SEPTEMBER 2021
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY TRELLIS & TRESTLE
In this issue ...
The Prez Sez Railroad Media Marketing East Devil Hills Modeling Group Newsletter Sharing Postcards of the Past Editor’s Page Musings of a Theme Park Fan JOIN US AT: Where Is It? Membership Information BAGRS.ORG Featured Article -- Saving Future Events of Interest FACEBOOK the C & AV From Matthew
INSTAGRAM All Steamed Up ... Superintendent Coordinator Member Updates Open Houses THE PREZ SEZ Russ Miller, BAGRS President
As I write this, I’m winding down from a very fun BAGRS Open House. I’m sure you can all relate to this… I cleaned up every leaf, twig and acorn from my layout on the Thursday before as I had to work both Friday and Saturday. I came home from a long day at work on Saturday to take a quick look at my Stanton Canyon Railway to ascertain what needed to be done Sunday morning before I could run trains. The backyard and railroad contained many more leaves, twigs and acorns that had fallen so I had to get up at 6 AM to clean everything again on Sunday morning. After cleaning the track… Yeah, I’m track powered… I finally got trains running at 9:45… Just minutes before the first guests arrived. Sure, I’m really tired and a little sunburned but it was totally worth the effort! I like to thank every BAGRS member and their friends and family who attended as everyone was wearing their masks and doing their best to observe COVID-19 protocols. It was great to see many members out on the tours and I did my best to talk to every one of them. One member who couldn’t be on the tour was Gary Whaley… He had planned to help me prep and run trains in Sunday. He did call me on Sunday though to apologize as he just got back home… Via Ambulance after spending a week at the hospital. You see, he had chest pains last Friday and he ended up needing open heart surgery on the previous Sunday. Take care Gary and best wishes for a speedy recovery… We all missed you. Here is some BAGRS news… The club website is being revamped to make it more appealing to the casual visitor curious about our club and to make it more useful to our members. We’d like to know what our members looks for in the BAGRS.org website… Do you go there for information on events, look up member information, check out the maps, look at the resource pages, look up the Trellis & Trestle Newsletter (both current and past issues)… or all of the above or even, none of the above? We’d like to know so we can make the website the best resource for our members. To that end, there will be a brief survey sent out via email that we’d like everyone to participate in and we also welcome any and all comments on what you’d like to see in our website. Email me at [email protected] and let me know and I’ll pass on the suggestion to those who need to know. You know, getting my trains running Sunday morning was the first time they’ve been running in over a year-and-a-half. Life has just been too busy… I spent the better part of a two week vacation traveling up to Oregon and Washington visiting my Sister in Beaverton, dropped my mother-in-law off with some old friends near Eugene and went on to visit with my youngest daughter in Tacoma. Of course, my daughter and I had to do a little adventuring so we did some hikes at Mt. Rainer and spent some quality time off-roading in my LX470… And that Thursday before the open house? Well I had to quickly take a shower after cleaning the RR and we all left to go see Hamilton in San Francisco…
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 2 MARKETING Mick Spilsbury, BAGRS Vice-President
GR NEWS The latest issue of GR NEWS, created by volunteer garden railroaders after the demise of ‘Garden Railways’, was released a few days ago. The issue includes some contributions from BAGRS, which has been a strong supporter of the new digital magazine since it was created last year. Do check it out at www.grnews.org. Checking it out costs absolutely nothing because it is FREE! AUGUST OPEN RAILROADS I was able to visit four of the six open railroads, over a span of 6 hours and 125 miles from Marin. All four were reflective of the great quality of our RRs in their own unique ways. These are my favorite images and many more will appear on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Images like these will also be used to promote our 2023 National Convention. Thank you to all who opened on a sizzling, smokey Sunday.
Consists ready for departure on Robert Burrill’s RURAL-BURRILL A Pacific on the impressive helix on Roger Nicholson’s
A Mogul emerges from the shadows on Russ Overview of Jacques Verdier’s highly detailed O-scale VERDI RR
SOCIAL MEDIA We are closing in on 1000 Facebook followers and 800 Instagram followers. We want to increase both those numbers to promote BAGRS to potential new members and to promote our national convention. In the last T&T, I requested images from any of you like images that have been highly rated on social media. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, PAGE 3 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 MARKETING Mick Spilsbury, BAGRS Vice-President
the example images I claimed to be sharing were not shared. So, here they are:
Please share your great images with me at mailto:[email protected] GETTING POTENTIAL MEMBERS UP CLOSE & PERSONAL TO A GARDEN RR One of the best ways to recruit new garden railroaders is to get them in front of an operational Garden Railroad, and we want to ensure that interested folk who have found us somehow can get in front of operating railroads. For that reason, our revamped website will provide an opportunity for people to request a guest pass for one weekend of our open railroads. We will then be able to ensure that such guests are advised of and agree with the conditions of visiting the railroads. In the interim, if you know someone who is interested in seeing garden railroads in person and you cannot accompany them, you can request a visitor pass for them from John Rhoadarmer, BAGRS Open RR Coordinator ([email protected]) so John can make sure they understand how our open railroads operate.
