O.C.M.E., P.O. Box 3216, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-3216, (949) 54-TRAIN. Our railroad is located in Fairview Park, 2480 Placentia Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA.

If you have any for sale items please send the info to ocmenews@aol.com THE WAY FREIGHT is published by ORANGE COUNTY MODEL ENGINEERS, INC. (OCME), a non-profit California Corporation

which has created THE MACKEREL FLATS & GOAT HILL JCT. RAILROAD in Fairview Park, Costa Mesa, California. It is the intent of OCME to educate and enlighten people of all ages in the rich railroad heritage of the United States of America and other parts of the world. As a qualified non-profit organization, all donations are fully tax deductible under IRS ruling 501 (C) (3). Views and opinions

expressed in THE WAY FREIGHT are not necessarily those of OCME.

Save the Date

Our 2016 Winter Banquet will be on Saturday, January 30th at the Claim Jumper in Fountain Valley

REMINDER Please print your name clearly on the run day sign in sheets.

2016 Membership Dues Your 2016 membership dues need to be sent in no later

than January 31st

Meeting Summary

ORANGE COUNTY MODEL ENGINEERS

P.O. Box 3216

Costa Mesa, CA 92628

Phone: (949) 54-TRAIN

We’re on the Web! www.ocmetrains.org

Attention on the Railroad

Thank you to our Polar Express Crews

Allen Stephens, Gary Kimble, Lori Johnson, Mark Johnson, Craig Okun, Andy Romer, Nicholas Hanrahan, Steve Hanrahan, Ken Matassa, John Manning, Mike Springer, Gary Sharp, Hank Castignetti, Lary Ogle, Mel Bresee, Jeff Garrett, Kevin Tolan, Glenn

Swain, Eric Engle, Kevin, Engle, Stefanie Drake, Jerry Platfoot, Jason Cohen, Christine Steinmetz, Joe Hayes, Betty Cummings, Diane Castignetti, Terry Cummings, Paul Hammond & Dixon Sheldon.

WAY FREIGHT January 2015

Volume 33, Issue 1

Track Talk Our next work day onthe month) will tackle the water tower main line. Please notice that work day will not be the first Saturday of the month. That is New Year’s Day weekend and is a holiday from work for the club. The track panels have been built by Craig Okun’s team and the switch has been built by Bob Osborne and Myron Peterson and all are ready to be installed. We will start form just before the switch (3 panels) and work our way south bound. Last work day was the WeichmaPolar Express. See the First Class Rail Road article.

OCME is transitioning to only providing the Way Freight as email so we can save approximately $150 per month in printing and mail costs. So please provide Patrick Ledbetter your email address if you have not already done so. If you don’t have email yoWay Freight up at the club house. If this is not possible please contact me also the OCME Calendar for 2016 activities has been adopted and will be sent out shortly

2015 O.C.M.E. Board of Directors

Special Events

Work Day Public Run Day’s

Contents

What's Happening 1

OCME Board of Directors 1

Dates to remember 1

President’s Message 2

Sheldon’s Corner 2

I’ve been working 3

Birthday Party’s 3

Tips from Chuckles 3

Attention on the Railroad 4

Meeting Summary 4

Bob Brooks ............(562) 429Dixon Sheldon.......(909)861Ken Matassa.......... (714)547Russ Maguire.........(562)799Paul Hammond......(818)620Appointed Officers:Mackerel Flats Mercantile Store CoMgrs: Betty Cummings..*82(714) 979Stefanie Drake ..........(714) 315Way Freight Patrick Ledbetter ocmenews@aol.com

Riders This Month

2335

Track Talk www.ocmetrains.org

ork day on Saturday January 9th 2016 (the second Sat. of the month) will tackle the water tower main line. Please notice that work day will not be the first Saturday of the month. That is New Year’s Day weekend and is a holiday from work for the club. The

anels have been built by Craig Okun’s team and the switch has been built by Bob Osborne and Myron Peterson and all are ready to be installed. We will start form just before the switch (3 panels) and work our way south bound. Last work day was the Weichman Polar Express. See the First Class Rail Road article. Bob Brooks

Way Freight

OCME is transitioning to only providing the Way Freight as email so

we can save approximately $150 per month in printing and mail costs. So please provide Patrick Ledbetter your email address if you have not already done so. If you don’t have email you can pick the Way Freight up at the club house. If this is not possible please contact me also the OCME Calendar for 2016 activities has been adopted and will be sent out shortly Bob Brooks

O.C.M.E. Board of Directors DATES TO REMEMBER

Jan 9

Work Day 8:00 AM. General Meeting 12:00 PM - Club house

Board Meeting 3:00 Jan 16-17

Sat. & Sun Public Run Feb 6

Work Day 8:00 AM. General Meeting 12:00 PM - Club house. Lunch at meeting. Board Meeting

3:00 Feb 20-21

Sat. & Sun Public Run

Bob Brooks ............(562) 429-8325 Dixon Sheldon.......(909)861-8810 Ken Matassa.......... (714)547-2093

562)799-0052 818)620-3480

Appointed Officers: Mackerel Flats Mercantile Store Co-

Betty Cummings..*82(714) 979-9390 ..........(714) 315-6296

ocmenews@aol.com

This past month was a big success for OCME. The Weichman Polar Express on December 5th went off without a hitch. The railroad hauled 655 passengers in two hours from the station to the North Pole. The children and families where all smiles participating in the activities provided by the staff of Weichman Realty. Weichman Realty provides this as a community service and as a way of supporting OCME with a generous donation.

