenery clinics for its members. They learn the tricks behind making realistic trees, rocks, grass and water, for example.
Peck’s wife, Mary, also a club member, specializes in painting backdrops. “We’re all artists in one way or another,” she said.
When the club has a show, the traveling layout comes out of storage.
“If we have a lot of helpers we can set it up in about an hour and a half,” Peck said. “It typically takes about 40 minutes to tear down no matter how many helpers we have because we don’t have to level everything and make sure all the couplings work.”
When they have a two- or three-day show, they get out the layout they received from actor Gary Coleman a few years ago, Peck said.
For more information about the club, including dues information and an events calendar, visit www.ppngineers.org or call 719-550-1780.
Members of the Pikes Peak “N” Gineers Model Railroad Club get around just about as much as the trains they model. They go on field trips to train-related attractions, take rides on “real” trains and, about once a month, put on a model railroad show somewhere around the state.
Most recently the club could be seen at the Rocky Mountain Chautauqua Assembly in Palmer Lake.
Their passion, model railroads, come in a variety of sizes. N-scale trains, for instance, have 9 mm between the rails. The club was formed by about 60 N-scale, model-train enthusiasts in 1989 and has recently opened a small facility in Colorado Springs.
Over the years they’ve moved around quite a bit but they’ve kept their Monument mailing address. Members live all over the Front Range from Woodmoor to Fountain and some members live in California, Tennessee and even Germany.
“When we formed the club there wasn’t a Z-scale, which is about half the size of N-scale, but there were a lot of larger scales,” said club charter member and superintendent Mike Peck. “There is the HO-scale, about 18-20 mm between the rails, the O-standard scale and the G-scale, also called Garden Scale — you’d need a lot of outdoor space for that one.”
Club member Lester Coburn said the N-scale locomotives have Digital Command Control chips inside them that control lights and sounds and allow two model trains to run on the same tracks at the same time.
“N-scale is standard around the world,” he added. “If I take my trains to Australia, I can run them there with no modifications.”
The club’s model railroad layout is housed at 32 S. Sierra Madre St. in Colorado Springs, in the old Denver & Rio Grande Western depot. That’s where club members come to work on the models. The train yard module, where all the electronics are located as well as the drawbridge — which opens to let people inside the layout — are owned by the club. The rest of the modules on site are built by club members. Some of these are modeled after actual places, such as the Moffat Tunnel, a 6-mile long tunnel through James Peak that was originally built for the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railroad.
As might be expected of a charter member, Peck’s association with trains and modeling started early. He was introduced to the hobby by his father as a boy.
“He and his brother used to go down to the Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek (District) railroad tracks and measure the cars,” he said. “Then they would come home and build models to scale from scraps.”
One of the first models Peck and his father worked on was a flat car.
“I thought I could finish it in one day but he made me take five,” Peck said. “He wanted me to be meticulous but that took me awhile.”
Most modelers don’t make their own cars because they can be bought ready to run.
“Railroad modeling isn’t just about the trains,” Peck said. “It’s about making everything look as real as possible.”
That’s why the club offers monthly scenery clinics for its members. They learn the tricks behind making realistic trees, rocks, grass and water, for example.
Peck’s wife, Mary, also a club member, specializes in painting backdrops. “We’re all artists in one way or another,” she said.
When the club has a show, the traveling layout comes out of storage.
“If we have a lot of helpers we can set it up in about an hour and a half,” Peck said. “It typically takes about 40 minutes to tear down no matter how many helpers we have because we don’t have to level everything and make sure all the couplings work.”
When they have a two- or three-day show, they get out the layout they received from actor Gary Coleman a few years ago, Peck said.
For more information about the club, including dues information and an events calendar, visit www.ppngineers.org or call 719-550-1780.
San Ramon, CA: Toonerville Trolley and model trains truck out of town
From San Ramon Express: Toonerville Trolley and model trains truck out of town
San Ramon residents have one final week to catch a train before it goes chooglin' into the sunset.
The Toonerville Trolley and Model Trains exhibit at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley will close on Sunday, Aug. 21 to make way for an exhibit on quilting. The exhibit features photos of the Toonerville Trolley, which traveled along Hartz Avenue as part of the Oaland, Antioch and Eastern Railway, as well as 50 feet of model train track.
The model trains belong to members of the San Francisco Bay chapter of European Train Enthusiasts. While the Danville train is not among the models on display, member Steve Imiaek said the group's trains run on a centenary similar to the one Toonerville used.
While the Danville Branch Line lasted only a decade -- the Valley could not support a trolley line once the county road to Walnut Creek was paved in 1920 -- it remains an important part of local history. Don't miss the soap opera tales of a job-ending hold op, open umbrellas inside the train car or a rivalry between the conductor and engineer.
The museum is located at the intersection of Railroad and Prospect avenues and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. till 1 p.m.
San Ramon residents have one final week to catch a train before it goes chooglin' into the sunset.
The Toonerville Trolley and Model Trains exhibit at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley will close on Sunday, Aug. 21 to make way for an exhibit on quilting. The exhibit features photos of the Toonerville Trolley, which traveled along Hartz Avenue as part of the Oaland, Antioch and Eastern Railway, as well as 50 feet of model train track.
The model trains belong to members of the San Francisco Bay chapter of European Train Enthusiasts. While the Danville train is not among the models on display, member Steve Imiaek said the group's trains run on a centenary similar to the one Toonerville used.
While the Danville Branch Line lasted only a decade -- the Valley could not support a trolley line once the county road to Walnut Creek was paved in 1920 -- it remains an important part of local history. Don't miss the soap opera tales of a job-ending hold op, open umbrellas inside the train car or a rivalry between the conductor and engineer.
The museum is located at the intersection of Railroad and Prospect avenues and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. till 1 p.m.
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