Smoke n’ Cinders, Vol. X, No. 10, October, 2002
Smoke n’ Cinders
The Newsletter of The Long Island Garden Railway Society
Vol. X, No. 10, October, 2002
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
ANNUAL PUMPKIN FEST - Suffolk County Farm
Yaphank Ave., Yaphank - LIE Exit 66 {directions on last page}
Sat. 10/19 & Sun. 10/20, 11:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. Both Days
Set Up; Fri. 10/18 10:00 A.M. Show Coordinators; Anne & Ed Fennell
NOTES & NOTICES
FESTIVAL OF TREES JUST 2 MONTHS AWAY NOW! As in past years, we’ll be decorating a tree for FOT & we need donations of small, inexpensive ornaments, especially train-related ornaments. (Decorated trees are sold to benefit United Cerebral Palsy - our tree last year raised $800 for UCP.) Marie DeCarolis is handling this effort, so please bring your ornaments to her at the next few meetings.
As for running trains & staffing the club exhibit over the 3-day show (Fri., Sat., & Sun. 12/6-8), Dave Smith says show hours are 10-10 on Fri. & Sat. and 10-5 on Sun. We’ll stet up Wed. evening 12/5.
Have YOU signed up to help yet? FOT benefits United Cerebral Palsy & is our major charity effort for the year. In addition, the club, as well as Large Scale cannot grow unless we bring them to the public’s attention. Shows are the way we do this & your support is needed.
------
CLUB RAFFLE The club will raffle off a custom painted LIRR NW-7 & matching bay-window caboose at this year’s holiday party. Chances are $2 each or 6 for $10. “Ya’ gotta’ be in it to Win It!” See Bob Russo
------
IN THIS ISSUE
Club Notices ...... p.1
LIGRS Officers ...... p.2
2002 Meeting Schedule ...... p.3
President’s Corner ...... p.3
September Meeting ...... p.4
TRACKSIDE Views ...... p.5
Video Review ...... p. 6
LIGRS Biography ...... p. 7
On The National Scene ...... p. 8
Organically Speaking ...... p.9
Directions to Pumpkin Fest ...... p.10
Smoke N’ Cinders is the newsletter of the Long Island Garden Railway Society, Inc. and is published approx. 11 times/year. The views & opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the editor, columnists, and authors, and not necessarily those of LIGRS.
Material published in Smoke N’ Cinders may only be reproduced in other garden railway society newsletters and by other non profit organizations if credit is given both to the author and Smoke N’ Cinders, and a copy of the publication in which the material was used is mailed the editor of Smoke N’ Cinders at P.O. Box 2002, No. Massapequa, NY 11758-2002. Otherwise, the use in whole or in part, of material published herein is prohibited and the material remains the property of LIGRS and the author. comments, phone calls and letters are
always welcome.
Editor; Bob Gibney
L.I.G.R.S. Biography; Bob Cooke
On the National Scene; Bob Sewall
Organically Speaking; Bob Weschler
Trackside Views; Dave Smith
Correspondence should be directed to the appropriate individual or club officer by name and/or title at the
following address:Long Island Garden Railway
Society, Inc., P.O. Box 2002, No. Massapequa,
NY 11758-2002
LIGRS E-MAIL ADDRESS;
President (‘01-‘02)Pete Connors
Vice President (’02-’03) Dave Smith
Treasurer (‘01-’02) Marty Waisnor
Corresponding Secretary (‘02-’03)Don Corie
Recording Secretary(’01–‘02) Red Morgan
Membership Director (’02-’03) Doug Munchtraindoug @ nptdock.com
Program Director (‘01-02') Bob Russo
Dir.-At-Large (‘01-’02) Bob Gibney
Dir-At-Large (‘02-’03) Rich McGorty
LIGRS STAFF
Good & Welfare Marie DeCarolis
Module Coordinator Jon Oest
Video Librarian Art Sheridan
WebmasterJonathon Landon
CLUB WEBSITE
PRESIDENTS CORNER
By Pete Connors
Dear Folks,
I’d like to thank Mary & Frank Gerken for hosting our Sept. Meeting. Even the weather was cooperative - the heavy rains waited until the meeting was over. Frank & Mary have a simple design for their railway that’s elegant in it’s application. He’s a model maker by trade & this is quite evident in his attention to small details in his scratch-built buildings. I hope Frank will be willing to share his ideas with us at 1 of our indoor meetings this winter.
