This Month's Activities

May 2018 Bay Area Garden Railway Society

This Month’s Activities

 BAGRS Open House tour: Diablo Valley District, May 12-13  BAGRS Open House Tour: Golden Gate District, May 26-27  Native Garden Tour, May 6  Maker Faire, May 19, 2018, https://makerfaire.com/  O & S Scale West convention, May 24-26, 2018, Santa Clara, http://www.oscalewest.com/

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May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 1 The Prez Says . . . Hello BAGRS! As I work to make sure next year's annual meet Hello Members, is top notch, I am hoping to give some of you Thank you all who the opportunity to help be involved in it! came to the Spring I have some projects where I need some expert Swap Meet! I know help and volunteers to delegate some tasks to. there were some really great deals This way, you can have a hand in the planning, made! If you didn’t and you can help me make this best annual stick around, there meet yet! was a great clinic If you are interested or know anyone who might about rubber mold be interested in volunteering to Lead or work making. My father under any of the following categories please told me that this email me ASAP so I can sign you up and give clinic made him you more details! feel more comfortable about making scenery, molding rocks, tunnel portals, etc! Russ was able to -Clinics/Presenters: I need someone to help me help members determine the cost difference of find 3 excellent presenters for our clinics. materials when applying the mold making methods (Ideally this person knows a lot of people and and how it does save money! My father was blown specific expertise out there that would be of away with how easy the process is and was really interest to our club members) exited to get started making rubber molds on his -Raffle: Looking for someone who is involved own! Thank you again Russ! in the community who can secure some I am looking forward to the Diablo Valley District awesome raffle prizes for our members to win! kicking off our first weekend of open houses on (This can definitely be a team of people who May 11&12 for our 30th year! Following the Diablo Valley District, the Golden Gate District can find prizes from all different areas of will be open on Memorial Day weekend May 26 & interest) 27! For those of you in the Diablo Valley and -Security: It was a big red flag for me this past Golden Gate Districts, thank you in advance for annual meet when I noticed all sorts of outside being open. I can’t wait to see you again as well as people walking around our "private" event. I potentially see some new homes I haven’t seen yet! would need at least 3 members to volunteer to Our T-Shirt/ Polo Shirt vendor had a snag in their watch the front door, back door, and then one production of our pre-ordered shirts and we were more person to relieve the other 2 to allow unable to distribute the orders during the April swap each member an adequate amount of time to meet. I sincerely apologize for that. Russ Miller will take a break and enjoy the food, presentations, have them available (for those that pre-ordered) at swap meet and other aspects of the meet. all of our May events: Diablo Valley open houses, Maker Faire, and Golden Gate open houses. There will be more to come but these are the As always, I’m looking forward to seeing you all most important ones to get started on early! and meeting any of you whom I haven’t met! Please email me at [email protected]. Thank you! Happy railroading! -- Sarah Hammond See you on the tours!

Colin Camarillo, President

John Cushman sends this:. North Pacific Coast ≠≠≠ Engine #71 poses for the camera sporting a nice rack of elk antlers. Train photography is often an Porcupine Springs - Gateway To Western exercise in depth of field control using small Family Fun! apertures and careful focus. Some days are better A new village has sprung up in the desert just than others. outside of Porcupine Gulch. Porcupine Springs is a growing community of motels, diners and roadside attractions positioned to take advantage of the growing number of visitors entering the popular western theme park. Porcupine Springs is also where you catch the Porcupine Gulch Railbus to take you into the park and to the many family attractions and rides including the Porcupine Gulch Railroad Circle Tour, Claim Jumper Expedition, Old Smoky Caverns and the thrilling Ore Buckets. 28 square feet of new desert “real estate” has been annexed to Bill and Jim Ralph’s Porcupine Gulch Railroad to accommodate the growing gateway community. Jim has built more than a dozen new unique classic 1950’s roadside attraction structures

and scenes. Be sure to visit Dinoland and play a I’ve reinstalled lots of track this spring, and built a round of Pee Wee Golf, grab a bite at Dew Drop In trestle connecting the deck to the fence line loop. or Sombrero Tacos, explore Reptile Gardens or the But the intermittent rains have kept the buildings Big Foot Museum. You can spend the night at the and structures inside the barn. So I hope the Wigwam Motel or Motor Court Cabins, ride a burro rainbow signals some good train operating weather or purchase authentic Indian crafts. There’s plenty ahead. The Santa Rosa & Pacific will be operating of fun awaiting you at Porcupine Springs and there both Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27 as part is always acres of free parking! of the North Bay tours. If you can make it up to Don’t miss Porcupine Springs Gold Rush Days on Santa Rosa, please bring a favorite short to medium June 23 and 24 as part of BAGRS East Bay Region sized train for a “Cavalcade of Trains” video for annual open house weekend.Height Restriction. Garden Railways Magazine. You must be no taller than 3 inches. Porcupine Gulch Railroad was selected 2016 Best Small Railroad by Garden Railways Magazine.

Sounding Off ≠≠≠ On Christmas Day, my son (Michael) gave me a remote controller and invited me to discover what it These from Mick Spilsbury: Railroad Sunscreen controlled. A few minutes later, the ‘Last Resort Hotel’ was alive with the sounds of a raucous bar - By the end of April, twenty refurbished passenger music, men and women conversing loudly, glasses and freight cars will appear on my railroad. All are clinking, a brief fist fight, even a drunk patron 25 years old and all have been customized with new stepping outside to discharge some of his excessive livery and signage to reflect Baron Spilsbury’s consumption. It was a GREAT gift, which Michael expanding business empire, also new lighting. had managed to install with help from Steve Smith They need to last another 25 years, so they need be without me having an inkling that my hotel was protected from the ravages of the summer sun on being enhanced. my southern exposure line. The magical gift got me thinking how neat it would I will NOT store them inside because moving them be to add more sounds to my railroad, but how? on/off the tracks before/after each operating session After all, I do not possess the sound mixing/editing would compromise the ‘instant garden railroading’ skills of my tech-savvy, 30 year-old-son. When I in which I have invested much time and expense. I mentioned this dilemma to Steve Smith, he don’t have the space to build a track-linked shed introduced me to ambient-mixer.com and to the and locomotives already occupy the tunnels and types of components I would need. engine house on my layout. So, another solution Fast forward to today and 8 more sounds are being was required. installed up and down my line. Four livestock cars New shade ‘tunnels’ like the one pictured below fit will come alive with the moos, grunts, whinnies & over two tracks and shade the refurbished cars. The bleats of cows, pigs, horses & sheep. The Black shade ‘tunnels’ are easily moved on and off the Canyon mine will echo with the sounds of drilling, tracks because they are light. If the single layer of rock striking, a steam pump and occasional shade fabric does not provide enough protection, it explosions. My engine shed will come alive with will be easy to add a second level, and I will still be machine shop sounds. A railroad workers’ able to run my railroad on request or a whim! recreation car will feature bar sounds including a piano and the clicking of balls on a pool table. Last

but not least, Baron Spilsbury’s nefarious ‘Baronial Club’ car will emit sounds that will solidify its status as a car that is only operated when broad- minded adults are around! Over the past 2 months, I have learned how to produce 30-minute custom sounds on Ambient- Mixer, which I download to to my PC and then to micro SD cards, which go in soundboards after they have been extended to 2 hours (car sounds) or 4 hours (building sounds) by Michael. I have sourced

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 4 amplified sound boards that pair with small 20 W speakers (a combination that produces more than enough volume) and I venture to say that the resulting sounds are a step above the limited number of commercially available sound board/speaker packages, at least the ones that I have tried. Like my car lighting, sounds will operate on track power, installed before I decided to have Bill Swindell convert my locos to battery power. Each sound is triggered by a momentary push-button, which allows me to be selective about which sounds play at any given time, and to shut off all sounds by simply turning off track power, which is not used to The Sound Board With Built-In Amplifier power locomotives. (Small but mighty!) The images accompanying this article show the key components deployed. For anyone interested in more information, I will have components and their set-up on display when my railroad is open on over Memorial weekend. (Exact open times will be shared via the club’s open houses communication). I can compile a more detailed step-by-step guide to anyone who thinks that they might want to add their own custom sounds to their railroad.

