newsletter Feb 2012 Feb 2012.pdfNewsletter Of The NAOGRRC -- - February 2012 I awoke in the middle of the night and slowly crept down the stairs. There was something different about

Newsletter Of The NAOGRRC --www.ogauge.org - February 2012

This Month’s Highlights

Member Terry H. shares his first train experience on page 2.

Several members visited layouts in Alabama during February. Read about their experience on page 3.

Train Dr. Ted discusses how todays trains have changed from electrical to electronic and offers solutions for phasing problems. See page 4.

The NAOGRRC will have a Spring Tour of member layouts. If you would like to host a layout tour, please contact Les.

There are several Train Shows coming up this year. Check the calendar for details.

Membership dues are due now. If you have not renewed your membership for 2012, please contact our treasurer Curt.

Inside this issue:

My First TrainTrain Dr. TedAlabama TripMeeting MinutesCalendarRailroad LinksMember article

Club members on the Mobile Alabama Layout Tour


I awoke in the middle of the night and slowly crept down the stairs. There was something different about the room. There were gifts under the tree! Santa had come! But off to the side was different as well. There was something smoking and running in a circle and my Grandfather was sitting next to it with his back to me. I was two years old and it was my Grandfatherʼs train but it was my first fond memory of trains. I later learned it was my Grandfatherʼs tradition to set up the train after the kids went to sleep on Christmas Eve. Since he was staying with our family that Christmas, he brought the tradition to our home. He managed a Certain-Teed shingle plant, so he always had plenty of colored garnet for the layout. The grass was green stone with some dried plants inserted for decoration. He had some pre-Plasticville houses, metal cars on black garnet roads, some animals in the pastures and other great items, but my real fascination was the train. I donʼt recall any presents from that year but I still remember the train.

Unfortunately, my Grandfather moved out of our house after the next Christmas so we knew we would not have a train to run. My brother and I were really surprised when we found MY first train under the tree – a 1957/58 2379 Rio Grande with Super-O track. My Grandfather had purchased it so we could carry on the Christmas tradition. My father had a 5x9 piece of 3/4 inch plywood already painted green and waiting for us. Super-O was new to us and the remote switches as well. I was too young but my brother and father snapped the track together along with the turnouts and a siding. We had the operating barrel loader and search light car and, more importantly, hours of enjoyment. I recall “outening the lights” and enjoying it for days. To this day, I enjoy running and riding trains at night. I know

many donʼt appreciate Super-O but there is only one realistic track out there in my mind. I still have the train and thanks to Dr. Ted and Les, it is in better shape than it has been for years. My hope for next year is to have the Super-O, Lionel LW transformer as close to original as I can get them. Iʼve purchased additional track and turnouts over the years so I may add the features of my dreams as well.

So what happened to my Grandfatherʼs train?

My uncle and I searched in vain for it after he passed. We donʼt have any pictures of his layouts either but Iʼll always carry that first image of “Santa” by the train.

‘My First Train’ will be a monthly article submitted by members. Any member may write about his first train engine, car, or even experience with trains. Submit all articles to [email protected]

My First Train by Terry H. 2

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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This is what 5 couples (Bill & Lois, Al & Mary Nelle, John & Carolyn, Bob & Donna, and Bob & Beth) from our train club did the week end of February 25th and 26th. Herb Kern who lives in Mobile is a member of SWARM (South West Alabama Railroad Modelers). Their club members operate layouts of various gauges. Herb coordinated our tour of 9 layouts lasting over a two day period. We met with some of their club members from the Mobile area for dinner at Wintzels Oyster House Friday evening. These club members are someof the layout hosts for our week end tour. They are a terrific group of railroaders.

