Modular Railroading Society, Inc. N E W S L E T T E R · TRAK Modular Railroading Society, Inc. ... Conrail. CSX, Santa Fe, Southern and UP. The B30-7 will be offered in on undecorated

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January/February 2006Edited by Jim FitzGerald and Lee Monaco-FitzGerald NTRAK Website: www.ntrak.org

N E W S L E T T E RTRAK Modular Railroading Society, Inc.

A 1950 era scene to study.

If you are modeling the steam/diesel transition era in the ruralWestern part of the US, this scene will help set that era for you. It wasmodeled by Kim Knight, member of the “Group 160” NTRAK clubin Burbank, California. It is at one end of his orange grove and packingshed module, as it would have been in the 1950’s.

The little store was no doubt built in the 30’s and changed hands anumber of times for lack of enough customers. The land around it istypical scrub growth that fuels the brush fires but the land needsirrigation water to grow decent crops.

Developers haven’t moved into this area yet. It is still touch and goto make a living here, but the new owner is doing better than most ofthe past owners did at the crossroads location. One of the roads leadsto Route 66, so Interstate 40 may come this way.

Take a close look at the detailing that helps tell the story this scenerepresents.

For photos of the other end of this module and other modules of theGroup 160 NTRAK Club, turn to pages 10 to 13.

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Deadline for Coming Events & other materialis the 1st of the month before publication.

(Feb 1st, Apr 1st June 1st,Aug 1st, Oct 1st, and Dec 1st.)

NTRAK, Inc OfficersGeneral questions and Newsletter material.

Jim FitzGerald, NTRAK President, EditorLee Monaco-FitzGerald

Corporate Secretary, Editor1150 Wine Country Place

Templeton, CA 93465Phone & Fax 805-434-5058

e-mail [email protected]

Renewals and ordersBusiness Manager, John Cook

15913 Brawner DrMontclair, VA 22027

e-mail [email protected]

Web Master, Bill Rutherforde-mail [email protected] site: www.ntrak.org

Next Issue Deadline:February 1st

Late Newsletter Delivery

The last two issues of the Newsletter tookmuch too long to be delivered in the USA. Wehave been using presorted and ZIP barcodedmail. This class of bulk mail is supposed to beheld at any stop along the way for no morethan 3 days.

I send myself a “test copy” and it came backfrom the regional mail center in Santa Barbarain two or three days. (We were away when itwas delivered.) Three weeks later, a memberin San Francisco, 300 miles from Santa Bar-bara, still hasn’t gotten his copy. Members ofthe Northern Virginia NTRAK club were askedto notify us when their copy arrived. Only onehas responded and he is retired in South Caro-lina, so is in a different regional mail center.

This issue is being sent by presorted firstclass mail, which is supposed to be muchfaster and is more costly. I would appreciate itif you would take the time to e-mail, or send apostal card, to me to let me know when yourcopy arrives and your city and state. This willhelp us decide whether to continue using firstclass mailing.

e-mail [email protected]: NTRAK, 1150 Wine Country Place

Templeton, CA 93465

LONG TIME N SCALER IS GONE

On Oct 4, 2005 at the young age of 54Barry Wingard from Pennsylvania passedaway unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm.He was a dedicated model railroader andcollector of N Scale and avid railfan forover 30 years.

He was been a member of Ntrak sincethe 70's. He has gone to many of theconventions and has made many long-time friends through the organization.He wrote a column in the Ntrak Newslet-ter called "N Collector Info" from March1982 to Dec. 1987.

He helped put together 3 N scaleBooks, the Third one being his own "TheCollector's Guide to N Scale" in 1985.

He was full of knowledge and was acaring but fun person to be around. Hewill be missed by many. Thanks toeveryone that has called or sent cards tome.

Patty Wingard

Club listing on NTRAK web site

If your club has a web site, we would like tohave a link to it on our www.NTRAK.org website, on the “Connections” page. If you don’thave a web site, we can now list your clubinformation along with the club sites and give

e-mail addresses for people to use to contactyour club. There is no charge for this. Justcontact our web master, Bill Rutherford, at theaddress at the bottom of this page.