PUMPKIN FEST IS HERE, & it’s a wonderful time for all participants. Kids & their families all having a great time. There are games & crafts, food & flowers, pumpkins & a hay ride, and of course, trains. The Suffolk County Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer questions. Bring a soil sample & they’ll test it for pH ( see Bob Weschler’s “Organically Speaking” column this month). Set-up for the club railway will be Fri. 10/18 @ 10:00. The show runs Sat. & Sun. From 11 to 5:00. Cone on down & lend a hand running trains. Lunch & T-shirts provided. Give Ed or Anne Fennell a call to let them know when you’re able to help out.
Our heartfelt thanks to Bob Root for his generous donation which paid the tax & registration fees for out new trailer.
Thanks also to Pete Conte, Ernie DeCarolis, Ron Freeman, Red Morgan, Rich McGorty, Save Smith & Steve Strawgate for their help. All the club track has now been cleaned, connectors replaced where needed, & a complete inventory taken. Everything is ready for the next show.
Until next month, keep the trains running. Pete
------
DATE / PROGRAM/NOTES / TIME / PLACEOct. 18-20th / Pumpkin Fest / Oct. 19 & 20th / Suffolk County Farm, Yaphank
Nov. ?? / ELECTIONS + Swap & Shop / 11 A.M. - 3 P.M. / Northport
Dec. 1st / Annual Holiday Party / TBA / Northport
Dec. 6-8 / Festival Of Trees / Dec. 6-8th / Nassau Veteran’s Coliseum, Hempstead Tpke., E. Meadow
SEPTEMBER MEETING
Our 2nd visit to Sayville in as many months yielded yet another surprise! (It’s as if those Sayville folks like to keep their railways a secret.) Your first look at Frank & Mary Gerkins’ pike indicates Franks’ trade - he’s a model maker. In addition to unique & obviously well executed structures on the railway, Frank has 4 different types of bridges ... & at least 1 more to come! The traditional trestle is made of ‘Cintra’, a plastic used by model-makers that’s about 1/4" thick. In fact ‘Cintra’ is what most of the buildings & bridges on Frank’s pike are made of. There’s also a nicely detailed, arched, concrete abutment bridge; a girder bridge with a supporting arch; and a steel side bridge. Almost all Frank’s structures are unique & demonstrate a degree of innovation one would expect of a professional modeler, including weathering. Thank you for letting us visit & thanks for the great spread!!
Sept. Business Meeting
Nominations; Pete, Marty, Red & Bob Russo were nominated for their current positions & are unopposed. For the Director-at-Large post soon-to-be-vacated by yours truly we have 3 nominees; Ed Assaf, Fred Destephan & Bob Sewall.
Pumpkin Fest 2002; Set-up on Friday the 18th. The show is on the 19th & 20th. Please call Anne & Ed Fennell a call if you haven’t signed up to lend a hand already.
Trailer; Purchased & is insured under Pete’s Auto policy. If we wanted to insure it under the Corporation, the insurer would have made us insure a vehicle too. Thanks for the hand Pete!
Raffle; Pete reminded everyone about the LIRR NW-7 & matching bay-window caboose to be raffled off at the Holiday party in Dec. Tickets are $2 each or 6 for $10. Your support will be greatly appreciated. See Bob Russo.
Meetings 2003; Bob Russo is looking for hosts for next year. Please give him a call if you can help fill out the schedule.
- Doug Munch welcomed Charley Kelermann and John & Carol Orciuolo as guests. Charley is interested in live steam. The Orciuolos are new to the hobby, so if they ask, lend a hand.
- Ron Freeman thanked everyone who helped with the Riverhead RR Festival in Aug. We’ll get a certificate of appreciation as soon as it’s printed. As for the railway, 4 cases of straight track have been donated, & Ben Lenz has donated much of the track from his railway, since unfortunately, he & Pam will be moving shortly. Cash donations are still wanted & Bob Sewall reminded everyone that he’ll still match donations up to a maximum total of $550. Make your checks payable to “Railroad Museum of Long Island” & give them to Bob so he can match the amount.
