SUMMER 2015 ■■■■■■■■■■■ VOLUME 35 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ NUMBER 6 What a great crew! Monday, June 1, 2015 The Semaphore David N. Clinton, Editor-in-Chief CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Southeastern Massachusetts…………………. Paul Cutler, Jr. Paul Cutler III Cape Cod News………………………………….. Skip Burton Boston Globe Reporter………………………. Brendan Sheehan Boston Herald Reporter……………………… Jim South Wall Street Journal Reporter....………………. Paul Bonanno Rhode Island News………………………………. Tony Donatelli Empire State News………………………………. Dick Kozlowski “Amtrak News”…………………………….….. Russell Buck “The Chief’s Corner”…………………………. Fred Lockhart PRODUCTION STAFF Publication……………………………………….. Al Taylor Al Munn Web Page and photographer…………………... Joe Dumas Guest Contributors………………………………. Peter Palica, Ron Clough The Semaphore is the monthly (except July) newsletter of the South Shore Model Railway Club & Museum (SSMRC) and any opinions found herein are those of the authors thereof and of the Editors and do not necessarily reflect any policies of this organization. The SSMRC, as a non-profit organization, does not endorse any position. Your comments are welcome! Please address all correspondence regarding this publication to: The Semaphore, 11 Hancock Rd., Hingham, MA 02043. ©2015 E-mail: [email protected] Club phone: 781-740-2000. Web page: www.ssmrc.org VOLUME 35 ■■■■■ NUMBER 6 ■■■■■ SUMMER 2015 BILL OF LADING CLUB OFFICERS President………………….Jack Foley Annual Cookout…………..4 Vice-President……..…..Dan Peterson Chief’s Corner ...... ……….3 Treasurer………………....Will Baker Contests ............... …..3 & 17 Secretary………………....Dave Clinton Chief Engineer………....Fred Lockhart Clinics……………………..6 & 13 Directors………………....Bill Garvey (’16) Dining for a Cause……..16 ………………………..….….Bryan Miller (temp) ……………………….…..….Mike Dolan (’17) Donations…………………….7 ……………………………….Roger St. Peter (’17) Editor’s Notes……… .....13 Election Results……………4 Form 19 Orders .... ……….3 On the cover: Our group photo after the In Memoriam ....... ……….3 Annual Business Meeting, June 1, 2015. Member News ..... ….....13 Memories ............. .........5 Operations Survey……….14 2 Potpourri .............. ….…....8 Sample Ballot ....... ………..5 In Memoriam: DAVE MacDONALD FORM 19 ORDERS th JUNE B.O.D. MEETING Dave MacDonald passed away on June 9 , after a Monday, June 29th 8 p.m. long illness. He was 85 years old. Dave was a life- JULY BUSINESS MEETING long resident of Weymouth, attending public Monday, July 6th 8 p.m. schools through Weymouth High. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving aboard the USS Vulcan SPECIAL ELECTION FOR DIRECTOR as HM3 and he attended New England College of Monday, July 6th Pharmacy. Dave owned South Shore Hobby, which OFFICIAL OPERATIONS th th for many years was on Broad Street in Jackson Monday, July 13 & Thursday, July 16 8 p.m. Square and which introduced many of us to the JULY B.O.D. SSMRC. 15 years ago, Dave was made a “Life th Monday, July 27 8 p.m. Member” of the SSMRC, due to his over 50 years ANNUAL COOKOUT AND POOL PARTY of membership in the Club. Dave was also Tuesday, July 28th 2 p.m. interested in the Maine narrow gauge railroads and was a member of the WW&F in Wiscasset. SUMMER OPEN HOUSE R.I.P. Dave. st Saturday, August 1 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 99 RESTAURANT (HINGHAM) SSMRC FUND RAISING Monday, August 3rd 5 p.m.- 10 p.m. NOTE CHANGE: AUGUST BUSINESS MEETING th Monday, August 10 8 p.m. DECODER & LOCO TUNE-UP CLINIC th Thursday, August 6 8 p.m. NEWSLETTER DEADLINE Saturday, August 22nd AUGUST B.O.D. MEETING st Monday, August 31 8 p.m. Fred Lockhart CONTESTS Since last month, we have made progress on the Congratulations to Bill Roach on winning this month’s “punch list”. The Tuesday morning group has Installed 50/50 raffle! the Tortoise switch machines that were missing in Middleton yard and wired them with toggles and has Our next contest is a RR Crossword Puzzle from Al installed a Tortoise on the new siding at “Corner City”; Taylor. Puzzle #15-6 can be found near the end of we should really give that place an official name. The the newsletter. Please make sure to put your name next item they will be working on is to add “kill” on the puzzle before leaving it in my mailbox. You switches to the mainline turnouts that are manually can also email your completed puzzle to me at controlled with toggle switches; this should prevent [email protected]. Extra puzzles available accidents during Open Houses by someone playing with on top of the old wood display case inside the train the toggles. Al Taylor found that the bridge connecting room. Drawing will be held at the August Business Meeting. Cedar Hill passenger and the engine terminal had swollen from the humidity; he adjusted that and has also installed the safeties for the approach to