LMRA Newsletter

Lubbock Model Railroad Association

Staying on Track - April 2005

LMRA

P.O. Box 53674

Lubbock, TX 79453

Meetings are at the Highland Baptist Activity Center, Quaker Ave. and 34th St. - first Monday of each month at 7:30pm.

April 4 and May 2: Curly will show a video on running steam

Other events coming this year:

April 15-17: Setup at Arts Festival

May 6-7 and Nov. 4-5: Playdays at the Activity Center

Undecided: Home layout tour

Our club has a mailing list with 29 members at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LMRA There you can upload photos you have. We have 48 pictures of our 2001 home layout tour, with pictures of layouts by Bob Batson, Dave Lamberts, Homer Morrow, and Rip Maples. There is a link to Bob Batson’s Layout page where you can watch some movies of his trains. If you have a layout web page, be sure to add a link to it. There is also a link to our club’s web page, NMRA, Railserve index, and the Layout Design Primer. You can also use the chat program. I would suggest adding that to the calender, where you can announce any other club related event.

I have spent at least 500 hours this past year studying web page design, computer science and programming. I should have become a brain surgeon instead. Anyway, I will be working on getting the club’s web page updated these next few days. It can be found at http://railserve.com/LMRA

The Godeke Library setup was a great success as always. Thanks to all 15 of you who helped - Al Fox, Bill Lynch, Curly Bunting, Shirley Bunting, Terry Chancellor, Randy Bittick, Homer Morrow, Rip Maples, Jack Seay, Jan Kutch, Garon Cagle, Don Payne, T.H. Holmes, Pat Pritchett, and Ray Zips. That’s about half our members. It was a lot of fun.

Experimentation

I was reading our newsletter from September 1997 and found this article I wrote.

At the last meeting, we saw excellent examples of experimentation when Ron Bremer showed how he used dry spaghetti to make corrugated metal, and sandpaper to make shingles.

I sometimes find myself wandering through department, grocery, and building supply stores, looking for materials to use in scenery building or weathering. Some people use make-up for weathering. I have read that John Allen did a lot of experimenting to come up with techniques that we all use today.

Model railroading is very much a multi-disciplinary hobby with both breadth and depth, which is one of the things I like best about it. Nearly every aspect of the hobby has room for innovation: benchwork, ballasting, scenery, mountains, water, detailing, weathering, scratch-building, wiring, electronics, software, photography, layout design, and even making people, animals, and cars look more realistic. Each of these is a creative hobby in itself.

There is the challenge to find common materials that can be applied in new ways to make a layout more realistic, stronger, lighter, cheaper, easier to build, or safer. Neil Burrus showed up at a recent meeting with a module framework made of galvanized steel.

Rarely does anything I try turn out just as I expect it to the first time. I spend as much or more time correcting my mistakes than in making them. Occasionally, a technique turns out better than expected. This is always a nice surprise. Even when following the instructions in a book or magazine, several attempts are often needed to get it right. I stand back and ask myself, does it look real? This time spent observing is important. The first thing we did in chemistry class was spend an hour observing a candle and writing down a hundred things we saw.

As I travel, whether it be riding in a car or just walking, I am observing my surroundings, wondering how I could model what I see. It may be mundane or beautiful; it all has a place on a layout.

Email submitted by Ron Warner:

Northeast Corridor to be rebuilt under Amtrak reform plan, says Mineta:
BOSTON [24 Mar '05] - The federal government announced yesterday it will
assume control of the network of routes and equipment that make up Amtrak's
Northeast Corridor and rebuild them under the Bush Administration's proposal
to reform the passenger carrier, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y.
Mineta said during a news conference earlier this week with Massachusetts
Governor Mitt Romney. "Amtrak is dying, and if we continue down the current
track, there is no hope of recovery," Mineta said. "We have a different
vision where the Northeast Corridor becomes a world-class example of modern
passenger rail travel."

Mineta said travel throughout the Northeast would benefit because the Amtrak
reforms include plans to repair the tracks, tunnels, and bridges along the
Northeast Corridor. "President Bush understands how vital the Northeast
Corridor is, and we are committed to doing what it takes to get these tracks
back into shape." The proposal, Mineta said, would "level the playing
field" between Amtrak and its competitors by freeing Amtrak of the cost of
maintaining tracks and stations. Instead, the company would be able to focus
on its core operation, "running the trains on time." Mineta announced that
he would submit the Administration's Amtrak reform proposal, the Passenger
Rail Investment Reform Act, when Congress reconvenes in April.

home