New The NFR Flimsy · 2017. 3. 4. · meeting but I am currently trying to locate another space. If you know of a space that we can use for our sessions please contact me @ [email protected]

FRONTIER FLIMSY The Quarterly Newsletter of the Niagara Frontier Region, NMRA

www.nfr-nmra.org March 2017 Volume 63 No. 1

Waybill

Executive Reports Page 3

Division Reports Page 4

Officer Reports Page 8

Regional Train Orders Page 10

Grand River Express Page 11

International Division Modeling Day at the Dundas Legion on Saturday, February 25th Back row left to right Barry Kelly, Chuck Faist, Harvey McIntyre, Walter Reid, Ron Tuff, MMR, Dave Paterson, MMR Front row left to right Al Welch, Tony Kerr, James Whatley Photo by James Whatley

Page 2—The NFR Frontier Flimsy—March 2017

The Niagara Frontier Region NMRA

Frontier Flimsy

March 2017 Volume 63 Number 1 Stanley Conley, Editor

2194 Valley Drive Ottawa, ON K1G 2P8

The Frontier Flimsy is published four times annually by the Niagara Frontier Region of the National Model Railroad Association, Inc. and is distributed openly on the web at www.nfr-nmra.org.

Material for publication is welcome. Send articles, coming events, notices, etc. to the editor. Materials including photographs may be submitted by e-mail. Materials will be credited at the time of publication and will be returned if requested. Articles appearing in the Frontier Flimsy may be reprinted in other non-profit publications providing that credit is given to the author and the Flimsy.

Advertising is accepted in the Frontier Flimsy; please see the region web site for information and rates.

Opinions expressed in the Frontier Flimsy are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the NMRA, the Region, its officers, or other contributors to the Frontier Flimsy.

Special thanks to Diane Dodds for proofreading and nitpicking.

Email notification is coordinated by Richard Sparrow.

The Niagara Frontier Region Flimsy

2194 Valley Drive, Ottawa, ON K1G 2P8

The Niagara Frontier Region Regional Officers

President Richard Hatton 205 Country Lane, Stayner, ON L0M 1S0 705-428-9997, [email protected]

American V.P. Matt Bierl 146 Los Robles Street, Williamsville, NY 1422 16721 716-632-3686, [email protected] Canadian V.P. Tim Warris 312-b St. Patrick Street PO Box 1420, Port Dover, ON N0A 1N0 519-583-1099, [email protected] Secretary Vacant – Tony Kerr Acting Treasurer Tony Kerr

1361 Creekwood Trail, Oakville, ON L6H 6C7 905-338-8881, [email protected]

Division Superintendents

Allegheny inactive Central Ontario Richard Hatton 705-737-9363 [email protected] International Richard Sparrow 905-892-7958 [email protected] Lakeshores Raymond Howard 315-789-4801 [email protected] Ontario Northland

Trevor Ross 705-983-9602 [email protected]

St. Lawrence Chris Lyon 613-837-8522 [email protected] Southern Tier Robert Hamilton 607-754-0089 [email protected] Western Ontario

Steve Juranics 591-212-9694 [email protected]

Regional Officials

Achievement Program

Peter Nesbitt 613-592-0110 [email protected]

Convention Coordination

Les Radvanyi 416-543-1052 [email protected]

Flimsy Editor Stanley Conley 613-523-8237 [email protected] Flimsy Distribution

Richard Sparrow 905-892-7958 [email protected]

Historian Open Membership/ Registrar

Open

Model Contest Open WebMaster Tim Warris 519-583-1099 [email protected]

The NFR Frontier Flimsy—September 2012—Page 3

Niagara Frontier Region Executive Reports President Richard Hatton Hello out there in model railroad land.

Spring is just around the corner, those garden railroads will be up and running. We can all start planning our rail fan trips and maybe a family vacation.

But before all that starts let’s not forget the Annual Convention.

This year’s convention, The Grand River Express is in Kitchener May 5 – 7.

Our friends in the WOD are working diligently to put a complete package together for our enjoyment. Check it out on the NFR homepage http://www.nfr-nmra.org/

There all lots of good clinics as well as layout tours and some specialty tours as well, so check it out on line and you can register right from the comfort of your easy chair.

Hope to see you there.

