JANUARY 25, 2016 ■■■■■■■■■■ VOLUME 36 ■■■■■■■■■ NUMBER 1 SIX “THE OPERATOR”s IN ONE ! 2 The Semaphore David N. Clinton, Editor-in-Chief CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Southeastern Massachusetts…………………. Paul Cutler, Jr. “The Operator”………………………………… Paul Cutler III Cape Cod News………………………………….. Skip Burton Boston Globe Reporter………………………. Brendan Sheehan Boston Herald Reporter……………………… Jim South Wall Street Journal Reporter....………………. Paul Bonanno 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………………………………. William Lanza 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 36 ■■■■■ NUMBER 1 ■■■■■ JANUARY 2016 CLUB OFFICERS BILL OF LADING President………………….Jack Foley Vice-President…….. …..Dan Peterson Chief’s Corner.......……….4 Treasurer………………....Will Baker Contests .................…. .…..4 Secretary……………….....Dave Clinton Clinic……………..……….5 Chief Engineer……….. .Fred Lockhart Directors……………… ...Bill Garvey (’16) Editor’s Notes. ….……….12 ……………………….. .Bryan Miller (‘16) ……………………… .Mike Dolan (’17) Members ...............……....12 ……………………… ….Roger St. Peter (’17) Memories ..............………..5 The Operator .........………13 Potpourri ................……….7 On the cover: Pictures from six of Trains & Touchdowns…….5 our past Club activities. Photos by Joe Dumas & Tony Donatelli. 3 FORM 19 Fred Lockhart ORDERS Another month to report on; well let’s see if I can JANUARY B.O.D. MEETING remember what we have got done. Last month I Monday, January 25th 8 p.m. reported that the Electrical Committee was moving AMHERST RWY SOCIETY TRAIN SHOW the toggle controls that control the manual turnouts Sat.& Sun., Jan. 30-31 “BIG E” W. Springfield for the Dairy, Essex Jct. yard, and the freight house onto the fascia panel. They have been moved; you FEBRUARY BUSINESS MEETING st will see amber LEDs above the letter “K” near each Monday, February 1 8 p.m. set of toggles: the “K” refers to a kill switch and the DECODER & LOCO TUNE-UP CLINIC th amber LED lets you know that the power is on. The Thursday, February 4 8 p.m. last thing to do on those will be to add red/green TRAINS AND TOUCHDOWNS LEDs to the toggle that controls the turnout right off Saturday, February 6th 11 a.m.-5 p.m. the main--that will give engineers a good visual that NEWSLETTER DEADLINE their track is clear, especially during operations Saturday, January 20th when there are locals working that area. Over at FEBRUARY B.O.D. MEETING the steel mill, you will notice another new toggle Monday, 29th 8 p.m. has been added. With the help of the Benchwork Committee, this toggle controls the turnout for the steel mill lead, which comes off the outbound passenger lead. It has red/green LEDs to indicate CONTESTS the turnout position, as the points can’t be seen from the aisle. This will help the local that works the Congratulations to applicant Rob Cook on winning steel mill. his month’s 50/50 Raffle! The Scenery Committee continues to work on the finishing details at “Corner City”. They also continue JANUARY: The answer to this month’s question is: the to work on the area near West Middleton. They are ACS-64 electric by Siemens is replacing the AEM-7 building this section at the work bench; it will have “Mighty Mouse”. The new loco is called “The Cities residential houses backing up to the railroad. When Sprinter”. Here’s who knew: it is done, they will install it in front of and around the diamond crossing. They are also working on a Joe Dumas Brendan Sheehan marshy area, to complete the scenery on the Fred Lockhart John Sheridan permanent part of the railroad. To the left of that Coley Coleman Jim South Roger St. Peter Alt Taylor project, all the track work will be re-configured Jack Foley Savery Moore when the Fourth peninsula is built. Ron Clough Doug Buchanan What is next? The next major project I want to Paul Cutler III see get done is build the model board for the Cedar Hill passenger terminal. It will have the track Congratulations to all and everyone was a winner and diagram for the area, with LEDs to show routing took home a railroad calendar supplied by these folks: through the double slip turnouts, similar to the smaller panel we installed at the entrance to Cedar Kurt Kramke Jack Foley Hill arrival/departure yard, with red/green LEDs for Al Taylor Roger St. Peter the standard turnout position. We have made good Fred Lockhart Ron Clough Doug Buchanan Jim South progress on our “punch list” and will continue to Ye Ed work off of that, also. A fun January “tradition”, started over 30 years ago! One part of the Chief Engineer’s responsibilities Thanks for your participation and Happy New Year! is to qualify members on the railroad. This year, I want to establish some qualifications guidelines and put together a team of members who have 4 experience on different parts of the railroad and Eugene Garfield, founder of Auto-Train Corp., start the process of getting members qualified. and former asst. U.S. Sec. of Transp., dies. That is it for this month. Last roll of Kodachrome film sold. Caterpillar subsidiary Progress Rail Services Fred Lockhart begins hiring employees for its new Muncie, IN Chief Engineer locomotive assembly plant. 