November 27, 2017 Volume 37
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CLUB IN TRANSITION-5 NOVEMBER 27, 2017 ■■■■■■■■■■ VOLUME 37 ■■■■■■■ ■■■ NUMBER 11 3 1 2 4 6 9 5 7 8 13 10 11 12 15 16 17 14 19 18 22 20 21 3 23 24 The Semaphore David N. Clinton, Editor-in-Chief CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Southeastern Massachusetts…………………. Paul Cutler, Jr. “The Operator”………………………………… Paul Cutler III Cape Cod News………………………………….Skip Burton Boston Globe Reporter………………………. Brendan Sheehan Boston Herald Reporter……………………… Jim South Wall Street Journal Reporter....………………. Paul Bonanno, Jack Foley Rhode Island News…………………………… Tony Donatelli Empire State News…………………………… Dick Kozlowski Amtrak News……………………………. .. Rick Sutton “The Chief’s Corner”……………………… . Fred Lockhart PRODUCTION STAFF Publication………………………………… …. Al Taylor Al Munn Jim Ferris Bryan Miller Web Page …………………..………………….… Savery Moore Club Photographer………………………………..Joe Dumas Guest Contributors………………………………...Ken Buck The Semaphore is the monthly (except July) newsletter of the South Shore Model Railway Club & Museum (SSMRC) and any opinions found herein are those of the authors thereof and of the Editors and do not necessarily reflect any policies of this organization. The SSMRC, as a non-profit organization, does not endorse any position. Your comments are welcome! Please address all correspondence regarding this publication to: The Semaphore, 11 Hancock Rd., Hingham, MA 02043. ©2017 E-mail: [email protected] Club phone: 781-740-2000. Web page: www.ssmrc.org VOLUME 37 ■■■■■ NUMBER 11 ■■■■■ NOVEMBER 2017 CLUB OFFICERS BILL OF LADING President………………….Jack Foley Vice-President…….. …..Dan Peterson Annual Auction .... ………13 Treasurer………………....Will Baker Chief’s Corner ...... …….….5 Secretary……………….....Dave Clinton Chief Engineer……….. .Fred Lockhart Contests ................ ……….5, 13 Directors……………… ...Bill Garvey (’18) Clinic……………..….…….7 ……………………….. .Bryan Miller (‘18) ……………………… ….Roger St. Peter (’19) Editor’s Notes. ….…....….12 …………………………...Rick Sutton (‘19) JFJ ......................... ……….13 Members ............... ….…....12 The Operator ......... ……….14 ON THE COVER: Name that member (and Potpourri ............... ..……….8 one former member, who is still close with Running Extra ....... ……..13, 16 us). See page 13 for clues and who is Toys for Tots ........ ………..12 pictured. FORM 19 Fred Lockhart ORDERS I hope we all had a nice happy Thanksgiving with our families, for NOVEMBER B.O.D. MEETING me it is one of the best holidays as we get together to enjoy each Monday, November 27th 8 p.m. other’s company and sharing a DECEMBER BUSINESS MEETING th great meal together and watch Monday, December 4 8 p.m. some football. DECODER & LOCO TUNE-UP CLINIC Around the club, maintenance is th Thursday, December 7 8 p.m. about the same. Each time we JUNK FOOD JOLLIES operate, we seem to accumulate several issues to Tuesday, December 12th starting @ 6 p.m. be repaired. Right now there are three turnouts on NEWSLETTER DEADLINE the newest part of the railroad to be looked at; all Saturday, December 16th with different problems. Electrically, we are having DECEMBER B.O.D. MEETING problems with the Fast Clocks: several of them Thursday, January 4th 8 p.m. won’t maintain their memory when the layout is shut down. On startup, several of them have reset to “masters” and as a result will not work together. We thought it might have something to do with the CONTESTS new Command Station that was installed a couple of month ago. Remember I had said that it was Congratulations to Fred Lockhart on winning this made to resolve issues with large layouts? Huh! month’s 50/50 Raffle! More on that later. But we have reinstalled the older This month’s “Match the slogan to the railroad”, a Command Station and found no improvement, so fun (and difficult) puzzle from Savery, was correctly we are calling the manufacturer for help. The new completed by “lucky 13” members. And the lucky Command Station did make a difference in the one to win the drawing for the Rapido RDC-1, in beginning, however, because of the expanded B&M as-delivered “Minuteman”, was Bob capabilities of this new unit there was an upgrade Farrenkopf! Here’s a list of the other participants: that needed to be done to older throttles, which many of you have had Bob England do for you. Ron Clough Dave Clinton Now this Command Station is teaching us a new Al Taylor Barry Doland vocabulary with words like “steal zap” and “Toff”. Jim Ferris Dan Peterson Steal zap, from what I understand, prevents Paul Cutler III Al Munn another throttle from stealing a loco address that Doug Buchanan Paul Feeney was in one of the expanded slots. The problem I Fred Lockhart Don Pierce had during the last Ops session, when I tried to acquire a locomotive to move it after it had arrived January is our traditional “Train Calendar at Cedar Hill and got the steal zap message, was Exchange”, where participants in the contest supply that I could not acquire the loco or any other loco a calendar and go home with a different calendar. on my throttle; it was like it was locked up? Not fun. Please remember to order an extra calendar from The Toff message comes up in the right-hand loco your favorite supplier and donate it to the contest. address spot, it will flash back and forth with the (Thanks…it’s nice to have a “free” month for address, and this message has to do with track contest prizes!