Category: News

Liberty Bell Special

by Charles “Chip” Stevens

Come celebrate trains in the cradle of liberty!

The Philadelphia Division, NMRA welcomes you and yours to Liberty Bell Special 2019! The next Convention will be October 10 through October 13, 2019 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in King of Prussia, PA. After much deliberation, our committee chose the name Liberty Bell over such other favorites as Cheese Steak Special and some lesser titles. For those of you not familiar with King of Prussia, it is located 20 miles northwest of downtown Philadelphia adjacent to the Pennsylvania Turnpike and many nearby highways. In southeast Pennsylvania, all highways lead to Valley Forge.

Since Monday, October 14 is a Federal Holiday, the hotel has agreed to extend the room rates for the convention for an additional 3 days before and into the week following the convention. The hotel is in walking distance to the second largest shopping mall in the United States with shops and dining to meet any tastes. Also, in driving distance are the Valley Forge National Park whose accommodations during the winters of the American Revolution were not as luxurious as our hotel, Longwood Gardens, the gardens of the Dupont family and many more places of interest. More about the area can be found on the hotel’s website, www.cpvalleyforge.com. For those of you who collect hotel stay points, Crowne Plaza is a part of the IHG hotel group. Registration forms for the Convention and hotel reservation information will be published soon

At this time, we have one prototype tour on the Colebrookdale Railroad. The Colebrookdale is part of the former Reading Barto branch in nearby Boyertown, PA that is a short 50-minute drive from the hotel. In addition to the autumn foliage that occurs in early October,there will be the train ride, lunch, and a tour of the railroad’s shops. The committee is working hard on additional tours and will announce them through the Region and Division newsletters as well as on the websites www.libertybellspecial.org or www.mer2019.org.

Currently we have the first four layout tours scheduled, three HO layouts and a traction layout. Efforts are under way to add to the list both with individual and club layouts. We are attempting to keep all tours and open houses to drives of 30 minutes or less. We would also like to hear from owners and superintendents who are willing to open their layouts to those making the trip to Valley Forge, keeping in mind again that Monday, October 14th is a holiday. Those willing should notify Bill Fagan <bfagan777@hotmail.com> of ability to host. Remember, those Open Houses count toward AP Volunteer points.

Liberty Bell Special will begin on Thursday night with clinics which will continue through Sunday morning. We have one tentative, hands-on clinic planned with a noted presenter, as well as many more sessions tentatively planned. Again, check the website for additional or new clinics. If you want to present a clinic, please email John Seibert <johnhseibert@comcast.net> with your topic.

As usual, Saturday will include the Contest Room. Plan now to bring your latest modeling efforts for sharing with other MER members. More AP credits may be available for your efforts.

Sprinkled among all these activities will be opportunities to operate on some truly spectacular individual and club layouts. We’re keeping those AP Dispatcher ours in mind.

All roads lead to King of Prussia, PA. We hope you and yours will take advantage of this opportunity to visit the convention for a truly memorable experience.

2018 MER Convention Report

by Bob Morningstar

The NMRA Mid Eastern Region held their convention at the Rockville Hilton This past October. The following is a recap of my observations as an attendee.  More information on the convention can still be found at http://potomac-nmra.org/MER2018/Main/index.html.

My overall impression was that the convention was well planned and executed. A convention official indicated approximately 200 were in attendance.

I stayed at the convention hotel Thursday and Friday because clinics were scheduled up until 10:00 PM each evening. This was a very nice, typical Hilton property, and the convention chairmen are to be commended for negotiating very favorable pricing. Room rates were almost ½ of what was available on expedia.com for the same location. There was ample free parking on site. The convention center was also accessible via the Twinbrook metro.

The only negative aspect of convention was that layouts on the tour were too far away or conflicted with evening clinics that I wanted to attend.   Some of these layouts were 1-2 hours away (one way travel). I found it hard to believe there were no closer layouts to view.

Many of the clinics were informative and well presented, yet some, while acceptable, were not convention caliber.

SMD member Jay Beckham gave a fine clinic on C/MRI. I learned a lot and now wish I had looked closer at it before I went with a Loconet solution on my layout’s signaling system.

