It was discovered at National Museum of Play Trains Weekend exhibit that the lift solenoid on the log loader failed to operate. When we returned to the club room following the exhibit, the accessory modules were set up to trouble shoot the problem. It was discovered that there was excessive contact resistance, so Dave Daniel installed a heavy gauge feed from the club's 30-B transformer to the log loader terminal strip, and the log loader snaps the logs up instantly. Interestingly enough Roger Delthony was there the next day and hooked up one of the little black Flyer transformers to the new leads and the log loader also snapped the logs up. Problem solved!
After experiencing some accidental shorts in the modular layout it was decided that all circuits should be protected by power sources with circuit breakers. On October 6th Roger Delthony bought two MRC Tech II Trainpower 027 transformers on eBay at $32.00 and $31.50 for the yard/siding part of the layout. On Sunday, October 10th he bought a third Trainpower 027 for $13.00. These will give us solid state control for those parts of the layout and they have overload protection so we should avoid the undetected shorts that we've experienced with the small Flyer transformers. Roger operated both transformers, and they work like a charm. He plans on having identical AC/DC selector boxes for these transformers.
The RASG Club's first meeting at St. Charles school was on August 18th, at 7 PM in one of the former school class rooms. All the various components of the modular layout that had been stored at various member's homes over the summer were returned and layout was set up for maintenance and any required trouble shooting. For several weeks the club met on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM but when that time proved to be inconvenient for some, it was decided to revert back to Tuesday evenings at 7:00 PM.
On June 26th the Rochester Area S-Gaugers held their last meeting at Our Lady of Mercy School, on Denise Road in Greece. George Cole, Dave Daniel, Roger Delthony, Bill Johnson and Chuck Smith were in attendance. We each took components of the modular layout to our homes to store them until a new location for our club's train room could be obtained. Roger Delthony has been in contact with a couple of parishes with closed schools where our club could set up and maintain our modular layout. A decision was made at this meeting to pursue one of the options.
Roger Delthony made the trip to visit the Susquehanna S Gaugers annual "Steam-up" on May 23. He reported that they had a large loop set up approximately 20' x 40' to 50'. It was actually a double loop with a crossover at one end. They pulled 165 AM and SHS cars around that loop - at first, with an AM Northern, then they tried it with one, then two GG1's. The train extended around six corners of the layout. They also had an automatic control layout set up in the center of the room with an automatic passing siding. Roger spent about four hours there and said it was a fun day. Sorry we missed it!
The report of this event was written by Gregg Mummert in the
WNYSSA July newsletter.
George Cole Invited the club to his home to tour his improved home layout on April the 11th from 1 to 5 PM. He has added an upper level loop of track, a mountain and other scenic improvements. Nice job George. Thanks for having us over and the goodies that Linda and you served.
This year has started off much the same way as 2009 did. Due to the closing of Our Lady of Mercy parish we have had to find a new location to store and maintain our modular layout. Roger Delthony has been contacting other Catholic parishes that have closed schools for space that we may occupy.
