tehachapi loop railroad club’s newsletter a step back · pdf filetehachapi loop railroad...

Tehachapi Loop Railroad Club’s Newsletter

A Step Back in Time at the Nevada Northern Railway Pictures and Story by Marlan Woodside

June 2015 Issue -

At the 16 May 2015 Plane Crazy Saturday event held at the Mojave Airport, Mike Massee gave an excellent

presentation and slide show that covered the Nevada Northern Railway, a National Historic Landmark. The

railroad is located in Ely Nevada and is staffed by docents that recreate steam as it was in its heyday.

Mike spoke of his favorite time of year to take pictures of the steam engines was wintertime as it provides

an opportunity to accent the steam aspect of the railroad. His presentation included many black and white

photos that certainly made the engines and crews appear to be from the 1930s and 40s. The focus of the

railroad is to re-create the 19th century in the 21st century and they certainly have achieved that objec-

tive. The presentation was originally planned for the June 2014 Train

Crazy Saturday, but was cancelled due to illness. Check out Mike’s pho-

tography at [email protected] and www.mikemassey.com or face-

book.com/masseephoto Each Plane Crazy and Train Crazy event fea-

tures guest speakers and the presentations are held in the airport

board room at 11am of the every third Saturday of the month events.

A small donation is requested and seating is limited to about 48 people.

The proceeds of these events support the Mojave Transportation Mu-

seum (MTM). On the 20th of June 2015, an Antelope Valley Rail Fan

and Airplane enthusiast Bob Alvis will be making a presentation that

covers rail fanning in the Antelope Valley during the 1960s and 70s.

Since seating is limited, it is best to RSVP by emailing prop-

[email protected] (Cathy Hansen is the point of contact) or by phoning

661-824-8417 and last but not least, checking in at the Mojave Trans-

portation Museum booth the day of the event to see if seats are still

available. The event will run from 9am to 1pm at the Mojave Air and

Space Port 1434 Flight Line, Mojave CA 93501. More information on

MTM is at www.mojavemuseum.org Mike is pictured at right as he is an

engineer for the Mesa Grande Western Railway in his spare time!

Since April 1993

June 2015 Issue -

The Second Train Crazy Saturday Story and Pictures by Cathy Hansen

June 2015 Issue -

We only had one get together at John Bell’s house this month. We checked the grades

of the roadbed for all the future tunnels and started digging to get it correct. It was

dry and hard to dig, so we laid concrete

blocks to hold water in that area. Then we

flooded that area so digging would be easier.

John has done a lot of work on his own, clean-

ing and moving his trains in the back of his

garage. Those large storage racks were also

moved. He also added a spur track off his

outside mainline at ground level. He then ele-

vated the spur to be waist high by the time it

enters the back of the garage. He plans on

putting a hole in the wall for the trains to run

into the garage. Then he can make up trains

without bending down and send them out on

the mainline.

I drove my wife Judy, Dennis Keck and John

down to Riverside to see the Roger & Faith

Clackson Railroad at what turned out to be his

last open house of the season. Check out his

web site at R&F railroad.com I have seen a lot

of G scale railroads before, but this is still my

favorite. It is 1/3 acre of outdoor trains! It

has been shown on television many times. They

had so many cool trains running all at once and

then would switch out others to run also. All

the different areas were set up so nicely with

many buildings, cars and people. There is just

too much to describe in this letter. They also

have a three car garage with a wonderful H.O.

layout that was all lit up with miniature lights

everywhere. Again this H.O. layout was really

detailed. We spent about three hours there. They can-

celled their June open house. Maybe in the fall they might

have some more.

The Ontario train show will be conducted on 6 and 7 June.

John, Dennis and I will go on Saturday the 6th of June. I

like to get there early to see if there are any good bar-

gains!

Our next get together will be at John’s on each Thursday

unless we do something different. Hope to see you

there . C U - Rick

East Kern G Scale Railroaders Story and Pictures by Rick Passalacqua

Side Note about Private Cars: Since the

early days of railroads there have been pri-

vately owned passenger cars, and special cars

for railroad officials. Usually handled on the

rear end of the train, owners pay for special

handling. In its early years Amtrak required

cars wear its color scheme, but rescinded the

requirement by the late 1970s. Today, Amtrak

still handles private cars and those of railroad

officials, many of which are dressed in historic

railroad schemes or the owner’s unique colors.