Bill will set up the info page for you. If andwhen you are ready for a full web site, you canchange over.

Bill recently set up a page for the 5 personPrescott Arizona club. Take a look at theirpage to see what information we need

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New fromMicro-Trains®

This maroon and yel-low 50’ plug door stan-dard box car has an alu-minum color roof andblack ends. This car se-ries had special interiorsand was not in generalservice, but were in usefor over 20 years.ML#032 00 420 is$22.15 and MILW 2635.

A UP 50’ standardboxcar has a yellow 10’door with a red circleand DF loaders. Theshield logo is red, whiteand blue. UP 507496 isMT# 077 00 050 and$18.45.

The Santa Fe 2 bayACF covered hopper isbox car red with whitelettering. BNSF 406031is MT# 092 00 190 and$21.55.

The 50’ wagon top,dark blue car has doubledoors and a yellow“TAG” logo of the Ten-nessee, Alabama &Georgia line. The shortline passed to the South-ern Railway in 1971.TAG 7016, MT# 079 00060 is $23.15.

The pale blue Libby’sFoods car was part of a 7car order in 1963 andwas in use in this schemeinto the 70’s. It has blackand red lettering and is a50’ plug door car, TLDX35 is $19.95 and MT#032 00 430.

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Almost Free Laser Cut Kit

The N Architect (Russ Kaufman)would like for you to build one oftheir latest laser cut, micro plywood,building kits. He is offering thenew Waterville Shanty kit for$10.95, (WSN008). That includesshipping and also includes a cou-pon worth $10 toward the purchaseof the new Waterville Freight Housekit, WFN007. Detailing parts areincluded with the Freight House,but the flat bed truck is extra.

The N Scale Architect, Web Site:www.the-n-arch.com

4063 County Highway 2,Delancey, NY 13752-2167

E-MAIL: [email protected],VOICE: 607-746-8416

Drawings, photos and full, stepby step, instructions are includedwith the Freight House kit.

The interior loading platform isdetailed.

#WFN007, $59.95, includingshipping.

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Atlas rerun of Ford® truck

Expected in May will be a rerun of the Nscale 1984 LNT 9000 Tractor Cabs in originalfactory colors, 11 single colors and 4 two tonecolors. The models feature a seat, square fueltanks with built-in steps, steering wheel, andrubber tires. These are an officially licensedFord product.

For single colors the price is $10.95 for twomodels. The two tones are $13.50 and undeco-rated is $8.95.

Atlas Announces New Run of N B23-7 & B30-7 LocomotivesAtlas is making a new run

of the GE Dash 7 engines.The B23-7 & B30-7 Loco-motives will have New RoadNames & Road Numbers.Features include slow speedmotor, directional lighting,golden-white LEDs, dualbrass flywheels, low-frictionmechanism, accurate painting and letteringand factory-installed AccuMate® magneticknuckle couplers.

For the B23-7 there will be three differentundecorated versions plus 3 each painted ver-sions for Providence & Worcester, Conrail.CSX, Santa Fe, Southern and UP.

The B30-7 will be offered in on undecoratedstyle and 3 each for Burlington Northern,Chessie System and Cotton Belt.

Expected in May, but may be reserved now.Price $99.95 or $134.95 with decoder in-stalled. See your dealer.

EMD F-Unit LocomotivesUnlike the introduction of Diesel Passenger

Trains and Engines during the ‘30s, with allthe glamour photos and staged record break-ing runs, the introduction of the EMD F unitswas very low key. Demonstrator units spenttime hauling freight on tough routes on Classone railroads around the country. Railroadexecutives were well aware of the perfor-mance of these engines, but the general publicin November of 1939 was more concernedwith the distant hostilities around the world.

The FT #103 Demonstrator A-B-B-A setwas connected together with drawbars andwas considered one locomotive, to avoid uniondemands for a full crew in each unit.