The 2’’ By 2” Speaker That Handles Up To 20 W (Enough power to annoy even distant neighbors if operated anywhere close to maximum volume)

The Momentary Push Button That Activates Each Sound (Small and easily painted to escape notice)

All Components (The Bridge Rectifier will receive power either from 2 sets of ball-bearing wheels (sound in cars) or direct from the track (sounds in structures) and is added so the sounds operate on both track power polarities)

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 5 Since sharing this development with friends, many lived in Dunsmuir their whole life and used to work ideas for other sounds have been forthcoming. Two on the railroad! We saw and heard multiple trains favorites: 1) a remote controlled, commanding pass by. We also met one of the members of the voice that instructs the occasional unsupervised Dunsmuir Model Railroad Club who showed us his child to stop touching a car or risk being turned into HO scale layout in his home as well as the club's a frog, 2) record the barking of a neighbor’s highly HO scale layout which was located in the strung and highly territorial Italian Greyhound and courthouse below the fire station in the middle of yap right back at him when he yaps at us. town! Even the downtown hardware store had ≠≠≠ model trains for sale, like a small hobby shop inside the store! It was a wonderful weekend full of trains and good company. Porcupine Springs - Gateway to Western Family Fun! A new village has sprung up in the desert just outside of Porcupine Gulch. Porcupine Springs is a growing community of motels, diners and roadside attractions positioned to take advantage of the growing number of visitors entering the popular western theme park. Porcupine Springs is also where you catch the Porcupine Gulch Railbus to take you into the park and to the many family attractions and rides including the Porcupine Gulch Railroad Circle Tour, Claim Jumper Expedition, Old Smoky Caverns and the thrilling Ore Buckets. 28 square feet of new desert “real estate” has been annexed to Bill and Jim Ralph’s Porcupine Gulch Railroad to accommodate the growing gateway community. Jim has built more than a dozen new unique classic 1950’s roadside attraction structures and scenes. Be sure to visit Dinoland and play a round of Pee Wee Golf, grab a bite at Dew Drop In or Sombrero Tacos, explore Reptile Gardens or the Big Foot Museum. You can spend the night at the Wigwam Motel or Motor Court Cabins, ride a burro or purchase authentic Indian crafts. There’s plenty of fun awaiting you at Porcupine Springs and there is always acres of free parking! Don’t miss Porcupine Springs Gold Rush Days on June 23 and 24 as part of BAGRS East Bay Region annual open house weekend. Height Restriction. You must be no taller than 3 inches. Porcupine Gulch Railroad was selected 2016 Best Small Railroad by Garden Railways Magazine. ≠≠≠

From Sarah Hammond: Colin and I took a weekend trip up to Dunsmuir, CA! We stayed at the Railroad Park Resort in a Southern Pacific Caboose for the weekend. We met a lot of wonderful people. Some of which have

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 7 about 250 bucks for a two-minute ride. Going to Switzerland is a bucket list thing anyhow so why not.? To figure out future programming for programs like this on public TV - or really any station - is sketchy at best. The best I can do is refer you to your local PBS guides and of course there are always (and I mean always) DvD’s available. The video trailer is on the website: http://www.smarttravels.tv/RealRailTV/ - Real Rail Adventure Story Now if one goes to You Tube, there are plenty of Jeff Wilson videos. Here is the trailer for another one of his videos and just go to Real Rail

Adventures for more… -- By Jim Maley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IwJCfMcQng April Showers on Garden Railroad Tracks &list=PLIfYNtfGvjKpksNkwhUV- Introduction – Well, I could not think of a good x4t6RGp1eYzQ&index=1 – San Gottardo Steam theme for this media input so why not April Train Showers? They may put a cramp on your outdoor The Greatest Showman – I finally watched the railroad work, but they are certainly good for the movie so this is a review. I like Hugh Jackman garden part of your layout and for our water (favorite Academy Awards Guy since Bob Hope) supplies in general. and musicals. Still it was good, but probably not So anyway, this month it’s another mixed of media- great. Saw some trains, but not the circus trains I oriented subjects and yes, mostly on railroad culture was hoping to see. Freak shows have never been my and actually nothing about rain showers. thing. One day long ago, working for Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey under the Big Top Real Rail Adventures – Just watched a delightful collecting coke bottles won me a free side show PBS program on KQED Plus with Jeff Wilson. This ticket. This, I didn’t enjoy. Should have gone back one called Real Railroad Adventures: Swiss Winter to work a second day like my brother who was Magic. This episode takes you to Zurich, Chur, treated to a free lunch with the great clown Emmett Lugano, Bellinzona, Lucerne, Interlaken, Jungfrau, Kelly. Those were the days when clowns were a Montreux and others in the beautiful snow country good thing, what happened??? of Switzerland. Jeff’s show is really a travelogue with heavy emphasis on train travel to each point of interest. To see these great railroads is like visiting Chip Gierhart’s garden layout of yesteryear only it’s snowing. The railroads in the subject episode are the Albula-Bernina Railway, the Glacier Express, the Vitznau-Rigi Bahn, and the Montreux- Oberland Bernois Railway, known as the Golden Pass Line.

Anyway, I liked certain scenes, like the laughing Queen Victoria, and maybe the post fire song about putting the show on the road. Not crazy about songs used in the movie (song from the Jenny Lind

character good and a favorite scene) but you must One interesting part of the video was the possibility remember I am an opinioned musical “old fogy” for the average man to take a ride on a real 2-person snob. Again, too much on side show oddities. Great bob sled down a famous track in San Moritz. That ending though with the nostalgic Big Top and yes, is something I would love to do sometime even the beloved elephants (miss them a lot). though I found out after viewing this film, that it’s

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 8 This movie started slowing at the box office, but via Hopefully will highlight a podcast each month of word of mouth gained momentum. Just - why no the subject of modeling and our Railroad Circus Train? Americana World of Podcasts – I have been putting off “Less Said the Better” Train Story – In the writing about railroad/modeling podcasts as the military service (all branches) we were served SOS. shear amount is daunting and to listen to one or two This town in Alabama has it served “on the rail” … of each would involve more time that I have these See this url (if you must): days. So, I decided to maybe pick just one each https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/03/us/parrish-waste- month and review a few episodes. poop-train-alabama-trnd/index.html - Alabama Poo Train

Stand by October – Have all kinds of Ghost Train material for Halloween. This is what stimulated a string of stories (and more later):

Recently I went out for a run (hardly even a jog) http://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/watch- and felt I needed radio support via my iPhone. For ghost-train-filmed-in-china/ - Ghost Train in China some reason the station of interest would not come What the heck??? in and so I grabbed a podcast that I had forgotten Railroad Song of the Month – Here is a Shel even existed in my library. It was a great and Silverstein song called Oh You Engineer sung by inspirational podcast by the Kitchen Sisters (Davia my girl, Judy Henske (told you I was a fan): Nelson and Nikki Silva) who are not sisters at all https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKwL3mjTIrs but have collaborated on 200 stories for public – Oh You Engineer – Judy Hensk broadcast mostly about hidden bits of history which have shaped the diverse cultural landscape. The only one I had was a real treat on the beginning of the Memphis Recording Service and the great man of music, Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records. Wow, what a great podcast and it included Sam’s narratives, and those of Ike Turner and Johnny Cash to name a few. But this is another story for my R&B radio show on KKUP. For this month, I would like to mention two that relate to the Mother Road, Route 66, and the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe, Harvey Houses and all. My wife had these on her iPhone and we listened to this series on a road trip to Oregon last year as I recall. So why not check out Kitchen Sisters Podcasts 23 and 24 for Parts 1&2, Route 66 The Mother Road. Gee Part 2 has Chicago great, Studs Turkel and guitar player, Eldin Shamblin who played with Bob Wills and Woody Guthrie. So far, all pod casts of the Kitchen Sisters are interesting and well produced. Maybe they will feature some railroad specific casts in the future.