Also, they will be holding our annual general meeting so you can put forward new ideas, vote on some changes or new programs. We are always looking for volunteers.

We have some great people doing double duty to keep things moving and I am thankful for them as are you. Let’s not forget many hands make light work so if you are up to it ask about positions that we could use some help in. Working together will make us a better organization and build better friendships.

If you have any ideas or suggestions that will help our organization please send them to me. We are always looking for fresh and creative ideas.

For those of you that don’t know I moved 4 years ago and I gained a lot of space in the new house and had to start from scratch. However I had a list of projects to complete before I could start my layout.

I am happy to say the bench work is up, ¾ of the mainline is down and I am in the process of wiring the track for power. Hopefully by the next edition of the Flimsy I will have the mainline up and running.

I will keep you posted, see you in Kitchener.

American Vice President Matt Bierl Canadian Vice President Tim Warris Secretary Vacant – Tony Kerr Acting Treasurer Tony Kerr


Niagara Frontier Region Division Reports

Allegheny Highlands Division Inactive Central Ontario Division Superintendent Richard Hatton How are we all doing in the COD?

Unfortunately, I lost my free space for our Modelers meeting but I am currently trying to locate another space. If you know of a space that we can use for our sessions please contact me @ [email protected]

Our next Craftsman Corner is at the Midland Train show May 13 and 14, come see us.

There’s only a few good train shows left before the summer season so make sure you get out and stock up on supplies to last you this summer, check out the layouts for modeling ideas and most of all stop by Craftsman Corner, if you have any questions, we are there to help or you can always stop by and say hi.

Don’t forget about the Convention it looks like it’s going to be great.

If you are not on our list to participate in Craftsman Corner drop me a line.

We are still looking for some volunteers to help organize events in the COD so if you have some good ideas and wish to help send me an email.

See you at train show near you.

Rick

International Division Superintendent Richard Sparrow With only another few weeks before Spring officially arrives, this time of year for me is like the Friday evening of a long weekend before I retired. We have a great time ahead of us to look forward to.

The ID has had another Modeling Day, and has a few more events planned for the coming year.

Modeling Day, February 25th

After the feedback from our November 2016 event in Hamilton, we wanted to do this again fairly soon, and so held another Modeling Day at the Dundas Legion on Saturday, February 25th.

There were 9 modelers out for the day to spend uninterrupted time and move their projects forward. We appreciate their support of the event. Also a big thank-you the Dundas Legion for the use of the Wentworth room for the day.

We are planning to hold additional Modeling Days in June and November this year. No details in place yet, but we will announce them and post them to our web site when details are available.

Spring 2017 Meet Details are as follows and shown on the Meet flyer further on in this Flimsy:

Date Saturday, April 29th

Place Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology on Woodward Avenue in Hamilton.


Program Ann & Barry Laxton will be presenting a clinic on their large scale switching layout, “Vineland Siding”. Discussing how and why it was designed and built, and demonstrating control of the layout using a Blackberry phone.

The Golden Horseshoe Live Steamers Club will present a clinic on “All you ever wanted to know about Live Steam”.

An official guided tour of the facilities will be included in the entrance fee for the Meet.

In the afternoon, there will be an opportunity to visit with the clinicians, maybe try your hand at operating the Laxton’s switching layout, and see some live steam in action on the GHLS club tracks.

Fall 2017 Meet This Meet will be in late October, tentatively Saturday the 21st in Mississauga. Details will be confirmed as we get closer to the date.

Clinics planned include:

Dave Paterson, MMR – Scratch Building Structures.

Al Welch – Sprucing up a Brass Steam Locomotive.

Dave Howard – Slide presentation of Steam in Southern Ontario.