Saturday started with our first stop at the old Gulf Mobile & Ohio railroad station. We couldn't go inside but the outside of this historical structure was very impressive. Stop two found us at an Egyptian Temple, once a Masonic Temple and now a ballroom used for Mardi Gras affairs. Upstairs houses the very large ACMR (local Hobby Store) HO layout. Time frame is the present and some of the prominent scenes include very large and tall crane derricks (Approximately 12 feet tall).These first two stops were in downtown Mobile. We then traveled across Mobile bay to Foley, AL. where the Foley Railroad Museum was our third stop. Here we saw a very large 3 rail O scale model railroad layout. You sit or stand on an elevated platform to be able to view the entire layout. Lunch was in Robertsdale, AL. at a southern buffet named "Mama Lous'". Our fourth stop was in Summerdale, AL. at Tom Lindsey's HO layout. He is confined to a wheelchair so his layout is totally automated using a computer with two monitors. George Nelson resides in Fairhope, AL. and was our fifth stop. He has a 3 rail O gauge layout. Not very big but very impressive. The last stop for Saturday was in Spanish Fort, AL. at Fred Karkowski's 3 rail O

gauge layout. He has a lot of rolling stock and locomotives displayed along with an impressive operating layout. His layout table is about 48" tall. A very different perspective when viewing the different scenes. This completed the Saturday tour

so to end the day on a positive note, we stopped at a seafood restaurant along the causeway in Mobile bay.

All the layouts for Sunday's tour took place west of Mobile and started at Herb Kern's Beaver Valley layout. His HO layout

has lots of great details. Our second stop was at Glenn Samuel's N gauge layout. He added a very large 50' x 50' room to the back of his house just for his trains. His layout hasvery little scenery at this time however he is working on completing the scenery over the next few years. His layout is designed for operations from point to point or town to town. He has about 6 different towns or stops. It takes between 8 and 12 club members to operate his layout. Our third stop was at Drew Madere's 3 rail O gauge layout. His layout features a train car weigh station along with an electronic monitoring system. He and our very own Eric have communicated about various train issues.

Next was lunch at Dreamland Bar B Q. Great food and fellowship. The last stop for our week end was at Leon Moores 3 rail O gauge layout. His very large layout is located over a garage behind his house. If there was one layout on our tour that had the "WOW" factor, this was it, in my opinion. There were so many details throughout the layout , it was hard to take it all in during our short visit. He scratch built a very large refinery with over 300 pipes and fittings. Very impressive. Everywhere you looked you saw different and amazing scenes. His other collections included M & M memorabilia, skulls and chess sets. He also had a lot of shelf displays of trains both below his table and on the walls above his layout.

This concluded our busy but fun week end. Everybody we met was terrific. The weather cooperated although cool but comfortable.

Stay tuned for the NAOGRR club's next adventure.

Field Trip to Mobile Alabama by Bill D. 3


Railroad Links

NAOGRRC has a Facebook page!

You can “like” us on Facebook in order to show your support for the Club and to keep up with some photos from Club Activities.

http://www.facebook.com/ogauge

YESTERDAY’S TOY TRAIN ELECTRICAL DISCUSSIONS HAVE BECOME

TODAY’S TOY TRAIN’S ELECTRONIC DISCUSSION

Electricity has powered toy trains since the beginning of the 1900s. The manufacturers have since added whistles, bells, remote uncoupling, and all sorts of trackside accessories. Near the turn of the 21th century, digital control and sound systems have made their way to the tracks.

At the last Club meeting a few of us discussed the 21 century Super-Capacitor as a source for other projects. At the same Club meeting I was discussing 20th century basic wiring for using an auxiliary transformer for accessories. Some of our Club members only run digital trains, some run only conventional, and some of us run a mixture of digital and conventional.

For this article I thought it would be helpful to have a very basic electrical/electronics session on the basic terminology of electronics as it relates to the running of toy trains.