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 9 recommended as a splendid starter engine for beginners. Best of all, the manufacturer's price is reasonable. Paul Gamlin brought a brand new Accucraft Garratt. It’s a rather impressive looking engine. The black paint even comes with red and white pin striping. Paul had not even had time to test run it on air at home, so he was a bit reluctant to run it on the track. He did light it up, but there was some question as to whether or not both burners were lighting up. Visibility of the burners was essentially zero. Paul decided to take it back home and to do a complete check of the engine. Paul had -- By Richard Murray bought the Accucraft Garratt model because it was already on the shelves at the Accucraft warehouse, Steamup at Rob Lenicheck’s whereas the Roundhouse Garratt wasn’t going to be On April 14 Ron Lenicheck hosted a steamup for available for another year. Instant gratification was the second time this year. Speaking for all the deciding factor. Garratts are such neat engines steamers, I'm grateful that Rob has been so that Paul is still going to buy the Roundhouse generous in sharing his layout with others. I’m model, too. currently talking to two other steamers for possible additional steamups. There is also the possibility Jim Pate brought his Accucraft Heisler. Bob one one additional venue for our portable steam Trabucco brought his Accucraft M-6, a 2-6-0 track. Concerning Rob’s steamup, there was an model. John Rhoadarmer had his favorite unfortunate conflict of his steamup with the Accucraft American with a 4-4-0 wheel Warriors’ first playoff game with the San Antonio configuration. Glen Simpson brought one of his Spurs. Being a Warriors fan, at least during their scratch built models, a trolley that he recently remarkable run of success, I almost decided not to finished. Robert Youngjohns came to chat and to go to Rob's steamup. Then I thought that I could watch the variety of engines. I don’t recall what leave at noon in order to catch the game at 12:30. Steve Shyvers ran. That’s when Melinda reminded me that I could just Duc Nguyen tried to light up his Aster 4-6-2, but tape the game. Yes! I could then play with live there didn’t seem to be much heat developed. steam trains all day and still watch the whole game. Neither he nor others could discover the reason. Of course, all the excitement of the game would be Bill Allen was perplexed, too. He had recently ruined if someone told me the results before I done some work on Duc’s engine that required the watched the tape. Sadly, many steamers stayed removal and disassembly of the boiler. He certainly home to watch the game live, and the attendance at wasn’t looking forward to doing that again. Finally, Rob’s steamup was only about 2/3 normal. Bill discovered that the jet was not all the way in. Knowing how important food is to steamers, Rob With a little push on the jet assembly the engine said with a smile that the lower attendance was not fired right up. Thank goodness! due to the Warriors but due to his not offering lunch I brought my C-16. I bought it new about 16 years this time. ago. It has been a terrific engine. Many years ago, Ron Sickler brought what he called his “cheapo" it needed all of its bearings replaced. It then ran engine. He found it in a box of plumbing fittings. fine for a long time. Recently, it began to be a It had a crushed cab and was missing many parts. laggard. It seems that many of its old O rings were He replaced the missing parts and found it to be leaking steam. Now that it has had many of its O great runner. It was a Roundhouse “Sammie.” It is rings replaced, it is running just fine again. a simple loco but of great design. He says that Bill Allen ran his scratch built Heisler. He pulled a although it was his first Roundhouse, it won’t be his LONG string of log cars. His engine puffed the last. In spite of much abuse he says that it still runs biggest steam plume of the day. However, since it perfectly. Surprisingly for a small engine, it runs was a reasonably warm day, the steam plume was for about 40-45 minutes. The Sammie also happens not quite equal to the epic heights of the winter to be one of about 5 engines that I have long meets. At a recent meet his steam plume was so

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 10 high that he even requested the photo of it for show and tell elsewhere. Bill also brought a scratch built one-truck Heisler. That means that the V mounted cylinders are between the two axles of the one truck. It is, therefore, a very small engine. Bill said that there was only one prototype engine built, and it was soon scrapped because it was an unsuccessful design. I hadn’t remembered seeing his one truck Heisler before. I guess that he has built so many that I’m losing count of them all. If you feel left out from all the fun and games that the live steamers enjoy, come to one of our steamups and share the thrill of steaming.

Steam Calendar Paul Gamlin is justly proud of his new Accucraft May 19-20 Maker Faire - San Mateo Garratt Event Center June 16-17 Roaring Camp July 11-15 Sacramento Summer Steam up - McClellan September 1-2 Ardenwood Rail Faire (unconfirmed, subject to change) September 15, 16 Los Altos History Museum October 7 Just Trains - Concord

Jim Pate had some good runs with his Accucraft Heisler

John Rhoadarmer adds steam oil to his Accucraft 4-4-0

Bob Trabucco is about to get his M-6 Accucraft 2-6-0 fired up

Bill Allen is happy with his one-truck Heisler Ron Sickler's Roundhouse Sammie was found in a box of plumbing parts

Duc Nguyen’s Aster worked great after finding that the jet was not inserted all the way

Glen Simpson shows off his recently completed trolley

The Boxpok wheels finally came in:

-- By Henner Meinhold Bill finally got the wheel castings for his Hiawatha loco. With the coaches - including very nice boxes - finished, he went back to the loco. The streamlined body is pretty complicated, but he made a very successful start:

Steve reports: My British Railways 20-ton brake van kit from Northern Fine Scale is mostly complete and the painting started. Window glazing, brake shoes, and the roof need to be installed. Krylon "Cover Maxx" gray primer spray paint, which is okay for plastic, gave a smooth finish. After letting the paint harden for a few days the And gray will be masked and the lower parts - axle journals, running boards, and frame - will be painted flat black. Northern Fine Scale's kit is scaled for 1/32, The parts are styrene, and the quality is very good.

Dennis finished the complicated tender side frames on his CNC mill. As the mill is not yet equipped with a motorized Z-axis, a lot of attention was called for:

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 13 I also made a new reverser for my Bowande "Black I used some scrap 16-gauge mild steel that was on 5" 4-6-0 live steam locomotive. Originally a "screw hand. It already had a brushed finish, which reverser" was supplied, which required nine explains the unusual grainy appearance. The surface complete turns of its small handle to move the valve finish doesn't affect the function, in this case, and gear from full forward to full reverse. This made it the cost was right. difficult to clear the cylinders of condensate at the Eric sent some pictures of his boxcar-inspired shed. start of a run. Hopefully the new "Johnson bar" style reverser will make things easier. One photo shows the old screw reverser next to the various parts for the new one.