June 2015 Issue -

TLRC Business Meeting Stationmaster’s Report

Wilson James filling in for Dean Smith

May 9th, 2015

at Kelcy’s Restaurant

1. Superintendent Rex Welker called the

meeting to order at 10:03 AM.

2. Members/Guests: There was a packed

house. 23 members and guests, including

Marty and Pat Briggs were present. Marty

and Pat will soon join us as members.

3. Stationmaster’s Report: There was no

report because of the April train show.

4. Paymaster’s Report: Wilson James

made a motion to approve the report. Ann

Tuma seconded the motion, and the report

was unanimously approved.

5. Committee Reports:

A) Hospitality: Cathy Welker was not in

attendance. Rex Welker reported for her

that there was nothing to report. Doug

Pickard reported that member Robert

Fowler was in rehab, and Rex Welker men-

tioned that the club would send a card out

to him.

B) Conductor: Chris Howard was not in

attendance, no report was provided.

C) Historian: Rex Welker is open for any

train related articles. There was nothing to

report .

D) Rick Passalacqua had to leave the

meeting. There was no report. Members

were reminded that annual dues must be

paid at the June 2015 meeting.

E) Loop Editor: Marlan Woodside asked

for, and received clarification on posting

articles about activities where club mem-

bers were not involved, but that may be of

interest to members. It was decided that

even if members were not present at an

5. Committee Reports: (Continued)

E) Loop Editor: Marlan Woodside

(concluded) event, there still might be inter-

est in a report, so it is ok to publish infor-

mation in the newsletter.

F) Facebook Site: Dean Smith was out of

town and no information was reported, but it

was noted that he is still doing a great job.

G) Web Site: Ravi Balasuriya was out of

town and no information was reported, but it

was noted that he is still doing a great job.

H) Promotions: Maureen Cornyn reported

that t-shirts are going to be ordered, and she

will be combining orders in order to have

enough to place an order with the t-shirt com-

pany.

I) Publicity: Mike Schmitt had nothing to

report, however Marlan Woodside reported

that the Train Crazy Saturday event at the

Mojave airport will take place Saturday June

20that 9am to 1pm. Doug Pickard will not be

in attendance, but TLRC members will be

staffing the Toy Train hospital layout and

Dean Smith will have an N scale layout and

Marlan Woodside will have a Z scale layout on

display. Maureen Cornyn will staff a promo-

tions booth. Dean Smith posted information

on our Facebook page.

J) Ways and Means: Vacant

K) Tours: Marlan Woodside reported on

the past three events. The Sacramento trip

had seven folks and included a tour of the Cal-

ifornia Railroad Museum and State Capital,

Fullerton train days had eight folks touring

the layouts and Santa Fe steam engine 3751,

( Stationmaster’s Report continued on next page )

5. Committee Reports: (Continued)

K) Tours (Concluded): Marlan Woodside

and six people went on a downtown Los Ange-

les Rotary Club fund raising tour of loft

apartments of the Los Angeles historic core,

which included a lunch at Cole’s in the base-

ment of the Pacific Electric building. Future

trips are, June 7th, Metrolink to Newhall to

eat at the Newhall Refinery, a brew pub and

restaurant, and to see a live performance of

Westside Story at the Canyon Theater.

Then on June 27th a Metrolink trip to have

lunch in the historic core of downtown Los

Angeles and to see a Los Angeles Conservan-

cy Last Remaining Seats showing of the Raid-

ers Of The Lost Ark at the Ace Theater.

There is some talk about a future trip to

Ridgecrest to see George Pruitt’s layout.

L) Event Coordinator: Wilson James

thanked all of those who participated and

helped at the April train show. Wilson re-

ported that the 8’ module will be replaced by

the August train show.

6. Scale Chair Reports:

A) N – Chris Howard was not in attendance,

no report was provided.

