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