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 4 NEWSLETTER SHARING Mick Spilsbury, BAGRS Vice-President
BAGRS has a policy of reciprocal sharing of newsletters with the following garden railway clubs. We do not share private member information such as home addresses or tour information without the express permission of the particular member.
Central California Coast GRS Puget Sound GRS
Denver GRS Rose City GRS
Gold Coast GRS Sacramento Valley GRS
Orange County GRS Santa Clarita Valley GRC
Welcome to The Garden Whistle, New Zealand Large Scale Newsletter
THE LATEST EDITION OF GR NEWS IS OUT & FEATURES
THE MATURE AND REFURBISHED SNOW CREEK RR OF BOB TREAT
THE BEAUTY & UTILITY OF DWARF CHINESE ELMS
IMAGINITATIVE (AND SOMETIMES DEVILISH) TRACKSIDE DETAILS ON TODD BRODY'S RR
AND MUCH MUCH MORE
SIMPLY CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO READ/DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY 2021.4 GR NEWS
ENJOY
PAGE 5 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 EDITOR’S PAGE Greg Hile, Editor
So this past month was, indeed, quiet for me ... at least as far as trains and newsletter editing is concerned. One comment I have heard from several people lately is just how quiet it has been. You would think that being confined to home for extended periods during a global pandemic would provide ample time for layout maintenance, running trains, and the like. You know, the stuff we were planted on this earth to accomplish! But for many of us, that has not been the case. There has been, for lack of a better word, a Covid-fatigue that has set in. I am certainly no exception, but, it turns out, there is a simple cure for Covid-fatigue: get out there and run some trains! Now to be fair, there have for some of us been an impediment or two along the way. We’ve seen examples in many of our feature articles this past year. In January, we saw Jim Rowson’s approach to landscaping in a small space with his Durango & Jasper. For Ken Mitchroney and Beth Weileman’s Vine Hill & Carquinez (February 2021) it was the removal of an old planter box in the middle of the layout. Last month Rich and Michelle Johnson showed us ways to beat the heat on their Moccasin Gap Garden Railroad (by the way, it is 108 in Los Banos as I write this). This month is no exception as we highlight Saving the Carquinez & Alhambra Valley, owned and operated by yours truly, as it rebuilds following a series of natural calamities, the most recent being a large tree that threatened to level the entire layout. Another issue I take on is that of safety and accessibility. As one who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, stability is a major factor for me and I am continually looking for ways to enjoy my layout with a minimum of fall-risks and other threats. A couple of random notes: Alex Marcopulous is finishing up a work-related move. He writes: “The move is 90% complete, however all that is still missing are most of my hobby items, trains, cameras, etc. I have the frame of the locomotive but the boiler and cab are still AWOL.” His series will continue as soon as the boiler, cab, and time to continue writing return. Not everyone has been suffering with COVID-fatigue. Dave Frediani has continued to turn out one car after another, and you’ll see some more of his creations here. Dave lives up in the Sierra foothills and has also been dodging the many fires that have plagued the region. Be sure to read Henner’s East Devil Hills Modeling Group report. As you know, Henner now lives in Germany but he still writes a monthly column for BAGRS, and he still meets the deadline for submission of articles regardless of time zone. Not sure what time it was in Germany but he submitted his latest article on August 25 at 11:58 pm along with the notation: “2 minutes to spare...” You gotta love the guy, and you gotta read his column for all the happenings. By the way, the East Devil Hills Modeling Group is no longer strictly confined to the East Devil Hills. Besides Henner in Berlin, check out some of the new members in this month’s article.
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 6 WHERE IS IT?
After several months of winners within minutes of publication, for the past couple of months we have tried to make it a bit harder. We succeeded because no one has been able to guess it, so we’ll leave it for another time. I thought last month’s photo (see right) might have been recognized by a few because I know some of you have been there recently. Anyway, this photo is a bridge crossing from Idaho into Washington. So, here is this month’s photo. Kudos and a mention in the newsletter to the first person to contact the editor and identify what and where this is located. It should be easy ...