Traintech has published a 112 page book,“EMD F-Unit Locomotives” that covers thefull story of this engine that changed railroad-ing in a few short years. Here is a paragraphthat reveals the key to the engines success.

“On Southern Pacific’s famous Tehachapicrossing, Santa Fe had trackage rights on thistortuous single track mountain mainline toreach northern California. Trains of both rail-roads shared the titanic struggle over themountains, which required navigating the leg-

endary Tehachapi loop. One of Santa Fe’smodern 2-10-4 Texas type locomotives couldmove 1,100 tons in 2 hours and 15 minutesbetween Caliente and Tehachapi Summit onthe west slope of the mountain crossing. Like-wise, one of SP’s massive cab ahead articu-lated 4-8-8-2 steam locomotives would move1,350 tons in the same time frame. Both loco-motives were state of the art Superpoweredsteam. On the same grade, 103 hauled anestimated 1,800 tons in just 1 hour and 31minutes. Unlike steam, 103 did not need topause for water stops. This made it especiallyattractive for desert operations where water isscarce.”

Another factor was the much higher tractiveeffort, especially at slower speeds and startingon grades. 103 had twice the starting tractiveeffort of a steam locomotive of the sameweight.

There are many great photos, drawings andstories about the F units in this $24.95 book. Itmay be ordered from Specialty Press, 39966Grand Ave, North Branch, MN 55056www.specialtypress.com

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By Tom Knapp

The Nn3 fraternity is worldwide, and ourinternet group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nn3/ has over 700 members from ninedifferent countries. Although most could prob-ably be categorized as “lone wolf” modelers,there are some areas where enough like-mindedmodelers are close enough to each other to gettogether and share their narrow-gauge afflic-tion with others at train shows, exhibitions,and conventions. I have previously describedthe groups on the east-coast and the west-coast of the United States, and their modularlayouts. There is also a strong interest insmall-scale narrow gauge in the U.K.

Actually, small-scale narrow gauge model-ing had its origin in the U.K. with the 2 MMScale (1:152) narrow gauge “Vale of Penwal”layout built in 1951. (This predates the state-side popularity of 1:160 standard gauge N-scale by several years!) You can find out moreabout this fascinating model railway at http:/

Several other members of The Model Rail-way Club and the 2 MM Scale Associationwere also in on the early stages of 6.5mmgauge Nn3 development. Phil Copleston wasthe editor and publisher of a small newsletterfor the narrow gauge faction of the Associa-tion, and continues to work in 2 MM narrowgauge and Nn3. He and fellow narrow gaugemodeler Mark Fielder are active evangelistsfor Nn3, as shown by the following photosfrom a recent train meet in the U.K.

Photo 1

/www.f ie lder - rowe. f reeserve .co .uk/penwal.html Photo 1 is from this web site.

More recently, there has been a small butpersistent 2 MM Scale Narrow Gauge / Nn3contingent active in the U.K. Dr. Peter Clarkwas an early participant in the post-Mini-ClubNn3 developments, corresponding regularlywith Nelson Gray during Nelson’s develop-ment of the Nn3 freight cars and trucks whichlater became the Micro Trains line of Nn3trucks and freight cars.

Photo 2: Mark and Phil’s table at ExpoNG,including Mark’s Nn3 layout An Clar (Irishfor “The Plank”).

Photo 3: Phil demonstrating construction ofNn3 models.

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Photo 4: Mark at the throttle of his Welshnarrow gauge train. Note the “cassette” madefrom aluminum angle at the end of the mod-ule. This holds a complete (short) train.

Photo 5: Another view of An Clar. Thecassette at the other side of the layout is visibleat the left.

Photo 6: This view of An Clar (from Mark’swebsite) shows the entire layout.

Photo 7: Not really a photo, but a sketchMark made during the design phase of AnClar. Compare to the finished product.

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I recently purchased and tried some turnoutsfrom Peter Wright in the U.K. He has a line ofZ / Nn3 turnouts which are compatible withboth Peco and Marklin 6.5mm gauge track.He makes these turnouts in both Z” and “Nn3”versions with different ties strip mouldings.The Nn3 version is shown in Photos 8 and 9.

