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River City Modelers’ Quarterly Newsletter Summer 2012 ² Spokane, Washington

Timetable

RCM Business Meeting................................. Thursday, July 5 UP 150th Anniversary in Spokane .................. Tuesday, July 10 RCM Business Meeting............................. Thursday, August 2 Clinic (topic to be announced) ................. Thursday, August 30 RCM Business Meeting....................... Thursday, September 6 RCM Business Meeting........................... Thursday, October 4 Open House ........................................... Saturday, October 13 Fall Train Show and Swap Meet ............... Sunday, October 14 Open House ............................................. Sunday, October 14

For more information call River City Modelers at (509) 535-3462 or email us at RCMInfoNow@gmail.com.

Seen Around the Layout

These two “brothers with different mothers” represent the Union Pacific’s heritage. The one on the left is painted with a color scheme representing the Denver and Rio Grande Western and the one on the right, the Western Pacific.

River City Western Open House The members of the River City Modelers Club will host an open house in conjunction with Fall Train Show and Swap Meet which is on Sunday, October 14th. The club’s layout will be open for visitors on Saturday, October 13th and on Sunday, October 14th. The time is from noon to 4 p.m. on both days. Admission is free and donations to support the hobby of model railroading are gratefully accepted.

The layout is located at 1130 East Sprague near downtown Spokane. There is street parking in addition to a somewhat limited parking lot located on the west side of the building. There is also an elevator for the use of those who require accessibility options.

Follow our progress at RiverCityModelers.org and on Facebook. There is a link from our website to our Facebook page. Be sure to “like” us on Facebook!

Work Begins on a Modular Layout River City Modelers has been invited to set up a layout at River Park Square in downtown Spokane during the Christmas season. In order to do that, the members voted to

begin work on a modular layout that can be transported to the mall and to similar events. The layout will begin with 10 modules and features parallel main line tracks, two sidings with storage tracks, and a passenger

depot. Scenery will be added as well. The club plans eventual expansion to include a staging yard in the center part of the layout and a roundhouse to be added as an extension at one end of the central loop. In the picture above, Roger Pepper (left) and Jerry Woelk (right) are hard at work laying track. Jim Haley (center) appears to be there for the coffee and cookies.

Crew Report Meet Mike Hartung. Mike joined River City Modelers about two and one half years ago and is considered by many to be one of the club’s best scenery artists. Mike says that he has always been a modeler but only became really interested

in model railroading about six years ago. He remembers having a Lionel train set as a kid but the train was set up only at Christmas time. Back then, he was mostly interested in model airplanes. Mike also built navy ships and served in the navy himself. Mike doesn’t remember any particular prototype railroad that captured his interest while growing up in southern California but he does recall his enjoyment of the streetcars that ran in nearby Compton. Today, Mike’s favorite is the Union Pacific due to the variety of locomotives that are owned by the railroad.

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Mike has a home layout that is “mostly done” and he enjoys running trains at home. Due to tight curves, he is somewhat limited to what he can run by way of both locomotives and cars. He says that six-axle road engines just won’t navigate the layout so one reason for joining River City Modelers was to allow him to run bigger engines and longer trains than what he can run at home. Still, he enjoys the switching and other operations on his 15 foot by 20 foot, DCC controlled, home layout. What were the other reasons for joining the club? Mike says that he really enjoys the camaraderie. He also says that he is still learning a lot and can gain from his association with the other members. Mike is an artist and does a great job on the backdrops at the River City Western. You need to come to visit the layout to really appreciate his work, but you can also see some of it on our web pages as well.

Mile Posts While speaking of backdrop painting, Bill Voogd also does a great job. In the picture shown at left, Bill is adding some interest to an area known as Keystone. This branch line will serve a saw mill and a gravel separation

plant. Bill has taken on this project and assists with many others. Ron Peterson has been working on several bridges at Tamarack Falls. Installing bridges is time intensive as the underlying bench work may require modification. Ron has cut the hardboard spline and has begun installation of the bridges. He does very nice work! As reported in the last newsletter, Gene Sponcler and Mike Hirsch are continuing to work on the cityscape a Fort Morgan. The building reliefs are nearly complete and Gene has been working on the Hydrocal scenery between the city at Fort Morgan and the outlying village. Mike is readying the area for the steel mill. Bob Sample and other members have been working on the production of our club cars that are for sale via the internet or

at Sunset Junction (on East Sprague). The cars are from Accurail and are assembled, painted and decaled before sale.

Gary Thurow is working on the locomotive facilities located near the yards at Easton. In the picture, Gary seems to be amused by the problems that are presented by so much needed track in such a small area.

Interested in Joining RCM? Model railroading is one of the most diverse hobbies. Our activities routinely encompass construction, history, art, computer programming electronics, logistics, photography and much more. As a club there is also a need for writing, fund raising, promotion and project management. Our members bring many of these skills as a result of their personal experiences, either from their past vocations or their participation in other activities. No experience in model railroading is required. Our motto is “Learn, Build, Enjoy.” For more information about joining River City Modelers, email RCM.Membership@gmail.com or visit the club.

Passenger Information River City Modelers meet each Thursday evening at the club layout, 1130 East Sprague Avenue, near downtown Spokane. The first Thursday of each month is reserved for our monthly business meeting. Members are also at the club to work on various projects during many days and will gladly stop to give you a tour.

Visitors may drop by the club to see the layout and get additional information about club activities. Call (509) 535-3462 or email RCMInfoNow@gmail.com for additional information or directions.

River City Modelers also encourages groups to schedule special tours of the layout (RCMInfoNow@gmail.com). River City Modelers will be at the Union Pacific Celebration on Tuesday, July 10th at the Amtrak station in downtown Spokane. See us there!

Trains on the Main: One of John Langlot’s Empire Builders emerges from a tunnel near Summit on the River City Western HO scale railroad. This model features an A-B set of EMD E-7 units that would set the date in the mid-to-late 1940s. The E-7s are pulling a string of heavy weight passenger cars that were part of the Empire Builder until they were replaced by lighter weight equipment in the early 1950s. At that time, the EMD E-7 units were also replaced by a set of A-B-B-A F-7 units.

The Empire Builder was the flagship of the Great Northern Railway and has historically provided service between Chicago and Seattle/Portland. The train was split in Spokane with final runs to Seattle and Portland over separate routes. (The Portland route was suspended by Amtrak between 1971 and 1981.)