The clinic for May will be given by Randel Bittick. The topic will be Wiring Locomotives. Since this subject has always been a great mystery to me, I will be looking forward to it.
Has any thought been given to documenting our member's layouts on video tape? It would be nice for posterity and to show progress over time. It would also be an archival/documentary tool for keeping a record of the various layouts built by club members especially after the layout is dismantled or the member moves or passes away.
In many ways it could be patterned after the Allen Keller tapes. An interview with the modeler, followed by a guided tour of the railroad. -Jeff Ford
This is the editor speaking. I think this is a terrific idea. We would need someone who is very skilled at video under artificial light situations. Let's discuss this at the May meeting!
I am a former resident of Lubbock and former member of LMRA, now living in California.
John Lott's layout inspired me to research and build my own layout of the Panhandle & Santa Fe (Slaton Division). Right now I am in the design stage and still need some information. Particularly I need the dimensions of the Slaton Roundhouse and turntable. I have pictures courtesy of John Lott and the Santa Fe Historical & Modeling Society, but plans would be better. Any hard data regarding operations, shipping documents, train lists, etc. Pictures of the Lubbock Depot. Plans of same. I am interested in the original depot, not the one built in 1954. This by no means is all of the wish list and I am willing to pay the costs of mailing and reproduction. Anyone just willing to talk about the Panhandle and Santa Fe is also welcome.
Thanks to all in advance and if you are ever in the San Diego area give me a shout. - John Theobald
see Slaton 2
The editor again. If anyone wants to correspond with John, let me know and will give you his e-mail address.
I am going on a business trip at the end of April to San Diego. I plan to stop by the San Diego Railroad Museum, time permitting. I will either report my adventures in the next newsletter, or if Ron has an open spot, I may present it as a clinic.
The golden 50th anniversary convention of the Lone Star Region will be June 7 to 10 this year. Here follows some excerpts from the convention mail out.
WOW! A hundred square miles of railroading. In our 2001 LSR Golden Anniversary convention, we're including the entire Dallas, Fort Worth, Mid-Cities and everything else. The convention hotel, the Harvey-DFW, is smack dab in the middle of it all. Get ready to hit the rails from June 7 through 10 for A 2001 Rail Odyssey.
Arrangements for 30 clinics are already in place. Nationally known clinicians, such as Andy Sperandeo, Tony Koester, David Barrow, Keith Gutierrez, Gil Freitag, Doug Farner, David Davis, and others will cover construction, prototype operations, DCC, painting, detailing the new plastic steam locomotives, car cards, computer switch lists, photography, and other informative topics to expand your knowledge.
Model railroad layouts on the tour will total at least 30 and will cover every scale. Sizes vary from great home layouts, Lockheed's mammoth club layout, a trolley and interurban pike, G scale, to a neat switching layout. For those interested in operation, eight or more layouts will be highballing on Thursday and Friday. These popular operating sessions will be on a first come-first served basis at registration time, so don't be left out of this very fascinating aspect of model railroading. Your participation is encouraged whether or not you've operated before.
Interesting prototype tours are planned including the BNSF headquarters and dispatching center, and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) repair facilities in Dallas. We'll get you into places where you usually cannot go.
The Non-Rail clinics and activities will really be exciting. Everybody will have plenty of things to do!
There will be a silent auction, NMRA contests, movies and videos, and an elegant banquet with entertainment on Saturday night. Andy Sperandeo, Editor of Model Railroader, will be our banquet spearer. On Sunday a great breakfast will close a fascinating railroading experience.
The convention registration will be $75.00 for everything but the special tours. Please note that the Trinity Industries tours are now sold out. The convention hotel is the Harvey Hotel-DFW located at 4545 W. John Carpenter Freeway. (Hwy 114) at Esters in Irving. For reservations, call the hotel Reservation Department at (972) 929-4500. Please identify yourself as part of the NMRA-Lone Star Region for the special - $79 rate. Reservations should be made by May 25 to get this special rate.
As you can see with all this activity, you will barely be able to catch your breath at the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex 50th Anniversary LSR Convention. Again, June 7 to the 10 are the four days to remember. For additional information, please write our Registrar, Stan Pirzchalski at 4832 Lakeside Drive, Colleyville, Texas 76043 or email him at KarStanPir@home.com.
What is the story of railroad gauges?
Gauge is the space, in feet and inches, between the parallel rails of a track, the gauge-line being measured at a point 5/8 of an inch below the top of the rail. In the United States, and in many other countries, the standard gauge is 4-feet 8 1Ú2-inches.
There has been much speculation as to the origin of the 4-feet 8 1Ú2-inch gauge. In England, the first successful public railroads were powered by steam locomotive built by George Stephenson, who probably adopted the 4-feet 8 1Ú2-inch gauge as a result of his experience in building engines for a colliery line [shipping coal] which had a gauge of approximately that width. Other English railroads followed Stephenson's example until by 1846 the majority of them were of the 4-feet 8 1Ú2-inch gauge. In that year, Parliament settled the gauge question in England by requiring that all future railroads be built to the gauge adopted by Stephenson.
The Stephenson gauge was adopted by a number of railroads in the United States. However, many other gauges were also used. During one period from 1865 to 1871, one could travel all the way from New York to St. Louis over roads with a gauge of six feet - the broadest that ever existed on a common-carrier railroad in America. This line of railroads was known as the "Great Broad Gauge Route." The broadest gauge of any railroad in America was 8 feet - employed by a lumber road in Oregon in the 1880s.
In 1871, no fewer than twenty-three different gauges ranging from three feet to six feet, existed on the railroads of the United States, making it impossible for freight or passenger cars to be freely interchanged. As the necessity of such an interchange became fully apparent, the railroads began a movement for standardization of gauge. By 1887, virtually every important broad-gauge railroad in the United States had been changed to 4-feet 8 1Ú2-inches, which by that time had come to be known as the "standard gauge." (From Quiz On Railroads and Railroading, Association of American Railroads, Washington, D.C., 1958)
To reproduce the click of rail joints, just file across individual rails every 40 scale feet or so with a small three-cornered file. Stagger the notches for greater sound realism. Make the notches just deep enough that the clicks will be audible when a car is rolled over them.
Lubbock Model Railroad Association
P.O. Box 53674
Lubbock, TX 79453
Staying on Track is published monthly by the LMRA - David Lamberts, editor.
Visit us on the Internet at www.railserve.com/lmra
E-mail me at DWL1944@cs.com
Our mailing address is PO Box 53674, Lubbock, TX 79453
Back to main page