Date/Time
Date(s) - Saturday, January 11, 2020
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location
Grace Episcopal Church
7 East Maple Ave.
Merchantville, NJ 08109
Categories
On Saturday January 11th, 2020 we return to the Grace Episcopal Church, 7 East Maple Street, Merchantville, NJ 08109, where the New Jersey Division will host our next meet. The time is 9:00am with doors opening at 8:30.
For those interested, the original Merchantville train station—now a restaurant—is located a block away on the corner of N. Center and Chestnut Streets. It was built in 1881 on a line from Pemberton to Camden, later becoming part of the PRR and PC railroads with passenger service continuing into the late 1960s.
Our morning program will begin with Jersey’s Fred Willis revisiting the basic principles of scratch building structures working with photos. Fred found additional practices in structure construction that add to making structures that better reflect the structures in the photos. In addition to the updating of these techniques, Fred found that adding details brought life to his structures, telling a story to the viewer. Those details also included weathering the structures to show the effects of Mother Nature on them.
In recent years, Fred won first place, structures, at two Mid-Eastern Region conventions, a significant ac-complishment because of the intense competition of other submitted structure entries to the competition. Fred will discuss techniques for building better entries and how to increase your score not only for the contest, but also to earn merit awards. Modelers can also apply these tech-niques and approaches to improve all modeling activities, thereby earning merit awards in other categories.
Next will be Philly Clerk, Mark Wallace presenting part two of his ongoing series of clinics about Model Railroad Operations and Dispatching from a Prototypically Functional Approach. Mark will review the principles of his approach, previously presented in part one, so all will be prepared for this further discussion of operations dispatching. Reducing the number of “rules” the prototype uses to a select number necessary for model railroad operations allows model railroaders to experience realistic prototypical operations sessions. So, whether your pike is a humble effort or you operate on a large club layout, Mark’s approach to operations applies. Don’t miss this one.
Mark Wallace, Clerk of the Philadelphia Division, is a railroading enthusiast and OpSig member who spends much of his time operating on various layouts as well as trying his hand at dispatching. While earning hours towards the AP Dispatcher certificate, Mark has observed that the “idea” or “form” of dispatching seems to be modeled more so than the “function,” of what railroad dispatchers ac-tually perform within a railroad’s “Train Control System.” Some basic research and study on the job’s function boils down to just a few basic tasks.
Our Jersey hosts are always accommodating with plenty of coffee and donuts, while we naturally supply the Philly soft pretzels. In addition, there will be door prizes and swap tables (to reserve contact Bill Grosse, 609-532-3431, w.grosse.jr@optimum.net).
The afternoon fare consists of several impressive New Jersey layout open houses as well as that of our own Glyn Thomas, which happens to be the topic of the featured article this issue. Maps and directions to the layouts will be available at the meet. Hope to see you there!