the bridge. There is not any lead to the bridge after the 3 turnouts, so the safeties will prevent the turnouts from Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all being aligned with the bridge when it is not in place; who were willing to serve their Club! also, there are filler blocks with fascia to complete the fascia. All that needs to be done now is lay the track and wire it and it will be ready to be put into service. The Annual Club Cookout & tracks on the lift up section have been re-aligned and it Pool Party has been reported to be derailment free--for now anyway! The Program cart has been repaired this month also, with a new Soundtraxx booster. The connection to the computer to use “Decoder Pro” was TUESDAY, JULY 29th re-established, so everything should be working now to program locomotives. If Decoder Pro asks you about a com Port it is com port3. Anyone wanting to help out see me and I will set you up with a project. We will be having another Operation in July, then on August 1st our “Summer Open House”, so along with helping the Ops Committee with set-up, we need to clean some track with special attention to the yards and industrial areas. The Electrical Committee had a quart bottle of liquid soldering flux; the flux is blue in color and last seen it was in the work area in Cedar Hill. Well guess what? They can’t find it and searched all over the club. Maybe another set of eyes might help! If anyone might know where it is, please let Al Taylor or Bob England know or just leave it at Cedar Hill. Thanks! All members and applicants are invited to this And thanks to everyone helping out this past month. year’s cookout and pool party, which will be held Fred Lockhart again at Jim & Alice South’s home at 95 Audubon Ave. in Braintree. Thanks to their generosity and Chief Engineer kindness, we can enjoy a beautiful in-ground pool for a dip on a hot summer’s day. There are plenty of “dips” in attendance, too, along with lots of goodies supplied by the attendees and the Souths. The fun begins after 2 p.m. and after the eating, slides and digital presentations are shown on the President = JACK FOLEY 42 big screen in the back yard. Vice President = DAN PETERSON A sign-up sheet on the Bulletin Board has some 36 suggestions of what you might bring, if you care to Treasurer = WILL BAKER 43 bring any food. Please see Jim or myself, if you Secretary = DAVE CLINTON 41 have any questions. We will have a slide projector Chief Engineer = FRED LOCKHART 43 and digital projector and encourage you to bring Directors (2-year term) some favorite train pictures that you’d like to share. = MIKE DOLAN 33 Come and enjoy the good company, good = Chip Mullen 14 conversations and good food! = John Sheridan 11 = Roger St. Peter 33 4 Amtrak makes free Wi-Fi service available on SAMPLE BALLOT FOR SPECIAL ELECTION Acela Express trains Boston-Washington. Genesee & Wyoming buys Australia’s “FreightLink” for $334 million. Maine voters approve bond to preserve 240 miles of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Rwy threatened with abandonment by owners. Last interlocking plant in the U.S. using mechanically-operated “Armstrong” levers con- nected through iron pipes to switches closed by Union Pacific in Springfield, IL. Housatonic RR begins study of restoring passenger service from Danbury, CT to Pittsfield, MA. Mike Dolan starts new column “Chief’s Corner”. ”Central Corridor” promoted by W. Mass officials to re-route Vermonter up from New London, CT on New England Central. SUMMER 2005 (10 years ago) Work parties held in July and August to repair/paint outside of building. Amtrak returns Acela high-speed trains, after brake problems sidelined fleet. Plans to increase Commuter Rail to Worcester include purchasing sections of CSX’s freight line. NY State abandons plans to refurbish seven Turboliners, due to high cost and inefficient engines Local couple purchases S. Weymouth RR station to become general store. Conway Scenic RR acquires ex-QBT U23B #21 and B23-7 #23. We will be having a special election at the July Business Athearn announces future Genesis F-units to Meeting, to fill the Director vacancy created by the death offer DCC and sound by MRC. of Dennis Hart. Caboose Motel in Lancaster County, PA reopens after refurbishment; location has over 40 cabooses. Absentee ballots are available from the Secretary and VIA’s Canadian celebrates 50 years of operation. must be returned by July 3, 2015 at P.O. Box 224, Granite slabs from the burned-down Sacred Hingham, MA 02043. Heart Church in Weymouth Landing to be used in new Greenbush Line station in the Landing. MBTA raises parking fees to $3 at most stations; SEMAPHORE $3.50 at Quincy, Quincy-Adams and Braintree. Palmer, MA’s expanded public library opens “Railroad Research Center” room stocked with rR MEMORIES books and reference materials.