The Passing Track
November - December, 2009 Newsletter of the
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Getting Ready for the
ANNUAL ROGUE VALLEY RAILROAD Show
The
32nd Annual Rogue Valley Railroad Show will be held Saturday, Nov. 28th, and Sunday, Nov. 29th,
at the Medford Armory. As you know, the
Annual Railroad Show offers a wonderful opportunity to promote our hobby to the
public and proudly display the “fruits of our labors”, as well as being an
important revenue source for our club.
RVMRC club members Bruce McGarvey, Brad Fawcett, and Jim Dougall are
members of the RR Show Committee that is organizing the event in conjunction
with the other four organizations at the Railroad Park.
As
usual, we will need plenty of help with setting up, taking down, and
transporting the modules before and after the show, as well as operating the
layout and filling volunteer positions during the show. As always, the more volunteer positions that
we fill during the show, the greater our share of the income. Scheduling of the volunteer positions at the
show is organized similarly to previous years, using 2-hour time slots. This includes volunteer positions for the show set-up on Friday, Nov. 27th
, as well as during the show on Saturday and Sunday.
The good news is that the Club has
filled all of its allocated work slots.
But, there is always a need for extra persons or roamers who can step in
when someone cannot fill their job. In
addition, some of the Club members have signed up for a number of jobs and
would be happy to have some of those transferred to others. If you will be at the show and would like to
help in one of the work slots, but did not sign up earlier, please contact Dave
Carr or any board member to sign up to work at the show.
Everyone’s
help will be needed on Friday, Nov. 27th, to transport all the
modules and equipment to the Armory and set up the layout (meet at the
Clubhouse at 8:00 am Friday, Nov. 27). Similarly,
everyone’s help will be appreciated immediately after the show closes on Sunday
at 4 PM to move the layout back to the Railroad Park building. As a condition of running trains at the show
this year, the Club president is expecting operators to help with either or
both the setup or the cleanup. As usual,
the club will be renting a truck to facilitate these moves.
We'd like to encourage everyone to
wear their RVMRC T-shirts, hats, and name pins while attending the show. This year's show will be huge, with two
additional rooms of sale tables and a floor fully filled with displays.
Some Show Operating Tips
When
operating trains at the Railroad Show, please remember that our objectives are
to put on an exhibit for the public and to recruit new membership. Let’s
impress the attendees with our knowledge, skill, expertise, and friendliness.
Working on equipment and entertaining ourselves can wait until our guests have
left. Our objective is to demonstrate that our hobby is fun and rewarding. The latter can only be done by spending time
with our guests to share that enthusiasm and pride.
If
you wish to run equipment, please take the time before the show begins to set
them up and test your rolling stock and locomotives (Friday after setup, or Saturday
and Sunday mornings before each day's show).
We attract crowds when the trains are running, not when we are running
trying to fix our layout issues. Let's
provide plenty of rail traffic for visitors to enjoy
When
swapping consists and trains, do so while keeping the maximum trains running.
HAVE FUN...... ENCOURAGE NEW MEMBERSHIP
Jim Dougall
interacts with guests at the recent Klamath Rails Railroad Show. People enjoy hearing about the layout and
railroad operations amidst lots of rail traffic. Such are the results the Club aspires to
every year at the Rogue Valley Railroad Show.
Op
Sessions Now Standard Fare
The Rogue Valley Model Railroad Club
has set aside the second Saturday of each month for an operations session. Signups begin at 10 am, and the ops session
begins at 11 am. Generally, the sessions
are completed by 3 pm. Each of the work
areas have specific printed instructions and car cards are nicely organized in
the nearby drawers. Unsure of how what
to do in an ops session? Sign on as the
engineer or the brakeman and work with a more experienced member as a
tandem. This is especially helpful for
the more complex jobs like Crater or Pelican Yards. Each session is programmed
to move about 300 cars. There is nothing
like an ops session to really appreciate the design of the layout and the
attention to construction and trackwork!
E. Don and Dave Spakousky have spent a tremendous amount of time
preparing each ops session. If you enjoy
your time, please give them a word or two of appreciation. The next operations session is Saturday,
December 12.
Christmas
Dinner Celebration
The
Club is holding its annual Christmas dinner and celebration on Friday night
December 4, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Black Bear Diner on Barnett
Road in Medford. Don't forget the restaurant
location is affected by the bridge replacement construction, but follow the
detour signs and you should easily come right into the parking lot. If you have not signed up, please call Jay
Mudge at 944-3987. There is still room
for additional guests, but it is important for us to give the restaurant a head
count. You will be ordering off the menu
(not buffet style), and are asked to keep in mind there is an 18% gratuity that
will be added to your bill.
Please bring a "White Elephant" for the gift
exchange after dinner. Of
course, you can always wrap something nice that everyone will want to
"steal" during the gift opening game that accompanies the White
Elephant.
There's nothing like eye candy on a pair of rails. Youngsters enjoying the Club's layout at the
Klamath Rails Railroad Show in late October.
