Tuesday, September 27, 2011

St Sebastian Church

We all had a wonderful time at St Sebastian Church on Saturday. Thanks Jon for inviting us.

We were able to incorporate our NEW M&M module, which I took some pictures for you to see.
M&M's on the trees, fall foliage and a new town for your eyes enjoyment. Very cute and colorful.
Next club meeting is on October 18, 2011 if you would like to step in and say "HI." Out Show and Tell is Halloween if you have something you would like to bring.

Next show is also in October. Train O Rama is October 30, 2011 at the Costic Center in Farmington Hills. The show is from 10am to 4pm and I hope to see you there!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Meeting of September 20,2011

Once again we find ourselves on a Tuesday at Ford World Head Quarters learning something new.

Yesterday we learned about Switchers or Switch Engines. I was looking through websites trying to find nice pictures of "old time" Switchers while also finding the importance of one.

Richard Leonard's Steam Locomotive Archive: http://www.railarchive.net/rlsteam/gtw.htm
Switcher No. 8380 in the yards at Durand, Michigan during the summer of 1953. No. 8380 and its eleven sisters in class P-5-g were erected by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1929. With cylinder dimensions of 22x28 inches, they sustained a boiler pressure of 220 pounds per square inch. They had 51-inch diameter driving wheels, weighed 215,150 pounds, and exerted 49,691 pounds.~ Thanks Mr. Leonard

I really love Mr. Leonard's site. I have gone there many times looking at old trains in Michigan.

I also went to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switcher, but we all know that sometimes there information might be wrong. I did end up find what purpose a "Switcher" has. "The typical switcher is optimized for its job, being relatively low-powered but with a high starting tractive effort for getting heavy cars rolling quickly. Switchers are geared to produce high torque but are restricted to low top speeds and have small diameter driving wheels. Switchers are rail analogs to tugboats." If you go to the Wikipedia website, they do show some nice pictures.

While I was on my adventure I found this video on YouTube. It's really neat.......

Oh to let you know, we have a new schedule of us on tour. Please come visit us......

September
St. Sebastian Church
3965 Merrick
Dearborn Hts. MI
September 25, 2011
11am thru 4pm

October
Train O Rama
Costick Community Center
28600 11mile Rd
Farmington Hills, MI
October 30, 2011
10am thru 4pm

November
Rails on Wheels
Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds
November 27, 2011
10am thru 4pm

December
St. Mary's of Orchard Lake
3535 Indian Trail
Orchard Lake, MI
December 4, 2011
10am thru 3pm

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tuesday Meeting

Last night we had our April meeting. We talked about several things. Train-O-Rama, Christmas and our modules. But the best thing is that we got a new president. Congratulations Edwina. I know you'll do a wonderful job for us.

More special news to share to you today is that we got two new members and a third we are hoping will join! It was so nice to meet you guys. Welcome Les Day, Doug Hughson and Jim Todd.

Thanks to Bruce, showing us how to use the O Guage controllers, picture shown. Vaughn is also there showing us a smile.

Until next month, and we don't have a show until June encase you wanted to know.

Lisa

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Train-O-Rama, March 20th 2011


Well we were at the Costic Center in Farmington Hills last Sunday showing off our module. Hope you all could make it to see us and what we do best......trains.

This year I noticed there were LOTS of kids which is great! If we don't show them what trains are we will loose them. Not only the real thing but as a hobby too.

Here is the BEST littlest engineer I saw all day. He was there with his Dad and Brother.

This has got to be the best picture I took all day. It says everything........

If people have a question we try to help them with an answer. Sometimes people want to purchase a train from a vendor and ask us if they can place it on our track to see if it works. There are also sometime we just don't know why......like Bruce here thinking, and thinking.

Our next showing is at the Fox Run Retirement Village in Novi on June 4th and 5th, 2011. This even runs from 10am until 4pm. I know that this is a "gated" village and not sure if everyone can come. Here is their phone number, 248-668-8600. Give them a jingle. We would love to see you there.

Lisa

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Clinic for March 15th 2011



The clinic for this month is MTH Remote Commander. Dictated by Bruce Urbanski.

He taught us that this is a very simple way to play and own trains. As you can see by the picture, you can have a simple oval track and the train will work. Bruce told us that there is color coded set up and the electricity goes from train to track and then your done.

Don't forget the bell's and whistles.....really there are! Bruce, with the remote, pressed button and the train talked as if there were men on that train. There was smoke and of course the bell's and whistles. All you need now is to add the accessories, like a town or some homes and don't forget the trees.

Here is the link to MTH main page......

Until next month, please check out MTC.
Lisa


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Where we will be next......

Want to see us? We want to see you....

We will be at the Costick Communtity Center's Trainorama Extra. This is located at 28600 11 mile road in Farmington Hills Michigan.

When you ask? March 20, 2011 from 10am until 4pm.

Come one, come all and can't wait to see you.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Clinic for February 15, 2011


How to Make Ground Foam for Pennies.........

Greg Ostroski showed us to to make this neat and very realistic ground cover.

First you need some firm foam that is an inch thick and you need to cube it so it's about 1" x 1". I noticed it kinda looked like cubed cheese at the Super Bowl Game party. Greg said that the size doesn't matter but it is easier to chop in the blender. See step two.

Step two. You need a blender. Make sure it is an old one because you will be adding paint. Load the blender up loosely. Put the lid on and turn the blender on low speed. While the blend is running the foam will start to climb the wall. You are going to have to push the foam back down to the blades with out hitting the blades. Greg used a dowel and he stated that if your dowel touches the blender blades you might get wood stuck in your foam.

Step 3 as you are pushing the foam pieces down, Greg added some water about 1/4 cup and turned the speed all the way up.

Step 4, when the foam is in tiny, fine, pieces, then you add the paint. About 1/4 of a 2 fl. oz bottle. Continue mixing, adding more foam or paint until you get the right color and texture you wish.

Step 5 Greg stated to spread the mixture onto cardboard or a sheet of paper. He also mentioned that you should NOT put a fan on to help speed up the drying. The foam will blow away.

Thanks Greg for that very interesting clinic! and if you would like a copy of the "hand out" Greg gave us, please goto http://dansresincasting.com/Ground%20foam.htm.

See you next month......Lisa