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Lubbock Model
Railroad Association
Staying On Track - April 1998

April 6 Meeting
7:30pm at Highland Baptist Activity Center, 34th and Quaker. Bob Moulton and Jack Seay will enlighten us about DCC (Digital Command Control). Digitrax and MRC will be shown. Web Page and Newsletter Articles
 http://home.earthlink.net/~jackseay, http://home.earthlink.net/~jackseay. E-mail mailto:jackseay@sbcglobal.net, jackseay@sbcglobal.net. If you want to write a newsletter article (please), give it to me at the meeting, email it to me, or call me at work, 792-6512. Arts Festival - April 17-19
Demonstration pike at the Fairgrounds. We will setup the 16th and takedown the 19th. Thanks to the seven who helped at KTXT TV. Goedke Library Setup
The demonstration pike was a big success. Thanks to all who picked up the pike at Lockney, set it up, ran it, and took it down. I hear that a lot of future model-railroaders enjoyed it. Layout Tour - May 9
We will be having a layout tour Saturday, May 9. We will meet at the Highland Baptist Activity Center at 8:30 am. Contact me, Jack Seay, if you want to have your layout on the tour. My work number is 792-6512, email mailto:jackseay@sbcglobal.net, jackseay@sbcglobal.net. You can also volunteer your layout to be on the tour at the meeting. So far, we have T. H. Holmes (HO), Dave Lamberts (narrow gauge), John Lott (HO), Bob Batson (N), Rip Maples (HO), Bob Anconetani (HO), and Bob Moulton (N with DCC). Sometime during the day, we will have lunch at the Copper Caboose. There will be a map and schedule in the next newsletter. Hobby Shop News
Wings N Things - Centerline Track Cleaning Cars (HO, N), new Micro-Trains N cars, Athearn HO Special Edition War Baby. Executive Committee Meeting
April 21st, 7:30 at Patrick Pritchett's house. Unity and Diversity
My favorite audio tape is called "Philosophy Related to Music", by Francis Schaeffer. I wore out 2 tapes listening to it so many times. He traces the relationship between unity and diversity in classical music. These two concepts also relate well to planning and building a model railroad layout. In previous articles, I wrote about diversity in model railroading. There are dozens of basic skills and hundreds of techniques that can be learned. A well planned and executed layout can be explored and discovered for hours. But a good layout also has a unifying theme bringing all of these diverse elements into a harmonious whole. Although our hobby isn't commonly recognized by most people as being an art form like painting, sculpture, or music; I believe it has a blend of diversity and unity matched in few other art forms. Perhaps there isn't yet a wide recognition of it as art because it is relatively new compared to others. Much of what we are learning is still in the developmental stage and isn't fully matured. This contrasts to what a symphony does. I have only been to a couple performances of the symphony, but it was the most perfectly developed, aesthetically beautiful, man-made experience I know of. For several hours, dozens of skilled artists performed their highly complex music in perfect harmony with zero mistakes. It was as if 100 figure skaters performed their difficult maneuvers in mass synchronization, but with each having his or her own variations; and doing this for hours with not even the smallest error. The whole was far greater than the sum of the parts. I am not saying we must attain this same level of perfection. After all, model railroading is only a hobby; something we do to escape the pressures and stresses of life for a few hours a week. But it can also be something more if that's what we want: a goal to strive for, an image in our minds of a small part of the world we are duplicating in miniature, or a fictional time and place of our own invention; a diverse blending of dozens or hundreds of things we create into our own little theme park, or three-dimensional animated re-creation of a historical place and time. It can represent an integration point, a physical model of order to remind us that all is not chaos, that each of us can be creative, putting together something of authentic pleasure and harmony from diverse elements. For most of us, our dream layout is just that. We are patiently, methodically learning to play each instrument in turn, but we can hear the symphony in our heads. However, I try not to take model railroading too seriously. It's not what I live for. It's not my religion. It's not more important than my family. Lubbock Western Timetable April
4,5 - Abilene Railroad and Buffalo Gaps Arts Festivals - Civic Center, Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5
6 - Meeting 7:30pm- Highland Baptist
18,19 - Arts Festival - fairgrounds
21 - Executive Committee 7:30pm May
4 - Meeting 7:30pm- Highland Baptist
9 - Layout Tour 8:30am Highland Baptist
17 - Albuquerque RR Fair, 9-5, State fairgrounds,
30,31 - Amarillo show, Sat. 9-5, Sun. 12-5, Civic Center June
3-7 - N-scale East Conv., Orlando, FL
18-21 - Lone Star Region Conv., New Orleans Airport Hilton, Kenner, LA (for members of NMRA and LSR) July
20-26 - NMRA and N-scale Conv., K.C. MO Sept.
23-26 - Narrow Gauge Conv., Co. Spgs. CO

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