The DCC Dog
It’s
like a dog that knows you don’t like him. As nice as you try to
act, every time you get near, he growls, snarls, barks and lets you know
on no uncertain terms that he doesn’t appreciate your presence.
“Come on, nice DCC,” I plead. “Here, let’s try to MU these two locos.
No? Well, how about if you let me run just this one? Rats! Okay, maybe
I’ll just watch.”
A section of the SP main between the Lake Ewauna wye and the BN
crossover behaves mysteriously and then acts normally again as soon as I
leave the area.
I try to test another engine on the main in Medco. Certainly, if any
area on the P&E likes me, it would be Medco. But, alas, the DCC Dog
growls again and power drops out of Medco. The DCC Dog Handlers calm the
Dog and power returns as I leave.
I try the SD-38 again on the P&E main at Pelican Yard. The Dog will not
play. I wander one way, the power wanders another. "Where'd my
locomotive go?" I ask. "It's took off to Merganser" comes the
answer.
All, by iteslf, without me, bidding the will of the Dog.
Finally, I retreat to the safe confines of Crater Yard. The DCC Dog has
cornered me again. Once more I work the yard in relative peace and
harmony with the Dog. I’m where he wants me, apparently. Everyone else
has a good time running haulers, switchers and turns. The Dog likes
them. They are at peace with the Dog. Life is good again.
Larry, Humble Servant of the DCC Dog...and forever cornered in Crater Yard.
October Board
Meeting Notes
The Rogue Valley Model Railroad Club board
of directors met on Wednesday, October 14, 2009. There were four board and six club members
present. Jerrry Helinga provided the
treasurer's report in which he displayed both the spent funds and those not yet
spent, but obligated. The Club continues
to be in good standing financially, though concerns were expressed over the
amount of expenses lately for the permanent layout (cabinetry, wiring, DCC,
scenery, etc.). Dave Carr wishes to
carry a sufficient amount of reserve funds should the clubhouse roof need replacing
over the next several years (it is coming close to the end of its useful
life). In order to maintain a good
accounting of expenditures and obligations and manage our finances
appropriately, Dave reminded all to make sure all purchases are approved by the board in
advance.
Dave Spakousky reported that the flourescent
tube(s) above the Derby portion of the permanent layout have been
replaced. Dave has also been working on
defective switches in the White City section of the layout. He is also refining the job descriptions for
Club operating sessions.
The club has received four new members.
Jim Dougall continues to update the library
with new magazines.
Larry Tuttle described electrical
improvements. All fascia outlets for
utility use are marked "U".
Receptacles for all lights under the valence and rope lights are marked
"L". In the back of the layout
staging area (Siskiyou Yard), receptacles for DCC switches and all "fuel
tanks" are marked "E-1".
Receptacles for all other layout electronics are marked "E-2",
and layout structure lights and animation are marked "U-2". Receptacles for switches for the Klamath
Falls section are marked "U-3" and all Klamath Falls electronics are
marked "E-3".
The Club has been invited by Joe Brick to
join the KIamath Rails for the second annual Railroad Show and Swap Meet at the
Klamath County Fairgrounds on October 23-25.
Joe outlined some of the details and noted that the Cimarron Motor Inn
is offering special room rates to our members.
Brad Fawcett will pick up the rental truck and drive it to Klamath Falls
and return. Dave Carr said that two club
members from Redding will come to Klamath Falls directly to help.
Bruce McGarvey requested that the Club
determine which modules we are planning to take to the Medford railroad show
and whether the setup will be all DC or have one track of DCC.
Larry Tuttle asked the board to approve
$13.00 for the cost of a bulletin board that will be constructed on the west
wall underneath the TV and up to the door.
This board (previously approved) will be for RVMRC business only.
John Gerritsma (requested via email to Dave
Carr) and Larry Tuttle propose the continuation of the backdrop on the south
wall (where historical pictures and memorabilia is now displayed). The backdrop will come across the rear door
(sorry, cannot paint the fire extinguisher) to the library cabinet (hence the
location of the new club bulletin board).
The board approved the request.
Larry also requested a general cleanup to
get rid of unwanted items and continue organizing the storage areas, particularly
in the back work room. There was general
agreement that such was a good idea.
Dave Carr instructed the secretary to
prepare a "Thank You" letter to Coral Edwards for her donations of
various items to the club. The meeting
was adjourned at 8:32 P.M.
This, That, and
the Other
In describing the re-wiring that is
occurring to properly district the DCC and to provide appropriate wiring for
detection and signaling, Dave Spakousky was heard to say about the wiring in
the MedCo area, "There's enough wire spaghetti to start an Italian
restaurant".
There were approximately 16 persons present
at our operation session November 14.
John Gerritsma stretched a two hour switching operation at White City
into four hours. The P&E is
desperate for conductors, otherwise he'd have to go back to his day job at BLM. Rookies!
It was good to see E. Don Petit who had been
ill with a cold/flu. As one of the
conductors at Pelican Yard, he universally declared the main line to be
"occupied", to the chagrin of the dispatcher. The P&E has colorful employees!
January 2010
Calendar of Events