The offsets between the Johnson bar, the pivot, and the pin that engages the valve gear reach rod And compensate for the fact that the reach rod doesn't extend very far into the cab. With the setup as shown there is enough room for 1:1 scale fingers to work the Johnson bar without having to modify the reach rod or to employ a complicated linkage.

I intend to use the LGB rack, which has a non- standard pitch and shape of the teeth. Luckily Dennis (who else of course...) had a program to design non-standard gear wheels. In this case it is even more complicated, as the gears have to mesh between themselves and the rack. We managed to find a compromise and cut test gears out of acrylic with the laser. The optimized design was then machined with the CNC mill:

He also acquired an Accucraft Whitcomb diesel. Though it is not scratch built, I show it here as he will definitely modify it. So we will have a before/after:

I started a new project: A live steam version of a funky little German industrial loco. It ran on ordinary track but could also push cars on an incline with a rack:

We were amazed by the precision of the finished gears. The photo shows them as they were cut

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 15 without any finishing touches. This encourages us to also make the wheels with the mill. We also cut the frames with the laser as a test, so milling the final brass part will be without surprises:

-- By Richard Murray Picea abies, "Little Gem” Common name: Norway spruce, “Little Gem" USDA zone: 3-7, hardy to -30F Sunset zone: 1-6, 14-17 This popular little guy was discovered in 1958 as a witch’s broom on the commonly known "Bird’s Nest" spruce. The species is not native to North America, but rather to northern Europe. It is either grafted high on a trunk to resemble a lollipop or grafted low to form a ground hugging shrub. It is one of the smallest plants in my yard. This one is about 14 years old. It is VERY slow growing. Supposedly, it can get to be about 18”x18.” Perhaps it has remained smaller in my yard because it is planted close to the roots of a large tree. Its new spring growth is a bright green, turning to a dark green in summer. Its growth pattern is a dense globe. One of the things that make it a great plant is that it has practically zero need of any A Member Asks for Your Advice/Experience pruning. It does well in either full or partial sun, and does best where summers are cool. It also does John Cushman is looking for Winter well in containers. It is not particular as to soil or pH. Regular weekly watering will keep it looking Structures. healthy, although I turn on my sprinklers up to 2-3 I’d like some help in researching some “winter times a week during the warmer times of the year. structures” for my railroad. Background info: USDA zones divide North America into hardiness zones based strictly on Paul Gamlin sends this source of miniature stone winter lows. Sunset zones divide the United States houses. into zones based on the total climate: length of the growing season, timing and amount of rainfall, http://www.goodshomedesign.com/awesome- winter lows, summer highs, wind, and humidity. miniature-stone-houses/ Sunset zones are, therefore, far more useful than USDA zones in selecting which plants will do well in your garden.

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 16 Gardening Events Tuesday, May 1 - Free Webinar on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour from 12:00- 1:00! Learn more about this award-winning event through a live slideshow narration; take this opportunity during the Q and A session to ask your own questions. You can visit the webpage featuring the webinar and fill out the brief on-line registration form here. Fifty free talks on May 5 and 6 - View the list of Talks in the Gardens that will be offered on Sunday, May 6, and the Talks in the Nurseries on Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6 online! Browse these lists of fifty talks to find one, or Garden Calendar more, of interest to you. May 5, 6 - Bringing Back the Natives Children’s activities will be offered during the 10 native plant nurseries open May 6 Tour, at Leslie Buck’s Berkeley garden, where your children can roast marshmallows in the www.bringingbackthenatives.net/plant-sale fire pit, and color native plant sheets in the art area; May 6 - Bringing Back the Natives in San Lorenzo children can play Native American 30 East Bay gardens open Games, do make and take arts and crafts, make a wildflower seed pot to take home, and view the www.bringingbackthenatives.net transparent bee hive of Joe’s Honey all day. May 20 - Celebration of Old Roses At Heather Day’s garden in Livermore children can 1325 Portland, Albany make leaf and flower rubbings, find native plants in the garden and then color the native plant coloring www.celebrationofoldroses.org/garden-events.php sheets that will be on hand, and goggle at the front June 3, 4 - 34th Annual Bonsai Show and Sale garden bike track, complete with jumps, ramps, San Mateo Garden Center banked turned, and more. Children 16 and under do not need tickets; just close supervision. www.seibokubonsai.org/?sec=calendar Music in the Gardens! On the day of the Tour, musicians will be performing at seven gardens on the day of the Tour. You can hear the award- winning Jazz Messengers (recently voted the best middle school jazz band in the nation!) at Martha and Kerwin Lee’s Lafayette garden, or the bluegrass playing, award-winning Barefoot Quales at Mardi and Jeff Mertens’ Berkeley garden. See this for the full list of Music in the Gardens offerings. Art in the Gardens! On Sunday, May 6, artwork will be on display and sold at eleven gardens, including work by the amazing artist Sukey Bryan, at sister Sallie Bryan’s Berkeley garden. Bird v Bird will sell handcrafted goods and illustrations at Alan Harper and Carol Baird’s Oakland garden. Talks by local artists on how to make garden art mosaics, and how to get started with nature journaling will be offered (at Robin Heyden’s Alameda garden, and Pat Rudebusch’s Orinda garden). Sketch Leslie Buck’s Berkeley garden with the materials that will be provided, and hang your drawing on the house. See this for the complete list of Art in the Gardens activities.

Amtrak Policy Changes Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson made the following announcement March 28, 2018. To all Amtrak employees: Amtrak must operate a safe and reliable schedule for our customers. Our mission from Congress is clear: safely and efficiently operate our trains on schedule while minimizing federal subsidies. . . Generally, Amtrak will no longer operate charter services or special trains. These operations caused significant operational distraction, failed to capture fully allocated profitable margins and sometimes delayed our paying customers on our scheduled trains. There may be a few narrow exceptions to this policy in order to support specific strategic initiatives, for example trial service in support of growing new scheduled service. Otherwise, one- time trips and charters are immediately discontinued. We must narrow our focus to ≠≠≠ running a great core railroad: safe, on time, clean cars, friendly service and great customer-facing WALT’S TRAINS technology. Musings of a Disney Railroad fan ≠≠≠ “Disneyland will never be completed. It will grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” - Walt Disney. No attraction or ride demonstrates Walt Disney’s commitment to change and innovation more than the Disneyland Railroad. As one of the original rides on opening day in 1955, the Disneyland Railroad has been “plussed” multiple times through the years beginning with the addition of The Grand Canyon Diorama in1958. A temporary bypass track was installed on the Disneyland Railroad during the construction of the show building so that daily railroad operation would not be impacted. Delmer J. Yoakum, a well known fine arts painter, designer

