Modular Group News, Update 9/18/24

Lastly, on Christmas Eve, Tom (Gilly@N&W) was running the Pocohantas.....dang, those Weaver couplers!

Peter

Some random thoughts on Peter's post as I digest the Christmas dinner:

1) Don't we love the response of the children watching the trains?  Almost more fascinating than watching the trains.

2) Who knew (not me) that Weaver made a Pocahontas passenger car?  If I ever buy any  I need to replace the couplers for sure.

3) I visited Richmond several weeks ago and had to go by the River city 3 railers layout.  Here are some shots I took  to let the OGR forum members see the variety of scenes.  Nice work- I plan to steal a few ideas!

I believe the Weaver cars are limited to the few head end cars....the rest are GGD. Tom will let us know when he sees this.......

Peter

Excellent videos and photographs once again!  You fellows do a great job!  Merry Christmas!

Mark Boyce posted:

Excellent videos and photographs once again!  You fellows do a great job!  Merry Christmas!

Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you, Mark!

Peter

The two head-end cars are Weaver. The balance of the consist is GGD.

Four Kaydee rubber bands, and the couplers are a non-issue. Even with 081 curves, overhang on the 21" cars is massive...

Great work Guys. I'm blown away by the level of detail you put into this layout.

Those two N&W trains passing each other look very nice.

Bob

In a somewhat surprising development, it would seem that Max Foods is performing too well. No injuries have been reported, but a USDA investigation may be pending....

Dock workers seem to be rather perplexed by this "development". FWIW, the puppies really do seem to love this stuff.

Hmmm....Must be some growth hormone in that chow!  The rumors are flying!  

Our 1st 2019 update!

We have been having a blast running trains at the modular set up.......here is some of the action....

Peter

B&O946 and I went down for a visit yesterday, as always the hospitality of RC3R was generous. My scale wheel 44 tonner flawlessly on your beautiful layout.

Steve

As always, great to see you and your son, Steve!

Peter

Peter well done. What size are your modules? Any info I can look up module construction from your group?

Seacoast posted:

Peter well done. What size are your modules? Any info I can look up module construction from your group?

Modules are typically 32x48. My email is in my profile. I'd be happy to help in any way if you have questions regarding module construction.

Seacoast posted:

Peter well done. What size are your modules? Any info I can look up module construction from your group?

Yes, George......Tom (Gilly@N&W) is the one to ask.........when it comes to carpentry,  I’m just a gopher.......

Peter

Great pictures, Peter. You guys build a nice layout.

Thanks, Pat......

Pat, George......we started in 2009......4 guys......except for Gilly and Kanawha (who knew each other from work), we were all strangers to each other except for our love of the hobby........we built 12 modules.....4 corners and 8 straights and put together a 12x18 layout......now, our members number in the mid 20s, and the layout is approximately 20x42.......and we have a "small venue" layout of 12x15.....it's been a great ride!

Peter

L & N posted:

B&O946 and I went down for a visit yesterday, as always the hospitality of RC3R was generous. My scale wheel 44 tonner flawlessly on your beautiful layout.

Steve

Wonderful to see you and Matt. I sincerely look forward to many more enjoyable runs in 2019!

You certainly are Justified to be proud of your accomplishments.

Peter, You posted so many photographs my computer really sagged in ability to show them all!!    I greatly appreciate all the photographs!  Looks like another great setup at the Big Greenhouse.  Back in the '70s when I was working for Vepco in Richmond there was hardly anything out at Midlothian!

What a great group you have!!!  Looks like some kids were enjoying the layout.  That's great!  So it looks like you have a yard in the center, then I guess a wye track arrangement to get trains onto and off the big loop!  The bridge scenes are my favorite, but all the modeling is top notch!!  Great work everyone!!!

Mark.....a few pics of the yard entrance.....

The 3rd pic is pointing towards the switches.

Peter

Peter, Thank you very much!!!

Done for the year at the Great Big GreenHouse.......a sad day when we took down on January 21.....a few shots from our last 2 weekends.....check out the great crowd on the last day which was "Kids Day in the Garden" an annual kids event.....over 1000 kids and their families.....

our "homemade" Schnabel Car.....

Gilly@N&W packing the trailer......

The space vacated........

Peter

A thousand kids!!!  Wow!!!  You folks did a great job!!!  Everything looks great!  The "homemade" Schnabel Car is an engineering marvel!!   Everything seems to stack up nicely in the trailer!

Thanks, Mark.......next Saturday is our annual pancake breakfast at my house.......if you are in the area, join us!

Peter

Time for the pancake breakfast already!!!  Where does the time go??  Thank you for the invitation!  I wish I could but I'm afraid I will be in cold Pennsylvania enjoying the forecast sub-zero temperatures!!   

Peter, Gilly and crew, 

Once again, great job. Looks like you had a good turnout of happy people. You guys do good work.

👍 nice. GarGraves with Ross switches?

Mainlines are Atlas and Ross.

Yard is Ross and Gargraves.

Subway is Fastrack....

