I joined a great club

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I just joined the San Diego Model Railroad Club, and am excited to help preserve an historic San Diego icon at the museum in Balboa Park. I have 2 duty days a month when I will be entertaining the public (playing with the trains). Watching and interacting with the public has been very rewarding, and has made all the work and expense on the streamliner well worth it.[:)]

I have the dubious classification in being the only club member with an RC controlled HO train. I now have (2) of the streamliner P2k locos lashed up and running off (1) HOTE receiver. The streamliner has ran on DC and DCC at the layout with no problems. Last Saturday was the first time on the DCC, and now I am spoiled; no power block throttles or reverse switches to worry about. I just ran around the layout with the DCC trains, and all we had to do was coordinate and make sure the switch tracks were set right. The streamliner did over 100 scale miles that day, and I’m looking to do more. With the RC I can go out on the other side of the view glass and interact with the public. DCC crews still have to move their cabs from panel to panel as their trains move around the layout, and are therefore constrained to the inside. Some club members have wireless cabs, but they interfere with the large scale and 3 rail exhibits in the building. I was told because everyone’s operating at 900Mhz, which is an FCC rule for DCC wireless applications. Right now it looks like some manufacturers are going to have to make some code changes. It will be nice when they get the problems worked out and the DCC crews can go wireless. It’s really fun.

Here’s a few of pics of the SD Union Station model, circa 1950. I had to shoot through the glass, so they are a little soft. There are also a few new videos on my youtube.com page (user = dcfixer), if anyone is interested.

[IMG]http://i237.photobucket.

2

Consider yourself lucky! Don’t talk politics etc etc and you should do fine. Wish I was as lucky. I miss the comraderie of sitting and talking trains and BS ( boyz stuff)

Fergie

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I might be going out there for Xmas. I’d love to stop and see that layout.

4

Fergie,

That is very true - I am VERY fortunate. That’s good advice, and may really apply here since there are some in the club that want to totaly redue the Carriso Gorge and the Goat Canyon wooden tressel, which is probably the oldest and most well known part of the layout. I remember seeing the gorge and tressel 30 years ago when I first moved out here. There’s even talk of double track through the gorge, which is not the way it was. There are issues with humidity, homosote and resultant track buckling in the gorge, and that needs to be addressed, but I personally believe that as a museum of San Diego railroad history, the gorge and tressel should be preseved as is - as much as possible.

DC

5

loather,

That would be great. [:)] I will buy you lunch. Keep in touch with your plans. I can actually go and run there any time. I think I can get you in behind the glass as a guest. I must be an associate member for 6 months before I can be considered for regular membership, so I will have check on that. In any case, it’s only $6 entry into the museum and it goes towards a great cause, and we can still hook up.

DC