We had many beautiful models displayed again for all of us to
enjoy, and we had a new meet location to enjoy as well, the Janet
Pomeroy Center near the San Francisco Zoo, in the Sunset District
of San Francisco. We had our usual model contests, photo contest,
and fun
was had by all. Thank you to *all* the participants who entered
and put on such a good show for the rest of us; we hope you
enjoyed our deep admiration and appreciation for your sharing your
beautiful work with us.
Model
Contest
As always, NMRA contests are not about winning, rather, they are about
the fun of
participating, about sharing your pride and joy in modeling with
all of us (your appreciative audience), and having fun self-inspiring
and self-challenging yourself.
Unfortunately, our
September 2011 Model
Contest did not have any entries. We did,
however, have superb
Photo Contest and Show
and Tellparticipant entriessee those below :-).
Let's have a great turnout on December
4, 2011 for our final Model
Contest of 2011!
The category will be "Open Category" (i.e. any of
the NMRA model
categories can be entered for our Popular
Vote contest).
Bring a model that you are proud of. Competition in NMRA Contests
are
really about challenging yourself to see how good can be, and to enjoy
the camaradie of your fellow contestants.
So for December 4, 2011, bring an entry
and
participate! Bring something to share, and enter for the Fun of itin the Coast Division Model
Contest. Let's fill up the December version of this table below!
Thank
you to our NMRA Achievement Program judges: Bob
Wirthlin, MMR and Tom Vanden Bosch who did Achievement Program
judging, and gave a Merit Award, for Frank
Markovich's superb O scale "Backwoods Shop":
The judges in action :-) :
In the end, NMRA contests are not about winning,
rather, they are about the fun of participating,
about sharing your pride and joy in modeling, and having fun
self-inspiring yourself. We all love to see your pride and joys, and
you are all winners for participating. Thank You to *all* who have
participated and displayed at our Model Contest, Show and Tell, and
Photo Contest over the years - you have put on a
great show and inspired the rest of us. We hope you enjoyed
our admiration of your work.
Show and Tellat September 2011 Coast Division Meet
At
the September 2011 Meet, we had another excellent Show and Tell
display.
Thank
you to all who brought a model for us to enjoy! The
displays included:
Tom Vanden Bosch displayed his NMRA National Convention Model Contest 1st
place Diesel award winner from the X2011 West
Model Contest in Sacramento!
Tom was awarded for his scratchbuilt HO Gulf Mobile & Ohio Ingalls
Diesel:
Back in September 2006, Tom had showed us this model
under construction:
Edwin Ness just knocked our socks off
with his O scale model of his current home when it was under
construction back in the late 1940's / early 1950s.
Edwin is a retired carpenter. This model uses scale-sized model
lumber and is built
and framed with the exactly correct construction techniques, spacing,
and dimensions.
Impressive!!!
The future of our hobby is well assured. Dominic DiMaio,
age 12, displayed this superbly weathered N scale SP SD50.
Dominic, great to see you at our meet.
Jim Eckman continues to amaze
and inspire us with his structure
techniques using paper:
Thx, all, for sharing and inspiring us, and for your
participation.
Participate by bringing a model - it's
simply
for the fun and joy of it all! Come on out in December
2011 and share with us something that you would like us to see - we look forward to it!
Coast
Division Model Contest and Show and Tell Chair: John Sing
Got an idea for a clinic?
Want to see what's coming up? Contact the Coast Division
Clinics chair: John
Marshall
Thanks
again to all who participated, and we look forward to seeing you at
Model Contest and Show and Tell in upcoming Meets. Bring
something that you would like share - a model(s), display about your
current project, a work in progress, it's up to you, as any category is
always welcome for Show and Tell. We love to see what
you're up to!
Here are the results for our Allen
Fenton Switching Contest to the September 2011 meet:
Winners in the Brakeperson category (5 car problem)!
First Place
Second Place
Third Place
John Sing (5:46)
Ronnie LaTorres (7:11)
Chris Drone (9:13)
Our winners in the Senior Brakeperson category (6 car problem)!
First Place
Second Place
Third Place
Alan Havens
(5:07)
John Sing (8:27)
Ronnie LaTorres (8:40)
A special thanks to our Coast Division Switching Contest
Chair: Steve Peters, who
keeps the
Allen Fenton Timesaver
switching puzzle running smoothly
and staffs the TimeSaver for us. Thx, Steve!
Here's a picture of
Steve:
Participate and
give it a try, it's a blast. Remember... it's not about winning, it's about you and your switching. You
have to give it a try :-).
What is the Timesaver
? (click below to find out!)
