The Passing Track
April 2009 Newsletter of the
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Train
Service from
On Saturday, April 11, the
P&E Director’s Special made history by riding the
rails from Medford to Klamath Falls--the first train ever--a historical and
momentous event observed and captured by a number of railfans,
pillars of the community, local politicians, and a strong showing of the
P&E Board of Directors! Due to last
minute preparations, an exuberant press corps, and winded speeches by
celebrities and P&E personnel, the Director’s
Special left Crater Yard at 2:45 p.m, stopped at
Butte Falls not even a half hour later, and arrived in Kamath
Falls later that afternoon with additional fanfare. The P&E construction gangs worked with
unflappable diligence and fervor to create the final phase of the line in about
90 days!
Preparations
for the benchwork of the final phase of the permanent
layout began on about January 8. On
April 11, the historic journey was made.
An incredible amount of work was done by a core group of members
including Dave Spakousky, Larry Tuttle, Jay Mudge, Carlos Furcal,
E. Don, Ed Kleinman, Wil Cleveland, Dick Stark, and Brad Fawcett. Without the strong effort on behalf of those
dedicated club members and with a little help from a number of others, the
public would simply be peering into an assemblage of wood and wires and little else. The Club opened to the public for 2009 on
Easter Sunday, April 12, and ran the layout portion without any issues related
to the track and power (though there were some operator errors and some issues
related to rolling stock).
At the
April Board of Directors meeting, Dave Spakousky gave heartfelt thanks to all
members who have contributed to the final phase noting especially the
exceptional quality of the work. It was Dave’s vision that created the sketches that was to become
the permanent layout. Dave noted that
all of you who have suggested the various changes over the years that were
incorporated into the final design made the layout exceed his
expectations. (While the reader may
not have been there, I observed that Dave was very proud of the resultant
effort not only for the recent addition of Phase 2, but for the entire buildout of the permanent layout, and his thanks to the
club members was deep and heartfelt—ed.).
When asked
if we learned anything about the work to date on the final phase, Jay Mudge
reported that we should have done the first phase like the second, to which he
received an eruption of laughter (hindsight makes a genius out of each of us—ed.). Dave
Spakousky believes, except for the
Above: Railfans vie for turf to capture the Director’s
Special on its historic journey to
Below: The
P&E Special heading downhill from the Cascade Crest toward
April Board
Meeting Notes
The Board meeting on April 8 was called to order at
Dave Carr, Jim Dougall and Bruce McGarvey each contributed maintenance
work to the building. Larry Tuttle
acquired replacement bulbs for under the layout’s
second level. A number of these had
begun to burn out. The Board voted to
renew the annual service contract on the inspection and maintenance of the
heating/cooling system, which was installed new last year.
Being there were no takers on the recently acquired back issues of
Model Railroader, Jim Dougall reported the timely demise of these magazines in
recycling heaven.
The April General Membership Meeting will feature both DCC basics and
some advanced instruction in setting and changing default codes.
To make loading/off loading modules easier, John Gerritsma suggested
the club pour a concrete pad between the back of the clubhouse and the
shed. Dave Spakousky suggested the
effort include a ramp into the shed. No
discussion or further action was taken at this time.
The Board approved the acquisition of a new club website, which will
house an electronic version of the Passing Track. While the expectation is that most
members will be able to read online or download the Passing
Track, those who cannot do so will
continue to receive a hard copy. The
website gives the Club much more flexibility and expansion opportunity to put a
lot of material online and available to everyone. The proposal also includes a section that
only Club members can access. Larry
Tuttle is taking charge of the effort and is interested to hear from anyone who
would like to learn how to create and upload web pages.
There is a proposal being discussed to open the Park this year on July
3 and 4. Input is being sought from the
fire department as to availability of their parking area.
This year’s railroad show was held March 13-15, and about a half
dozen of the RVMRC members helped make the event another successful one. Approximately 500 persons attended the show
at the Museum, which holds this popular annual event at its
Bruce
McGarvey answering questions at the
A Klamath
Rails member aligning rolling stock on their club modular layout
May 31
Invitation for Ops Session in
The Lane Society of Model Railroaders are
inviting members of the RVMRC to a joint DCC operating session on Sunday, May
31 beginning approximately at
SP Fans
Take Note
Doug Howard has his SP loco items for sale. All are new in box, never run, except as noted.
Contact Doug directly by email if interested in purchasing (hdouglas.doug@gmail.com).
Diesel Locos, Black Widow Era:
a. Athearn
"Blue Box" SP #5600 GP-9 body $10 USED
b. Athearn
" " SP #5459
SD-9/7, no box $25 USED
e. Bowser BLW AS-616 SP #5205 $90
f.
Bowser BLW AS-616 SP #5207 $90
g. Bowser GE U-25B SP #6800 BiCentennial $125
h. Lifelike Proto 2000 Alco PA
Daylight #6005 $75
Diesel Locos, Bloody Nose Era
a. Athearn
"Blue Box" GE C44-9W SP #8102 Spd Ltrg $35
b. "
" " GE C44-9W
SP #8170 Spd Ltrg $35
c. "
R-T-R EMD GP-35 Kodachrome #6577 $85
d.
" R-T-R EMD
SD-40 Experimental Red.Orng #7342 $85
e.
" R-T-R
EMD SD-45T2 BiCentennial #9389, Decoder, $200
f.
" EMD
F-7A/F-7B #6349/8225 $55
g.
" EMD GP-35 #7428, DCC
plug $65
h.
" EMD GP-40X #7201, DCC plug $70
i.
" EMD SD-40 Kodachrome
#7303, DCC plug $65
j. "
EMD SD-40 Kodachrome #7357, DCC plug $65
k. "
EMD SD-40T2 #8251, DCC plug $80
l. "
EMD SD-40T2 #8283, DCC plug $80
m. Athearn BLW S-12s
(Two), custom-painted in Pumpkin colors by Cooper
& Oshtemo
SP #1457 and #1511, sell only as a pair $55
n. Broadway Limited Alco RSD-15 #5162, Quantum
sound $100
o. "
" GE AC-6000, SP
#600 Quantum sound $175
p. Bachmann GE 70-tonners SP #5101
& #5106, DCC-equipped $35 each
q. Kato EMD GP-35 SP #6612 $90
r. Walthers
Trainline GE Dash 8-40B #8000 $40
s. Walthers
EMD SW-1 SP #1004 $30
Doug adds, “I think my prices are fair. Some I might dicker with; some I shall
and will not. I will also ask for postage from my Zip Code to yours.”