Peter

Peter;

Once again, the River City 3-Railers have done a fabulous job for their community and the hobby.

Have to say, as a Brooklyn “ex-pat”, I loved seeing the New York & Atlantic delivering some new cars for the NYC Subway. And it that weren’t good enough, I caught some nice New Haven steam/passenger action in couple of shots... wonder who was responsible for that???

Keep up the great work!!!

You guys do great work. Very dedicated bunch! Congrats! If I may ask- how do you fund this operation? I'm sure it's not cheap to keep this going.

Send some pancakes up north next week

Bob

Apples55 posted:

Peter;

Once again, the River City 3-Railers have done a fabulous job for their community and the hobby.

Have to say, as a Brooklyn “ex-pat”, I loved seeing the New York & Atlantic delivering some new cars for the NYC Subway. And it that weren’t good enough, I caught some nice New Haven steam/passenger action in couple of shots... wonder who was responsible for that???

Keep up the great work!!!

Thanks for the kind words......... You certainly guessed right....the New Haven is mine......I had yo use an MTH RailKing NH Hudson....My K Line Collector's Club EP-5 is suffering from "Cruise issues". It basically sputters......I think in needs to go to the hospital....

Peter

RSJB18 posted:

You guys do great work. Very dedicated bunch! Congrats! If I may ask- how do you fund this operation? I'm sure it's not cheap to keep this going.

Send some pancakes up north next week

Bob

Thanks, Bob......

Our dues are modest......$84 a year....

$60 for the River City 3 Railers.

$24 for the RF&P, our parent organization.....the Richmond Freelance & Prototype Railroaders......a group of N, HO and O interest groups that is our legal entity that holds our liability insurance.

We hold a raffle every year......we raffle off 2 sets and a 3rd prize $100 gift certificate to Tiny Tim's Trains......1st price is the set of their choice with a ~4x5 layout scenic with refurbished Plasticville-type buildings.....the 2nd prize is the remaining complete set.

We sell about 2000 tickets and get about $1500+ in donations.

We have been able to purchase 2 trailers......one is 24' for the big (20x42) layout....the other is 14' for the 12x15 layout. We have enough to cover their rent (parking spots) , tags and insurance.

We have done well. We have been able to finance a lot of "group" upgrades to the layout......the trains(for the great majority) and module scenery are all personal to each member.

Some of the trains were donations......we use them as "group" trains.

The modules are personally owned and decorated......you want a module.....we pair it with another member to keep it equal, you pay for the materials, and the group builds it to our group standard.....then you take it home and decorate it.....this is a process that has evolved over the 10 years we have been in existence.......

BTW.....I am planning to chair a seminar on setting up and running a modular group. I had planned to have leaders of successful modular groups come and talk on how they got it done. I had hoped to get it together for April York.....but, I really need to firm up the place. I have the Gold Hall, if I want it, before the Thursday York opening.....but I really need to inspect the venue 1st before I ask people to commit (if I had the Orange Hall conference room, I'd be OK with going ahead with April).

Peter

Bob, Great question!  Oh yes, request for pancakes is another great question!  

Peter, That sounds like a great plan, and you have shown us photographs of the raffle layout builds, train sets, etc.

 I think that seminar of setting up and operating a modular group is an excellent idea!!  Pooling Information from several groups have done is admirable.  You aren’t saying what the River City Group does is the final word!  Different scenarios would work for different groups in different locales.  Great idea!  I hope you can get it to happen!!

Thanks for the response Peter. For those of us not involved in clubs I'm sure this is helpful. Obviously your overhead is much lower than a club in a fixed location (rent, utilities, etc). I hadn't considered that each member owned and built their own modules. I assumed that everything was owned by the club.

One more question (sorry)- do you pay fees for the use of the locations you show at?

Thanks again----

PS- I like banana or blueberry   

I met a few of these gentlemen a few months ago when they were at the science museum.  I joined the club and ran trains with most of them during the greenhouse display weeks.  Their craftsmanship and artistic abilities are amazing.  But best of all:  This is simply a wonderful group of truly, good men!  It's been a joy to hang out with, and get to know these gentlemen.  

As mentioned on Weekly Photo Fun, to day was our annual February breakfast meeting where we kick off the new year by discussing where we went last year and what we plan to accomplish this year. We had a great turn out, with at least5 new members coming for the 1st time....

Peter

RSJB18 posted:

One more question (sorry)- do you pay fees for the use of the locations you show at?   

We do not pay fees for display venues. Our primary fund-raiser is our annual raffle. In addition, we receive donations from numerous patrons. 

Dog Gone It!!  I missed The Event of The Year once again!!!  What a great turnout you folks had!!  Look at that handsome Mianne Benchwork!!  Oh, there are trains running on it too!  I almost didn't notice because of that nice benchwork!! 

I have to hand it to Mrs. C.!  Mrs. B. would pass out if that many folks showed up at out house!  Of course that many folks would pass out from the close quarters in our house!  

With many thanks to Kanawha, lets take a ride on the RC3R layout via our new Lionel camera car...