At the same GATS show we tested Peter’sturnout, we also used some folding steps in-tended to give smaller railroaders a good viewof the layout. Joe DuVivier purchased thesefrom Target, but similar items are availableelsewhere. Although I don’t have any pic-tures of these in use during the show, the white

They include an all metal frog, so are superiorto the Marklin products. Our NorCal Nn3Alliance group has installed one of these onour modular layout’s mainline and are givingit a good test. So far it has performed flaw-lessly.

stepladders are clearly visible in Photo 10prior to doors opening and the Thanksgivingweekend crowd rushing in. Small engineerscan stand on the steps and hold the top railingto steady themselves while getting a goodview of the action.

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Winterfest 2006, January 27-29Springfield, Massachusetts

Northeast Ntrak will host Winterfest 2006,the 12th Annual Northeast Ntrak Conventionheld in conjunction with the “Big RailroadHobby Show” of the Amherst Railway Soci-ety, Inc. at the Eastern States ExpositionGrounds, “The Big E”, at 1305 MemorialAvenue, West Springfield, MA on January28-29, 2006. Layout set up will take place onFriday between noon and 5:00 P.M. TheHilton Garden Inn, 800 Columbus Avenue,Springfield, MA will again be the conventionhotel with registration and clinics Friday nightand the traditional banquet, contest awards

NMRA National Train ShowPhiladelphia July 7-9 2006

The NTRAK layout has a 140’ x 80’ space.Over 200 modules can be fitted into thatspace. Priority will be given for “out of thearea” modules. If you would like to havemodule/s in the layout you need to registeryour module for the layout. If you also plan toattend the NMRA National Convention (July2-9) and attend their clinics, tours, contestsand banquet, you need to also register for that.See www.nmra.org

If you have a module in the layout, you willbe given a free Exhibitor Pass which lets youinto the exhibit hall with the layouts,manufacturer’s booths and dealer sales. Thepass will not allow you to attend NMRAclinics or other activities.

You need to register your module with:Terry Smith <[email protected] the DARN club web site for the

Module Registration form and more informa-tion. www.darn-ntrak.com

Module Registration will be cut off in Mayand the list of owners submitted to the NMRAfor the Exhibitor Passes. The balance of thelayout will be filled with local modules fromPhiladelphia NTRAK, Jersey SouthernNTRAK and DARN NTRAK.

At this time the layout plans are still beingfinalized. Some tracks will be reserved forDCC operations.

Club NTRAK layout open to public

The French Broad e'N'pire NTRAK Clublayout was featured in the Nov/Dec ‘05 issueof N Scale Railroading. The layout recentlywas set up in a vacant store in the Blue Ridgeshopping mall in Hendersonville, NC (25 misouth of Asheville, NC on I-26). Chuck Placehas written that after the Mall managementsaw the layout in operation and the enthusias-tic response of the public, they have agreed toletting the layout stay in the Mall after theholidays. This is on a month to month basis,but the store had been empty for two years, sothe club is hopeful of having a nice locationfor some time.

The layout is open to the public Fridayevenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoons.The club also has private running on mostMonday and Wednesday evenings. They wel-come N scalers at any of these times.

For more details, contact Chuck Place at(828) 685-2726 or drop him an e-mail at<[email protected]>

presentation, guest speaker, etc. on Saturdaynight. Model, module, photo, and parade-of-trains (best train) contests will be held at thelayout on Saturday.

To reserve space for your module in theNtrak layout, please call the Layout Coordina-tor, John Dunne at 508-697-7635. Hotel res-ervations should be made before January 8,2006 by calling 413-886-8000 or 800-774-1500 and mentioning “Ntrak” to get the con-vention rate of $79.00 plus tax (single ordouble occupancy). For more details go towww.NortheastNtrak.org and click onWinterfest Information. Winterfest 2006 reg-istration materials will probably not becomeavailable until just after Thanksgiving at thesame web site. For other questions write toBob Pawlak at [email protected].

