SNIPINGS

 by Jim Foster, King Snipe

 Our Fall Meet

I have been asked by your editors to supply a report on the Fall Meet, a joint meeting with our friends in the Three Rivers Narrow Gauge Historical Society, so such a report will take the place of my column for this issue.  I don’t know if the editors had that purpose in mind.

Since I set this one up (with assistance from Richard Davoust) I will refrain from exclaiming how great it was, but since it was done in a place far from my home and at long distance, I’ll discuss later how any of you can do so, too.

Our Saturday, October 2^nd agenda was similar to most of our other Meets.  We had three clinics, with Bill Logan talking about Western narrow gauge rolling stock, Al Askerberg doing his unbelievable presentation on digital model photography, and Ed Cass giving an overview of critters.  This last clinic was at my request and not only was pertinent to our Sunday tours but is a subject near and dear to my heart.  There were several dealer displays and a nice overview of the 2005 National Narrow Gauge Convention in Detroit (Dearborn, actually).  The model contest would have been competitive except that Brian Budeit entered three of the categories and therefore cleaned our clocks in all three:  Locomotives, Cars and Maintenance-Of-Way.  Terry Hansley won the Structures category with a nicely modified Fine Scale Miniatures kit.

Our after-dinner speaker was a special treat:  I knew Michael Connor, Executive Vice President of the Ohio Central Railroad System, from a previous Three Rivers convention, and he graciously agreed to talk about his railroad (which includes the former Conotton Valley narrow gauge, the former Pennsy Panhandle and what seems to be most of the remaining trackage in Eastern Ohio), and also Sunday visits to an industrial site in Newcomerstown, a second site at the former Coshocton, Otsego & Eastern, and finally his railroad’s Morgan Run shops.  For someone (me) in government service that finds railroad management short-sighted, arrogant and socially irresponsible, Mr. Connor once again reaffirms my faith that railroads can do useful work if people running them are interested in providing customer service.  The success of the Ohio Central Railroad System, financially and otherwise, illustrates this better than I could ever articulate it.  For those of you who missed the opportunity to hear him, don’t do it again!

At our brief business meeting, we affirmed that the Mini-Bunch Spring 2005 Meet will be in conjunction with Gary Kohler’s Two-Foot Meet as in the past three years, and that the Fall 2005 Meet will be in Canton on the same weekend that the 30” gauge railroad in Navarre is operating (probably the second weekend in October); Jim Eakin will be arranging this.  We will also elect a new King Snipe at this Meet, an announcement that generated much applause and cheering.  Regarding the 2005 National Narrow Gauge Convention, Pete Stroth will be pursuing a larger presence for both the Mini-Bunch and Three Rivers, perhaps in the form of a special award for the best Eastern narrow gauge model, and is also pursuing meeting space for both groups.  Bill Logan wants to tour more of the Ohio River & Western for one of the Meets in 2006.  Watch this space for further information on all these events!

After much proselytizing over several months, your King Snipe was able to get us into the Stone Creek Brick Co. plant on Sunday, October 3^rd, for our first prototype visit.  This plant has probably never had anyone tour it before or even request such a thing, even though Ed Cass had an article on their clay railroad in the CRAFTSMAN a few years ago.  What we did not expect was a complete tour of not only the clay railroad (they did not let us go down in the mine, the only underground clay mine in Ohio) but also the entire brick making process.  Boys and girls, this brick plant has railroads and trams of six[!] different gauges: 20_ inches, 24 inches, 36 inches (the locomotive-hauled clay railroad), 44 inches, 48 inches and standard gauge!  See the pictures.  This visit was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that all Mini-Bunchers should have taken advantage of, as a new mine shaft is being drilled parallel to the old one in preparation for phasing out the clay railroad and its four critters.  The foreman told us parts for the cars were too expensive as they had to be specially made, and one of the critters was being cannibalized to keep its buddies going.

(Editors note: The December 2 issue of the Dover Times Reporter says that Stone Creek Brick Company is for sale!!) Buy your locomotives NOW!