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 18 and motion picture background artist was selected to paint the south rim view of the Grand Canyon on a single piece of seamless canvas 306 ft long and 34 feet high. Yoakum had worked on movie background scenes for Paramount, 20th Century Fox, MGM and did special assignments for Walt Disney Studios. Show building construction, diorama painting, installation of foreground rockwork and lifelike animals required 80,000 labor hours at a cost of $367,000 to complete. The project was promoted as the longest diorama in the world and was blessed by 96-year-old Hopi Chief Nevangnewa during the Disneyland Railroad’s ≠≠≠ inauguration run on March 31, 1958. The addition of the Grand Canyon Diorama prompted changes to some of the DRR rolling stock including installation of side facing bench seating and removal of the cattle car walls allowing for better viewing of the diorama, as well as the addition of several new gondola cars to the freight train set. Prior to the modifications the cattle cars had no seating, requiring passengers to stand for the entire Disneyland Circle Tour. Walt Disney had insisted that there be no seats; he wanted the passengers to feel like cattle on an actual cattle train! With the close of the 1964 New York Worlds Fair, the Audio-Animatronic dinosaurs created by Disney for Ford’s Magic Skyway attraction were shipped to Anahiem and incorporated into the Primeval World Diorama adjacent to The Grand Canyon Diorama. Delmar J. Yoakum was once again selected to paint the diorama background as well as being tapped to paint portions of the Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, and the Haunted Mansion attractions. The Primeval World Diorama was one of the last additions made to Disneyland before Walt Disney’s passing on December 15, 1966. During the 2017 closure and rerouting of the Disneyland Railroad to accommodate the ≠≠≠ construction of the new Star Wars attractions, new scenes were added, the tunnel improved and the Grand Canyon and Primeval World Dioramas were plussed with realistic digital projections, Audio- NGRC 2019 Animatronic animals and enhanced lightning Call for Clinic Presenters strikes. 63 years after it’s first run, the Disneyland We are calling modelers who wish to share their Railroad continues to evolve and entertain millions. knowledge and experience to present a clinic at - Bill Ralph the National Garden Railway Convention in 2019. The convention clinics will run from Tuesday August 27th through Saturday August 31st, from 2 P.M. through 5 P.M most days, with the possibility of some later sessions. May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 19 Desired clinic topics broadly include Gardening, Santa Clarita Valley GRC: Layout design and construction, Locomotive and https://www.bagrs.org:443/resources/Documents rolling stock maintenance and modification, /SCVGRC_3_18.pdf Structure modeling and bashing, Modeling skills It should be remembered that most garden railroad such as air-brushing, couplers, weathering and new clubs welcome members of other clubs when technologies such as Laser cutting and 3D printing. traveling in the area. Also, we share our newsletter If you have a clinic on a subject you’d like to with these clubs except for the private “Members present to your fellow modelers, send your contact Only” sections at the end. information and a description of your topic to [email protected]. Those presenting must ≠≠≠ be registered for the convention. Thank you for your interest, You are invited to attend a BBQ in Bill Rose City Garden Railway Society Swindell’s memory on NGRC 2019 Steering Committee Sunday June 10th, 2018 at 1 pm. at Larkey Park, Clinic Times 2771 Buena Vista Ave, 57 Time Slots available. Walnut Creek. Please Day Times Note bring your stories and Tuesday 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 memories of Bill to share. Wednesday 2, 3, 4 BBQ 5 p.m. Thursday 2, 3 Ice Cream 4 p.m. We will be having a traditional “Walnut Creek Friday 2, 3, 4, 5 Banquet 6 p.m. Model Railway Society” picnic which will include Saturday 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 hamburgers, hot dogs and soda. Please feel free to bring a side-dish, salad, chips, dessert, if desired.

RSVP: Susan Swindell – [email protected] or https://2019ngrc.wildapricot.org/ 925-372-6996. June 1970 ≠≠≠ ≠≠≠

Other Garden Railway clubs sharing newsletters with BAGRS members: Denver GRS: https://www.bagrs.org:443/resources/Documents /DGRS_4_18.pdf https://www.bagrs.org:443/resources/Documents /DGRS_5_18.pdf Orange County GRS: https://www.bagrs.org:443/resources/Documents /OCGRS_4_18.pdf Puget Sound GRS: https://www.bagrs.org:443/resources/Documents /PSGRS_5_18.pdf

Golden Spike, Council Bluffs, Iowa “Rearing its head 56 feet into the air is this huge concrete replica of a railroad spike, located at the zero-zero mile post of the Union Pacific. A large bronze plaque marks forever the fact that this city is the Eastern terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad.” An extensive 4 day event named “Golden Spike Days Celebration” to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Golden Spike Ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah was held in Omaha from April 26-29, 1939. The event drew 250,000 people to see a large assemblage of historic tools, documents, photographs, and the original golden spike. The celebration was highlighted by the world premiere of the feature motion picture Union Pacific directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Nearly all of the antique railroad equipment used in the film was purchased by Paramount from the Virginia and Truckee Railroad in Nevada. It was used in a number of other Western films over the years and then was sold off in the 1970’s as the popularity of western films dwindled. An elaborate reenactment of the original Golden Spike ceremony staring Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck and the locomotive “actors” from the V&T was shown simultaneously at Omaha’s Orpheum and Paramount Theaters in order to accommodate the crowds. Even the President of the United Franklin D. Roosevelt was involved by opening the event by pressing a button in Washington D.C. Reportedly the premiere which included parades, radio broadcasts, banquet as well as an antique train on a 30 city15 day coast to coast promotional tour was the largest in motion picture history. Just across the Missouri River from Omaha in Council Bluffs, Iowa a large gold colored cement spike monument was dedicated near mile post 0.0 as part of the Golden Spike Days Celebration. The spike still stands in a large open residential park off the beaten track and near the modern Union Pacific mainline. Vintage railroad “Social Media” of the last century from the postcard collection of Bill Ralph.

BAGRS needs you! Tunnel at Wright’s Station on the South Pacific Coast line to Santa Cruz (abandoned). F. John For eight years BAGRS has been like the Johnny LaBarba got it. Appleseed of garden railroading, hauling our Roving Railroad trailer from venue to venue. The Here is this month’s Where is it? last of 2017 was Labor Day weekend – 3 days at Ardenwood in Fremont for their Railroad Days. Ardenwood was the last venue to which Nancy Norris will haul the trailer. After 40 or so haulings since 2010, it’s time for someone else to take responsibility for the trailer. 2017 is her last. The Roving Railroad has been an extremely successful outreach for BAGRS - and very rewarding for those who did it. Please give serious thought to serving BAGRS and the community by stepping into this role. Anyone willing to help BAGRS in this area can discuss with Nancy. Call 925-408-9402 or [email protected]. Opened in 1871, rebuilt 3 times, and accommodates over 100 tracks. (Submitted by Mike Paterson) The first person to correctly identify this location to [email protected] wins their name in next month’s column.

In April I attended the Pacific Coast Region NMRA Items for Sale convention in Rohnert Park. While there I visited Are you aware that BAGRS members can - and do - several model railroads and was able to operate 5 of list items for sale on our BAGRS web site. You’ll them. It was a lot of fun and very interesting to see find it in the middle of the “Members Section” how different people operate their railroads. menu. Log in is required. The advantage is a quick, Progress on adding a new town area to my Mystic local transaction, and, for the buyer, it’s a chance to Mountain Railroad continues with some see something before you buy it. You can also infrastructure work to get ready for the track work. register to get an email whenever someone posts an Hopefully I’ll have more to report next month. item. I have scheduled my first operating session for May ALL MEMBERS -- Please check and 19 and May 20. If you’re interested, contact me. update your personal and railroad BAGRS Open House tours start in 2 weeks. I hope to see you on tour. information on the BAGRS web site. -- Ray We use this information to communicate with you and to provide descriptions and directions to railroads open on our tours, so please update as needed. Login to www.BAGRS.org and click on “View profile” in the upper right corner. Then click on the “Edit profile” button at the upper left of your personal data. You can now edit any of your personal data. There are two places for your photo in the BAGRS database, “Member Picture” and “Personal Photo”. A good photo is a close-up of you which is roughly square. Crop it close on the face.