A FIRST CLASS RAILROAD BY Bob Brooks

Sheldon’s Corner

Page 2 of 4 O.C.M.E Newsletter Page 3 of 4O.C.M.E Newsletter

Public run days on December 19th and 20th were also a big success for OCME. We pulled 1116 riders on Saturday and 1219 riders on Sunday. Dixon did an outstanding job playing Santa Claus. Chuck Rollins and the elves at the North Pole were busy taking around 350 family pictures of Santa and all the families. Many of them are repeat visitors and it is nice that they come back every year to take their family photo with Santa at OCME. All the club members are to be thanked for supporting this great activity. Please see the list of “Who’s Been Working On The Rail Road” in the Way Freight. This month three important items need to be mentioned. Number one is the votes for the new board members will be counted on work day January 9th. The new officers will take on their duties immediately after the general meeting. The second item is the Orange County Garden Rail Road Society will be holding an outing at our public run day on Sunday January 17th 2016 between the hours of 11am and 3pm. All members are requested to be there to give tours and train rides to our guests. It would be nice if some of the steamers were running as well as our club locomotives. The third item is the club’s annual banquet. It will be held on January 30th 2016 at the Claim Jumper restaurant on Brookhurst. The same restaurant as last year. Betty Cummings will be sending out the request for banquet reservations and money immediately. So please be prompt in responding to her notice. We need a head count early for planning. At the dinner we can all talk about how the members and our activities make this A First Class Rail Road.

Goathill News Goathill News

Tips from Chuckles

Angie Dutra*, Gary Dutra*, Donna Springer*, Chuck Rollins*, Carolyn Hays*, Gary Sharp*, and Dixon Sheldon*, Terry Cummings, Lori Johnson*, Mark Johnson*, Christine Steinmetz*, Antony Steinmetz*, Steve Hanrahal, Nick Hanrahal, Allen Stephens*, Hank Castignetti*, Dereck Marsden, Jim Marsden, Claire Marsden, George Shearer, Joe Hayes*, Jeff Garrett, Glenn Swain*, Bob Harrison, Kevin Tolan*, Jeff Tolan*, Lori Tolan*, Russell Maguire*, Dean Zeeman*, Bob Platfoot, Paul Hammond*, Larry Ogle*, Jason Cohen, Harrison Spain, Andrew Romer, Dalton Johnson, Dan O’Brien, Stefanie Drake*, Betty Cummings*, Bob Brooks*, Louie Aguirre*, Lois Taube, Kevin Engle, Eric Engle & Kathy Brokhausun

I’ve been working on the railroad

Anyone who is a qualified engineer and or conductor please make yourself available for 1 Saturday every 6 months to help with these events. Please contact Larry Ogle at oglerail@gmail.com or call Dixon Sheldon 909-861-8810 The parties are 2 hours long morning and afternoon and plan on an additional 2 hours to setup and put away equipment and yes put out the trash. We are a smile factory, kids of all ages come to us and we do our best to send them off with a smile.

Thank you to our Birthday Party Crews

BIRTHDAY PARTY’S

Like the smoke detectors you should check your fire extinguishers. To do this you need to find it, and remove it from the bracket. Hold it next to your ear and turn it upside down. You will hear sound like a muffin sliding inside of the extinguisher. Turn the extinguisher upright and upside down until you no longer hear the muffin moving. The muffin is the dry chemical that has caked at the bottom of the extinguisher. Also check the gauge it should read in the green. Oh I almost forgot this is if you have an ABC dry chemical type extinguisher.

Our guest’s are not sardines when loading the passenger cars remember the max load is 600 lbs. most adults are around 200 so no more than 3 adults and their children. This weekend I saw several cars with 3 big boys way over 200 lbs plus their wives and kids. This is not safe so please load accordingly. Also front to back. If you are watching the gate the little ones need to be able to walk to the trains if not they need to wait until they can walk. We are working on a height gauge when it is finished we will allow passengers to decide if their children can ride or not before waiting in the line. Kenny is working on this.

When you read this we will have a new board. I have enjoyed my tenure and I feel we have accomplished a lot . I want to thank all of you with your ideas. As we move forward the new board has many new ideas some are already being done. Check out the sidewalks around the station. Hank wants to repaint the restrooms he did this when he first joined our club. He did a good job but after many visitors, it needs another coat of paint. We are working on getting the transfer table repainted you can see some of the work has already been started.

If you have a talent let the board know and this will improve our railroad. I do not know how to do everything and I think most of us are in the same boat. But with the many talents we have we do a great job and we have a great railroad to show for it. The 596 is being rebuilt the plan was to unveil it for the Christmas run but it did not make it. Ben is working on the engine and he is doing it right. This is the first large engine the club purchased almost 20 years ago. We had great whether for the Santa run it rained Saturday night after the trains were put away Sunday was fine I think we had more children on Sunday. Many members had their pictures taken with Santa, Santa stayed over and got a hug from Stefanie in the store. Norma and her kids (The Taco lady), and other riders waiting for trains. Seems everyone loved Santa. Now that I am off the board I should be able to finish Sweet Creek and have the time to operate it. When I took it out of service it was supposed to return in 3 months that was over 3 years ago. So I plan to be Steaming this Spring Meet. Thanks for all your support and happy Steaming Dixon Sheldon