Newsletter - Arizona Model Railroading Society

1st Quarter Newsletter
March 2014
AMRS Telegraph
A M R S
A r i z o n a n s
S T A F F
Steven David, President
It is always a very special
event for club members when
we host the Arizonans for Children at the end of January of
each year.
Lew Allen, Vice President
Michelle Bastian, Secretary
Larry Hatch, Treasurer
B O A R D O F
D I R E C T O R S
Each train division took extra
care in readying the layouts so
that the kids would be able to
not only watch the trains run,
but interact with engineers
running the trains as well. Of
course the highlight was the
ever popular n-scale
“Webcam” train.
Michelle Bastian
Bob Christ
Larry Hatch
Bob Rys
Marshall Wales
Richard Zalewski
D I V I S I O N
S U P E R I N T E N D E N T S
Not only did the kids have fun
seeing themselves on the big
HO—Marshall Wales
f o r
c h i l d r e n
screen TV as the train passed
by them, a few of the adults
hammed it up as well.
Along with watching trains run,
the children were treated to a
hot picnic lunch, with Bill Maas
and Larry Hatch playing chefs
and cooking hamburgers and
hot dogs.
The children also were able to
participate in other activities
along with being entertained
by a magician.
Our fellow train engineers at
MLS were also kept very busy
with running five different
trains for both the children and
adults to ride on. Each train
would hold 25 people and
each ride lasted for 30 minutes. The trains traveled into
the desert through miniature
cowboy towns, ranches, and
farms. As soon as the ride
would end the children would
get right back in line for the
next train.
This is a great organization
and we look forward to next
year’s visit. Below is the link to
their web site: http://
www.arizonansforchildren.org
N—Dan Benton
O—TBA
B i - A n n u a l
G—Bob Rys
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E
AMRS President’s Report
2
O Scale Division Report
2
HO Scale Division Report
3
N Scale Division Report
4
G Scale Division Report
4
N Scale News
5
Schedule of Events
7
Editor’s Comments
8
Thanks to all club members’
support, it was another successful Swap Meet! Members
set up all of the tables and
chairs, helped the vendors set
up, ran trains on the layouts,
and prepared food for our
guests to enjoy. A great time
was had by young and old,
even the dogs had a good
time!
Less than eight more months
till the next swap meet; time
enough to get all rested up
and ready!
S w a p
M e e t
1 st
Q u a r t e r
N e w s l e t t er
A M R S
P r e s i d e n t ’ s
Hi everyone! Apparently, it is time for
another newsletter. Tony keeps bugging me for my article—something
about wanting to get it out by April 1
so here it is.
The dog days of summer is just
around the corner and with that
things will start slowing down at the
club. With the heat comes the time of
year when there is not a lot going on.
People start taking summer vacations and Sundays become a lot quieter—the last runs for the spring are
May 11.
Another swap meet is finished. It was
a successful event with more than
100 tables sold and over 400 people
O
P a g e
2
R e p o r t
through the gates. I want to thank
everyone who helped. The next one
will be on November 1.
help so please, when you see something that needs to be done, chip in
and help.
The other major event we had since
the last newsletter was the Arizonans
for Children in January. We had over
300 people here that day and as
usual, they had a great time at our
park—they will be back. According to
their president, this was the eleventh
time they have come. Once again,
these events can't happen without the
help of the club members who come
out and assist, so thanks to everyone
who came.
Keep in mind that our annual meeting
is on Saturday, April 12. At that meeting, we will be electing three board
members to two-year terms and one to
a one-year term. Also, superintendents
for each division will be elected. The
new officers of the club will be appointed at the board meeting at the
end of the month. If anyone would like
to become a board member or an
officer, please let me know.
