Emerald Coast Garden Railway Club June - July 2014 www.ECGRC.com Vol 2014-4 Sweltering Summer 2014 Here we are in the dog days of summer. We knew it was coming. It was in all of the newspapers. It was on the calendars. But all of that still makes it tough to bear, or, worse yet, bare enough to cool off. Page Contents Unfortunately, all of the heat and the rain has turned the weeds and vines into some demonic 1 Summer 2014 version of kudzu with incessant and wild, 2 Tallahassee Train Show; Club Rail Car uncontrolled growth. Some of the vines and 3 Dothan Train Show; Mobile Train Show briars definitely seem to grow by many inches, if 4 Can Recycling; Name Tags; Train Spotting not feet, in just a day. The Jordan Lot Riding Train 5 New Member; Al LeBlanc; Jordan Lot track right‐of‐way is clipped and cleared on 6 RR Depot Fixes Friday and needs to be done again on Saturday. 7 Orlando 1500 Loco; Weston RR Are the gnomes putting fertilizer on the weeds 8 Amazon; Trains & Planes and briar vines? 9 Events and Dates; Health & Welfare 10 Birthdays & Anniversaries; Book Report Remember, Folks, keep yourself hydrated and 11 GGR Club Closure; Roaming Gnome Invasion well cared for in this summer heat. Heat stress 12 Standard Gauge; In-Line Fuses and all of its complications can sneak up on you. 13 Club Patches Lots of water is best. Water does not corrode your pipes. That is an inebriated myth. Also, not too much soda consumption with all of its nasty sugars and chemicals. We have lots of water in the Jordan Lot Frig. Stay safe and healthy and out of the hospital and away from Nurse Ratchet. www.ecgrc.com - 1 - June - July 2014 Emerald Coast Garden Railway Club WFRM finding some great bargains, and Bill was hunting Tallahassee Train Show bargains, too. Jack Grill was also browsing for deals. The Big Bend Model Railroad Association held their There were many G scale items to be had. Ed missed annual train show at the North Florida Fairgrounds in out on a few logging cars for Becky Cox. Terry & April Tallahassee on 28 June 2014. Ed Dice set up an Tucker had several tables full of model train supplies. information display for the RR Museum. Displayed Rodney Rich stopped by to chat. Keith Rapley & pictures of the old logging railroads in the Milton Bobbie Dorner were taking everything in. Paul area, along with pictures of the Jordan Lot Garden Weston was on the hunt for bargains. Ed Levin was Railroad. Ed talked with lots of folks about the various spied with a large package in hand. Mike Moore facilities and things to see at the RR Museum. One visited to take things in, too. David Mobley and gent may join the RR Museum so he can use the grandson, Gatlin, enjoyed the train layouts a lot. history archives for a research project. It was a great show. Take my word for it. My pictures The train show was held in two large buildings at the got lost in the big "bit bucket". But it was a nice train fairgrounds. Lots of room and plenty of chilled air. show and well worth the trip. Needed a jacket inside the building. The Mossy Head crew were outside in the courtyard between the two buildings (no chilled air there). Paul Karczewski, Jack Club Rail Car Burk and others set up an RS3 loco and a custom built Paul Weston donated a spruced up stock car to the covered hopper, along with a few tents to provide a Club. Paul cleaned and fixed up the stock car, added little shade out in the heat of the day. metal wheels, Aristo‐Craft couplers, and new vinyl lettering (Hobby Lobby). Stock car donated by Paul Weston Paul announced his donation at the May Club meeting. This stock car joins the other eight rail cars Ed did not set up any G scale trains. There were that Paul also donated and fixed up which also bear already several model train layouts including some G the Emerald Coast and EC logos. These rail cars are scale layouts. Will Davis was there with his live steam available for anyone to make up a train behind their loco. Jim and Edith Gaul, former ECGRC members, loco. Where is the RED caboose? $50 fine? had a table selling Jim's G scale trains and Edith's Barbie dolls. Jim and Edith did very well. Several folks from the ECGRC/RR Museum were there. Stephanie Carrington was scooting around www.ecgrc.com - 2 - June - July 2014 Emerald Coast Garden Railway Club WFRM Emerald Coast rail cars behind a steam loco ‐ 30 May Dothan Sept 2013 front