PAGE 7 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 FEATURED ARTICLE Saving the Carquinez & Alhambra Valley ...
SAVING THE CARQUINEZ & ALHAMBRA VALLEY ...
BY GREGORY HILE
If a tree falls in a forest does it make a sound if no one is around to hear it? That’s a philosophical question for the ages, but what is clear is this: if a tree falls on an outdoor garden railroad in the back yard of a BAGRS member, it could cause some real damage. It all started several years ago.
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 8 FEATURED ARTICLE Saving the Carquinez & Alhambra Valley ...
We live in Martinez on, as it ironically turned out, Pine Street. Behind us is a church, a large vacant parcel and a road that leads to a city-owned water tower. Between us and all the afore-mentioned lies a row of pine trees. At the point where the church parking lot, the vacant lot and the road to the water tower converged, stood, for reasons unknown, a fire hydrant. My first iteration of the Carquinez & Alhambra Valley Railroad was a victim of that fire hydrant, or, more specifically, a victim of the idiot who hit it doing donuts in the parking lot one hot August night. The city took responsibility, replaced our deck, and provided for installation of French drains and a rebuilt retaining wall. Now, whereas the layout had been along the southern edge of the backyard under the deck, the layout was to be rebuilt on the western side. Life intervened and it took several years for the layout to be rebuilt. A very intense work schedule (2,000+ student charter high schools don’t just run themselves, you know), nine surgical procedures, a broken leg sustained in the jungles of Costa Rica, kidney stones up the ying- yang, two life-threatening situations with grandchildren, and then COVID-19 all contributed to putting the C & AV RR on the occasional back-burner. Anyway, I just got it back and was running trains although with virtually no landscaping and only a few structures. The intent was to model the city of Martinez at the turn of the 20th century. The city was the seat of Contra Costa County, with a big, beautiful old courthouse, built in 1903. The town sat along the Transcontinental Railroad and a Union Pacific/Standard Pacific rail station has been there since the 1860s. Add in the John Muir estate, the birth home of Joe DiMaggio, and a slew of other interesting buildings, and the layout has the potential of being a historical modeler’s paradise. Well, except for the layout itself. More on that later. Anyway, one day last summer, we were on our deck when we heard a loud crack. It’s a bit hard to see the perspective from these photos but in the top photo you can see a large branch that had split from the main trunk. The photo to the left shows
PAGE 9 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 FEATURED ARTICLE Saving the Carquinez & Alhambra Valley ...
movement of that branch after a few days. The city said the tree would have to be removed. We were watching two young grandchildren that summer and I decided to essentially shut down and remove the railroad for safety reasons and to prevent further dmaage to the layout during removal of the tree. I was in the process of removing the structures and a lot of the track and switches when these photos were taken. The tree had provided shade for the entire back yard and our second-story bedroom for decades. Now, with the prospect of losing that feature upon us and the unfeasibility of planting new cover to replace it any time soon, some decisions had to be made. I had been contemplating some major renovation of the layout design anyway, so it seemed like now was the perfect time to bring in an expert to help visualize and implement some much- needed improvements. My biggest problem design-wise was lack of access. Along with all my other calamities mentioned above, I also have Parkinson’s Disease (I am what the doctors at Kaiser describe as “complicated”). One of my biggest issues is instability. I walk with a cane most of the time, I am a constant fall-risk, and getting up and down stairs and ladders can be extremely difficult at times. So I called Nancy Norris. Nancy came out and made the recommendation to cut into the retaining wall and add stairs to get to the main level, and drop additional pavers for a more stable walkway, and with the help of Nick Schofield, that’s what I did. But first, the tree.
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 10 FEATURED ARTICLE Saving the Carquinez & Alhambra Valley ...
It turned out to be quite a show but in the end, only minor damage was sustained and things were back to a new normal in rather short order.