It is a fun, devilish little switching puzzle devised by the late,
great model railroader, John
Allen.
Click on these links above to learn more about the Timesaver,
about John Allen, or his world famous HO Gorre & Daphetid
model railroad, which inspired an entire generation of model
railroaders worldwide. John Allen lived in Monterey,
California, and was a long time member of the Coast Division until his
passing in 1973.
Results of the
September 2011 Photo Contest : (Congratulations to
all who participated!)
The theme was: "Steam Locomotives".
There were many artistic, noteworthy, and creative
entries, and every one is worthy of award and mention.
Thank you to all who brought your photos to share, we all love seeing
your work.
Click on any of the thumbnails below to see a larger copy of the Photo
Contest Entry. By Popular
Vote, the Photo Contest winners were:
We had a superb palette of Photo Contest entries, here are more
entries, all of them
interesting, artistic, and just excellent.
Thank you to *all* who
participated. We hope you enjoyed a
few minutes of fame and the ongoing admiration, of your fellow NMRA
modellers and guests.
Bring a photo to the next Meet's Photo Contest!
Click here to see the upcoming
categories.
Here's a picture of our Coast Division Photo Contest Chair: Keith Wandry:
Coast Division Model Contest categories are rotated
annually according to the following schedule (i.e. we always have the
same categories as shown below, every March, June, September and
December). The categories for the upcoming
Coast Division Model Contest Meets are as follows (click
here for definitions of categories):
December
2011: "Favorite Model" (open to any
category)
March
2012: Caboose,
Freight Car, Maintenance of Way
June
2012:
Structure, Display/Diorama,
Self-Propelled Cars & Traction
September
2012: Steam Locomotive, Diesel &
Other Locomotives, Passenger Car
Results
are determined by Popular Vote.
Arrive and enter early to get more votes!
Optional: NMRA Judging is available at the Coast Division
Meet to any Model Contest participant for:
- Achievement Program Merit Points
- Regional/National Contest entry preparation 'dry-run' and friendly
expert advice
- Or, just to see how you would have done (smile!)
Please contact the current Coast Division Model Contest Chair, John Sing, or the current
Achievement Program chair Kermit Paul, if you would to have your model
judged at the upcoming meet.
December
2011: Caboose
March 2012:
Railroad Structures
June 2012:
Diesel Locomotives
September 2012:
Steam Locomotives
All photos should be matted (inexpensive,
resusable mattes can be had at most art supply stores) and should be
between 5x7 and 11x14 in size. Hope to see your work there!
Results are determined by Popular Vote.
Bring your photos early to get
the early votes.
One of the great things about our
Meets is sharing information and kibitzing about all things related to
trains. It's the People
that make our hobby as much fun as it is.
Our Chief Clerk for the Coast Division is Darrell Dennis:
Darrell does all of the following: Minutes from every Coast
Division Meet, minutes from every Board of Operations meeting, and also
is a consistent exhibitor at our local NMRA Coast Division table at
every local train show. Thank you,
Darrell, for your contributions!
Our thanks to our many Coast Division volunteers, we could
not do any of this without each and every one of you. Volunteers
- thank you! You
can see our current volunteers on the Coast Division Call Boardby clicking
here.
The September 2011 Meet was held at the Janet
Pomeroy Center in San Francisco. Thank you to our hosts for
having us at your facility: :
Tom's Trackside Trains - one of our
best sponsors
Tom Van Horn, owner of Tom's Trackside Trains in Menlo Park, Calif, is
one of Coast Division's strongest supporters. If you
are ever in Menlo Park on Wed-Sunday,, stop by and visit him and his
shop. Well worth the visit, go and support Tom!
Tom's Trackside
Trains 558 Santa Cruz Ave. Menlo Park, CA 94025 -
in the rear of Cindy's Flowers shop, go to the side door on the right
(650) 692-9724 Hours: Thursday 12 – 5
PM, Friday 12 – 8 PM, Saturday 12 – 5 PM, Sunday 10 – 1 PM,
closed Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, holidays
Steve Wesolowski, our Publicity
Chair (and super helper on Model Contest) recently said it well for all
of us:
"So many people happily volunteer to
make our Coast Division Quarterly Meetings possible. In
appreciation, whenever you have the chance, please remember to thank
someone else in our Division who in whatever way,
helps to make our Coast Division Meets the success they are today."
Thank you, Steve, well said. :-)
Invite a new friend to come to the next Meet, and see what we're all
about!
The judges in action :-) : 
Back in September 2006, Tom had showed us this model
under construction: 
Read more about the
Ingalls Diesel here