B) HO – Wilson James reported on repair-

ing the connectors on the Digitrax throttles,

and on separating the six inch track seg-

ments that go between the modules. There

will be a work session at John Bell’s house

after the June 13th train show.

C) Toy Trains – Doug Pickard reported on

the “O” Scale train that he repaired. Doug

reported that there is something wrong with

the worm gear on the repaired loco, and it

needs to be repaired. The other loco

that Bob Fowler donated to the club is

6. Scale Chair Reports (Concluded):

C) Toy Trains – Doug Pickard (concluded)

still working, and is good to go for our June

20th train crazy day.

D) G Scale – John Bell had nothing to re-

port.

E) Z Scale – Marlan Woodside reported

that he will have the attaché case railroad on

display at the Train Crazy Saturday event

and will be featuring a few new pieces of roll-

ing stock for the viewing public.

7) Old Business:

A) There was no old business.

8) New Business:

A) Mario Terrazas reported that his boss,

Midge Wright has a 3 rail “O” Scale layout

located in a 40’ box trailer that her late hus-

band Ron Wright built. Midge has offered to

donate it to our club. After some discussion,

a motion was made by Doug Pickard and se-

conded by Ann Tuma. The club has unani-

mously decided to accept Midge’s offer, and

work out the details of how and where it will

be stored.

B) Marty Briggs asked for help with her “G”

Gauge layout, and John Bell agreed to stop

by and take a look at it.

C) Wilson James reported that the wife of

our departed club member, John Holmes may

still have some “O” Scale three rail for sale

if anyone is interested.

D) Marlan Woodside inquired about a slate

of officers being presented to the club for

the next TLRC operating year. The current

slate of officers were nominated with Doug

Pickard moving and John Medvigy seconding

( Stationmaster’s Report continued on next page )

June 2015 Issue -

TLRC Business Meeting Stationmaster’s Report


May 9th, 2015


June 2015 Issue -

TLRC Business Meeting Stationmaster’s Report (Concluded)


May 9th, 2015


8) New Business (Concluded):

D) Marlan Woodside: the motion. A vote

will take place at the June meeting to enter-

tain any other officer seekers and to vote

on the slate officers.

9. Upcoming Events:

A) June 13th — Monthly Meeting —

10:00 AM at Kelcy’s Restaurant located on

Tehachapi Blvd across from the Train De-

pot.

B) June 20th – Train Crazy Saturday, Mo-

jave Transportation Museum, Mojave Air and

Spaceport, 1434 Flight line, Mojave,

CA 93501 Saturday 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Call 661-824-2889.

C) June 27th – Last Remaining Seats,

Tehachapi Loop Railroad Club (TLRC) is spon-

soring a Metrolink trip from Lancaster to

Los Angeles Union Station and then Metro

Red Line to the 7th Street Transfer Station

Square, lunch a the Panini Cafe and then on

to the Ace Theater to see the movie Raiders

of the Lost Ark. Saturday 8:30 AM to 7:30

PM. Transportation to Lancaster is on you.

F) July 11th – Crew Change Dinner No

Business Meeting, Meet at John Bell’s house

on Saturday at 4pm, bring your own drinks,

Debra Howard will send out an email to coor-

dinate food selections that are needed.

10. Superintendent: Rex Welker made a

motion to adjourn the meeting and the mo-

tion was approved. The meeting was ad-

journed at 11:04 AM

In 1975, the Santa Fe Railroad painted five

locomotives for the United States 200th birth-

day to be celebrated in 1976. The five locomo-

tives were numbered 5700-5704. Today, there

is only one of these locomotives left that is

still in use. Number 5702, now BNSF 1571, op-

erates close to her old home. Every day, 1571

operates on the Boron local. I am friends with

the crew of the local, Chris Bell and Willy Byr-

ne, who operate the train every weekday from

the Rio Tinto mine in Boron. Chris Bell told me

about the locomotive being one of the bicen-

tennial locomotives, but he didn’t know which

one, so I did some research. Chris Bell is the

engineer of the local and Willy Byrne is the

conductor. I have been rail fanning them a lot,

and they give me things.