Now it was time to put the C & AV back together. Aside from the revsions to the layout itself, another concern was the effect the loss of the tree and the shade it provided would have on the entire backyard. Fortunately, it has not been as bad as we thought it might be. The biggest issue we have had is the afternoon sun beating down on our second floor master bedroom but that has been alleviated with shades and, when necessary, the air conditioning. So Nancy came out and we discussed the issues. The biggest issue for me was accessibility. She recommended installing more pathways around the layout. My goal is to eventually expand the basic flat track at the base with track and scenes extending up the hill and some work on that at the far end has already started. However, Nancy’s biggest recommendation was to cut into the retaining wall and provide some sort of stairs and better access to the layout. And that’s what I did. But not without some consternation. My vision was always to model my adopted hometown of Martinez at roughly the turn of the 20th century. One reason was that, as stated above, it was a pretty interesting place, with a plethora of subjects to choose from, be it the original train station (which still stands although not in use today, the 1903 courthouse (which is now
PAGE 11 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 FEATURED ARTICLE Saving the Carquinez & Alhambra Valley ... the county finance building and has been used in recent times as a courthouse exterior in movies and on television, the John Muir estate (now a well-preserved national park), and other structures of interest (the DiMaggio home is, unfortunately, no linger standing). It also provides a number of industrial uses to model, such as vineyards (the junior high school today sits on property once used as the Christian Brothers winery), water bottling (if you’ve ever drank Alhambra Water out of the bottle, it originally came from Martinez, just across the street from the old train station), agriculture, and you name it. Moreover, the turn of the 20th century was also a transitional period for the provision of electricity, indoor plumbing, horses versus automobiles, cement sidewalks, all of which provide a modeler with lots of opportunities for a wide variety of scenes. All of these are still in the overall plan but to design a layout with the same footprint as Martinez proved to be impossible and that aspect has largely been abandoned. In any event, Nick Scholefield, a friend of Nancy’s who has worked with her in the past, was retained to dig the cut-out. One of the somewhat unforseen outcomes of the dig was the sheer
amount of dirt that was depositied on the layout. Fortunately, my next-door neighbor took several wheelbarrows full of dirt but that still left a couple of large hills to deal with. Fortunately, Martinez is a very hilly city and so I have been literally reshaping parts of the layout to deal with my new-found treasures. You’ll notice there are no photos of a fully-completed, beautiful layout here. That’s because there is no fully-completed, beautiful layout. Not yet. There’s a long ways to go but there will be. Garden railroad layouts, like life itself, is a process, a journey that is never really completed until it is over. And then, it’s kind of late. My intent had been to open the layout in October. While it does not appear there will be a Diablo Valley open house this year, I am going to try to be informally open and welcome visitors, especially those who have suggestions to make. There is nothing sacred about the layout right now and I would welcome everyone’s advice and encouragement.
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 12 ALL STEAMED UP ... Richard Murray
The event at Hiller on August 7 was called Trains, Planes and Cool Cars. Over 1000 people attended. It was really busy! Because of COVID, it was the first time in a year and a half that we were able to set up our club's live steam track.
Rob Lenicheck is loading coal into his engine. It is a 1:20.3 Accucraft K-27 which he converted to coal in 2019. The conversion involved designing and scratch building an entirely new boiler to accommodate coal. At the same time an axle pump, and all the other supporting accessories were incorporated onto the new boiler. Rob reported that it’s quite fun to run a coal-fired engine!
Lewis Breon owns this Aster 3 truck Climax. The Colorado & Northwestern Railway was organized in 1897 to take over the roadbed of a failed company. The line served the mountainous mining country west of Boulder. The line limped along through hard times and name changes until in it was abandoned in 1919. Aster’s model is a replica of the railroad’s locomotive #2, ordered in 1897. This engine was the only narrow gauge, 3 truck (class C) Climax ever made.
PAGE 13 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 ALL STEAMED UP ... Richard Murray
Tim Boles is both a new member of the live steamers and a new Andrew Kelsey is a new member of the live steamers and a new BAGRS member. I believe that his engine is an Accucraft Forney member of BAGRS. He is shown adjusting one of the trucks on his that he has relabeled #9 WW & F Ry. He also has a 7 1/2” ride-on passenger car. engine. He built his gondola car from thin strips of wood.
The author is smiling because of the successful run with his Mason Bogie. William Mason’s name is synonymous with the “Mason Bogie.” There is no doubt that his engines were the most beautiful and refined machines of their time. This particular engine is remembered for its beauty and architecture and became the crowning achievement of the Mason Works in the late 1870’s. Photo by Robert Burrill.
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 14 ALL STEAMED UP ... Richard Murray
John Nichols is always overjoyed whenever his radio controlled Eric Child’s engine is steaming and ready to go. It is about to pull a Roundhouse Fowler works the way it is designed to. Roundhouse long consist of ore cars.
Bill Mansell brought this pretty English engine to Hiller. He built the engine on a G1MRA platform called the Project. It has a very large single cylinder with a diameter of .750”. The rest of the butane fired loco is a free lance deign loosely based on the 0-4-2 GWR locos designed to run either forward or in reverse with an autocoach. When in reverse, it was driven from the rear of the autocoach. (Author: If you don’t know what an autocoach is, look it up.) The coaches are from Accucraft and are modeled after rolling stock on the Isle of Man railway.