Future Events of Interest

 2018 NGRC, Atlanta, June 4-9, 2018; http://ngrc2018.com/  Summer Steam Up, Sacramento, July 11-15, 2018, http://summersteamup.com/  BAGRS Live Steamers at Roaring Camp, June 16-17, 2018  NMRA Convention, Kansas City, August 5-12, 2018, http://www.kc2018.org/  Ardenwood Rail Fair, Sept. 1-3, 2018 (tent.)  Narrow Gauge Convention, Minneapolis, Sept. 5-8, 2018, https://nngc- 2018.com/  PSR/NMRA Convention, San Diego, Sept. 12-16, 2018  Los Altos History Museum 10th Anniversary, Sept. 15-16, 2018  Just Trains Open House, Oct. 7, 2018  2019 NGRC, Portland, Aug. 27-31, 2019, https://2019ngrc.wildapricot.org/  2019 NNGC, Sacramento, Sept. 3-7, 2019

April 21 Spring Swap Meet - Location TBD May 12-13 Diablo Valley (Contra Costa cty. N. of Walnut Creek), Nancy Norris, [email protected] , 925-408-9402 May 26-27 Golden Gate (North of the Golden Gate and North & East of Contra Costa Cty.), Steve Smith, [email protected], 415-924-4106 June 23-24 East Bay (Alameda Cty. West of the Hills), Bill Ralph, [email protected] , 510-651-8928 July 7-8 Santa Cruz & Monterey (Santa Cruz & Monterey ctys.), Trevor Park, [email protected] , 831-476-6373 Santa Clara/Sunnyvale, Tim Csabanyi, [email protected], 408-248-3440 July 21-22 San Jose/Milpitas (San Jose, Milpitas, Campbell, Los Gatos, Saratoga), Michael Laine, [email protected] , 408-264-5214 August 4-5 Peninsula (Los Altos North to San Francisco), Don Watters, [email protected] , 650-941-0322 August 18 S. Santa Clara & San Benito Co. (Morgan Hill South), Nigel Mallinson, [email protected] , 408-848-3436 Annual food drive for charity from 9AM - 3PM Sept. 22-23 Tri-Valley (East Alameda & Contra Costa ctys. S. of Walnut Creek), Terry Paullin, [email protected] , 925-371-4409 Oct. 13 or 14 Fall Swap Meet - Location TBD

Scheduling Coordinator: Russ Miller, [email protected], (510) 209-5568 If you would like to be open, contact your District Superintendent (above).

Renew Your BAGRS Membership Online Go to the www.bagrs.org website, log in and click on “view profile” under your name. Once on your profile page you’ll see the “renew until . . . ” button near the right side.

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. Log in is required.

BAGRS On-line Photo & 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-bars) to select ALBUMS. Then click on the album of interest.

BAGRS Board and Contacts President: Colin Camarillo [email protected]

Vice President: Sarah Hammond [email protected]

Secretary: Dick Cranor [email protected]

Treasurer: Mike Dibble [email protected]

At-large board member: Nancy Norris [email protected] At-large board member: John Nicoles [email protected] At-large board member: Terry Paullin [email protected]

Scheduling Coordinator: Russ Miller [email protected]

Live Steamers: Richard Murray [email protected]

Website and Database Manager: Chip Gierhart [email protected]

Outreach and PR: Nancy Norris [email protected]

Membership: Frank Lucas [email protected]

Newsletter: Ray Turner [email protected]

Copyright ©2018 The Bay Area Garden Railway Society. Trellis & Trestle is published monthly. Submissions may be e-mailed to [email protected] . Line drawings and photographs are encouraged - as .JPGs. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.

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/

----- Bob and Norma Evans, Sat. only 10-4pm 4033 Los Arabis Dr., Lafayette 94549 Los Arabis Creek Railway Company No running trains. It’s in the process of being dismantled. Watch for sales of everything (rolling stock, buildings, detail items etc.). Call Bob (925- 283-0308) for appointment or come to the open house. Refreshments Directions for Open House From Interstate 680, north to Highway 24 West THERE ARE TWO WEEKENDS OF (towards Oakland/Lafayette). Exit at Acalanes to Upper Happy Valley Road. Right on El Nido Road, BAGRS OPEN HOUSE TOURS IN MAY! left to Upper Valley Road, left on Los Arabis Drive, house is on the left. May 12 and 13, Diablo Valley District. ----- Different times and dates for each garden. Both Saturday and Sunday May 12 &13, 2018

Look for MOTHERS DAY weekend special gifts Bruce Jahn, Both Sat. and Sun 9-4pm 120E Danville Blvd., Alamo, CA Gerald and Romy Fogel, Sat. only 10-4pm Diablo Pacific Short Line membership is 14 Amber Lane, Lafayette, CA 94549 comprised of over 50% BAGRS members. These members, along with the rest of the DPSL staff G&R Pacific Railroad would like to invite you to visit our 2500 square Railway at a glance-- foot workshop and tour our facilities. We will have Size of RR: front yard, side of house to backyard. three or four operating large-scale layouts as well as our overhead trolley line. Displays will showcase Scale: 1:22. Age: 9 years. Total trackage: approx. some of our popular modules, our electronics work 800' of AristoCraft SS. Maximum gradient: 2 1/2%. station, a huge inventory of spare parts and enough Controls: NCE dcc & 900wire. Minimum radius: 4'. power tools to make our future look bright. The Structures: kit built. Custom built buildings, saw DPSL sets up and displays at over a dozen venues a mill, ice house. Refreshments year, so to see where we start and end our travelling, come on by and look us over. If you Directions for Open House arrive around lunchtime, our favorite pizza place is Going N 680: Exit at Treat Blvd, turn left, go but a couple hundred feet behind our shop. Oh straight up Geary Rd about 1 mile. You will see a yah…if it’s time, we have a nice, clean restroom. If shopping Ctr on left side. Keep going another 1/2 coming on Sunday, the Plaza hosts a farmer’s block to Huston Rd., & go left 1/8th of a mile. market one hundred or so feet from our front door. Mothers, bring your short trains to run! Bring the Make a left turn on Amber Ln. 1st house on right kids to operate on Sunday 10-3pm. side is #14. Directions for Open House (GPS might not get From hwy 24: Take Pleasant Hill Rd. and go north you there so use these) about 1 mile. You will see a split. Keep right to From I-680 Northbound, exit onto Stone Valley Geary Rd about 1/8th mile. Right turn on Huston Road WEST. The off ramp will wrap around rd. Go 5 blocks to Amber Lane. Left turn. 1st house

