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Editors: John Hansen & Ted Wiese Railings from Logan Thoughts from the KING SNIPE By Bill Logan Newly elected Snipe Just goes to show you how considerate (or desperate) the Mini-Bunch has become lo these many years. They have elected Bill Logan, a Gn3 modeler, as the King Snipe. My saving grace – I am an Ohio River and Western Railway narrow gauge fan. Setting in the back of the room and not nominating someone else quickly was my demise no doubt. Oh well, onward and upward. Middletown Meeting kudos Many thanks to Jim Foster and others who arranged, organized, and led our Middletown meeting at the Manchester Inn. I hope everyone had time to explore the downtown Middletown area after Sam Ashworth’s meeting presentation on Middletown’s canal town history and railroad development. Afterward, the Middletown Historical Society was open for us to visit and see their CH&T display. Don Kreigbaum’s after dinner clinic on reliable model motors kept Mo Mechling and others discussing details long after supper. The Sunday tour at Dupps Company was fascinating. Their little GE four wheel critter, clean and painted in red with a blue racing stripe, demonstrated their pride in ownership. Although standard gauge, the fourteen inch wide cab doors and simple controls had that narrow gauge feel. Just outside the Dupps factory fence limit were an old Germantown freight station and mill building ready for photos and modeling. The Dupps junction with the CSX yielded three not so "crummy" standard gauge cabooses set aside the mainline on display. Steve and Mike Hood’s railroad visit was enhanced by the mainline CSX double and triple-headers passing 30 feet away from his house. Richard Davoust’s Mountain Central had a great painted curved backdrop and plenty of lighting (my specialty) to compliment the fine modeling. Jim Foster’s relocated Gophir Tram…. Pike has a new comfortable home in their basement family (now train) room. Plenty of room for expansion – hey Jim. Gn3 Tracks Ted can list this in the timetable, but I’ll comment here separately. Since I am a Gn3 modeler (a.k.a. garden railroader) and the King Snipe you can expect more on this topic – Mark your calendars. Next June 26-30, 2002 - the Greater Cincinnati Garden Railroad Club will sponsor the 2002 National Garden Railway Convention in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky (Cincinnati – close enough). The high light of this convention will be the forty plus garden railroads to be visited. G scale has come a long way. There are many scale 1:20.3 railroads on tap along with clinics and dealer hall. The weekend before the convention modelers in Columbus, Dayton, Ohio and Florence, Kentucky will have pre-convention tours. My Ohio River and Western Railway will be among those open. Membership Jim Stewart’s last column (we do read the newsletter – Jim) stated, "I think that’s one of the pluses of this organization …. a fraternity of friends with similar interests." is a good starting point for me to comment on Mini-Bunch membership. We have a great bunch here with great modeling and railroad historical talent spanning all the gauges. Take a little time to pass on your copy (or make another copy) of our newsletter to other modelers and invite them to our next meeting this spring. In the meantime – forward articles on to Ted and John, our newsletter editors for inclusion in the newsletter. Writing as well as modeling can be rewarding. Please share your experiences with all of us. In the meantime between meetings drop each other and me an email (OK Doc – you can send a letter). The Fall Meet by Jim Eakin This Fall’s Mini-Bunch meet, organized by Jim Foster in Middletown, Ohio, was one of the best we have had in years! Beginning with an excellent facility, the refurbished, 1920 vintage Manchester Hotel was a delight on its own, with excellent service, food and pricing. Over 50 attendees were treated to quality clinics, plenty of narrow gauge in all scales to buy, three mini layouts, and a Sunday program of tours that was quite enjoyable. There was really so much to do on Sunday that we only participated in the following three: The Depp Company plant tour was a real eye opener, as we toured a modern, heavy equipment fabrication facility complete with its own railroad. One of the owners gave us a nearly two hour tour which concluded with our being able to crawl all over their 25 ton GE critter. Next, Vern, Robin and I chose to head north to Dayton and tour the Carillon Park village museum featuring an overall layout resembling Greenfield Village in Dearborn, but on a smaller scale. We were treated to an interesting display featuring Dayton area industrial and transportation artifacts from numerous eras. Finally, we visited Jim Foster’s HOn30/HO layout, set in the hill country of the Eastern coal region. The layout had just been re-assembled after a move to a new home, but it ran quite well. Jim uses diesels made from N gauge switchers, and cut down HOn3 cars to successfully create typical hill country coal and clay based scenes of operations in HOn30. The attention to usual clutter was outstanding! The Gopher Tram and Mining Co. will hopefully be covered in more detail in a future issue of Short and Narrow Rails. Contest Winners:
Thanks to all who entered the contests. Next Mini-Bunch Meetings Gary Kohler’s Spring Narrow Gauge Meet Schedule for April 5 and 6, 2002 Friday noon to 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Two day registration will be $10.00. There will be a Saturday night banquet at Timberlanes Inn in Salem. (Advance reservation will be needed for the dinner.) Reserve a room at Timberlanes Inn by calling 330-337-9572. Rooms a reserved under "April Show" - ask for Gloria. Model contest categories: Locomotives, rolling stock, and structures/dioramas, etc. Cash prizes will be awarded!!! There will be an interactive modeling clinic featuring a special laser kit designed for the meeting. Other clinics include Critters, Penn Tanneries, WW&F part 2, Scratchbuilding Ward’s Sawmill by Sam Swanson, and one on the W&W. Most of the dealers who attended last year are plan-ning to return. The next newsletter will be out by the end of February, and it will contain a registration form and map. If you have questions, Gary Kohler can be reached at m2fq@aol.com, PO Box 133, Washingtonville, OH 44490-0133 or 330-702-0117. The Fall 2002 Mini-Bunch Meet will be held October 19 and 20, 2002 on Ohio's Marblehead Peninsula (near Sandusky) The headquarters motel will be the Sleep Inn located on Route 53N on the east side of Port Clinton near the causeway crossing of the bay. There will be a special group room rate available for reservations made before October 1, 2001. A major feature will be a drive yourself tour guide of:
There will be all the usual model and photo contests, and we anticipate having three speakers who will talk about the history of these lines. We need both clinic presenters and layouts to visit in the area. If you can help, or know someone who can, please call me at (330) 483-3962, or email to pete.stroth@att.net. 2005 National Convention Report Dearborn, Michigan will be the site of the 25th National Narrow Gauge Convention. Dan Kempf, spokesman for the group sponsoring the meeting said the convention will be August 31st to September 3rd, 2005, (Labor Day weekend). More information will be published as it becomes available. Narrow Gauge RPO routes Member Jim Felton of Tiffin has published a list of RPO routes and postmarks from narrow gauge lines. (This also includes a narrow gauge cable car line in San Francisco!!) This sells for $12.75, but Jim will knock off a buck if you order and identify yourself as a Mini-Bunch member. His address is: 2 Clinton Ave #3 Several members purchased these from him at the last meeting, and I assume he will bring them to the meeting at Gary’s place in April. 2002 National Convention Report Quite a number of Mini-Bunch members attended the meeting in Salt Lake City. The weather was good with sunshine every day. The facilities at the hotel were fine. My wife and I were not able to stay in the main hotel, but we were just across the street. Salt Lake City in an interesting place. Downtown streets are 6 to 8 lanes wide. The Interstate work is finally complete, but some streets were torn up for the new streetcar system being installed. A lot of work is being done for the winter Olympics (next month). We drove miles in search of layouts. (They were easy to find but a long distance apart.) I have never seen layouts quite like these before. Some were "nationally recognized" pikes, and several of the smaller NG layouts were as significant as well. Well worth the trip.
Sn3 mill on the layout of Doug Jolley
On3 layout in the attic of a 150 year old house
Seaport trackage in On3
On3 Layout in Hobby Shop
More On3 bridges
HOn3 model of mine in Tintic area of Utah Clinics covered many topics and were well done. Attendance was about 550. Unfortunately, due to the attack on the WTC, about 100 people who preregis-tered were not able to attend. A number of the vendors from other countries were brave enough to make the flights to get there for the meeting. As usual, the contest included some wonderful models. Here are some interesting ones.
Live steam G scale rotary snow plow
A steam powered critter of sorts in O scale
A mountainside mill On Saturday we had a special presentation the Promontory Summit National Historical. The engines were out and several of the convention attendees were drafted to play parts in the pageant about the driving of the spike.
There were two excellent presentations for the 2006 meeting and Durango bested Houston by only the slightest margin. That meeting will be held in conjunction with the 2006 Durango Railfest. Saturday night ended with the usual humorous C. Getz meeting summary and the auction. John and I both drove to the meeting. John and Virginia visited southern Utah and the Grand Canyon before the meeting, while I stopped in Boulder to visit my sister. Sandy flew out - about 36 hours late due to flight problems - and met me in Denver. We followed the old D&RGW line through Steamboat Springs, and followed route 40 to Utah. (We did not see any trains on the way.) On the way back home, I drove over Boreas Pass for the first time in about 20 years. The Forest Service has done a nice job there with the cabins and buildings near the old wye that was there. I did see a "stock train" in Gunnison. Except this time it was sixteen 18 wheelers. In the early morning, they were all lined up along the side of the street, but I was about 2 minutes too late to get the photo of the reincarnation of this old spectacle. The next morning, I drove from Gunnison to Cimarron. The ranger at the DRGW display there was very helpful. (In 1952, Ed Cass took a photo at the Ridgway roundhouse that showed a small crane parked on front. The ranger verified this same crane was donated to them about 15 years ago, and it is on display with the stock cars at Cimarron.) Then off to Ridgway - photos of RGS #1 at the museum. Then, lunch in Rico after taking photos of Trout Lake. Stop at the Dolores Depot to see Goose 5. Then Durango and finally off to Chama before dark. The following morning dawned cold and clear. It turned out that the train from Chama to Osier had two engines that day. I ended following it all the way to the Los Pinos tank. What a sight!! - Nice smoke, great color in the trees and wonderful sound of two locos (K-27 and K-36) fighting their way up the 4% grade. At one of the photo stops, I talked to Bill and Mary Miller. (Mary won second place in the structure contest at the convention.)