Bob Trabucco’s engine is a 4-6-0 Accucraft model of the Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge #8. It is pulling a mixed train typical of the era when it ran in the Owens Valley in the 1920’s through closure in Tesla owners, eat your heart out! This is an 1898 Baker electric, one the mid 50’s. of more than 50 cars that exhibited at Hiller.
PAGE 15 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 MEMBER UPDATES
From Ray Turner comes a couple important items: 1. The BNSF Railway Fire Train is an important wildfire-fighting tool, protecting its own assetds and helping CAL Fire. See the video at https://twitter.com/i/status/1429164401093791744 2. Why it is NOT okay to to destroy a steam engine for a movie. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/ uk-england-derbyshire-58307832
A new member, Carolyn Conklin, writes: “ I wanted to share a very train moment with you and hope this is appropriate for the news letter. Justin and I have enjoyed your open houses and swap meet so far in our train journey with you all. The photos show a perfect learning experience as Eric Child, with the Fern Creek and Western railway, was showing new BAGR Justin Conklin Harris his Forney engine with live steam. Instruction and patience were all part of the process... And, as you can see, there is nothing like running a live steam engine! What a great afternoon!
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 16 MEMBER UPDATES
From Pat Halleran comes this update: “My wife Terese and I are relatively new to BAGRS, having both joined 3 yrs. ago. My previous model railroad experience was with HO, but I had always wanted to have a garden railway. After joining BAGRS, attending numerous open houses and the 2019 NGRR Convention in Portland we decided this was the year to stop planning and start work. We thought we'd share our progress with the club.
We live in San Carlos and have a relatively small backyard. We wanted our layout, the Twin Pines Railroad, to be raised for ease of access, viewing and a possible future venture into live steam. I decided to go with battery power & CVP wireless control (I'm the train guy and my wife's areas are plants and scenery). This summer we cleared a section of our yard and enlisted John Molinari Landscape Construction of Redwood City to build our roughly 20' long x 10' wide x 3' tall layout "box", which was just completed. Our next steps will be adding some more soil and starting to lay track.”
PAGE 17 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 MEMBER UPDATES
From Dave Frediani comes a car that is well-needed out on the tracks but probably not seen that much: “Here’s a 1:20.3 scale outhouse car that I built for a friend. As always the car is built of 1/8” and 1/16” styrene. I used a single passenger truck and metal wheels from an old Bachmann passenger car I had laying around. I also used a 15mm spoke from a bicycle wheel for the front hand railing. All the styrene that I use was just small scraps that I had left over from other projects that I built.”
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 18 RAILROAD MEDIA Jim Maley
Introduction – Writing this ahead of submission in August as due for knee surgery at the end of July. Decided to make this an all-railroad music edition for ease of writing but hopefully enjoyable too. Pardon possible repeats from some submissions over the years but some songs just have to be re- recommended. Since nearly all music submissions to T&T come via YouTube, thought maybe a few paragraphs on guidelines for permanent capture might be in order. Wish it could be a more detailed “blow to blow” set of instructions, but the wide variety of reader hardware and software would make this a huge project. So just guidelines for this submission.
YouTube Capture Process – I know a lot of you already know how to capture material from YouTube, but it dawned on me that for some, it may be a mystery. Basically, you can create audio files from YouTube music/commentary and even capture video if you like for later viewing without internet support. I cannot give you a detailed procedure here as you are operating on various kinds of computer systems (versions of MacOS and Windows). Besides, I have limited knowledge of Windows having last used it in 1995 (yes Windows 95). So will have to use Mac software but hopefully you can find counterparts in the Windows world easily enough.
Capturing Audio – I simply run an application that accepts any sound played on my computer and converts to AAC or AIFF (music) or mp3 (word of mouth). This application is called Audio Hijack (MacOS) and bet there are others out there for Windows. I find the YouTube song I want to capture, set it up to play, Start Highjack and quickly start the YouTube playback stopping the recording process at the end of the song. If you are skillful enough you won’t have much dead air at recorded song beginning or at its end. With Highjack, there is a procedure to send the recording to the Mac Finder to make it available on your computer. I like to do a little light editing on the audio file, so I route the recording to Amadeus Pro (audio editor) to shave off any excess dead air at the beginning and/or end of the song. Sometimes I do additional editing actions on Amadeus Pro such boosting the audio level etc. The slightly edited file is good to go on my computer and easily added to my music library. In the Windows world there are a number of good audio editors like Amadeus Pro, and one should be able to easily find them.