As you know, our park is a great facility
and can only continue with everyone's
S c a l e
D i v i s i o n
Contributed by Steven David,
President AMRS
R e p o r t
O scale has started to push forward on the progress of the new layout. For the new bench work, we have received a
donation of a new metal frame along with plywood as well. We also received all new curve and straight track pieces to
be used on the new track design. We are planning to have at least two loops of track to run by the next swap meet in
November of this year. The other major donation was an entire O scale layout with scenery, buildings, and track. We
are in the process of picking it up and getting it relocated to the park. The O scale division looks to have a bright future
for AMRS.
Contributed by Benjamin Zehner
A M R S B o a r d
M e e t i n g
Membership Report
Steven David reminded folks that the
upcoming election will include one G
scale, two HO (a full term and a partial
term), and one N scale board member.
Bob Rys, Dick Zalewski, and Michelle
Bastian have been nominated to continue in their positions. We will need a
new membership chair.
Website Report
Marshall will continue as web master
since there is no one to take over.
Making changes to the website to
facilitate updates by other administrators.
Updates being done to the software.
Project List
Wooden play train—Ready for ballasting. Steven hopes to get it brought in
within the next week.
Trim painting—Done except for the
& M e m b e r
N o t e s
east side, which Larry will need to
do with the cherry picker.
Security system—No update. Marshall motioned to pay for labor to
get the system completed sooner
rather than wait for it to be done on
volunteer time. It was seconded by
Bob Christ. The motion carried with
Michelle voting nay.
Starting new projects—Nothing at
this time; need to finish current
projects.
General Announcements
501(c)(3) is moving along. The
board approved some changes to
the articles of incorporation at the
last meeting to make it more IRS
friendly.
O scale was approved as an official
division at the last board meeting.
The changes to the constitution will
be made in April.
M e m b e r s h i p
R e p o r t
Total AMRS Members—97
HO—55
N—25
G—12
O—3
New Members—2
Ken Ackerman (N)
Tom Di Dio (N)
Even famous Rock Stars like model railroading!!!
The public got its first glimpses of Rod Stewart’s massive train set last winter as published
in Model Railroader.
P a g e
3
A M R S
H O
S c a l e
D i v i s i o n
The roundhouse structure is nearing completion thanks
to Jerry Kelley with major help from Bob Jordan. The
Arizona Grain Facility was redone by Michael Zaporowski
or better known as MikeyZ. Downtown Tucson looks
really great thanks to David Kampf, Tim Harrington, and
Bob Bruton. And other scenic areas of the layout such
as the wall below the mine and addition of animated
crossing signals were completed by Tim Harrington.
During the last year, changes have been proposed to
change the HO layout. Some were approved but implementation has not happened. A proposal by me to redo
the track in Maricopa to alleviate the bottleneck that
occurs during operations is ongoing. Another proposal
by Jack Willits to add a “double” track mainline on part
of the layout is under consideration. Jim Weith is working on a proposal for the turntable area in the Phoenix/
Mobest area. This is the last major area of the layout
that needs to be completed. If I have forgotten anyone,
please excuse this tired old mind of mine. It was not
intentional.
T e l e g r a p h
R e p o r t
My other positions at AMRS as membership chairman and
web master need to be filled. If you have an interest in either of these position, please contact the club president. I
told the board that until someone qualified to takeover the
website is found, I will continue to maintain the website
even though I am no longer a member.
I originally joined AMRS in 2007 to learn what was new in
the hobby after about a 30-year absence from the hobby. I
must say it has changed a lot and undoubtedly will continue
to do so. When I left the hobby, DCC was in its infancy. Look
at it now. Wow! I also learned a lot from many of the AMRS
members. Thank you for that.
Even though I am leaving, I’m sure I will find time to drop in
to see what is happening or join the lunch group at JoJo’s.
Best to you all.
Contributed by Marshall Wales, HO Scale Superintendent
Thanks Marshall —You will be missed!
Operations on the layout were held once a month. For
the past 6 to 8 months a test of JMRI operations was
done. The previous method was using color-coded tags
on the top of the cars that represented a location on the
layout. The new superintendent and the operations committee will decide which method works best going forward.