ID Elections

We will be holding elections for the Divisional officers at this Meet, open to all paid up members of the International Division. Please consider putting your name forward to help out with making Divisional Meets and other events happen. Up for election will be Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, Clerk (Secretary), and US and Canadian Paymasters (Treasurer). Please forward your name and the office you wish to run for to: Chuck Faist at [email protected]

We welcome any questions, comments or suggestions that you may have for the ID. Email links are on the ID website at http://nfr-nmra.org/id/pages/frameset.html

Remember to play safe,

Richard Sparrow


St. Lawrence Division Superintendent Chris Lyon

Well we had a great meeting in January with excellent presentations on machined parts for a live steam locomotive. In the second presentation we saw how details can bring scenes to life. This was a followed by the Dave Revelia Video on painting detailed parts as a lead in to the afternoon. It was all hands on. Every possible paint, powder, ink and brush was made available to the participants. They got to experiment with painting detail parts. The parts were provided and they cleaned, primed then mounted them on a dowel with double-sided tape. Folks tried base coat, dry brush and wash techniques, adding depth, tone and texture to make realistic looking wood, cloth, metal and glass. There was lots of expertise on hand to provide advice and assist. There is nothing like learning by doing and having the chance to try out all kinds of stuff to see what works best for you. Acrylics and oils require different thinners and approaches. Bragdon or Aim powders versus Pan pastels were applied to not only colour and weather, but provide texture. We sped up many of the drying processes using a hair dryer. This month will be a continuation and I am sure folks will return to build on their last experience.

SLD is also looking forward to the Kingston Rail-O-Rama Show in March. We have tables where we work at projects and talk to the public about the NMRA and share some of the model railroading experience. Some of us are also off to Syracuse for the Ops til U drop session later this quarter. There are lots of new model railroads on the build. It may be a good time for the membership to reach out on an individual basis to help

advance the progress. The social aspect along with the extra hands and experience can go a long way to help modellers take the next step or get over a problem that has brought the project to a halt.

The NFR convention is fast approaching. We all appreciate the extreme efforts of the organizers. When you think of all the great activities offered, the price is less than a professional sports ticket or dinner out. Register as soon as you can as it really does make a great difference to the financial logistics of a successful event.

It looks like we may be losing a number of members in the SLD due to the USA part of our Division realigning with a nearby US Division. It was suggested that we might also look at realigning some of the NMRA membership in Canada. In eastern Ontario it would not be a stretch to have some of the members from the dormant Quebec Allouette Division join us. Then folks from Montreal, Gatineau and nearby towns could easily join us and we could go there to have events - something to think about. Well that is all for now and I am so much looking forward to seeing everyone at the Convention in May.

Chris Lyon

Lakeshores Division Superintendent Raymond Howard


Ontario Northland Division Superintendent Trevor Ross The Ontario Northland Division covers a large area, so division events are difficult to organize. However, there are many smaller modelling groups within the Ontario Northland Division that are very active. If you are a member of one of these groups please contact me and I will include details of your local events in future updates. Clark Kooning has now retired to Elliot Lake and the local modelling group there has become more active over the last year.

The Sudbury Railway Modelers have been very active over the past year. They have taken on a project to build a model railroad layout at the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum and Heritage Center. The layout is approximately 80% complete to date - museum quality track and scenery. Progress updates and photos of the construction can be found at the following site:https://normhclayout.wordpress.com/

The Museum opens for the season on May 21. See http://normhc.ca for museum details.

Southern Tier Division Superintendent Robert Hamilton Western Ontario Division Superintendent Steve Juranics


Niagara Frontier Region Officer Reports Achievement Program Chairman Peter Nesbitt

I’m pleased to say that since my last report the following AP certificates have been earned.

Graham MacDonald Electrical

Grant Knowles Prototype Modeler

AND

Grant Knowles MASTER MODEL RAILROADER

Master Model Railroader's are few and far between, reaching that plateau entails a lot of excellent model building and service to the hobby.

Congratulations to you both on your fine achievement.

The first weekend of May, and the NFR spring convention are not far away. This is the best forum to have models judged.

Pat Rivard is the contest Chairman this year. We need 10 volunteers to spend a few hours on Saturday afternoon in the contest room as judges. As those of you who have done it before know, it is a great learning experience, casting a critical eye on some excellent models. For those new to it, the judging is done in pairs with those new to judging matched up with an experienced judge.

If you would like to help your fellow modelers by undertaking this task, please let Pat or myself know. By the way, lunch is provided to the judges by the convention committee.



Regional Train Orders March 11-12, 2017. Kingston, ON. Rail-O-Rama Model train show. Ambassador Hotel, 1550 Princess Street. 10:00am-4:00pm both days. Admission Adults (13+) $6.00, Seniors (60+) $5.00, Children (5-12) $2.00. Info: kingstonrailorama.wix.com\show.