What is Electricity? The movement of electrons between atoms is call electricity.Conductors are materials that allow the free motion of electrons to move. For example: wire.Insulators are materials that do not allow the electrons to move through it such as plastic and rubber. Voltage is the difference in potential that exists between two points that are connected by a conductor.Current is the volume of flow and is measured in Amperes. Resistance is the slowing down of the electrical flow and is measured in Ohms. The relationship between voltage, current, and ohms is called Ohms Law, which states that voltage is equal to the current times the resistance, or, V= I x R, where: V is the potential in volts, I is the currents in amps, R is the resistance in ohms.

There are two types of electricity, alternating current (AC), and direct current (DC). Generally, on 3 rail O-gauge, Standard gauge and 2 rail American Flyer we use AC. On HO and G-Gauge, DC is used.

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Polarity: If you are using only one transformer connected to your layout phasing is not a problem. If you are using two or more transformers on your layout you must make sure that you have every transformer in phase. As we are an O-Gauge Club, we are all using AC to power our trains. We are also using AC to power our turnouts and accessories. It is a must that the transformers are in phase. Every month I am in contact with train operators that are having phasing issues.

How is phasing accomplished? For each transformer there are two connections to be considered. One type is the transformer connection to the track. There are markings on the transformer for ʻCommonʼ (C), or the output is a black post. The other wire is to Hot or the red post. It is the other end of the electrical connection, the transformerʼs AC wall plug that must be plugged into the wall the correct way for polarization.

There are 2 situations to be addressed: If you have all modern transformers, the AC plug has a one plug spade wider than the other and it can only be plugged into the house AC wall socket one way. Therefore all of your transformers are connected polarized. Unfortunately, that perfect world does not exist with Lionel who reversed some transformer connections in some models, for some years. You will need to go to the OGR forum to research to see if you own any of them.

If you have all post war or post war mixed in the modern transformers here is an easy way to make sure that their AC plugs are properly connected. First, any modern transformer can only be plugged into the house current in only one way. Next, plug in a second transformer. A post war transformer can be plugged into the wall socket either way, so try one way first. Connect a ground wire directly from one transformer to the other.

OUT OF PHASE IN PHASE

Turn both transformer throttles to 8 volts. Connect a 14 to 18 volt light bulb from 1 transformer hot lead to the other transformer hot lead. (It does not matter which end of the bulb is connected to which transformer. If the bulb DOES NOT light, the transformers are in phase. If the bulb, DOES light, the transformers are out of phase. Unplug one of the transformers, turn the plug 180 degrees and re-plug it back into the wall socket. Re-do the test. For each additional transformer you want to connect to the layout, test it using only 2 transformers at a time for the test connection. Mark each AC transformerʼs plug so you know which way it should go into the AC socket for now and in the future.

The big advantage to using auxiliary transformer(s) for your accessories and constant power for your turnouts is that it leaves more wattage to run your trains.

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Club Activities in February

Trip to Mobile AL to tour layouts- Feb 25 and 26

UPCOMING EVENTS

March 15 Meeting @ HT

7PM

Mar 17 & 18 Piedmont Train Show @ Cobb

Galleria

Children's Layout Participation

10 AM- 4PM Both Days

April 12 at the Southern Museum of Locomotive and Civil War History in

Kennesaw (150th Anniversary of the Great

Locomotive Chase)