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 28 forcing you to turn right onto Westbound Stone landscaping yet but plenty of space for you to bring Valley Road. At the traffic lights, turn right (North) your train to run, without track power. Help Gene onto Danville Blvd. Up a half a block, on your left, break it in! Refreshments you’ll pass the Wells Fargo Bank, then the Bank of Directions for Open House America. Immediately after the BofA, turn left into https://www.google.com/maps/place/302+Drake+C the alley and the DPSL workshop will be straight t,+Benicia,+CA+94510/@38.0721529,- ahead on the end of the long building in a 122.1681732,17z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x8085 shopping plaza. Look for the DPSL banner in the 6e05b5155cab:0xca866887bb07157d!2s302+Drake window and cross bucks out front. +Ct,+Benicia,+CA+94510!3b1!8m2!3d38.0721529 If coming on I-680 Southbound out of Walnut !4d- Creek, exit onto Livorna Road and turn right onto 122.1659792!3m4!1s0x80856e05b5155cab:0xca86 Livorna. At the traffic lights, turn left (South) onto 6887bb07157d!8m2!3d38.0721529!4d- Danville Blvd. In about a half mile, just before the 122.1659792 heavily painted pedestrian crosswalk, turn right into ----- the alley just before the Bank of America and there we’ll be. Jim Anthony ----- Just Trains retail train shop, Sat. 10-5pm, Sun. Nancy Norris & Ron Gies, Sat. 10-5pm, Sun. 10- 10-4pm 5pm 5650 Imhoff Drive, Ste. H, Concord, CA. 94520 116 Hopeco Rd., Pleasant Hill CA 94523 Phone: (925) 685-6566, Email: [email protected] Web: www.just-trains.com Steamup 10-5, [email protected] On your travels about the Diablo Valley stop by Agricuture & Gravel Elevated, 7/8ths” live-steam Just Trains for a special Mother’s Day Weekend (1:13.7 scale), runs on bridgework, over an edible treat baked by Rosita. Also on the tour look for raised garden, then through a 1:1 “caboose”. The L- special 10% discount coupons for in stock G Scale shaped dogbone returns through maples and a slate items or special order your needed item. mine. The "Aggie" also runs a mining loop, an ----- auto-reverse point-to-point incline mining line and a Ruth Bancroft Garden, 10-4pm $10 or $8 for Dino Train for kids to operate. Bring your steam! seniors Mothers take home a dish garden of railway 1552 Bancroft Road, Walnut Creek, CA succulents or herbs. Kids can make a dish garden https://www.ruthbancroftgarden.org/ for Mom. Refreshments. Dry-garden plant sales. Garden tours 11-3pm Directions for Open House Sat. May 12 Mothers Day Teapot clinic 10-11am From the South, take the Contra Costa Blvd. flyover Sun. May 13 Mothers Day Admission free to exit from I-680, and turn left at the first light, onto Mothers Boyd Rd. Go 0.8 mi. Turn Rt on Marlee and then 2nd left onto Hopeco. 116 is at the end. From the North, take the Gregory Lane exit off of I- 680 and turn left onto Contra Costa Blvd. Go about 0.5 miles to turn Rt. on Boyd Rd. Then go about 0.8 mi. Turn Rt on Marlee and then 2nd left onto Hopeco. Gene Stangel – Benicia open Sun.only 10-4pm 302 Drake Ct., Benicia, CA 94510 Cell:707-853- 4481 AG&ORR NEW! Live steam and guest battery power welcome. Gene’s brand new ground-level railroad has reliably stable 8’-RADIUS curves, no

Ken & Crystal Brody, Open BOTH Days 10 – 3 1889 Bennett Meadows Lane, Santa Rosa 95405 Crystal Creek & Rock City West Railroad Leaving the 20’s era town of Crystal Creek, trains on the Westie Line circle Misty Pond then wind uphill along the creek, crossing two long trestles before reaching Rock City at the halfway point. Beyond there lies the wooded, sparsely populated West Highland Territory. Trains can then either return the way they came along the original ’93 May 26 and 27, Golden Gate District. route or take the new Thorn Loop, a 2-1/2-turn spiral, down a 4% grade and through a 20-foot Note: different times and dates for some garden tunnel back to Crystal Creek. Layout has 400+ feet RRs. of Llagas Creek track with 5 feet elevation gain. Extensive landscaping. Katherine & Nagasiva Yronwode, Open BOTH Directions for Open House Days 10 – 4 From Hwy 101/12 interchange in Santa Rosa, go 6632 Covey Road, Forestville 95436 east on 12 to end of freeway at Farmers Lane. Turn right and go 2 short blocks to Bennett Valley Road. Eastern Tennessee and Western Northern Turn left and go 0.8 mile to Tachevah Drive (light). California Railroad is a highly detailed outdoor Turn left, then make first left onto Knolls Drive. layout presenting an imagined 1930s journey Proceed long block to Bennett Meadows Lane. We through rural countryside from Tennessee to are 3rd house on left. May need to park on Knolls. California. Bachmann 10-wheelers pull freight, passenger, and circus trains past self-referential buildings that model our full-scale 1875 Rock City barn, Smallest Church in the World, grade crossing John Cushman Open BOTH Days 10 – 4 signal, and Celtic labyrinth. The Crystal Cavern Mining Co. operates an LGB Porter with ore cars 1516 Hexem Ave., Santa Rosa 95404 on a second line through Fern Gulley's quartz caves. The Santa Rosa & Pacific is a tourist line Trestles, bridges, tunnels, buildings, rockwork, operating somewhere around the city at the Turn of miniature trees and flowers, and two-lane roads the Century. The route departs from our deck and a with die-cast cars provide realism. Enjoy free food little town called "Hidden Valley." It spans the and drinks courtesy of the world-famous Lucky flower and vegetable gardens enroute to a "grand Mojo metaphysical shop, open for browsing under circle tour" around the little town under the apple the redwood trees behind the layout. tree that includes Santa Rosa Station, a ranch, and Directions for Open House freight station. From Highway 101, take Highway 116 West (or Coaches from the Sierra Railway were recently use Occidental Road or Guerneville Road for purchased, together with two locomotives badged shorter drive time, then join Highway 116 north of for the Sierra Railway. We welcome these movie Sebastopol). As Highway 116 enters Forestville, stars to their new home. Several shorter trains look for Carr's Drive-In at Covey Road, on the operate simultaneously when the engineer is paying right. Turn right (North) on Covey and drive close attention. The "Eureka" a 4-4-0 classic between the two churches, about one-and-a-half American and its coaches are occasionally brought blocks. Our driveway, on the left as you head out for Railroad Days on the SR&P. North, is marked with flowers and Burma Shave

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 30 Ground rules include a Kadee Coupler standard. mountain setting winding its way along 500 feet of Trains must be able to play safely with a minimum continuous track. Originally established in 2002 and of adult supervision while we dine on the deck. built in 2 phases (2002 and 2004). The Santa Rosa & Pacific has become a proving There are 4 tunnels, 3 dry washes, 2 long trestles, 2 grounds for equipment and photography used at the reversing wyes, 7 bridges, 4 sidings, a 30 ft long Children's Museum of Sonoma County. Test videos river, a town, farm, cabins, a mine and lumber are created here for viewing at the museum, and operations. A “Fortuna Flyer” Test Track, 40 feet video equipment is broken in for columns that long with a launch ramp to the “moon” is fully appear in the Garden Railways Magazine "Video operational. The layout supports a half dozen 101" series. mature Chinese Elms, a forest of “Chamaecyaris The Santa Rosa and Pacific is inspired by Walt thyoides” Top Point and Little Jamie and an orchard Disney's vision that it "will never be completed. It of Dwarf Flowering Pomegranate Trees. will continue to grow as long as there is The entire operation is elevated two to five feet imagination left in the world. above ground for perfect viewing of the rugged Directions for Open House mountain landscape. The track terminates in a train shed with a three-track train yard. From the 101 Freeway, take the Steele Lane exit and head east. The road changes its name twice, Engines are LGB, Heartland and Bachman track becoming Lewis Road for half a mile, and then powered with the exception of an LGB Mogul and a Crest Drive. Follow Crest Drive. Make a right turn Bachmann Shay, which have been converted to on Beverly, and a left turn onto Hexem. We are 10 battery power utilizing Air Wire technology, with houses from that intersection on your right more locomotives being fitted to run with Air Wire. We are track powered and run 2 R/C locomotives

