OCSMR-Ocean County Society of Model Railroaders Club Latest update 8/5/2024

Mark - Nope.  The junk food train is mine.

Some added pictures from our last open house:

Bud and Frank getting prepared for the open house stretching their legs and tongues!

Your President talking things over with the layout master, Bud.

James running the S gauge making sure it all runs well.

Dennis showing the remote to a guest. This was the start of a huge crowd we had on Sunday.

An Update to our accessibility to our club.

WE ARE NOW CHAIR LIFT ACCESSIBLE TO AND FROM THE BASEMENT. It is fully operational as of May 1, 2024.

Bud was working tonight installing one of the 2 wooden bumpers for our city scene trolley. He had assistance from Jeff Pennell, another member in our club.


More pictures to follow.

Looks like Bud is taking charge and Jeff is taking it easy!

Chair lift accessible is a good thing, none of us are getting younger!

The trolley line wired and operating both and forth from the gas station to the car wash.

Some repair room renovation/updating to its decorum. Wood flooring so if you drop a tiny screw on the black concrete floor and can’t find it, you will find it now!

Before with underlayment over the concrete floor.

The finished wood floor with dual colored wood flooring.  

The S Gauge crew was at it again laying track down with switches that were tested and re-tested for reliability. This time, the track is going to be permanent. 2 loops are done with a long siding to be built.

A few pictures from the last Brick Train show that we were set up operating trains on a fastrack layout.

Doug, our S gauge expert with our founding member, CSXJOE. The club began in 1987.

CSXJOE with Tom aka TBall.

Our treasurer, Frank with CSXJOE and yours truly, el Presidente Ted.

Very nice!  Ted, the first photograph is missing.

This past Tuesday, we had a Boy Scout Troop and a Cub Scout Pack visit our club.  All were interested and had a good time.  Hopefully they'll be able use the visit to obtain their model railroad pins.

At least two parents and their kids were interested in trains.  One came with a large scale Aristo-Craft FA.  It had been bought for his son by his grandmother.  The had no track and several tons of questions.  Tried to answer them but there is a lot to learn.  (BTW - my sister got me my first large scale engine - w/o track too - but that's another story).  The other showed pics of their Christmas layout and were interested in expanding.  Also, they were using tubular track and were asking where to buy it.

Here're a few pix.

Brought my theme train.

O-Gauge.

HO-Gauge.

George distributed attendance certificates to each scout with their name imprinted.

Ted handed out HO cabooses to all the scouts.

Thank you for the story and photographs, Bud!  That looks like an enthusiastic group!  Your BSA 2010 train is neat!  I would have liked to have had a model railroading merit badge when I was in Boy Scouts 55 years ago, give or take a couple years. 

Mark - We have two current members who were Eagle Scouts and one who passed away a number of years ago due to an unfortunate accident.  He was in his twenties.  We're looking forward to hosting more of these groups.

Bud, that’s great, except for the one who was in the accident.  As with any troop, we only could earn badges for topics that we had individuals to sponsor.  Thats great you have more events in the works.  I only made it to Life not Eagle.  Our long time scoutmaster retired and we were in disarray twice looking for a new scoutmaster.  Regardless, I learned many life lessons that were more valuable than a badge on a shirt pocket.

2 additional photos from the June 18th visit from the Cub and boy scout troops from  Beachwood, NJ.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

So… about a week ago I caught Bud working on the S gauge portion of our layout. He was making his measurements to be exactly perfect and not a centimeter off! The S gauge is moving along with the spur in the background almost ready to be extended.
That is James looking over the spur that will be extended past the bridge and next to the extended trestle over the O gauge track.

Is Bud using screws on every tie?

The S gauge was finally screwed down permanently and was tested with 2 trains running real good. The switches were tested and all was good.
Scenery, lighting and accessories to be done next.
Yes, Mark, he was allotted a certain amount of screws!

Ted, looks great!  I’m glad to see as president, you have things under control! 😄

A few more pictures on the S gauge progress.
James wiring the switches with Bud wiring them at the control panel.
I gave them a deadline to get the S gauge operational by our next open house in September/October 2024.
They need to add our EZ streets to the mix there.

@Ted Bertiger You are like the old boss on the chain gang! 

That's Boss with a capital B.  "Shakin it up here Boss!"

I recently met Bud (well a few months ago) at Joe Holts house…very nice man and quite the craftsman !

@coach joe posted:

That's Boss with a capital B.  "Shakin it up here Boss!"

You are right, Joe!  I actually thought of Cool Hand Luke when I wrote the comment!  😄

Last weekend, we set up some trains during the Pine Creek Railroad's Railroaders Weekend located in Allaire State Park.  It rained on Saturday morning which limited attendance but Sunday was full steam ahead.

The did provide us with a 20 by 40 foot tent.

Our youngest member Ted (not to be confused with the "other" Ted).

Pete Benton has a unique approach to his modelling.  He has his Recyclable Railroad.  He uses tin cans, wire, jar lids and bottle caps to hand craft his trains in 1/20th size and uses a push pole for locomotion.

Celebrity guest?  The mayor of Lakewood Ray Coles with his wife and grandson.  The stopped by on their way to celebrate Ray's father's 89th birthday.  Ray, his father and grandson are all train guys.

Some Pine Creek Railroad.

And...the motley crew thanks to the Pine Creek RR photographer.

Looks like a lot to see and do!  That’s nice the park let you setup.

Mark - Actually, the Pine Creek RR "asked" us to set-up.  They're not part of the park system.  We've been there several times before (I think the last time we set-up was in '18).  Covid and some regulatory issues shut the railroad down for a while.  They hold this event the weekend after Labor Day when entrance to the park is free.

The have a "loop" of 3 foot gauge track over a half mile long and offer rides (for a fare) going around the loop twice.  Sunday was very busy for the RR and it was very noisy with the sound of the engines, horns and bells just feet away from where we were set-up.  There were times when I thought our engines were making sounds but it was the real thing.  They used to have steam engines but looks like they won't.  One of the times I got a cab ride in one of the steamers and sat in the fireman's seat.  Roasted my right leg but it was great.  They also give shop tours and talk about operations and maintenance.  Nice little slice of railroading in our backyard.

Bud, thank you for clearing up my misunderstanding!  The story with them is great.