Capturing Video with Audio – I don’t often do this but sometimes on occasion. For this, I use Wondershare AllMyTube for MacOS. It is designed to grab a given YouTube file and works well for most stuff available. You can then use video for various reasons which include watching the video in places where no internet is available. I am sure the Wondershare product has counterparts in the Windows world. I usually check the captured video on MacOS QuickTime Player which even allows some cursory editing including extraction of audio only if you want to avoid purchasing Audio Hijack. Sometimes I even include captured video in movie creations with iMovie but “nobody is telling” …
Not Brain Surgery – Probably what I have written is a little confusing but with a little practice and reading software instructions it is quite easy.
RR Songs for the Month – This will make up the bulk of this column and starting with some from YouTube that include video (but must have decent audio too). Then a few that are good songs with little or no video.
Jim Maley and his Hobo’s Lament railroad live in Milpitas. Jim can be heard on KKUP FM radio 91.5 and knows a lot about movies, music, trains, and New Mexican chiles. He can also be reached at [email protected]
PAGE 19 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 RAILROAD MEDIA Jim Maley
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have a great version of Devil’s Train but thought I would include Mystery Train as it complements great versions by Junior Parker, Elvis and the Grascals. Grace channels a little Janis J. on this one. Sometime, search for a Movie called Mystery Train directed by Jim Jarmusch for stories about this song and Elvis’s Memphis. Has Screaming Jay Hawkins in it to boot. Love this movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLUlypEokVQ Mystery Train Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
I know this is somewhat of a repeat from last month but found the entire Jimmie Rodgers movie short and compelled to pass it on. Just “T” for Terrific! Can’t believe some of the fantastic stuff on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyHulWOZBpk – Singing Brakeman
Johnny Cash is the source of so many train songs it’s hard to pick just a few for you. The first one goes way back to the mid 50’s and actually saw Johnny and the Tennessee Three a number of times at the old Niles Flat Dancehall called the Garden of Allah run by Blackjack Wayne and his brother Chuck. He always did Folsom Prison Blues at the “Garden”. This early video gives you a look at the Tennessee Three and Johnny’s right hand guitar man, Luther Perkins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr0Vt7E7U7w Folsom Prison Blues - Tennessee Three
Here is another Johnny Cash video and wish the quality was better but what a treat. Finishes with everybody singing “One More Ride” a real favorite of mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OfKCh_3KsM – Train Medley with Johnny, The Carter Family, Gordon Lightfoot, and many others!
Gee this one takes me back to the time when Cash used to visit the Oakland Arena with the Carter Family, Carl Perkins, and the Statler Brothers. My wife Dot actually caught Johnny’s harmonica after he sang Orange Blossom Special. My son Jim plays it sometimes and memories flow!
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 20 RAILROAD MEDIA Jim Maley
Chuck Berry was a giant n the R&B/Rock & Roll scene in the 50’s. Here is an interesting train song he recorded on the flip side of car song No Money Down. It’s called Down Bound Train and think I presented it to T&T many moons ago. Chuck took the lyrics of an anomalous cowboy poem called Hell Bound Train added cool vocals/guitar and created a classic. The YouTube recording doesn’t show Chuck but has some great animation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAc_4G9UmnE – Down Bound Train
All Aboard for the Night Train – James Brown and his Famous Flames changed the face of R&B with his sensational Please, Please, Please in 1956. He recorded a great train song which I may or may not have submitted in the distant past. It of course is Night Train, and this is a special version. The man could definitely dance and hope you enjoy it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF_ rZrH4yBY&list=RDZF_rZrH4yBY&start_radio=1 – Night Train
Jim Maley – BAGRS - [email protected]
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PAGE 21 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 EAST DEVIL HILLS MODELING GROUP Henner Meinhold
Bill Allen is continuing with his Caspar Lumber Samson. The boiler is now the next milestone. It is very long and skinny:
The smokebox is fairly complicated with many dogs (brackets to keep the door shut). Dennis cut the base plate on the CNC mill and turned the convex part on the lathe:
Both parts are then assembled:
Dennis’ mill was also in action for Rob Lenicheck’s Uintah. He cut the cab parts out of brass sheet metal: And the quadrant of the Johnson bar out of steel:
Steve Shyvers has been tinkering with an Aster Schools class for quite some time. It is now finished and looks gorgeous. It also runs very well:
Bill Mansell got an “Ancient” Mamod from Dennis. He is currently updating it with a ceramic burner. He built a new butane tank, which can be seen on the right side of the loco:
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 22 EAST DEVIL HILLS MODELING GROUP Henner Meinhold
Some people frown upon the oscillating cylinders of the Mamod, but there was a prototype with this arrangement. It was built by the Dewey brothers for logging lines. So the Mamod is prototypical after all!