with more being added. The entire Deer Island Railroad was renovated in Hope Stewart Open SATURDAY only 10 – 4 preparation for the 2016 National Convention with 1407 Capri Ave., Petaluma 94954 a complete rebuilding of all the Trestle Bents and The Right on Track Garden RR was started in Bridges. We also installed a new bridge, 3 Way 2007 and has changed quite a big from the simple Pneumatic switching to control the switches for the beginnings. I have a small yard 20 x 60 and have 2 train yard and Landscape Lighting, the ballast and loops of track. There is a mountain scene where the track have been redone and stabilized, the dry wash trains climb and go over a bridge and into a town. creek beds have been redesigned/rebuilt, the tunnel I also have a farm area and am adding this year a portals have been refurbished, the Fortune Flyer delightful fairy forest. I have had a lot of fun, help Test Track has been redesigned & rebuilt and a new and made new friendships during the life of my RR. reversing loop has been added. The “Eastside” I started it when my husband was ill (a keep your Mine Train with two reversing loops and the head on straight kind of project) and he has since Lumber Mill Operations have been reconstructed passed away. and are awaiting control updates. Directions for Open House Directions for Open House Highway 101 main Petaluma exit. From Highway 101, take San Marin exit. Drive west to Old Redwood Hwy (few hundred yards) -East on Washington for just 1 block then North on then go south (left turn) to Olive St. (first stop sign McDowell for about 1-1/4 miles with Shell gas Station on the right). Make a left turn -Right on Palo Verde and Right on Wood Sorrel (eastbound) onto Olive St.. Continue for about 1- -Left on Capri - house on left at the end of court 1/4 miles to Lea Drive. Make a right turn and continue to 1144 Lea Dr. on right

Bob Guinan Open BOTH Days 10 – 4 1144 Lea Dr. Novato 94945 Dart Rinefort Open BOTH Days 10 – 4 The Deer Island Railroad (DIRR) is an imaginary 101 Wimbledon Way, San Rafael 94901 railroad operating in a western “high sierra” OS&F RR

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 31 Due to the success of the local gold mine in the favorite locomotives and rolling stock against an early 1900's the town of Loganville has grown unobstructed Mt. Tamalpais background. rapidly with new commerce and industry. Winding Most of my work on the Vista Del Bahia railroad its way through tunnels and canyons and across this past year has been maintenance. My water bridges spanning rivers with cascading waterfalls, feature started leaking over the past years due to the OS&F RR provides both passenger and freight settlement and roots growing over and around the services as it travels through the rugged terrain of rubber lining. It finally got so bad that I had to take the California foothills. The layout features the much of it apart to fix it. It is no longer leaking, but scratch built Sisters Hotel which overlooks the town now the raccoons have decided to go after the fish and provides guests with vistas of the mining in the pond! Good thing I use cheap goldfish. activities. Many other building are scratch built Aside from that, I did install a winery built around a with detailed interiors including a Town Hall and façade acquired at the Denver convention and a Fire Station, and our latest, a Machine Shop. The station acquired from a retired garden railroader. most detailed is a Victorian House modeled after the historic Lyford house in Tiburon. Also, an Last year Garden Railways ran some articles on Outfitters Cabin, and a mine with small diesel building a wireless DCC throttle and decoder, engine operating on O scale track for transporting basically a simple (compatible) version of Airwire. ore from mine to Stamp Mill add interest to the I built three sets and have installed them in old layout. A new housing development is under Aristo 0-4-0 switchers which I converted to battery construction on an adjacent hillside to further power. I also swapped out the Aristo soundboard in accommodate the towns growing population. the tender with a cheap one that includes a bell and whistle operated by buttons on the throttle. It works Two train operation on single track main line is pretty well and I will have them out if anyone wants accomplished by utilizing battery power with to try them. AirWire control for one and track power for the second. Inside is a ceiling suspended RR with As most of you know, my layout is a track powered, several bridges and a tunnel. Limited handicap non-DCC block system, with coordinated access (stairs). Restroom available. movement via automated regulation of block power and switch positions. The remote controlled battery Directions for Open House powered trains kind of defeat this, but I found that From Hwy 101 exit central San Rafael exit and younger visitors are quickly bored by the automated follow frontage road to 5th St. Proceed west trains so they come in handy. through town for approximately 1-3/4 miles to Finally, I am looking for animation ideas, so if Racquet Club Dr. (stop sign). Turn left and proceed anyone has some suggestions I would love to hear up the hill to Longwood Dr. (stop sign). Turn right them. One thing I am working on is an animated and proceed up Longwood to the T at the top. Turn watchman’s cabin. I bought a box of junk and an right onto upper Wimbledon Way. House is 6th on old Lionel metal watchman’s shack was included. the right. My intent is to salvage some of the mechanism, add some servos and convert it to operate a G-Scale figure who pops out of a G-Scale sized cabin and Steve Smith Open SATURDAY only 10 – 3:30 prototypically waves a lighted lantern. It is good to have ambitions for 2016. 17 Balclutha Drive, Corte Madera 94925 Directions for Open House The Vista del Bahia railway's surveyors and construction engineers found themselves with the Take Highway 101 North across the Golden Gate difficult task of respecting the integrity of the Bridge. Take the Paradise Drive /Tamalpais Drive natural setting they found themselves building a exit. Take a right off the exit ramp (heading east). railway though (i.e., the garden was there first!). Proceed straight through the single lane to San They rose to the challenge and the resulting 300 Clemente Drive, a 4 lane road. Keep the traffic foot railway runs through lush gardens, over a river island on your left and the Consignment Store and past a working vineyard. Railfans will immediately on your right. You will wrap around appreciate the 60 feet of dual track mainline that is the store and end up on San Clemente Drive. San perfectly aligned for taking photographs of their Clemente turns into Paradise Drive in just under 1/2 mile. Continue for approximately another 1/2 mile

May 2018 Copyright © 2018, Bay Area Garden Railway Society 32 and make a right turn onto Westward. Make your sign turn L on to Grand - at 4th stop sign turn R on first right onto Balclutha. The house is #17 on the to Mountain View - take second R which is right hand side. Bradcliff Court (which dead ends in our front yard) From North of Corte Madera: Take Highway 101 South to the Paradise Drive / Tamalpais Drive exit. Take a left to go over the highway (heading East), getting in the right hand lane to go through the single lane to the right of the traffic island. Follow directions above.

Mick Spilsbury Open BOTH Days 10 – 4, Social on Saturday 4-6 35 Bradcliff Court, San Rafael 94901 Black Canyon Drinking Mining & Railroad Company BCRMDC was built in 2015 using lessons from my first garden railroad, to maximize run time and minimize maintenance. 325' of track and 12 switches are 2' above ground and are secured to easily accessed brick walls. BCRMDC is lit for night operation. Battery powered LGB Moguls operate various consists. Track power is also available. The year is 1897 and consists run from the Colorado township of Red Rock City to Black Canyon Mine. The line includes a 20' narrow canyon, a tunnel, a 7' bridge over a small waterfall and 100' of rock work. Most of BCRMDC runs through a mature, garden, though Red Rock City incorporates numerous miniature plants. Some structures are scratch-built. Easy maintenance allows all three functions of the company to be pursued! Come by at the end of the day and see what I mean! New this year: 20 passenger cars/wagons have been refurbished and customized, 12 of them with new lighting. And 10 sound effects have been added at various points along the RR featuring industrial activities, livestock and social activities. Directions for Open House Coming N on H101, exit 'Central San Rafael' - proceed straight on Irwin across 4 lights - at 5th light turn R on to Mission - first stop sign turn L on to Grand - at 4th stop sign turn R on to Mountain View - take second R which is Bradcliff Court (which dead ends in our front yard). Coming S on H101, exit 'Central San Rafael' - at 1st light turn L on to Mission - cross one light and at the first stop