PCR meet Santa Clara cal 1 -29-30-10

I am back from the operations meet. I have fotos from two layout tours and two model railways I participated in operating .

The second tour was Western Pacific by Jim Dias . In the foto is Gus Campania , A regular wheel in the PCR NMRA .

....awesome time.

Sounds like an awesome time. The backdrop behind that coal facility looks fantastic. Loving the picture of that WP layout as well. Those trussels look amazing. Thanks for sharing Chuck.

Mike

Jim Dias' Western Pacific

FWIW we're planning to feature an interview with Jim Dias in the May/Jun 2010 issue of MRH! Jim has one stupendous layout!

Cheers,

Charlie Comstock

Nice...

Nice that picture of his layout looks pretty interesting. I can't wait to see that article.

it occurs to me...

Fellows,.

I may be overstepping my aaaaaah ... rights..?..in posting fotos without pwners permission..I am in a sort of quandry about it..I spoke pretty fast...I will seek permission ..and continue..

I may be overstepping my

I may be overstepping my aaaaaah ... rights..?..in posting fotos without pwners permission..I am in a sort of quandry about it..I spoke pretty fast...I will seek permission ..and continue..

 I'm currently downloading photos I took of Dave Parks' and Bob Bowdidge's layout to my Photobucket account. I've never asked the layout owner's permission to post photos as:

1. It's never occurred to me to ask anything other than to get permission to take the photos.

2. No one's ever contacted me to ask that I not post photos (or remove posted photos) of his layout once I had started.

3. If I had a layout and it were sufficiently interesting for people to photograph it, I would have no objections if the photos were posted. It would never occur to me that anyone who allowed you to take pictures would ask they not be posted online.

BTW, your photo looks vaguely familiar. I probably ran into you at the meet at the Hyatt if not at Dave Parks' home. Whose operating session did you attend? I ran B&O #11 ( "The Metropolitan) during the morning at Dave's and switched the Cumberland Station in the afternoon. Passenger train switching adds quite a bit to operations.

Mike

Same Area As Charley's Photo

Here's my photo of the same area on Dave Parks' layout as posted by Charley

Mike

Examples of great modelwork

Some more pictures of David Park's layout, showing an example of his handlaid trackwork and a nice river/bridge scene.

Wonder Why My Photos Are So Small

The title says it all, although I'm not sure if larger photos wouldn't be fuzzy. The digital camera's my wife's and I'm not that used to it.

Mike

Seth Neumann's

Here are a couple of shots of Seth's layout.  First is a nearly-completed (grazing cattle, fences, and road wear?) scene in Niles Canyon:

Layout fotos

Mike , fellows..

I will post away then , I was the Keyser tower operator..I remember you and number 11 coming through there...that was quite an experience..great stuff. I thought I would stay awhile watch and slip out.I stayed the whole  and had a great time..although the fast clock confused me. At four PM the fast clock said two PM something . I was thinking I had two hours to stand there still . I was prepared to stand , It was a great experience. I will start with some of David parks layout fotos..I may have 55 or so. Perhaps I should stick to the ones I think  are the better.

David Parks WM and B & O coal roads

PCR / LDSIG / OpSIG

Just a minor point of additional information, this annual meeting is a joint project of the Pacific Coast Region of the NMRA, the Layout Design SIG, and the Operations SIG. It actually began as an LDSIG home meeting years ago, then grew to its present terrific state with the assistance of the other groups.

For those who ask "What's in it for me?" when membership in any of these groups is mentioned, here's a fine example of the benefits! But of course, this kind of event thrives only because dozens of people volunteer their time and energy to make it happen.

Sir Backdrop

Charlie, here's hoping the article will have pictures and discussion on layout backdrops.

Mike , fellows.. I will post

Mike , fellows..

I will post away then , I was the Keyser tower operator..I remember you and number 11 coming through there...that was quite an experience..great stuff. I thought I would stay awhile watch and slip out.I stayed the whole  and had a great time..although the fast clock confused me. At four PM the fast clock said two PM something . I was thinking I had two hours to stand there still . I was prepared to stand , It was a great experience. I will start with some of David parks layout fotos

Charley, I knew I had seen you, but I was so concentrated on #11 that I didn't focus.

For the rest of you, I was running B&O #11, the "Metropolitan", and it suffered a unit failure. I'm not sure when it happened (except that it was east of Cumberland) as the rear unit (the train had E8 AA's) was pulling a 12 car train and PUSHING the dead unit. I didn't get a clue until I heard wheels slipping and I couldn't get the headlight or horn to work. We eventually had to replace the units with a pair of E7's as we couldn't bring the lead unit back online.

One of the interesting thing about Dave's B&O session is that there were several passenger trains that required switching at Cumberland. It was both a blast to engage in cooperative switching with the Cumberland station switcher while running #11 and later to run the Cumberland station switcher.

Switching. I love it. Industrial switching, yard switching, passenger train switching. Everything else is just preparation for switching.

BTW, Charley, that wasn't a fast clock, but a normal one that can be started and stopped at will. Real model railroaders operate in real time.

Mike

Mike

Last five

Fellows ,

Last five shots of David Parks WM / B n O .