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Official publication of the Sunrise Trail Division of the National Model Railroad Association, Inc.
Spring 2014 Volume 44, Number 1
OF NOTE
SUNRISE SPRING MEET DETAILS
SPRINGFIELD IDEAS
AROUND THE DIVISION
LEARN TO OPERATE
See you at the Spring Meet
It was a cold winter and ice from the Hudson was swept up by the tides into the East River , at some times extending from Manhattan to Long Island. The old LIRR ferry slips seen here entirely filled with ice. On right, a summer shot taken from the end of the pier.
THE SUNRISE TRAIL DIVISION
SPRING MEET
APRIL 5, 10 a.m. 4:30 p.m.
CLINICS CONTESTS LAYOUTS BARGAINS
ALL WELCOME
DETAILS ON PAGES 4 and 5
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Except for those of us that leave the house after a big snowstorm to take pic-tures of railroad snow plows blasting their way across grade crossings, the winter season is the indoor season of model rail-roading. Finally the spring season is here, soon to be followed by summer. Now is the time we can get out to build garden railways or see the big 12” to the foot models.
My plan for the warm season is to head up to Vermont for May’s Rutland Railroad Historical Society convention followed by several days of shooting pic-tures on the Green Mountain Railroad. We have a “little” drive planned to com-mence early in June to drive across the Canadian Plains to Alaska and then down into Washington State and Oregon. Good railroad photo opportunities will happen. The question for me is whether it will be
me, or my wife Janet, who gets the best photos.
You might ask what these railroad themed peregrinations have to do with our hobby of model railroads. For me, I come home from these trips excited to model the scenery and prototype opera-tions I have just seen. So get out to see the big boys run while the weather is pleasant. When you return home, you’ll have plenty of ideas and experience to add to your model railroad.
There are two model events coming up in the fall season. The first one is the Northeastern Region Convention in Palmer, Massachusetts, this September and our own revised annual convention in Baldwin in November.
Model railroading is fun; remem-
ber to keep on trackin’. ED
EDITOR & PUBLISHER Dan Shepard
67-29 215th Street Bayside, NY 11364-2523
(718) 224-9278 [email protected]
CIRCULATION Steven Perry
THE CANNON BALL is published quarterly by the Sunrise Trail Division of the National Model Railroad Association, Inc. for the benefit of the model railroading community.
SUBSCRIPTIONS U.S. and possessions: $7.00 per year. Please make check or money order payable to Sunrise Trail Division. Send requests for new subscriptions, renewals or address changes to: Walter Wohleking
5 Howard Drive, Huntington, NY 11743 631-757-0580 [email protected]
CONTRIBUTIONS Articles, photographs and artwork are welcome in either hardcopy or as computer files. Copy is due by the 1st of February, May, August, and November and should be sent to the Editor at the above address. Submitted material will be returned upon request.
®
OFFICERS
Edmund Neale President
Dennis DeAngelis
Vice President
[email protected] Steve Perry
Treasurer [email protected]
Howard Dwyer Secretary
DIRECTORS
John Jaklitsch (2015) [email protected]
Kevin Katta ( 2016) [email protected]
Richard Mazzola (2015) [email protected]
Michael Siegel (2015) [email protected]
Mike Bowler (2016)
Joe Bux (2016)
STDiv REPRESENTATIVE on NER BoD Kevin Katta
ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM Michael Siegel
CONTESTS Howard Dwyer
MEMBERSHIP Steve Perry
PUBLICITY George Loy
Michael Siegel
WEBSITE www.SunriseTrailDiv.com John Jaklitsch, Webmaster
I have always admired modelers who know what they want, and build it.
For me, the process is always far more complicated. There is a lot of thinking involved. And decision making. And figur-ing out how to tackle a certain project.
Ultimately, however, it is some deep-seated desire to see the trains roll that somehow pushes progress forward.
But I know I’m not alone in facing crushing indecisiveness. I know people who have spent years figuring out what scale they want to model, the locale, and the era. And once they get past that, there are questions such as the height of the layout, the radius of the curves, the size of the turnouts.
And the decisions keep on coming. DCC? Which brand? Turnout control? What do we call our railroad—something prototypical? Something that sounds pro-totypical? Or total fantasy?
There is of course, the matter of the imaginary model railroad police, who will object to unrealistic, anachronistic model-ing.
Every modeler, in every scale, faces all of these questions. And every modeler deals with these questions in their own way, taking into account their own cir-cumstances.
Some modelers actually dodge defini-tive decision making by building more than one layout. There are many people who seem to have an HO or N scale lay-out, while dabbling in On30 on the side.
And while the trend seems to be to-ward modeling the prototype with ever more exacting realism, there also seem to be legions of modelers who flirt with the prototype, and then veer off course to-ward a world of their own making.
Model railroading is a hobby, after all, and a highly independent undertaking at that, for most of us.
Some decisions still elude me. The era of my railroad has never been settled, and lies somewhere between 1960 and 2000. I know some people have nailed the setting of their railroad to a specific date. They make sure the license plates are right for the time. But I always fear that doing that would lead me to a sort of Groundhog Day syndrome, where every time I run the trains, it would be just like the last time.
But hey, it’s just another decision to make. In the meantime, there are any number of projects to complete. But it’ll take time to decide which one comes first.
president’s corner perspective / EDMUND NEALE
mixed consist
commentary / DAN SHEPARD
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Ideas for a Cannon Ball Story? -Layout progress -Pictures to share -New Products -Operating news -Club news Please send to: [email protected]
Ideas and Inspiration from Springfield There is certainly something to be said about reaching a critical mass that makes the Springfield train show so appealing. It is so big that it draws virtually every model railroad manufacturer. Every tourist railroad in the northeast is there. There are miles of vendor tables. And there are a lot of layouts, some that truly display a clever, innovative or artistic flair. Walking through the four buildings, here are a few scenes found along the way. From urban to ice-bound, wetland to seaside, there are many ideas on display that could find a home on just about any layout. Here are a few.