I did spend an extra $5 and attended a 2 ½ hour 3D printing clinic. We were required to bring our laptops for hands on labs.   Using the  SketchUP program we designed and printed a B&O mile post. This clinic was well worth the time and I learned a lot of techniques on how to better use SketchUP.   I intend on taking the 3D design from the convention and printing it on my 3D printer at home.

The contest room had many models, including two that I submitted. I earned 3rd place in “On Line Structures.” I pried my scratch built WM yard light tower off the layout and placed on a piece of pink foam board with some ground cover to give it a finished look. This was my first NMRA competition and I learned quite a bit from the judges score sheets. The comments were helpful to understand their scores. I had no qualms with their ratings.

Bob Morningstar’s Western Maryland (WM) yard light tower is a scratch built rendition of the wooden WM light towers that were located near the yardmasters office at the east end of the Hagerstown (MD) yard.
It is constructed of Northeastern and Mt Albert scale lumber and Grandt Lines nut-bolt-washer castings. The searchlights at the top are non-functional and are made of Plastruct tubing with Canopy Glue lenses. The electrical cabinet at the base is a resin casting made from a latex mold. The master for the mold was constructed out of a block of wood and detailed with hinges and door handle. The timbers were individually stained with a diluted mixture of india ink and iso-propyl alcohol.
Build time was approximately 17 hours.
The scratch build model took third place in the Mid-Eastern Region, NMRA, 2018 convention model contest. (Tom Fedor)

My take away is that they look for contest quality models.  Mine were detailed for a level that I find acceptable for use on the layout but did not meet the grade to take 1st place. If a entry doesn’t have the same level of detail as a Tangent Scale Model, you will not be competitive. My light tower lost marks because I didn’t have the nut-bolt-washer details installed on one side of the tower.  This was a build decision I made, not wanting to super detail a side of the structure a viewer would never see when on the layout. My other entry was a Athearn “blue box” gondola that I had repainted and decaled for the Penn Central.   I got high marks for the paint and decals, but got dinged hard for lack of underbody detail and leaving molded-on ladders in place.

The Prince William Model Railroad Club had their module layout up and running with some really long trains.   They also had the John Allen Timesaver switching layout setup. At first my son, Nicholas and I were able to complete the switching puzzle in 42 moves (the host said the best you can do is 29 moves).  It took us 3 attempts to get it down to 32 moves but was an enjoyable hour spent with Nicholas.

Overall, it was a positive experience which both my son and I enjoyed together. We met many interesting people and the convention was worth the time and investment.

2019 SMD Spring Mini-Convention

On Saturday, April 13, 2019, with the support of Mainline Hobby Supply, the SMD will again host our very popular Mini-Convention at the Blue Ridge Mtn. Fire Co.

Join your fellow South Mountain Division (SMD) members in a day of great fun and fellowship, and spread the joy of model railroading.  On Saturday, April 13, 2019, with the support of Mainline Hobby Supply, the SMD will again host our very popular Mini-Convention at the Blue Ridge Mtn. Fire Co.

Our traditional format will be as follows…

Morning – Informal clinics.  We need 10 folks to volunteer to give one from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM and repeat it again from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM.  No formal presentations required. Just talk about a model railroading topic that’s of interest to you.  Bring what you want to have as examples or visual aids (no projectors, no loudspeakers).  It’s just you, talking to the attendees as they walk past your table.  The guests are free to stay and talk with you for as long as they like, or move on when they choose. Don’t think of it as a speech. Don’t think of it as public speaking.  It’s just chatting with other interested model railroaders. Note that you have an hour break from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM.  That’s to allow you to get a snack, visit the rest room, look around to see what other clinics are doing.  Then, ten other members give their clinics beginning at 10:00 AM until 11:00 AM and repeating from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM.

As of this writing, Ron Polimeni, Harvey Heyser, Bill Wilson, Jane Clarke, Jerry Skeim, Jeff Adams, Andrew Dodge, Don Florwick, Bob Johnson, and Jay Beckham have signed up to give an informal clinic.  Jay intends to bring his 3D printer and print items on site.

Afternoon – Formal clinics.  At 1:00 PM Jeff Grove of Carolina Craftsman Kits kicks off the series speaking on Laser Technology in Modeling.  Ira Silverman follows speaking about his new book, The Canadian, the Last of the Great Streamliners. SMD member Alex Polimeni will bring up the markers, speaking on “Model Railroading as Game Design.” 