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Group 160 Club Corner. This group of modules has been worked on by many members, bothpast and present. Using most of the real estate for Mountain Division industries in a rural settinggive the look of many western railroads.

Stan Hunt painted the skyboard mountain and the trees are blended into it for greater depth.With the space for various industries, the Mountain Division becomes a great two directionoperational track that doesn’t interfer with the mainline running.

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A sawmill and sawdust pile along the Group 160 Club Mountain Division.

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These scenes are at the other end of the storeshown on the cover of this issue. The packingshed is ready for the next crop of oranges to bepicked and will soon be a busy place.

Kim Knight of the Group 160 club took partin a layout set up at a Toy Train Collector’smeet in Pasadena in November ‘05.

The scrub growth contrasts well with theuniform orange grove and the buildings.

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This collection of small to medium size industries gives a moreurban feel to this Group 160 module by member Mike Barrett.

Group 160 member, Wayne Lawson, modeled a 40’s era orange grovewith a roadside stand. The switcher is working Wayne’s packing shedsiding on an adjacent module. Well done “over the hilltop” perspective.

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By Bob Mohr and Martin Myers

Like many other NTRAK clubs, BaltimoreArea NTRAK decided to enter the digital agewith the purchase of Digitrax DCC equipmentin 2004. About half of the membership tookthe plunge and purchased radio throttles andstarted adding decoders to their engines. Someof the members wanted no part of a shift fromthe status quo, while others run DCC equip-ment exclusively. Most members have a largenumber of engines that are not equipped withdecoders and therefore want to run both digi-tal and analog. Clearly to keep peace in theclub we needed to be able to change a linefrom analog DC to DCC and back dependingon the preference of each operator.

Our initial scheme was to have the DCCcommand station/booster and PM42 circuitbreakers located under the layout and simplysubstitute them for the Lindsay throttle pow-ering a line under analog power. In order tochange over you had to crawl underneath,unplug one power cable per block, and plug inanother cable. This worked as long as therewere members knowledgeable in the wiringavailable to make the switch. After a fewmishaps and cross connections, it becameapparent that a better method was needed.Dedicating a single track to DCC was tried.This proved to be too rigid. Members soonwanted to run DCC on some of the otheranalog tracks as well.

We needed a system that could meet theserequirements:

1. Change over had to be up top (no unplug-ging of wiring), easily accessible, and fast.

2. Power change over had to be deliberate.For this reason DPDT switches and relayswere ruled out immediately. Switches weretoo readily bumped and relays would be com-plicated and prone to damage.

3. All members should be able to operatewhenever and whichever power was desiredwith very little instruction.

4. Visible and audible DCC short circuitindication was needed.

The DC/DCC switchbox was born.This device was the product of extensive

brainstorming by interested members over thecourse of several weeks. In time the followingdesign elements evolved: One box for eachDC block was needed. A jumper “key” made

of Anderson Powerpoles solved the powerchange questions. When attached to the skyboard in each block, Lindsay throttles andDCC booster power cables are connected tothe switchbox. Outputs from the box areconnected to each track. Four three-foot cablesexit the bottom and are equipped with a Y fortrack connections. Moving the "keys" to theright for DCC or left for analog DC, allowsfor speedy selection of power source to feedto a line (red, yellow, blue or green). The keysfor all blocks in a line have to be changed.This requires one walk around the layout. Theboxes and keys are always visible. Bumpinga key loose only disables the block.

BANTRAK DC/DCC Switchbox

Each of six switch boxes has 4 four plugsmade of six powerpoles arranged in a 2 x 3configuration. One plug is for each track. Twopowerpoles on the left are connected to Cinchplugs located on the side for DC throttle input.The two powerpoles on the right are con-nected to the DCC output from the PM42. Thecenter pair of powerpoles is connected to theoutput cables for the track. There are four ofthese 2 x 3 plugs on each box, our clubnormally doesn’t use the green line, but withfour outputs on each PM42, this can be used asa spare, a reversing section, accessory decod-ers, or private tracks. Each key is constructedof power poles arranged in a 2 x 2 configura-tion. A jumper connects each pair ofpowerpoles in the key allowing the track out-put to be connected to only one type of powersupply at a time. A tether was attached to thefour keys to keep them with the box. To

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change power to a line, an operator has only tochange the key on each of up to six boxes; Leftposition for analog DC, right position forDCC. In essence this is a double-pole, double-throw pull-out switch.