To give all of you an idea of what it sometimes takes to set this stuff up, we had to fund $200 in overtime pay for the foreman and a locomotive engineer, but the Stone Creek Brick Co. was well worth it.

Our next stop was the former James B. Clow & Sons plant in Newcomerstown.  Mr. Connor had unearthed a map showing three at-grade crossings of the narrow-gauge plant railroad and Pennsy sidings.  Unbelievably, there was still narrow gauge track in three locations, even though the Pennsy line that once served this place is now gone.

Mr. Connor had further arranged a visit to the Coshocton, Otsego & Eastern, later a coal-hauling branch of the W&LE/NKP until 1962, and currently being rebuilt by John Uher.  Mr. Uher has relaid and refurbished approximately a mile of track and operates it with a critter and a speeder.  To those of you who say “I scoff at pitiful standard gauge locomotives,” this particular critter was originally 42” gauge and had a nifty close-clearance cab.  Mr. Connor and Mr. Uher had even arranged a fine lunch prepared by an adjacent carryout and bait shop (it’s not what you think; the lunch was hamburgers and hot dogs)

Mr. Connor’s final triumph was to allow us to tour his railroad’s Morgan Run shops, located east of Coshocton where the Conotton Valley crossed the Pennsy Panhandle.  Not only does the Ohio Central operate an eclectic mix of vintage and modern diesels in revenue service, it has a steam fleet for excursion service.  That fleet will not be detailed here, but it includes a Consolidation, a Ten Wheeler, a Northern and a Pacific, that last one being in steam during our visit.  Mr. Connor would not let us run it.

Elsewhere in the newsletter are photographs of the Meet.

To arrange such a meeting in New Philadelphia while living in Dayton, I relied on the Tuscarawas County Convention & Visitors Bureau to recommend hotels and meeting facilities, after I described what our group needed.  All other arrangements with the host hotel and the conference center, including banquet choices, were done by telephone, e-mail or letter.  The Stone Creek Brick Co. tour required several letters and telephone calls, and finally a commitment to pay two of their employees to come in on a Sunday morning.  The Convention & Visitors Bureau further put me in touch with Michael Connor, although I had met him previously 14 years ago.  Mr. Connor went beyond anyone’s expectations in making our visit enjoyable and productive, and his contributions are the only part of our Fall Meet that any one of us could not easily duplicate.  The rest could be done by any of us, in any town.

Volunteer to do a meet in a place that interests you!

His Royal Snipiness,

Jim   

Model Railroad News

Sam Swanson has done it again. His HOn3 buildings won first place ribbons for both the on-line structures and on-line displays at the 2004 convention of the NMRA. Photos appeared in previous issues of this newsletter. He also has photo in 2005 NMRA calendar.

National Convention nearby:

Don’t forget the 2005 National Narrow Gauge convention will be held in our backyard in Dearborn MI. Registration forms are available. Website is www.25nngc.com

Registration is $75 before the end of July, 2005. Send to Bob Haar, Registrar at 19948 Pollyanna in Livonia, MI 48152

The meet will be at the Dearborn Hyatt Regency from August 31 to September 3, 2005.

News from narrow gauge country

The Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden has received shipment of #346 back from Strasburg, PA. The boiler was repaired, the flues and flue sheets replaced and the running gear overhauled. They expect 346 will be back in operation on June 2995.

Sad news from Colorado

The Georgetown Loop will be operated by another group for the next five years. The Historical Society that owns the rails, bridges and stations could not agree with the company that has operated there for 30 years, so a new vendor will run the trains next year. No word on motive power - If you have any form of three foot steam locomotive, they may be interested in hearing from you. All the passenger rolling stock, locomotives, tools and supplies are owned by the current vendor.

That rolling stock has been moved to the Colorado Railroad Museum or to the Royal Gorge site of the other operation of that vendor.

Views Along the OR&W –The Wye at Captina Mine

Al’s Photo clinic