-Ed.) power status. Ignore it for now, as you can still put in an address and acquire a loco over it. I will be This is an extremely difficult contest, but fun, so spending some time on Digitrax’s website to learn hints for figuring it out are under “Editor’s Notes”, more about the new messages that we might see in near the back of the newsletter. Entry forms are on the future. AHHH…always something. But, the old wooden showcase in the train room, and remember, “Model railroading is fun”! include the “hints”; or use a paper with numbers 1-24 You will see a couple of sections of backdrop and put the name next to the number. Good luck! have been removed near the steel mill. This is 5 necessary to relocate the Larson Branch to come MTH and Lionel reach agreement in 7-yr-old lawsuit off the passenger lead. This work will cause the over Lionel’s theft of designs. passenger lead to be Blue-Flagged for a short while Connecticut D.O.T. expands “Shore Line East” service when the new turnouts are being installed. I will by adding weekend trips. make sure we have the passenger lead in service Rail Runner Express service extends to Santa Fe, NM. Work underway by Amtrak to replace Thames River for the next “Ops“ session Bridge in New London, CT. That’s it for this month, R.J. Corman RR Group purchases Chinese Class QJ Fred Lockhart 2-10-2 #7040 for special events use on its Kentucky line. Chief Engineer MBTA purchases two Genset locos. MBTA adds A/C to 10 PCC trolleys used on Ashmont- Mattapan Line. Mass Coastal RR awarded State’s rail contract for southeastern Massachusetts rail lines. SEMAPHORE NOVEMBER 2002 (15 years ago) MEMORIES Line clearing for Greenbush Line begins. Atlas brings out FM’s H15-44 locomotive. Quincy Wholesale Grocery reefer Club car sells out. Last EMD F-unit built, New Haven FL9 #2059, NOVEMBER 2012 (5 years ago) acquired by the RR Museum of New England. Iowa Pacific acquires controlling interest in Cape Rail, ”Green Goat” from RailPower Technologies of Inc. and its subsidiaries. Vancouver, BC, tested on Union Pacific. D.O.T. designates Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR as a MBTA increases parking lot fees to $2/day. National Historic Landmark. BC Rail runs last passenger train—Budd car-equipped EMD’s Caterpillar-painted SD70Ace locomotive debuts Cariboo Prospector. Vermont plans to up-grade Vermont Rail System Auburn, ME, intermodal freight terminal on SLA RR trackage between Rutland and Burlington for future becomes “official port of entry”. passenger service. CSX begins using air-powered end-of-train devices, Amtrak’s Downeaster arrives at Brunswick, ME, where electricity is generated by a turbine spun by brake station, marking beginning of passenger train service to pipe pressure. communities north of Portland for first time in over 50 yrs Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry opens new Town of Stoughton purchases its train station from $3 million HO-scale RR. 3,500-sq-ft with 1,450 ft. of MBTA; it is on National Register of Historic Places. track and 34 trains running at the same time. CSX begins moving out of its ex-NYC Beacon Park Chris Barlow joins SSMRC. Yard in Allston. Flexi-Flo cars are moved to Westboro Club Operations dispatched from location, which is and intermodal moves to Worcester’s expanded yard. now “Hudson Falls”; Tower 51 yet to be built. Association of Railway Museums and Tourist Railway NOVEMBER 1997 (20 Years Ago) Association, Inc. merge. First Talgo Train car shells arrive from Spain, to be CPR puts all 56 of its SD90/43MACs up for sale; not completed for Amtrak’s Cascades Service. successful on the RR and frequently in storage. Flying Yankee transported from Glenn, NH to NS unveils latest commemorative locomotive: an Claremont, NH, for restoration on C&C RR. SD60E, “The Veteran’s Commemorative Locomotive”. Lima Locomotive Works in Ohio demolished. The New Pullman Sleeping Car Co. inaugurates run of Pioneer Valley RR/Conrail “diamond” in Westfield, MA, historic cars on back of Amtrak’s City of New Orleans removed. out of Chicago. Electrical Committee begins testing various DCC Amtrak inaugurates service from Norfolk, VA to NYC. systems, in order to report to membership. Six parties submit bids to the City of Waterville, ME, to Kato (finally) produces SD45 in HO-scale.