As my final duty as superintendent, I plan to run the HO
meeting to elect the new superintendent. I know of one
person who has put his “railroad hat” in the ring. If anyone else is interested please email me with your intent
to run for the superintendent position.
This will be my last HO newsletter article. As most of you
have probably heard by now, I will not be renewing my
membership. There are several reasons why I am leaving but suffice it to say it was no longer any fun.
P r o j e c t s
The Roundhouse
i n
t h e
H O
D i v i s i o n
Arizona Grain Facility
1 st
Q u a r t e r
N e w s l e t t er
N
S c a l e
Hello and welcome again to the quarterly N
Scale Division status. This is where milestones
are praised, status is documented, and kudos
are disseminated for the last 3 months or so.
I've seen that we have had good attendance
from the club members for running trains at
shows. I have been at the club a number of
Sundays and we generally have as many or
more n-scale trains running as HO.
Not much additional track has been added
except at Santa Rosita and in the roundhouse
in Macho Grande. We had to have the scenery
done behind Santa Rosita before we could
install track. The track in the roundhouse requires careful alignment.
P a g e
D i v i s i o n
We have really come together as a team and
are not just a collection of people running
trains. This was illustrated when the main
loop was down in September for a major
change to the Macho Grande yard and to the
electrical in the yards. This took longer than
expected and I heard zero complaints.
Bob making the trees
A few highlights from the last year are listed
below:
Installed, configured, and use JMRI to
control our trains using cell phones or
IPad devices.
Assigned rolling stock ownership colorcodes to each member who wanted one.
Santa Rosita yard built and wired. New
mainline near Santa Rosita built to 1%
grade.
Upgrades to scenery.
Upgrades to the track.
Upgrades to the power.
Upgrades to the ballast.
Many trees have been made and installed.
The track is regularly cleaned.
Changed the A/D tracks in the Macho
Grande yard so that the main line runs
on the track closest to the edge. This
eliminated the main line going through
the middle of the yard.
Running operations without interfering
with free-running trains.
Cleaned underneath the layout.
We have continuous operations running now.
The process is not quite perfected yet, but
each virtual week of activity refines the process. Members are free to choose the amount
of participation they want to do, from total
immersion to complete aversion.
Scenery continues around various areas of the
layout. We have added clouds, backdrop
mountains, cars, roads, frogmen, and many,
many trees.
S c a l e
P r o j e c t s
o n t h e
M G & E
All-in-all, the n-scale layout is looking and
running much better. The general expectation
is for our trains to run well.
I think the only “power” problems I have experienced lately are external to Digitrax; Windows
XP / Java have problems. The power debugging session and engine parade in January
helped. We will likely need additional Digitrax
equipment to create more power blocks.
G
R e p o r t
No one could ask more. If I missed your contributions then I will have to say I am sorry.
Ballasting the track continues. I think we need
some more track painted first before much
more ballasting can be done. It all looks great.
This is the 1-year anniversary of my election to
superintendant so I thought I should reflect on
what I have experienced. As a team we have
done a lot this last year. I see most, if not all,
members have decided to contribute their
time, talents, treasure, and energy as they can.
4
Contributed by Dan Benton, N Scale Superintendent
D i v i s i o n
Bob’s trees planted!
Santa Rosita Station
M.E. responds to accident in River City
R e p o r t
As most of you have noticed work is being done on the helix. It has survived 11 years and is showing the effects of weather on it and the staging trestle. Also, we are addressing the overgrowth of plants in the pond to
manage them to a reasonable level. We are maintaining other areas in need such as repairing track, weeding,
and so on. Trains are still able to operate on the main lines while work is going on.
Run season is coming to a close soon. MLS will be shutting down train rides for the summer. May 11 will be the
last Sunday for rides. Although run day will end, maintenance will not. It just means that getting on site for work
will be starting earlier. When summer is upon us the day starts before the sun is even up. It is a beautiful sight
to watch the sun come up over the horizon.
