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Staying On Track - April 1997
Lubbock Model Railroad Association Newsletter
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April 7 meeting at Highland Baptist Church Activity Center, 7:30pm. Bob Batson will be showing how to make hard-shell scenery. We will also have a book review.
Dues haven't been paid by quite a few members. They are only $12 a year for individuals or $18 for a family.
Get newsletter articles (they can be very long for the web page) and pictures to your editor, Jack Seay.
Lubbock Arts Festival
will be April 19, 20, Sat. 10-8 and Sun. 12-6. We will set up Friday after lunch in the Gem and Mineral Building. There will be plenty of space.
Shows
The Lubbock Show is now postponed until sometime this fall.
The Amarillo Tri-State Show and swap meet was held, Sat. and Sun., March 15 and 16. Many from our group attended. Amarillo will also host the Great American Train Show, Sat. and Sun., May 3 and 4.
The Abilene show will be Fri., Sat., and Sun., April 4, 5, and 6.
New Braunfels show will be Sat., April 19.
San Angelo Train Show in R. R. Museum will be Sat., April 26.
If you are interested in car-pooling, call Bob Anconetani at 795-1358.
Slide SIG
The next Slide SIG will also be at Patrick Pritchett's house, (4702-16th St.), Thur., 7pm, April 17. [This changed to April 10 and back to the 17th.] We will be seeing covered wagons (F Units).
Executive Committee Meeting
The next Executive Committee Meeting will be Tue., 7:30pm, April 15th, at Jan Kutch's house, 3611 Chicago (on a cul-de-sac).
Hobby Shop News
Wings N Things - Kato C44-9 N-scale due in April. MRC Command 2000 w/walk-around in stock.
We will also be having a contest soon, displaying the models in the show cases at Wings N Things.
Don's Hobbies And More - 10% sale on train stuff from middle of April through May. Ken has it all at Abilene now for the show.
QUIZ on Railroads and Railroading in the USA
- What is meant by "bonding the rails"?
2. Who invented and who perfected the process of making steel rails?
3. What were the two most common chemical treatments for cross-ties in 1941?
4. What was the second rail route between the "center" of the US and the Pacific coast?
5. When did P.T. Barnum's circus begin traveling by railroad?
6. The first diesel-electric locomotives were placed in US passenger-train service in which year? and on which line?
7. The first diesel-electric locos were placed in regular US freight service in which year and on which lines?
8. What year were S-gauge hi-rail (toy) electric trains introduced to the US market, and by who (what company)?
Recommended Books
Super-Trains: Solutions to America's Transportation Gridlock, by Joseph Vranich. 1991. Forward by Tom Clancy. This book covers both the failures of super-trains to happen here, and their incredible successes in Japan and Europe. There, they have transported billions of passengers for more than 30 years with zero passengers killed. Zero! Florida might have a 300 m.p.h. train running by 2004. The one proposed to go from Dallas to Houston was defeated by Southwest Airlines. They have up to 78 flights daily between those 2 cities. Southwest would do better to follow the example of Lufthansa, who has gotten into the rail business bigtime. This book outlines the massive government subsidies that have gone into air and auto transportation (which gets little publicity). I could go on for pages, but read this book for yourself.
American Heritage History of Railroads in America by Oliver Jensen. 1993. The author was formerly Director of The Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress, and former editor of "American Heritage" Magazine. Here we have detailed the rise and fall of empires of the "robber barons" of our nation and the misguided over-regulation that followed their excesses. The pictures in this book are beautiful, the text is even better. Many stories are told about the dangerous lives led by the early railroad workers in this country and the blatant disregard for safety by the millionaire barons. I think this one would be a great book for Ken Burns to make into a mini-series like "The Civil War".
Why I am a model railroader
Everyone has their own reasons, here are some of mine. I like the fact that it doesn't take a lot of space, time or money, unless I want it to. It is a relaxing, slow-paced, nice change of pace. If I get too busy to keep up with the latest news, and come back in a few years, I can pick it up right where I left off (unlike some areas of modern life which undergo a revolution each night). It is a multifaceted hobby combining art, photography, wiring, scenery building, computers, operations, travel, architecture, landscaping, civil engineering, carpentry, model weathering, painting, and building, and a dozen or so other things in any combination that interests me. The aspects of it I enjoy best are scenery building and detailed small models. Although many of the components we build with are already assembled, they can be individually weathered and combined into an infinite variety of miniature worlds. Later I plan on getting into operations, a type of business simulation. I can practice a lot of the skills I learned somewhere else, and learn new ones as well. And Oh yes, I also like trains.
Let me know why you are a model railroader and we will put it in the newsletter.
Answers to quiz
1. In signal operations, electrical current passes through the rails. Narrow gaps between rails are bridged by welding copper wires to the rail ends; called bonding of rails.
2. Henry Bessemer (England) invented and A.L. Holley (USA) perfected the process.
3. creosote and zinc chloride
4. the AT&SF (from Kansas City) and the SP (from California) effected a junction at Deming, New Mexico on March 8, 1881.
5. 1872
6. 1929 Santa Fe, 1931 Southern, 1934 Baltimore and Ohio, 1937 Union Pacific, 1941 Monon
7. 1941 AT&SF and the Southern
8. 1946 A.C. Gilbert Co. (New Haven, Conn.)
Lubbock Western Timetable
April
4,5,6 - Abilene Show
7 - LMRA meeting
15 - Executive committee meeting
17 - Slide SIG
18 - Setup for Arts Festival
19,20 - Arts Festival
26 - San Angelo Show
May
3,4 - Amarillo Great American Train Show
Dates not yet set
Layout tour
Tolk Station rotary coal dump tour
Lubbock show
Model contest at Wings N Things