On the analog side the Lindsey throttlesprovide for circuit overload protection andaudible indication. This same level of protec-tion was needed for DCC. Digitrax PM42circuit breakers were chosen for their fourdistrict design and adjustment capabilities. APM42 is mounted above the plugs in the boxwith access through the top to connect loconetfor programming. Each was given a uniqueaddress matching the number on the box.DCC input to the PM42 is handled by a three-wire cable coming in through the bottom ofthe box. Rail A, rail B, and the required groundmakes up this cable. Mounting one in eachswitch box allows each of our 8 amp boostersto feed two PM42’s. This gives us up to eight

power districts per booster. With our currentDCC demand, this is plenty of power. Addi-tional boosters can always be added with noadditional expense for circuit breakers. A 2mm jack is located on the side of the switchboxto provide low voltage power to the PM42.The green “power” light on the PM42 wasremoved and extended to the front of theswitchbox. A DCC power light was alsomounted in the front panel to indicate mainpower from the booster. This is a bicolor ledand is also useful in checking correct phasingof the boosters during setup. A simple littleinterface was found to solve the visible andaudible short circuit indication. Using anoptocoupler in place of the existing led’s onthe PM42, allows having any type of signaldesired. A piezo buzzer and four - 5mm led’swere installed on the front of each box. Whena DCC short occurs, the buzzer sounds and theled for the offending block lights. Short indi-cation on the DC throttles still works when aline is under analog power.

Switchbox number one; the prototype, madeits debut in April 2005. The club found it easyto operate and work began to complete fivemore. Testing was done in September at “NScale Weekend” in Bedford, PA. Four switchboxes were used at Bedford. The membersquickly mastered the changeover procedureand at least one fellow said, “I finally got torun all of my engines”. Our next setup inOctober had all six switchboxes operatingflawlessly. Now, runners can sign up for anyline and are free to run whatever they bring,even changing power in the middle of a run.

BANTRAK uses Digitrax DCC equipment,but the switchbox concept could be adapted tomost manufacturers’ equipment. For com-plete instructions, photos, and a parts list seethe DCC Information” section of our websiteat www.bantrak.org.

Switchboxes#2 & #3.

The twolight coloredboxes are theLindsay DCthree unitthrottles.

All photosby MartinMyers.

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New N Scale Modelingby Lee

www.T-TRAK.orge-mail: [email protected]

Photos and Text by Leeexcept as noted.

It is always a pleasure to be invited to display my Carnival, Circus, LeeweeneePark, too. These displays are 15” x 30”, (2 across) and 30” x 30” sizes, to

accommodate the themes. Of course, the “T-TRAK-N” #1 demo layout was there,also. Somehow, I filled 8 -8ft. tables of fun.

(See Jan/Feb 2005 issue -"T-TRAK in Las Vegas" for more photos)

The Cal-Stewart TTOS Meet Nov. 11-13 2005 Pasadena, Ca. Conv. Center

A Mini World of Fun !!!

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T-TRAK-Modeling for everyone and every situation. The “T-TRAK-N”Demo Layout attracted a lot of attention, also. Each module is an example of

different modeling possibilities from an Amusement Park to Coal Mining,Deeper, Double, Turnouts for more track to yards, Mountain modules that

blend, Curved Clouds, many themes and scenic ideas and more.

Over 200 hot dog fun items and cars. Scratch built and a few pur-chased rides, adapted to the theme. Two 4’ ladders, for the climbingfiremen, who are, supposedly, rescuing the ugliest hot dog “damsel in

distress” in a balloon. Fortunately, she is up, out of the photo.