Contributed by Bob Rys, G Scale Superintendent
P a g e
5
A M R S
N
S c a l e
T e l e g r a p h
N e w s
P e r p e t u a l
O p e r a t i n g
L a y o u t
M G & E
O v e r v i e w
When I was originally looking at a
location for the MG&E, I was told we
were on the coast in California. So I
looked for a location that would have
a decent harbor, and the various
types of terrain we have. There are
no really good harbors north of San
Francisco until you get to Washington
State, and no peninsulas remotely
looking like ours. So I punted—I took
a map of the Llyn peninsula of Wales
in England, and replaced the Samoa
Peninsula off Eureka. I then developed the map we use, and started on
a history. The following is the first
installment.
The year is 1850, and California is
booming, due to the gold rush and
the massive influx of "49'rs". A group
of prominent businessmen in the
town of Macho Grande, seeking to
increase their fortunes by exporting
the goods of the region to San Francisco, decide to form a railroad to
accomplish this.
top (Oct. 1851) followed, with an
extension to Chickasaw (Jan.
1852) and its grain silos. The
main line north was a single track
line at first, going from Hazzard
(Mar. 1851) to American City (July
1851) and River City (Oct. 1851)
and finally connecting with
Eureka in Feb. 1852.
Dan Benton, Tony Munos, and Spike
Whiting thus formed the Macho
Grande and Eastern Railroad, with
plans to connect with the port of
Santa Rosita at first, then build north
and east to any connecting line south
to San Francisco. They were going to
get rich not by mining the gold, but by
mining the miners! The plan was to
sell them food and building materials.
Incidentally, California became a
state on Sept. 9, 1850.
The first mile was laid in March
1850, and the line to Santa Rosita
was completed by Jan. 1851. A line
to the lucrative lumber area of Pine-
The next article will describe the
historical background of Humboldt County, redwoods, and the
three-way fight between the UP,
ATSF, and SP to get to Eureka
and the lumber empires there—
which, of course, we actually got
to first!
Contributed by Spike Whiting
Map of MG&E Railroad
M G & E
Well here we are into April already and
the roundhouse is still under construction. I am sorry that this has taken so
much time to complete. I had really
thought I would have been further
along by now. All of the stalls have
been programmed and the track has
been installed. The side and back
walls are up as well.
The next steps include installing the
doors, roof, and the 3 yard tracks.
Then we will need some details inside
such as work benches, service crew,
and lighting. I will pick up the pace on
this project and get it done!
The turntable is very easy to use. Turn
on the power pack.
R o u n d h o u s e
U p d a t e
The unit is ready to use when the red
POWER light stays on which is the
lower right-hand LED.
Use either ARROW button to turn the
bridge: press and hold the button to
pass stopping positions. As the bridge
approaches the desired service track,
release the ARROW key. The bridge
will overrun the stop position slightly,
then align itself.
When the unit stops, the POS indicator
will light which is the upper right-hand
LED. Move your loco using your standard throttle.
From time to time, “zero” the turntable
to maintain your programmed positions. The zero button is on the bottom
lower left-hand side of the control
box. Hold the button for a few seconds and then let off the button and
the bridge will zero itself.
Do not use the upper button on the
left as this is the programming button.
Occasionally the bridge may not respond. If this occurs the contacts are
probably dirty. Carefully lift the bridge
off the turntable and clean the contacts on the bridge as well as in the
pit. Slide the bridge back in place
and zero the bridge as mentioned
above.
Contributed by Dave Benner
1 st
Q u a r t e r
P a g e
N e w s l e t t er
M G & E
O p e r a t i o n s
Operations is defined as attempting to run
a model railroad as close to the prototype
as possible. This involves recreating the
documents used to regulate the railroad,
as well as the methods used by, and the
positions manned, to generate revenue for
the railroad.
On the MG&E, we are using a simplified
waybill system. The cards used are a commercial product from Micro-Mark, and are
displayed below.