I went on many different websites for the re-

search, one of which had a copy of the 1976

Santa Fe locomotive roster. This locomotive

was an SD45-2 until it was acquired by the

BNSF and rebuilt to become an SD40-2R. The

locomotives were painted in 1975 at the Santa

Fe shops in Barstow, and operated close to

home. They operated mostly on the Cajon Pass

and the Tehachapi Pass. So, to answer the

question in the title, they’re in BORON!.

Bicentennial Units, where are they now?

Pictures obtained by and Story by Chris Howard

June 2015 Issue -

TLRC FINANCIAL REPORTS

From the desk of the Paymaster Mike Schmitt,

the following reports are provided for your

review

You are reading a special edition of the Tehachapi Loop Railroad

Club newsletter.

(You didn’t want to read our financials anyway, did you?)

We hope you enjoy reading about our activities and hope your inter-

est in our club has been ignited such that you might consider joining

in the fun with us!

We are a non-profit organization that fosters the interests of our

members in the hobby of railroading and modeling of railroads as

well as seeking out railroad adventures to further our understanding

and love of trains.

We put on an occasional show or two as well over at West Park in

Tehachapi and meet the second Saturday of each month at Kelcy’s

Restaurant (across the street from the Depot) in Tehachapi. Stop

on by we’d love to have you join us.

To learn more, visit our website, send us an email or contact one of

our board members or any member of the club! All this information

is displayed on page 8 of this newsletter.

TLRC OFFICERS

Superintendent Rex Welker 661-256-2147

Dispatcher Mario Terrazas 661-816-6314

Stationmaster Dean Smith 805-760-1035

Paymaster Mike Schmitt 661-821-5271

1st. Inspector Wilson James 661-823-1665

2nd. Inspector Marlan Woodside 760-373-4765

Monthly Newsletter of the

Tehachapi Loop Railroad Club

Post Office Box 876

Tehachapi, CA 93581

Next Meeting Date:

13th June 2015 @ 10am

Location: Kelcy’s Restaurant 110 West Tehachapi Boulevard

Tehachapi

Loop Railroad

Club

Table of Contents

Nevada Northern RR .........Page 01

Train Crazy Saturday ........Page 02

Kern G Scale Railroaders ....Page 03

Stationmaster Report ........Page 04

Stationmaster Report ........Page 05

S Report & Howard Report ..Page 06

Paymaster Report ............Page 07

Officers & Contacts ..........Page 08

ADMINISTRATORS/CHAIRPERSONS

Activities: Scale Chairs:

Hospitality — Cathy Welker N — Chris Howard

Conductor — Chris Howard HO — Wilson James

Historian — Rex Welker Toy Trains — Doug Pickard

Membership — Rick Passalacqua G — John Bell

Loop Editor — Marlan Woodside Z — Marlan Woodside

Facebook and Web Site Conductor — Dean Smith and Ravi Balasuriya

Promotions — Maureen Cornyn

Publicity — Mike Schmitt TLRC Email Address:

Ways & Means — Vacant [email protected]

Tours — Marlan Woodside

Event Coordinator — Wilson James

Facebook Address: Search for Tehachapi Loop Railroad Club

Website Address: tlrc.club

Loop Editor’s Corner

If you caught our last meeting

you know that the current

board is basically running

unopposed for the slate of

offices, so being in attend-

ance at the June meeting

will be your chance to en-

dorse that slate or propose

some other candidates. We

are asking that folks seriously

consider running next year as the current board

is getting tired, maybe that’s just me talking.

Also the OTHER big event in June is TLRC DUES

are DUE to Rick Passalacqua, $40 for individual

or $70 for a family membership renewal so

please have a check payable to TLRC ready to

turn in at the meeting or make arrangements to

get the money to Rick. Hope people are making

plans to attend the 2nd Train Crazy Saturday

9am to 1pm 20 June (Saturday) at the Mojave

Airport. TLRC will be out in full force and Bob

Alvis of Quartz Hill will be making a presentation

on rail fanning in the 1960s and 70s. 27 June is

our Metrolink trip to LA for the Raiders of the

Lost Ark. Happy Training!!! Marlan

June 2015 Issue -

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