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provided support for the T-TRAK various scale module bases.

Left-upright: “T-TRAK-0” scale Corner and Straight modules (Lionel Fastrack),Right: “T-TRAK-H0“ Corner, 2 depths of “T-TRAK-H0” Straight bases. (Kato H0 Unitrack).

Flat on table-L. to R.-- “T-TRAK-G“ scale, --”T-TRAK-N” Alternate Corner & Double-Deeper modules.

Note:“T-TRAK-HO” Design #1-28” sq. corners. 28” dp.x 19-1/4” w. straight, H.-2-3/4”“T-TRAK-HO” Design #2-28” sq. corners. 20” dp.x 19-1/4” w. straight, H.-2-3/4”

Kato H0 F40PHAmtrak Engine and Bi-level Passenger Car 4window Cab Coach.(Sorry, I didn't have time,before leaving for theshow, to install the trimparts). T-TRAK bases-1/4” Baltic Birch.

I built the interestingH0 Station model, to ac-cent the scale.

There happened to be

a lonely, plain wallbehind my display area,

which

NOTE: The round T-TRAK signs are variations that I designedalong with the original T-TRAK Logo (TM), banner and other signs.The T-TRAK Patch and Pin are available-please see page 23.

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The center table dis-played assorted modulebase sizes and scales

“N” scale Basic, Alter-nate, Corners, Cornerplus straight, Transition,Z scale, Curved CloudSkyboard.

Share your Scale with others. Take the time to look at other scales.It will enhance the interest in Model Railroading.

JAM ConventionTokyo, Japan August

2005Attendance-----48,000

people in three days.

The Conventions in Ja-pan are Super Sized andSuper Interesting.

The JAM Convention-August 2006, will be inOsaka, Japan

Photo courtesy ofHiroshi Kato.

Remember Philadelphia, Pa. --July 2006NMRA National Convention July 2-9, 2006

The National Train Show July 7-9 2006

NTRAK Information Terry Smith <[email protected]>

For NTRAK module registration form forPhiladelphia, go to:www.darn-ntrak.com/

T-TRAK Layout!!!!!Information

Lee @T-TRAK.org

For T-TRAK module registration form forPhiladelphia, go to:www.T-TRAK.org

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The T-TRAK Modelers List

Wish to join or form a club?Send your name, City & State, E-mail no., to [email protected]

Arkansas, Searcy Joshua Swift <[email protected]>Australia, St. Arnaud, Vic. Andrew George <[email protected]>Calif. L.A . Bill M <[email protected]>Calif. SF Nick Kibre <[email protected]>Calif. San Jose Ken Mitchell <[email protected]>Calif. Ventura Ken Weber <[email protected]>Ill. Champaign Jeff Stevenson <[email protected]>Iowa. Des Moines Drew Cannon <[email protected]>Maryland, Beltsville Jim Amerault <[email protected]>Mass. Holyoke Ken Harstine <[email protected]>Mo. Ferguson Dave Halloran <[email protected]>Nebraska, Omaha Al Nordmeier <[email protected]>NC. Burnsville Tom Hullett <[email protected]>NY. Long Island Art P. <[email protected]>Ohio, Cinc Paul Musselman <[email protected]>Pa. Brandywine Valley Bob Moore <[email protected]>Texas Plano Mike Moore <[email protected]>Tenn. Nashville Mark Perry <[email protected]>The Netherlands Corbett Legg <[email protected]>The Netherlands Toni Helm <[email protected]>Va. Fairfax Steve Jackson <[email protected]>Va. So. Hampton Rds. NTRAK John Czarny & Steve Bennett

<[email protected]>

The Opposite ofOur Cover story!

On the cover ofthis issue we have amodel of an underdeveloped, semidesert area,

We end up with ahighly developedarea on a module byMasahi Ohno on aJantrak module inJapan.