For every industry on the layout, we have
developed a spreadsheet giving all possible
6
S c h e m e
combinations of incoming materials, outgoing loads, and the car types needed for
each. We have also put in a simplified
schedule for the times needed to unload/
load each car.
On each section of the waybill, the entries
are:
Shipper: Who is the car coming from?
Address: Where is he located?
Lading: What is the load?
Consignee: Who is the customer?
Address: Where is he located?
Routing: What route is used to get from
Shipper to Consignee?
VIA: If there is more than one way to get
there, which route is used?
As an example of the way these are filled
out, we will have Pine Top Lumber ask for
empty cars to send a load of finished lumber to Lowe's in San Francisco.
Waybill 1 would be the request for an
empty car. The entries would be as follows:
Shipper: SP Railroad
Address: Eureka (nearest interchange)
Routing: SP – MG&E
VIA: Eureka (staging – we could have
brought it in via the car float in Santa
Rosita)
Consignee: Pine Top Lumber
Address: Pine Top
Lading: empty FB (AAR code for a bulkhead flatcar)
Waybill 2, on the flip side of the same
waybill card, would be filled in as follows:
Shipper: Pine Top Lumber
Address: Pine Top
Routing: MG&E – SP
VIA: Eureka
Consignee: Lowe's
Address: San Francisco
Lading: Finished Lumber
The next article is how we marry up the
waybill with the car card for an empty FB,
and how the resulting moves are made
during an operating session.
Contributed by Spike Whiting
N - S c a l e J o i n s O p e r a t i o n
B o x c a r o n F a c e b o o k
The N Scale Model Trains (NSMT) group
on Facebook has set up its traveling box
car—NSMT 2014.
“Operation Boxcar” has taken on a new
name, announcing NSMT 2014. It will be
a traveling boxcar that will be available to
travel from one member’s layout to the
next member’s layout.
Every member will have the opportunity to
get her on your own empire for 5 to 7
days, and put her to work. Tell us about
the duties that she is doing for your rail
U s e f u l
L i n k s
line. Take pictures, and display them in
the new “NSMT 2014” album that has
been created. The member list will be
made up by “first come, first serve” after
the admins get their turn. Each person will
be responsible for mailing it with USPS
tracking to the next member on the list. A
complete mailing address will be needed
if you wish to join the event. Simply mail it
to the next person on the list and provide
tracking numbers.
Below are some useful links to use when
purchasing items or looking for reference
information on the internet:
Thank you to Adam Hoffman for supplying
the time, paint, and craftsmanship to help
make this idea a reality.
TCS—Decoders
http://www.tcsdcc.com/
Below is the Facebook link for NSMT
2014:
https://www.facebook.com/
groups/332442330448/
Contributed by Tony Munos
Model Train Stuff
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/
Digitrax—Decoders
http://www.digitrax.com/
(app for cell phone: Digitrax Toolbox)
Brooklyn Locomotive Works
http://www.blwnscale.com/
Helix Elevation Kits
http://www.ashlintrains.com/servlet/
StoreFront
DCC for Beginners
http://www.wiringfordcc.com/
intro2dcc.htm
P a g e
7
A M R S
April 2014
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
1
2
Schedule of
Thu
3
Fri
4
Sat
T e l e g r a p h
Events
Work Sessions
Wednesday 6 p.m.—9 p.m.(HO & N Scales)
5
Saturday 9 a.m.—2 p.m. (All Scales)
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Run Sessions
Sunday 1 p.m.—4 p.m. (All Scales)
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Mon
Tue
Wed
5
6
7
Fri
2
8
Sat
9
Saturday 9 a.m.—2 p.m. (All Scales)
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
June 2014
Mon
Tue
Wed
Work Sessions
Wednesday 6 p.m.—9 p.m. (HO & N Scales)
3
11
Sun
Yearly Membership Dues!!!
Schedule of Events
Thu
1
4
April 12— General Membership Meeting 9 a.m.