Sanjaya Kumar has been building models using a Sherline CNC mill. Though it worked well, he decided to upgrade to a larger machine. Instead of buying a turn-key machine he decided to convert a conventional mill to CNC. This was quite a adventure, but he is almost there. An impressive piece of machinery. Now he can almost tackle a Big Boy in 12” to 1’ scale ;-).
PAGE 23 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 EAST DEVIL HILLS MODELING GROUP Henner Meinhold
Since we were forced to move our weekly meetings online, we expanded the number of participants, as we are no longer restricted to the Bay Area. One of the new regulars is Marc Horowitz, the former editor of “Garden Railways”. He started building a charming little Baldwin narrow gauge loco with the unusual Marshall valve gear. This gear is very simple without any complicated parts:
Another participant is Mike Martin, who was a member of BAGRS and moved a couple of years ago into the Los Angeles region. He was the creator of the famous “BAGRS” project loco, a very simple design, which has been built numerous times (see here). He is currently working on a Hunslet, where he needed a lubricator and name plates. As a test he designed them in 3D CAD and had them printed/cast in brass by Shapeways. The result is stunning and the price was very reasonable: I am working on non-Garden Railway stuff, but can report a hike to the BPE (Berliner Park Eisenbahn), where they ran their beautiful 2’ 0-8-0 trench loco with Stephenson valve gear:
Greetings from Berlin, Formerly of Fremont, California, Henner is now a resident of Berlin, Germany. The East Devil Hills Henner Modeling Group still meets regularly to create incredibly-machined models.
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 24 POSTCARDS OF THE PAST Bill Ralph
S.P. Tunnel at Laurel, Santa Cruz Mts. California In order for the narrow gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad to connect the bustling Bay Area and its millions of potential summertime passengers seeking the beaches of Santa Cruz and cool redwood forests with business interests pursuing potential timber and mineral wealth in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a challenging mountainous line was chosen between Los Gatos and the San Lorenzo Valley. The 1879 route required numerous cuts, fills, countless small trestles and and a couple of mile-long tunnels through solid granite. The tedious and dangerous work of cutting the 5,793 foot long Glenwood tunnel was largely carried out by a Chinese workforce fresh from completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Second in length only to the Summit tunnel, the sturdy granite Glenwood tunnel provided safe and reliable service on the busy line for decades surviving the 1906 earthquake and the regauging of the entire railroad to standard gauge by Southern Pacific. Ultimately the increase in automobile traffic to Santa Cruz, fewer tourists visiting Glenwood and the closure of many timber and mineral businesses in the San Lorenzo Valley, and further crippled by a damaging winter storm, Southern Pacific decided to cease all operations and abandon the historic line in 1940. Rails were removed and two years later the east and west portals were dynamited permanently sealing the historic Glenwood tunnel.
From the postcard collection The Porcupine Gulch Railroad, located in Fremont, California, of Bill Ralph was selected by Garden Railways Magazine as the Best Small Railroad in 2016. Retired from the publishing industry, Bill knows a thing or two about amusement parks and postcards.
PAGE 25 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 MUSINGS OF A THEME PARK FAN Bill Ralph
CASA de CHOO CHOO
Casa de Fruita is a genuine modern day roadside attraction located on Highway 152 at the western end of Pacheco Pass between Gilroy and the Central Valley. Established as a cherry orchard by the Bisceglia brothers in 1908, it wasn’t until 1943 when the Bisceglia’s three enterprising teen aged grand-nephews, George, Joseph, and Eugene Zanger, opened a small seasonal roadside cherry stand that eventually began selling local fruits, nuts and produce year round. The Zanger family expanded the increasingly popular roadside stop in 1967 to include a restaurant, gas station, RV park, gift shop, small zoo, and children’ playground with the “Casa” (Casa de Restaurant, Casa de Diesel, Casa de Gifts...you get it!). To help lure travelers off the busy highway the Zanger family also introduced the Casa de Choo Choo miniature steam railroad to the family enterprise, featuring 2 miles of 16” track meandering through the grounds and along scenic Pacheco Creek. Casa de Fruita continues to be a busy year round stopping place between South Bay, Central Valley and Southern California destinations with an ever increasing number of “Casa’” attractions as well as hosting of the Northern California Renaissance Faire. The sound of steam no longer echos in the Pacheco Valley while Casa de Choo Choo has evolved into a modern diesel style locomotive and comfortable open passenger car consist traveling over the original roadbed, along the shady creek, through a tunnel and past the Casa de Fruita’s large eclectic collection of antique farm implements, rusting vehicles...and a host of Tesla charging stations.
