Elkhart Model Railroad Club Announcements
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April 20, 2018
After the business meeting it was time for our main business at EMRRC running trains. EMRRC has had an ongoing problem with JMRI connecting to phones or tablets and recognizing them as throttles. If we have several phones and tablets online as throttles we lose connections and control of the trains. After going back to version 3.10 of JMRI we are in our second week of being problem free. We are still researching and testing this problem and will keep everyone updated here. At this point we are awaiting version 4.11.5 to reach it's production stage so we can try it. 
CLICK HERE to check our Friday Night Running at the Club page for all the action. Also CLICK HERE for the weekly link to shows and swap meets in the area courtesy of Grand River Valley Railroad Club - Wyoming, MI. One last announcement;NMRA MICHIANA DIVISION EVENT
May 19, 2018 - Francis Branch of St. Joe County Public Library - 52655 N Ironwood Rd, South Bend, IN 46635
4 hour Weathering Day from 10:30AM to 2:30 PM!
Attend all or some of the time allotted!
Well known weathering expert Dave Schroedle will be leading this event! On Friday April 27th starting at 7:00 pm we will have a training session for operating on the HO layout. If you are interested in operations come by and learn how to operate at the Elkhart Model Railroad Club. We run an operations session the 3rd Friday of every month.
April 13, 2018 Meeting
Open running Friday night at EMRRC and of course Friday the 13th gremlins showed up and tried to spoil the fun. As mentioned last week EMRRC has had an ongoing problem with JMRI connecting to phones or tablets and recognizing them as throttles. If we have several phones and tablets online as throttles we lose connections and control of the trains. We tried a different computer and a different router and the same problems showed up. EMRRC has been using the latest version of JMRI 4.10. We decided to go back to version 3.10.1 and the problem was solved. We'll keep everyone updated as we investigated this further.
An interesting item that showed up concerning the Nautilus aquarium car owned by the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The Nautilus was a custom built car built in 1929 by the Pullman Car Works in Chicago for about $30,000, the Nautilus was custom fitted with cypress and metal containers for animals and a life-support system of pumps, air compressors, electric refrigeration coils and steam heat for another $10,000 to transport freshwater and marine fishes and invertebrates from cold, temperate and tropical waters. Fully loaded, the car carried 4,500 gallons. It also had modest living quarters for the six-person collecting crew. The Nautilus was so specialized that the manufacturer stated that it was doubtful anything like it had ever been built before. It was retired in 1957. Here is the story of one of it's adventures between the Keys and Chicago. Click here for a link to the Story.Marooned! The Labor Day Hurricane and Shedd’s “Lost Car Crew” | Shedd Aquarium
This hurricane season marks the 75th anniversary of the Labor Day Hurricane, a category 5 storm that is still the most intense ever to strike the United States. It certainly made some memories for the Shedd collecting crew that weathered it in the Florida Keys.
SHEDDAQUARIUM.Org
Several members and visitors showed up to talk and run trains. As always interesting trains ran through the layout. Be sure to check out all the action at our Friday Night Running at the Club page and on our You Tube channel and Facbook page. All of these can be reached by hitting the icons at the top of the page.. Also here is the weekly link to shows and swap meets in the area courtesy of Grand River Valley Railroad Club - Wyoming, MI
April 6, 2018 Meeting
Steve uses dried
NEWS for March 2018
March 30, 2018 Meeting
layout. While a lot of train running going on there was also ballast being laid down in the new industrial area. Check out all the action on our Friday Night Running at the Club page. Also click here for a link to upcoming shows and swap meets in the area. A big one the Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society Spring Swap Meet is April 7, 2018 at the Kalamazoo, MI Fairgrounds.
March 23, 2018 Meeting
It's always interesting to take a look in the tunnels most of the construction goes back to the 1960s. Paul Ewing has been working on refreshing the areas around Mt. Hammes. New rock construction and painting is taking place this week. The Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society Spring Swap Meet will be Saturday, April 7th, 2018 at the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds. The next weekend the Grand River Valley Spring Train Show in Wyoming, MI will be coming up on Saturday 4/14/2018. So be sure to mark your calendars and head for Michigan in April. Click here for a list of shows and swaps meets in the midwest area.
March 16, 2018 Meeting
Several new locos and cars made a showing at the Friday meeting but the first order of the day was our monthly business meeting.
A new member, Steve Randolph was welcomed and several probationary members were voted in as full members. Congrats to all. With their new membership members gain several new benefits including; 24/7 access to the club, use of our private area in Yahoo Groups, a private locker and use of the inside restroom (just kidding on the restroom). Reports on projects show that most are moving along at a good pace and VP Jerry Piatt emphasized the need to keep projects moving and not let projects lay dormant for months.
Some of the projects underway include; the bridge at the river wye, (sounds like a movie title), backdrop buildings in
Schult Yard and general update of the roundhouse area, New industrial area and Twin Branch area maintenance. The clubs library has been databased and will be open for business by next month’s business meeting.
One new item of interest, EMRRC finally has our listing verified on Google Maps and we have a label and listing on Maps now. After the business meeting of course it was time to run trains. Nathan Overmyer had a beautiful Proto 2000 Heritage Virginian 2-8-8-2 follow him home so of course he had to keep it. Check out all the action on our Friday Night at Club page. Also here’s a link to upcoming train shows and swap meets.
March 9, 2018 Meeting
Friday night was running trains night. You could run the club's trains or bring your own and run them.
A number of trains both diesel and steam were running tonight operated by both male and female engineers. One special freight load moved through the system and got a lot of comments; take a look at our Friday Night Running at the Club page for all the action.
Some other announcements includes
the NMRA looking forward to seeing all NMRA members and visitors at our March 17, 2018 noon-2pm meeting at the Western Branch of the St. Joe County Public Library, 611 S Lombardy Dr, South Bend, IN 46619. Don Cope will get everyone involved in creating roof details and signs on buildings. At our February 17 meeting Don brought 3 detailed items that he had built for show-and-tell. Please bring something that you are working on to our next meeting. We're looking forward to seeing you there.
Also a reminder that the Elkhart Model RR Club will not be hosting our annual train show in Nappanee, Indiana on March 17th, 2018. The building was sold and will not be hosting events such as our train show. We looked for an alternate site to have the show and were unable to locate one for the March 17th 2018 date. We are very optimistic that we will have another site for the 3rd Saturday in March of 2019.
On Tuesday nights we had a good turnout for our weekly maintenance session. Work is progressing on the new N-Scale layout as wiring the feeders to the track continues. It looks like we will be running N-Scale again by the end of the month. So if you're into HO or N-Scale come on by on a Friday night. Trestle and bridge work continues as Charlie and Jerry our bridge maintenance crew continues to upgrade trestle and bridges around the layout. The track and ballast crew was hard at work ballasting in the industrial areas and relaying track on the north wall area.
The track and ballast crew was hard at work ballasting in the industrial areas and relaying track on the north wall area.
March 2, 2018 Meeting
One of the benefits of being a member of EMRRC is a private Yahoo channel. We use the channel for private messages, passing club files to members, and as a general repository for any information for the club. Some of our members weren't sure how to use this tool so our clinic for the March 2nd meeting was on how to use the EMRRC Yahoo account. Chuck Hart, President did a presentation on the use and benefits of our private Yahoo account.
The track guards in the tunnels are close to being done. Here's Nathan the guy working hard and crawling around under the layout to install these. Also here's a shot of the guards. To finish up the meeting it was train running time. Lots of big steam and some unusual diesels all made an appearance on the mainlines, be sure to check out all the action on our Friday Night Running at the Club page.