April 26— AMRS Board Meeting 9 a.m.
May 2014
Sun
April 5— Clarkdale, AZ Model Train Swap Meet.
Run Sessions
Sunday 1 p.m.—4 p.m. (All Scales)
May 10— General Membership Meeting 9 a.m.
May 17-- WVRHS Model Train Swap Meet in Glendale
May 31—AMRS Board Meeting 9 a.m.
Friday, May 30 and Saturday, May 31— GadsdenPacific Model Train Show in Tucson.
Schedule of Events
Thu
Fri
Sat
Work Sessions
Wednesday 6 p.m.—9 p.m.(HO & N Scales)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Run Sessions
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
June 14—General Membership Meeting 9 a.m.
Saturday 9 a.m.—2 p.m. (All Scales)
Sunday 1 p.m.—4 p.m. (All Scales)
June 28— AMRS Board Meeting 9 a.m.
22
23
29
30
24
25
26
27
28
Don’t forget that yearly membership dues are due in April!
1 st
Q u a r t e r
P a g e
N e w s l e t t er
8
EDITOR’S COMMENTS
It has been a year since I joined ARMS
and what a year it has been. I started
off by just running trains around the
layout, which was great! Now today I
am helping on the scenery around
Santa Rosita, setting up and running
operations, and serving as the assistant superintendent of the n-scale
division. However, the best part is
when we run trains for the public and
see the kids eyes light up as they
watch all of the trains running around
the layouts. Funny thing is it was the
same for me when I first saw the club
layouts too!
Oh and one other thing, this is the
second quarterly newsletter that I
have edited. However, I could not have
done all of this without the support of
F u t u r e
So as we now end the year and start a
new one, it is time for fresh starts, and
also time to build on the successes
A M R S
With a steady stream of visitor's walking through the club, one young boy
asked a simple question: May I run a
train? Timing of the question was perfect because the n-scalers were midday on their operations schedule and
there was a freight train on the AD
track ready for its run from Macho
Grande to Santa Rosita. So 9-year-old
Christian visiting with his mom,
Leanne, from Minnesota was given a
quick overview of how to run the throt-
Mom, I get to run a train!!!
my wonderful wife, Carole. And that is
one of the best things about the club
too—it is very family oriented as well
as family supported. It is amazing how
a small model train can unite a family,
but that is how it all began for all of
us—it’s contagious.
Switch Ops in Santa Rosita Yard
tlle and thus became the engineer of a
pair of Norfolk Southern SD-80s with a
freight of loaded coal cars being delivered to car float #2 docked in Santa
Rosita Harbor. Christian was a quick
learner because it was a smooth ride
down to the Santa Rosita yard.
After the freight arrived on the AD
tracks in Santa Rosita, it was time for
some switch operations. Christian
L i f e
Need a little help here!!!
N - S c a l e
O n
Guess I need a bigger camera!
t h e
from the previous year. Here are some
things to watch for this coming year:
Competition to see who is going to
get their roundhouse fully running
and make it part of their operations
first—HO or N?
Completion of Santa Rosita Harbor
area on the N-scale layout.
O scale rebuilding and designing
their new layout.
Several uplifts to the G-scale layout.
Finally, if I were to ask one thing for
this coming year it is to receive a few
more articles for the newsletter from
various club members!
Contributed by Tony Munos
E n g i n e e r
made quick work of moving the coal
cars to the harbor. After that was
done, he then relocated the empty
coal cars on classification track #2
over to the AD track for the return run
back to Macho Grande. Once back in
the Macho Grande yard and then
working with Spike (Yard Master),
Christian started to move the existing
cars on the three AD tracks over to
their respective classification tracks.
At one point while running the train
Christian said, “You guys are so lucky
you get to run trains every day!”
Well, Christian, you are more than
welcome to come back anytime and
be an engineer for a day on the nscale layout!
Contributed by Tony Munos
L a y o u t
What’s next a rocket on a train???
Just another Kodak moment at the club:)