side You can see these cars traveling around the Jordan After we finish set up on Friday, we usually head off Lot Garden Railroad pulled by various Club members' to a local restaurant for a nice dinner. And then after locos. It certainly is a nice string of cars. Thanks, Paul. the show wraps Saturday afternoon at 5 PM, we head to another restaurant for a great dinner. We have a Dothan Train Show great time. Still looking for Miss Kitty at the Long Branch Saloon. We finally got official word, that our next train show participation will be the Dothan train show. It will be Mobile Train Show 20‐21 Sept, with set up on Friday, 19 Sept. Still Mobile train show will be held on 4‐5 October 2014. waiting to get definite word and details about the This is a two day train show at the Mobile Via Health, train layout space, but expect same as in years past. Fitness and Enrichment Center. The gym is filled with tables and a few layouts. Norm Koenig sets up his small G scale LGB trains with the sound tooting and whistling. Dothan Sept 2013 with elevated track and bridges The Dothan train shows have always been a great time with more G scale sellers each year. Great facilities to set up the G scale trains inside. The RR Museum info display at Mobile train show Oct 2013 outside space on the asphalt was pretty challenging, An information display will be set up for the RR either too hot in September, too wet with the sudden Museum to give us more visibility for activities over in rain storms, or bitter cold in December. Inside is Milton. Will not set up a separate G scale layout. much better. Things are a bit too cramped in the gym to accommodate such a display. www.ecgrc.com - 3 - June - July 2014 Emerald Coast Garden Railway Club WFRM Also, I keep forgetting names. So the name tag helps keep me on track and away from embarrassing moments. Otherwise, you might get called Sylvester or Daffy. And as a side note, when new name tags are printed up they need to be done in groups of eight. Don't want to waste the photographic paper that the name tags are printed on. TRAIN SPOTTING Way back on Tuesday, 3 June 2014, Matthew Wertz spotted a unique CSX locomotive in our area. It was Mobile train show sellers and layouts Oct 2013 one of the CSX Heritage units. Matthew saw CSX #1 See Ed Dice for additional details, including a train Spirit of West Virginia. Great catch, Matthew. show flyer. Last year there was not a lot of G scale trains available, but there were a few pieces from estate sales. Can Recycling Remember folks we recycle aluminum soda cans for the Club. Keep the cans coming. Periodically, the Can Genie swoops down and carts the bags of cans away leaving an envelope of cash for the Treasurer. It helps not squashing the cans so CSX #1 Spirit of West Virginia ‐ pic by Matthew Wertz the sharp points do not poke holes in the black bags. Every can helps Apparently, there are 14 "Spirit of" heritage units for and that is another can not in the landfill. the CSX railroad. Some folks track each loco as it travels around the country, and then log their sighting reports up on a Name Tags website. A quick search found heritageunits.com where Remember name tags help keep straight who is who. special heritage units from all Frequently, visitors to the Jordan Lot see a bunch of rail lines are tracked. There is old guys and no idea who is in a Facebook page “CSX charge. The name tags help sort Tracker” with sightings of out and separate us from the special CSX units including the general public. Also, especially for “Spirit of” units. There is a collection of photographs our younger members, wear your of the different “Spirit of” units at name tag so no one gets concerned with your trainweb.org/csxphotos/other_spirit.htm operating trains on the garden RR. Matthew caught sight of CSX #1 Spirit of West Check with Ed Dice for your name tag if you do not Virginia at the crossing on Old Bagdad Highway, not have yours yet. If you lost it, get with Ed for a far from our RR Depot. Matthew was in the right replacement, along with penance/demerits. place at the right time. www.ecgrc.com - 4 - June - July 2014 Emerald Coast Garden Railway Club WFRM New Member Jordan Lot Activities Our latest new member is Parker Price. Parker has Things have been busy at the Jordan Lot and on the been running his train with his son Julian at the Garden Railroad.