- “Plant Man” Bob Weschler asked everyone to do a brief paragraph or so on their favorite plant (see July “Organically Speaking”). It needn’t be long but input from everyone would not only be greatly appreciated, but would be helpful to those looking for plants for their railways ... & isn’t that most of us?
- Pete directed our attention to the article by Dave Smith in the latest “Garden Railways”. Dave bashed & detailed 2 Piko mansion kits into a larger resort hotel. Congratulations Dave!!
- Art Sheridan brought one of the new Accucraft 1:20.3 scale DRG&W box cars & it’s a highly detailed beauty! If you’re interested, a purchase of 4 or more could save you $20/car & if you are, give Art or Bob Sewall a call.
Nick Campanello won the monthly 50/50.
------
TRACKSIDE VIEWS
ByDave Smith
Disturbing news; the Florida GRS has had a lot of their equipment stolen. I doubt that any of it will make it this far north, but you never know. There’s an extensive list of 50+ stolen items, but much of it was generic (i.e. "25 assorted Preisser figures"). However, in the event a LIGRS member or someone from one of the clubs that we exchange newsletters with is approached by a "deal too good to be true", here are some of the stolen items and the person to contact; 2 LGB Jumbo transformers 1 Sumpter Valley Engine w/sound
1 Center Line Cleaning Car52 Modular Tables
3 Aristo Engines (one is an FA Diesel unit in the unusual Napa Valley paint scheme)
Contact:
In a previous column I mentioned that Lionel was bringing back the popular LS Thomas The Tank engine. Bachmann Industries is now producing Thomas The Tank Engine and friends in HO scale. One set consists of Thomas with moving eyes and his 2 coaches, Annie & Clarabel. The other set is Percy and the 2 troublesome trucks. These small scale sets might be of interest to those members wanting a train set for the "kids".
Though not train related, technology continues to astound me! In the world of RC planes, there are now electric powered fighters with built in sensors so individuals can dogfight. A person “shoots” an opponent with an electronic signal & if a hit is recorded, the "hit” plane loses power for a few seconds to confirm the "kill". I'm amazed!!
A posting on Big-Trains by "Nick" detailed the new AristoCraft 75MHz system. Of notable interest was the following:"Don't panic when the wire harness on one end of the board breaks off! It's supposed to. Of course this isn't mentioned in the instructions.... The unit has the wire leads and connector board necessary for non-plug and play installations. The board itself is scored so that you can easily snap off the leads, wire them into your loco and use the attached connector to plug into the board." Also, it would seem that when programming the new receivers, the locomotive lights actually blink the "codes" that used to be displayed only on the circuit board (those of you who have programmed a TE once or twice know what I'm referring too). Now one only needs to be able to see the locomotive lights rather than the circuit board inside the engine! One last word of caution from Nick. He states that Crest (that's the new name for the AristoCraft electronic division) isn't kidding about the voltage limitation of the TE units. Put more than the recommended 28V into the unit and the units will immediately shutdown.
LIGRS has received an E-mail from Lewis Polk regarding the new Aristo (Crest) Train Engineer. To directly quote his note: "Dear Long Island GRS. We have an improvement for our new onboard that did not make it into the instruction manual. By attaching the receiver antenna to the power pickup wire you can then use the entire track system as an extended antenna." The following web address was given in order to access the wiring diagram:
An interesting product is "Fuzzy Paper" by Micro Format. I couldn't quite understand what this product was about when I first saw it, but it allows photographs & drawings to be printed, using an ink-jet printer, as "fuzzy". "Why would anyone want to make a clear photo, fuzzy?", I asked myself (I do that very well on my own when I take photos!) However, as an example, consider that you have a photo/picture of a rug you'd like to print out & put inside a doll house or business car. After installation, it's going to LOOK like a photo. Fuzzy Paper "blurs" the image so that, similar to a real carpet, it won't appear crystal clear. A model railroad application of this would be the printing of "backdrop" scenes on an indoor layout where you don't want the backdrop to LOOK like a photograph. In the real life, a landscape "blurs" in the distance. That's what "fuzzy paper" does!