March 25, 2017. Ottawa, ON. SLD meet. Emmanuel United Church, 691 Smyth Road. http://sld-nmra.ca for breaking news.

April 1-2, 2017. Syracuse, NY. Central NY Division's 4th Annual Operations Weekend entitled: "Ops 'til You Drop", centered in Syracuse NY. All railroad enthusiasts from all over the northeast USA and Southeastern Canada are invited to participate. No operations experience is necessary. The cost is a just $10. All of your info and a registration form is found at www.cnynmra.org. Hope to see you there."

April 22, 2017. London, ON. London and District Model Railway Layout Tour. See flyer in this issue for details.

April 29, 2017. Hamilton ON. ID Spring Meet. Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology on Woodward Avenue. Details in Division report in this issue and at http://nfr-nmra.org/id/pages/frameset.html April 29, 2017. Ottawa, ON. SLD workshop. Emmanuel United Church, 691 Smyth Road. http://sld-nmra.ca for breaking news.

May 5-7, 2017. Kitchener ON. Grand River Express. NFR annual convention to be held at Conestoga College. Please see articles and flyers in this issue for full information or visit GrandRiverExpress.ca

May 13-14, 2017. Midland ON. Craftsman Corner at Midland train show

May 27, 2017. Ottawa, ON. SLD meet. Location TBA http://sld-nmra.ca for breaking news.

Your Local Micro-Mark “your small tool specialist” dealer


GRAND RIVER EXPRESS

May 5-7, 2017 Conestoga College Kitchener Ontario

Registrations are starting to roll in for the upcoming convention. We hope you have it on your radar and are considering attending. We have quite an ambitious program planned for the attendees. You can find a full schedule under the Home tab at www.GrandRiverExpress.ca .

In the last edition of the Frontier Flimsy, I detailed several of the activities we have scheduled. We have now confirmed a full slate of clinics. There are several fresh, new topics from many excellent presenters. We have seven time slots and three to four clinics being presented every hour.

Ralph Renzettii will lead a hands-on weathering clinic. Bring a car, or purchase one at the convention for a very nominal charge (we will have about 30 HO box cars for sale). We will provide several different weathering mediums (oils, pan pastels, acrylic paints, Paint Pigments, Enamel Washes) and Ralph will discuss the pros and cons of each medium as you have the opportunity to try them out on a piece of rolling stock.

Wendy from Model Builders Supply, and Wayne Wessner (recently locating to the NFR from out West) will present some scenery How-To clinics.

Steve Tuff, Chris Lyon and Bob Fallowfield will discuss the artistic process of recreating different scenes in miniature.

For the electricians in the crowd, Robert Langlois will have a clinic on Battery Powered Locomotives. Kevin Rudko will present two different clinics on Signals. Kevin is the owner of SignaLogic Systems and will also have his hardware for sale at the Vendor fair on Saturday.

Are you interested in the AP program, or just making detailed models, well Dave Patterson, MMR, will have a new clinic on Structure Scratch building, and Bill Dewar will discuss detailing Canadian Freight Car prototypes.

Ron Tuff, MMR, has been working the last few years on developing Operations for both the HOMES club in Hamilton and his own BC Rail home layout. He’ll discuss the features of JMRI and show how you can implement operations on your home layout.

Last but not least, Roger Chrysler will have a clinic on Locomotive Maintenance for Model Railroaders.

There’s a little something for everyone. More detailed descriptions can be found on the web page under the “Clinics” tab. A schedule for all the clinics will be finalized soon and will be posted on the web once confirmed.

Please note that the Banquet is scheduled for Sunday Morning. We have a hearty Brunch Buffet planned. The NFR AGM will take place prior to the Banquet.

Don’t forget to bring some spending money. The vendor fair on Saturday will have plenty of items for sale, including goods from some smaller Canadian


Manufacturers that are normally only available on the web.

We really do have all the activities of much larger National Convention, packed into three days, and at a fraction of the cost. Plus you don’t have to endure the Florida heat, or expense of going to the National. Please spread the word and help to make the Grand River Express a memorable event.

Steve Juranics

Grand River Express - Chairman

Documents

New The NFR Flimsy · 2017. 3. 4. · meeting but I am currently trying to locate another space. If you know of a space that we can use for our sessions please contact me @ [email protected]