April 28th at the Kennesaw Mountain

National Battlefield in the visitor’s center

MINUTES FROM THE MEETING ON 2/16/12 AT HOBBYTOWN

Scott opened the meeting at 7PM 1 guest – Greg W. – found out about us at the Trains, Trains, Trains function at the museum in Kennesaw where the kid’s layout was set up. Treasurer’s report – Curt W. Layout Report – Ron S. – Ticket booth area has the stream, reservoir and water fall mocked up. Hard shell moving along. Have created 2 center pop ups in ticket booth area. A few more weeks of hard shell work and will then transition to rock molds. No work on Tuesday or Thursday February 21st and 23rd. Electrical Committee Report – Ted B. – Working on ore car tracks. We have a bad turnout inside the tunnel. This will be removed and replaced with a straight piece of track. Jack C. mentioned that he is continuing to work on the control panel and hopes to have it completed by the March meeting. Club Shirts- Rick B – Spoke about exploring some new options for club shirts, specifically long sleeve “work” type shirts. General agreement that looking at this would be fine so long as we keep the primary club colors of red and white. Dave H. noted that there is a 4 shirt minimum plus monogram cost at the new shirt supplier. He estimates cost for long sleeve shirts would be in the $30-$35 a piece range. Dave will have a proposal for long sleeve shirts worked up to present to the club. Alabama Trip- Bill D. – Club trip to Mobile is scheduled for the weekend of the 25th and 26th. Layout tours have been booked and the group will visit 6 layouts on Saturday the 25th and 4 or 5 more on Sunday the 26th. Kid’s Layout – Dave H. – Upcoming shows or events at which the Kid’s Layout will be set up are: March 17 and 18 – NMRA Piedmont Div. Meet at Cobb Galleria; April 12 at the Southern Museum of Locomotive and Civil War History in Kennesaw (150th Anniversary of the Great Locomotive Chase); April 28th at the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield in the visitor’s center. Demonstration- Dave Bennett from Train Installations presented a demonstration of his time saving techniques in a “Mountain’s in Minutes” demonstration. Spring Layout tour – No dates as yet. Club members who have volunteered to host so far are Cookie H., Jim D. and Curt and Max W. February 28 is the deadline for the next parts order. Contact Les if you need to order parts. Scott F. adjourned the meeting at 7:55PM.

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It May Be Closed to You .... But Open to MeOn a somewhat chilly April day in 1977, my brother-in-law Gary and I set out from Brooklyn NY to the TCA museum in Strasburg Pennsylvania.We went first to the Choo -Choo Barn and after viewing that layout with all it's animation and postwar Lionel with some MPC era trains mixed in, we went next to the Pennsylvania RR museum which was right next door. To our amazement there were some GG1's parked on sidings just rotting in the weather over the years since being " Decommissioned " from service. There was a green one in Penn Central markings as well as Black markings with white PC lettering. There was some K-4 pacifics as well as 1 Turbine. Inside was a GG1 in tuscan with some congressional cars. We paid for tickets on the Strasburg RR steam train ride to Paradise Paennsylvania.

Club Calendar

It passed over some road grade crossings and by some farms run by Amish people. We looked to the left of the train and we saw the famous Caboose motel. Here you could stay in a Porthole caboose for a night or longer at a competitive price of a traditional motel. When we arrived in Paradise (actually a siding off the Amtrak main line to Harrisburg) the engine went through some switch operations and then returned to Strasburg. Next and last objective was to go to our real reason to travel 400 miles by car that day. The TCA museum was to open after 2pm that day. We were not yet TCA members but we were told that they would let us in.

We knocked on the door but no one answered. We then walked to the one end of the building and asked some carpenters if we were able to look around. He called some man over and that man said you will have to come back Monday. In my calm Brooklyn accent I explained “you advertised today for opening.” “Yes” he said “but we are not ready to open.” I said “we traveled 400 miles, I think you can just show us around.” After a short time he said “OK come on in. I haven't tested anything yet, but maybe I can run something for you being you came this far.” To our enjoyment he ran 4 sets for us and took us for a tour. I only remember his name was Frank but never got his last name.

The tour being finished Gary and I got back in his 1973 Camaro and went to Zinn's family style restaurant to eat and then returned back to Brooklyn.

I said to Gary "You know we were the first ever visitors to the museum ": Now that is something That was 35 years ago next month "Whew"Frank never asked us for TCA cards I guess he thought we were members. By Les

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newsletter Feb 2012 Feb 2012.pdfNewsletter Of The NAOGRRC -- - February 2012 I awoke in the middle of the night and slowly crept down the stairs. There was something different about