At 10:00 AM we will also have two “Make and take” clinics.  Jeff Grove of Carolina Craftsman Kits will, again, donate a group of (small, easy) craftsman kits and Mainline Hobby Supply will donate (small, easy) styrene (plastic) kits.  Just like last year we’ll encourage young people by giving them priority on the make & take sign up lists. Another way you can help is by bringing tools to loan for these clinics.  X-Acto knives, glue… Look for a list of items once our build leaders, Brian Greenawalt and David Sweeney, have had time to identify their needs.

SMD plans to have a modular layout or two set up and running as well.  Please contact me, Pete Clarke, at ebtmx5@aol.com or call 301- 253-4913 if you are aware of a modular group and have contact information for that group.

There will be some vendors there with model railroad stuff for sale.  Carolina Craftsman Kits, Nyce Collectables (railroadiana), and SMD member Grant Berry (Misc. stuff) have all signed up. I am waiting to hear back from more.

Of course you can, and should, carefully walk across the road to Mainline Hobby Supply.  Show them your gratitude for supporting this Mini-Con by making a purchase, and while you are talking to them, say “Thanks for sponsoring the Mini” out loud.

Again this year, SMD will purchase a $150 gift certificate from Mainline Hobby Supply and sell raffle tickets ($10 each) throughout the morning.  Also HobbyTown USA – Frederick (Richard Benjamin) has donated a $50 gift certificate that we will give as a door prize.  Both of these drawings will happen at 1:00 PM.

We will have food on site.

All this is just what I already know about!  There’s more in the pipeline. Look for a final update in your Spring Wheel Report.

A call to action! SMD really needs you to make this happen.  Please contact me to offer to help.  Mostly I need folks to give informal clinics.  Everyone who’s done one of these clinics has had a great time.  There are other things you can do. We’ll need extension cords, tools, labor for morning set up and afternoon clean up. Know of a modular group?  I’d love to hear from you. Just can’t do any of those?  Attend, tell others about it!

Did you catch the part about having a working 3D printer on-site? I intend to spend hours just watching that do its thing.  Come on down!

Blame the Brass

Alex Polimeni, superintendent, NMRA South Mountain Division 10. (Tom Fedor)

Clutter from the Super’s Desk

If you receive the NMRA Magazine, you may have already read the President’s Car column in the November issue. It was suggested to me that I read it before writing this, and I’m glad I did. If you haven’t, I’ll do my best to sum up Pete Magoun‘s words in a nutshell: “National can’t overcome the challenges that face the Association alone. Regions and Divisions control their own web presence and PR efforts, and it’s up to them to do the boots-on-the-ground work to build, grow, and prosper.”

Pete’s messaged really connected with me, because I believe SMD is ahead of the curve. We already have an incredible outlet through which to engage with the public in the form of the annual Mini-Con. Our membership is very much involved in the hobby both within and outside of SMD by way of operating sessions, enthusiast groups, open house tours, and conventions across the country. Not only that, but a recurring conversation at our meetings is the idea of stronger outreach and networking efforts to both new and long-time members. Furthermore, our newsletter editor and webmaster have been looking at options to overhaul our website. You can expect more dialogue regarding both of these subjects in the months to come.

I want to take this opportunity to apologize to those members who do not use email, as I did not mail reminders for those meetings as I promised in the Fall edition of the Wheel Report. Thank you for your patience and continued enthusiasm.

In closing, I need to thank this season’s hosts, Rich Randall, Bob Johnson, and Frank Benenati for opening their homes to the Division. Congratulations go out to member Bob Morningstar for his his “Golden Spike” Achievement Program (AP) certificate. We’ve built a strong head of steam in 2018, and I know we’re only going to pick up speed through the winter.

Winter Wheel Report Published

Greetings from the South Mountain Division of the NMRA.

This post is to notify members that the winter edition of the SMD Wheel Report is now available to download.

This first link will open the file in your web browser.

<http://smdnmra.org/files/WRpt_VOL1819No2_WEB.pdf>

-or-

The following link will take you to the SMD website Wheel Reports page.

<http://www.smdnmra.org/wheelreports.html>

Click on “2018/19” in the Winter column to open, or right click and choose “Save link as…”. Past editions are also available on this webpage.