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 26 MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
NEED A BAGRS NAME BADGE? Send a $15 check, payable to BAGRS, for each badge ordered. Be sure to print the name(s) and City(s) for the badge(s) clearly. Send to: BAGRS Member Badges, 210 Friar Way, Campbell, CA 95008
BAGRS FOR SALE BY MEMBERS List items you have for sale or items you want. You’ll find it in the middle of the “Members Section” menu on our website, bagrs.org. Log in is required.
BAGRS ONLINE PHOTO AND VIDEO LIBRARY Many photos & videos are hosted at: https://photos.google.com Click on “Go to Google Photos”, if offered. Login with this e-mail and password: [email protected] BestClub4014 The upper-left corner has a pull-down menu (3-
BAGRS BOARD AND CONTACTS
POSITION NAME EMAIL ADDRESS
President: Russ Miller [email protected]
Vice President: Mick Spilsbury [email protected]
Secretary Sarah Camarillo [email protected]
Treasurer Larry Silverman [email protected]
At-large board member Colin Camarillo [email protected]
At-large board member John Rhoadarmer [email protected]
At-large board member Richard Murray [email protected]
Scheduling Coordinator John Rhoadarmer [email protected]
Live Steamers Richard Murray [email protected]
Website and Database Manager David Mease [email protected]
Roving RR Outreach Lynn Gerber [email protected]
Membership Lynn Gerber [email protected]
Newsletter Greg Hile [email protected]
PAGE 27 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 FUTURE EVENTS OF INTEREST
2021 Sept. 23-26, Staver Fall Steamup, Portland, Oregon
2021 Sept. 29-Oct 3, National Fall Steamup, Lodi
2021 Oct. 3, Just Trains Open House
2022 June 20-25, NGRC, Denver
2023 July 3-9, NGRC, S.F. Bay Area
BAGRS Board Meetings for 2021 April 18 June 13 August 15 October 17 December 12
All dates subject to change. Meetings start at 9:30 am and conducted virtually. Contact Russ Miller for further information. BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 28 FROM MATTHEW
Photo copyright by Matthew Malkiewicz with permission to use in Trellis & Trestle. Visit his web site for more great railroad photos. http://www. losttracksoftime.com/
TRELLIS AND TRESTLE Copyright ©2021 Bay Area Garden Railway Society. Trellis & Trestle is published monthly. Submissions are encouraged. Please contact the editor for further information. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity, and content. JOIN US AT:
BAGRS.ORG
PAGE 29 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 SUPERINTENDENT COORDINATOR John Rhoadarmer
Hello Everyone, Here are the District Superintendents for 2021:
District Superintendent Golden Gate District Ken Brody East Bay District Bill Ralph North Peninsula & San Francisco District Don Watters Mid-Peninsula District Don Watters Tri-Valley District Rosita Fabian-Anthony Diablo Valley District David Mease Sunnyvale & Santa Clara District Mike Paterson San Jose / Milpitas District Jim Goss Santa Cruz & Monterey District Trevor Park So. Santa Clara & San Benito Cty District Nigel Mallinson
Open House Update We had another hot day for open house tours, but it was great getting out and seeing what our members have done to their layouts and talking trains. So, a big thank you to the following members for opening up their yards and homes for the August tour: Russ & Jenifer Miller Bill and Jim Ralph Nancy Lagomarsino and Jacques Verdier Roger Nicholson Joyce (Brahms) Hennessey Robert Burrill San Leandro Historical Railway Society G & O Garden Railroad Unfortunately, we don’t have any districts able to open up for a tour for the remainder of 2021, so this might be a good time to freshen things up before the “winter” and maybe invite a few members over for small ad hoc gatherings before the rains (hopefully) start. Also, please don’t forget the annual Just Trains Open House on October 3 in Concord. Jim and Rosita Anthony are BAGRS members and would love to see you come out for a great day and some even greater deals on model railroading products of all scales. The following pages are photos taken by Ray Turner of the layouts he was able to visit. John Rhoadarmer [email protected] Scheduling Liaison
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 30 SUPERINTENDENT COORDINATOR John Rhoadarmer
PAGE 31 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 SUPERINTENDENT COORDINATOR John Rhoadarmer
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 32 SUPERINTENDENT COORDINATOR John Rhoadarmer
PAGE 33 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021 SUPERINTENDENT COORDINATOR John Rhoadarmer
BAY AREA GARDEN RAILWAY SOCIETY PAGE 34 SUPERINTENDENT COORDINATOR John Rhoadarmer
PAGE 35 TRELLIS AND TRESTLE SEPTEMBER 2021