MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

Membership in the Ford Model Railroad Club is open to:  Ford Employees, Retirees, Family members, Agency/Contract personnel and any other persons interested in model railroading.

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS INCLUDE:

• The opportunity to be a participant in the club's unique O/HO gauge modular layout
• Camaraderie and exchange of model railroad knowledge and expertise
• Participation in club outings and events
• Clinics, workshops and much more!
• Discounts at area hobby shops

Meetings are held the third Tuesday of each month from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM in the Henry Ford II World Building on the corner of Michigan Ave. & Southfield Rd. in Dearborn, Michigan.

Best of all, dues are just $20 a year and junior members (under 18) are free.

For more information contact:

Leonard and Edwina Pittaway

248-348-7493 or

epittaway27@gmail.com

Visit us on U-Tube for a better glimpse of what we look like.

 

Morning All,

How are we doing today in the train world?

Did you see the Google Doodle yesterday? It honored Raymond Loewy. Berry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable said exactly what Mr. Loewy stood for in the world. "Raymond Loewy was a well respected industrial designer who designed some of the most iconic brand logos and designs we still see and recognize today."

Loewy standing on one of his designs, thePennsylvania Railroad's S1 steam locomotive

Please go and check out the website where I got this information from and the photograph. http://www.seroundtable.com/raymond-loewy-google-train-doodle-17620.html

Check out Wikipedi too.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Loewy

We would like to see you! We will be at Rails on Wheels on the Washtenaw Farm Counsil Grounds in Ann Arbor Michigan on December 1st 2013.

Cant make it this year? How about January 26, 2014 at St Roberts in Redford Michigan?

Cant wait to see you and maybe join our club!!!!  ~Lisa

Sisal Trees

Ever wonder how to create these one of a kind trees? Well we learned a little about them at our last show on April 17th at Ford World Headquarters at 6pm.

I have learned that you will need some pretty thick wire and some rope. Bruce also used some pliers and a electric screwdriver for extra hands.... Dont for get some spray paint unless you would like them in that rope brown.

Bruce then bent the wire in half then placed it into the screwdriver. Twist lightly the wire. Spred apart your rope and place into the wholes of the wire. Spin more so the rope stays in the wire and it kinda looks like a tree. Pull the wire out of the screwdriver and separate the rope into different directions. Paint if needed.

This picture here, Bruce used steel wool. He separated it, painted it and then flocked it. Great Job Bruce!!!

I have added websites that have tutorials that you can print out. These tutorials are more in depth that I said. Please click on the links below....

http://www.marthastewart.com/873553/sisal-rope-trees

http://www.ehow.com/how_7726313_make-railroad-bottle-brush-trees.html

http://actonmodelrailroadcenter.com/TREE%20HOW%20TO-4FreePic.html

Until next time.....Lisa

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!

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.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm11uj3g7gQ

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

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

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