28,500 tons of new 115-lb rail delivered to NECR for up-grading 140 miles of CT River Valley track TRAINS for new Vermonter routing through Holyoke, AND Northampton and Greenfield, MA. Conway Scenic’s first loco, GE 44-tonner #15 sold to Southern Prairie Rwy. in Saskatchewan. TOUCHDOWNS Amtrak to begin year-long celebration on May 1st, with special train equipped with exhibits. NEW THIS YEAR! Similar to the famous “Trains JANUARY 2006 (10 years ago) ‘n Turkey, held the Wednesday before MBTA begins phasing out tokens on subway Thanksgiving, here’s a chance to come and run lines, replacing with “Charlie Card”. trains with your fellow members. This “free-style” First Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Rwy.-painted operations will be split up with a “group lunch” in unit, a B39-8, comes out of Derby, ME shops. the early afternoon. Come and leave anytime you Amtrak plans to replace Thames River Bridge in want. Burn some of those calories, walking around New London, CT; a two-year project. with your train….calories that you’re going to put New York City implements computer-controlled on being a “couch-potato”, watching the subway train; with first on “L” line. Athearn brings out the RS3 in their R-T-R line; an “Superbowl” the following day! Thanks to Jack for up-dated MDC/Roundhouse model. this fun idea. JANUARY 2001 (15 years ago) McCain’s Potato Chips tries new experiment, shipping refrigerated TOFC from Presque Isle, ME to Palmer, MA. SEMAPHORE Maine Coast RR quits ex-MEC Rockland Branch. MEMORIES Anonymous donors purchase only 2-ft parlor car for over $100,000 from Edaville and donate to Maine Narrow Gauge RR Museum in Portland, ME. JANUARY 2011 (5 years ago) BC Rail shuts down electrified “Tumbler Reception at the Club for our old friend, and 40- Subdivision in British Columbia. year member John Governor, who was suffering New company Vermont Rail Link attempts to with brain cancer and at a rehab in Randolph. restore 95-mile ex-St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County STB approves Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Rwy. RR through northern Vermont between St. abandonment of 233 miles of track in Maine. Johnsbury and Swanton. (Not successful.) State of Maine purchases those 233 miles of VIA Rail Canada announces purchase of what track. are now called “Renaissance” cars from consortium First of two MP36PH-3C locos purchased by of five European countries. MBTA from FrontRunner commuter service in Salt Amtrak’s Acela Express completes first month of Lake City, UT, arrives on the property; 010 & 011. operation, carrying over 11,000 passengers. Maine Narrow Gauge Museum choosing between Amtrak substitutes F40s at each end of three different Maine sites for its eventual move. Vermonter for cab car (ex-Metroliner coach). MBTA implements “quiet cars” on two lines. Old South Weymouth station purchased by VA requests Amtrak service to Norfolk. individuals, who plan restoration as general store. Jim Boyd, influential rail photographer, book MBTA agrees to build shallow tunnel or viaduct author and longtime editor of R&R dies. through Weymouth Landing for Greenbush Line. 5 JANUARY 1996 (20 Years Ago) Connecticut’s “Shore Line East” service expands DECODER & to New London from New Haven. ENGINE TUNE-UP MBTA purchases 25 ex-CN GP40s for Old Colony service; after modifications, designated CLINIC GP40MC. ”Slumbercoach” service ends on Amtrak, with introduction of new “Viewliner” sleepers. P2K announces E7 locomotive, a first in plastic. Applicant Rob Cook and was again first to attend Work to begin constructing new Portland, ME this session and brought an old Stewart F3A&B “intermodal” service. decorated in NYC “lightning-stripe” scheme. Since Interstate Commerce Commission, oldest these units have the Kato drive, he replaced the surviving Federal regulatory agency, disbanded. factory board with the DH165KO. The factory First of 57 refurbished by Morrison-Knudsen headlight runs directly to the front, middle contacts single-level coaches arrive for use on Old Colony.