Last month I mentioned that Atlas was going to be releasing an indoor/outdoor O scale 2-rail track system that in 1:20.3 scale is almost an exact match to 2-foot gauge. It was brought to my attention that in 1:29 scale (AristoCraft and USA Trains), this same track would be almost an exact match to represent 3-foot gauge.
I was fortunate to participate in the Riverhead Railroad Festival held on August 24th and 25th at the Railroad Museum of Long Island. Ron Freeman, with help from Pete Connors and others, constructed a beautiful, 3-loop garden railroad. While I was there, I received many questions about joining our club and about garden railroading in general. Bob Sewall has stated that he will match contributions up to $550 in order to fund a permanent garden railroad at the museum. If you considered making such a donation and haven't yet done so, PLEASE do so ASAP.
(Continued)
Smoke n’ Cinders, Vol. X, No. 10, October, 2002
TM Books & Video Inc. is offering a DVD titled "A Century of Lionel Trains" hosted by Tom Synder. This DVD shows all the classic Lionel Trains; Blue Comet, Hudsons, even the little man who threw the milk cans out of the milk car. Also included are the log loaders, coal loaders, cranes, bridges, and steam whistle. The DVD traces the history and shows the trains and accessories that have generated so many memories. This might be a good holiday present for the train lover in your family!
Please be sure to sign up for the Festival Of Trees display being setup and staffed by our LIGRS membership. This event can't happen without YOU! Also, remember to bring any train related ornaments to the October meeting.
See you next month at “Trackside”!
------
FOR SALE
3 AristoCraft streamliner passenger cars (2 coaches & an observations car) - Pennsy + Bachmann 3-bay hopper (UP)
New in box - Test run only
$369.00Joe Ioele, Babylon; 631 - 661 - 0248
------
PULL TABS FROM ALUMINUM CANS
The program is sponsored by the kidney transplant team at Stony Brook Medical Center & it gives under-privileged kids with kidney disease a chance to go to summer camp without missing life-saving dialysis treatments. Funding comes from aluminum pull tabs from beverage cans, snack cans, pet food cans, etc. THAT’S WHERE YOU COME IN. - Please take a few seconds to save those pull tabs when you have a soda, a snack, or open a can of pet food. It takes a second of your time to help a child with kidney disease. Save the tabs, bring them to any meeting & give them to Bob “Plant Man” Wechsler. - He’ll do the rest.
But we need YOU to make a start..., AND KEEP AT IT!
------
VIDEO REVIEW
NEW VIDEO!!
GHOST TRAIN FROM THE PASTGreen Frog Productions
(60 minutes) In the late summer of 1997, fans of the Rio Grande Southern got the Cumbres & Toltec to re-letter one of their K-27s to look like RGS 455, before it was wrecked in 1950 or so. This video is the result of that effort & shows freight & mixed trains on the C&T, some plus double-headed by RGS & DRGW/C&T motive power. But forget the history, just sit back 7 enjoy the sights & sounds of the exhaust shot-gunning out of the stack as she makes her way up-grade. Sit back & enjoy the spectacular scenery of Colorado & the narrow-gauge trains which enchant & fascinate so many of us.
------
Smoke n’ Cinders, Vol. X, No. 10, October, 2002
LIGRS BIOGRAPHY
By Bob Cooke
Profile: FRANK GERKEN Wife: MARY
After hosting his first meeting, Frank Gerken is sure that everyone will call him “Crash” from now on. While trying to show people the railway & answer questions, he wasn’t always able to pay attention to running trains. Crash was the result as trains collided at the crossover in the center of the railway. “I’d only gotten the (Crest) remote control working the day before,” explained Frank, so running multiple trains & trying to talk to people at the same led to some confusion.
But that was only a minor problem, once it became clear that the drizzle would stop & the meeting could go ahead. “I was afraid people would come and only stay a few minutes and then leave. There’s no way we could have eaten all 50 bagels.”