Green Max makesmany kits for indus-trial complexes. Forlistings of their kitsand other Japanesemodels, check out:

http://japanese-model-supplies.com/

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Note: We try to include any information about NTRAK or Nscale layouts that will be at the events listed. If you send in anotice, please include that information. If space is tight,notices that don't mention N scale will not be published. Jim.

Jan 7- 8, Houston, TXWorld's Greatest Hobby Show, George R. Brown Con-

vention Center, Sat 10-5, Sun 10-4. Contact: Ted Davis,[email protected]

www.kingswayrc.com/ncrowd/events.html

Jan 14-15, 2006, Plano, TXDallas Area Train Show, Plano Centre, Sat 10-5, Sun

10-4. Contact: Trinity NTRAK, www.trinityntrak.org/

Jan 28-29, Tucson, AZGreat Wester and Atlantic Train Show, Pima County

Fairgrounds, 11-5 both days. Contact: John Scott,[email protected]. http://home.comcast.net/~tucsonntrak/

Jan 28-29, W. Springfield, MAWinterfest Train Show, Eastern States Expo Grounds,

Contact: John Dunn www.NortheastNtrak.org(508)697-7635

Feb 18-19, Estes Park, CORails in the Rockies, Holiday Inn. Sat 9-6, Sun 10-4,

Contact: Dave Porter, [email protected],http://www.denvernscale.org, (303) 841-7365

Feb 11-12, Chantilly, VAWorld's Greatest Hobby Show, Dulles Expo Center,

Sat 10-5, Sun 10-4, Contact: John Steitz, http://www.nvntrak.org/events.php (703)371-5171

Feb 25-26, St. Paul, MNWorld's Greatest Hobby Show, River Centre. Sat 10-5,

Sun 10-4, Contact: Ed Schulz, [email protected]

Information on future NTRAK layouts,meets or conventions is being gathered byAdvisory Group member Dave Porter:<[email protected]>

8695 N. Silo RoadParker, Co 80138303-841-7365

Please submit your information to Dave.If you would like to join in with a module in

a layout, please contact the layout coordinatorlisted for that event well ahead of time. Theremost likely will not be room, if you just showup the morning of a show, unannounced.

Feb 25-26, Denver, COGreat Train Expo,National Western Stock Show Com-

plex, 10-4 both days, Contact: Dave Porter,[email protected] http://www.denvernscale.org (303) 841-7365

Mar 3-5, Ogden, UTHostler's MRR 2006 Festival, Ogden Union Station,

25th St. and Wall Ave. Fri: 5pm-9pm, Sat -:30-6, Sun:9:30-4, Contact: Mike Murphy, (801) 394-4952

Mar 11-12, New Bern, NCCarolina Coastal Model Train Show, New Bern High

School, 10-5 both days Contact: Joe Hoffman,[email protected] (252) 638-8872

Apr 29-30, Monroe, WAUnited NW MRR Show and Swap Meet, Evergreen

State Fairground, Sat: 10-5,Sun: 10-4, Contact: DavidMoser, [email protected](425) 851-6968

Jul 2-8, Philadelphia, PANMRA National Train Show, Pennsylvania Convention

Center, Contact: Terry Smith, [email protected], http://darnntrak.com

Aug 9-13, Denver, CON Scale Convention, Denver Radisson Southeast, Con-

tact: Dave Porter, [email protected] http://www.denvernscale.org (303) 841-7365

NMRA National Conventions2006 Philadelphia, PA July 2-92007 Detroit, MI, July 22-282008 Anaheim, CA, July 13-192009 Hartford, CT July 5-112010 Milwaukee, WI, 75th Anniv, July 10-182011 Sacramento, CA July 3-9

World’s Greatest HobbyWGH show with manufacturers will be in

Chantilly, VA Feb. 11 and 12. All are invitedto contact Matt Schaefer if you want to bringNtrak or oNeTrak modules.

E-mail: [email protected]

In the plans are a large DCC Red Line Routeand lots of Aristo loops. There will also be T-Trak and Nn3 layouts. Clinics and self guidedlayout tours are scheduled. Set up times willbe flexible should the weather not be as per-fect as planned!.