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SPRING MEET CLINICS Time Police by Mike Siegel How to avoid temporal anomalies (for example, a girl in a mini-skirt in a 50s scene) on your model railroad by means of "What's wrong with this picture?" format. Mike will dis-cuss how to attain temporal accuracy through research (pictures, articles, books).
Modeling Long Island Railroad Stations by Ray Muntz Ray will discuss LIRR Stations and how he modeled the sta-tions at Westbury and Seaford.
Designing a Come & Go Layout—The Neighborhood Model Railroad by Walter Wohleking A slide presentation by Walter Wohleking will present the characteristics, pro, and cons of modestly sized layouts that can replicate a day trackside watching a railroad at work. Elements of design will be presented and a new considera-tion - immersion factor- will be offered as an important as-pect in creating a model railroad that feels more realistic, provides long-term operating potential, and can reach an advanced stage of completion in a reasonable amount of time.
Building Windows by Mike Bowler In this participation clinic, Mike will teach you how to con-struct HO scale industrial windows from scratch, using wood and clear styrene. You will build two windows - one 4 pane, measuring 8 scale feet (sft) by 8 sft, and one 6 pane, measuring 10 sft by 3.5 sft. A handout describing a few techniques for making dou-ble-hung windows will be available. There will be a $5.00 charge for this clinic. All materials will be supplied. Attendance may be limited.
You will need to bring the following: Scale ruler Exacto knife and some new #11 blades *Cutting board or self-healing cutting mat 220 grit sand paper Tweezers *Newspapers (several sheets) Medium and fine jeweler's files Pencil & paper Any additional tools you feel comfortable using while building small models. The cutting board / mat and news-papers are required to protect the church's tables. If time permits, as an addendum to Building Windows, Steve Perry will give a short PowerPoint presentation on how to build a working sliding door, which can be added to a freight station, warehouse, garage, etc. The door can be installed either outside or inside the building. Note: An operating door and scratch-built windows will boost your scores on judged models.
Sometimes, that light out the end of the tunnel, may not quite be the light we’re looking for. Photo taken on eastbound Flushing 7 train at Hunters Point in a snow-storm on January 21.
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The deadline for the Summer 2014 issue of The Cannon Ball is June1st
and elsewhere
around the division
Spring Meet —Just around the corner on April 5. for details and directions, see page 4. For an interesting line-up of clin-ics, see page 5.
Opportunity to operate—For those who would like to try
their hand at participating in an operations session on a
model railroad, the Sunrise Trail Division, the West Island
Model Railroad Club and OPSIG are arranging sessions on
the spectacular West Island and nine others will be opening
their doors for what hopefully will be an annual event. Op-
erating sessions are scheduled for Friday evening, April 25,
Saturday morning and afternoon—April 26, and Sunday
morning, April 27. Registration is now open. More details
are available http://islandops.org/index.html
John Feraca’s Stone Canyon R.R. is one of the railroads that
will be on the Island Op tour. Rumor has it that Howard
Dwyer can found working the yard. A second rumor is that
Steve Perry who has been a Stone Canyon guest operator
will be filling in for Howard during Island Ops.
Among the layouts featured in IslandOps is Nicolo Platas' 24½' x 35' proto-freelanced NPSF (model railroad which is featured in the March 2014 "Railroad Model Craftsman."
More “Ops” Til You Drop —If by some chance you happen to be upstate during the Sunrise Spring Meet, the CNY Divi-sion is offering operations on six first class Utica/Syracuse layouts on Saturday and Sunday, April 5 & 6. The cost is $10 (by March 19, 2014) for Saturday dinner and snacks. Hotel is on your own. For more information, contact Bill Brown at [email protected].
On a Sunday afternoon last spring, Ed Neale—who was incidentally reelected as Division President at the Winter Meet—stopped by the engine house in Rutland, Vermont. He decided to replicate what he found on his layout. . Ed Neale photo Right—Steve Perry reports that while progress is being made on his Wheeling Beckley and Bluefield RR, “a sizable laundry list remains.” Here are some shots he took of the layout.
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6 BROOKHAVEN DRIVE ROCKY POINT NY 11778
PLACE MAILING LABEL HERE
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April 5 10:30AM-4:30PM Sunrise Trail Division Spring Meet – St. David’s Lutheran Church, 20 Clark Boulevard, Massapequa Park—Adults $3, scouts, spouses , kids free April 25-27 Island Ops—For information and registration—www.islandops.org Aug 23-24 Railroad Festival, Riverhead, NY, Railroad Museum of Long Island Nov 29, 30, 12:00PM-4:00PM TMB Train Club O gauge layout open house – 1110A Rte 109 (behind Intercity Baking), Lindenhurst – Admission free. tmbmodeltrainclub.com NATIONAL July 13-19 NMRA National Convention, Cleveland, OH RECURRING National Railway Historical Society Long Island Sunrise Trail Chapter meets 3rd Friday of each month at 8:00PM, Christ Church, Carll Ave & Prospect St, Babylon, www.nrhs-list.org Rockville Centre Model Railroaders Club layout open house every Saturday from 1:00PM–6:00PM, 200 Sunrise Hwy (basement), Rockville Centre, 516-520-2996, rcvmr.org
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