463 left the train at Cumbres Photos of members layouts OK, Steve Amitrano cannot attend every meeting since he lives in OK now, but he sent some for us to publish. His Sn3 layout looks to be really interesting. Not too large, but certainly well done. (More photos can be found in the website for the Sn3 group in Yahoo.) He hopes to move back to Ohio one of these years.
Entering Santa Fe
The Chama Yard Name Badges available Some members have never received a name badge since they have not been available for over 10 years. And others have lost theirs. Jim Eakin has found a new vendor who can make badges that are nearly the same as the previous design. (We lost the prior vendor due to a fire that destroyed the die for the badges, and we could not afford to make a new one.) So sent $10 to me and we will get a new badge for you for the next meeting. (Tell us how to spell the name too - nickname - or whatever.) Several people "ordered" badges in Middletown, but we need the $10 before we can make the badges. We have the badges for those that paid Jim Eakin. Rio Grande Modeling and Historical Society As many of you know, a new railroad Society has been formed: the Rio Grande Modeling and Historical Society. They plan to publish six newsletters and at least two magazines per year. Although it will include standard gauge, several of the founders are historians interested in the narrow gauge. If you are interested, go to the website - http://rgmhs.drgw.org, or write to the Society at PO Box 25114, Colorado Springs, CO 80936-5114. Their purpose is to disseminate information about the DRGW (and D&SL, RGS, etc) as widely as possible. They already have a CD ROM with copies of old timetables, rosters, grade and alignment charts, and service bulletins available. They have just been granted 501(c)(3) status by the IRS as an educational organization. That is a signi-ficant development for this young undertaking. I have copy of the first issue of the Prospector. An excellent magazine for those with a DRGW interest. Notes from the Editors John and Ted thank Jim Eakin for the help in getting these newsletters printed. Jim has been in the railroad printing business for a number of years. As a result, we were able to get the copying done for a really reasonable price. Odd question: I have 3 grandsons and the oldest is just over 4 years old. They all love to run my trains. (Can you imagine a 2 1/2 year old standing on a stool for 1 1/2 hours at a time to run a train?) Question: Why do they demand that every train must have a caboose? I’m not sure they have ever seen a caboose on a real train!
Treasurer/Editor Note Here is a brief Treasurer’s report: Thanks to the $300+ net from the Middletown meeting, we can breathe a bit easier. We have a balance of about $700 in the bank account. (So, we should earn about $10.00 this year in interest!!) We can publish the newsletters for 2002 at least. Right now, about 60% of the cost of each letter is postage. Since we can mail an eight page newsletter for $.34, reducing the size will not save any money. (Bulk mailing is not premitted since we do not mail 200 copies.) We have heard comments about an email version. Neither of the editors are e-literate enough to be able to do this, but we will be sending this newsletter to David Keith to see if a PDF version can be posted on the MiniBunch website. At least we will post color photos. (Printed photos will continue to be in black and white until we buy a color printer.) HELP NEEDED!!!! We plan to send out 4 newsletters per year. We are looking for articles on modelbuilding and prototype that will be of interest for the members. John and I have a special interest in Western narrow gauge. Would anyone like to try their hand at preparing a column on logging or Eastern narrow gauge? Below this, we have listed some narrow gauge websites that we have found useful and/or interesting. If you know of some, send the information to us so we can list them in a future edition of the newsletter. Does your issue say: If your copy of the newsletter has "last copy" written on the label, then we would appreciate your sending us $8.00 for the next 2 years or your attending the next meeting. (Frankly, we would prefer that you attend the meetings.) We just had to increase the subscription fee, but if we get your payment before 1/1/2002, $5 will be OK for the next 2 years. (Or let us know if you have attended a meeting after the Spring of 2000 because we are not sure our records are complete.) The Editors Parties Responsible for this Newsletter Bill Logan, King Snipe Editors: John Hansen Ted Wiese Narrow Gauge Websites Mini-Bunch - http://www.narrowtracks.com/minibunch/index.htm 22nd National Narrow Gauge Convention - http://www.22ndnngc.com/ Cumbres and Toltec RR - http://www.cumbrestoltec.com/ Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec - http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/ Durango and Silverton RR - http://www.durangorailway.com Colorado RR Museum - http://www.crrm.org/ Narrow Gauge Timetable Future NG Conventions 2002 Spring Mini-Bunch Meeting 2002 National Garden Railway Convention 2002 Fall Mini-Bunch Meeting
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