The East Penn Traction Club

This is my version of a BLOG. I am not using any special software, just posting info on the East Penn Web site. I’ll try to keep this page up to date with happenings from EPTC members. Inclusions in this section will be deleted as they grow old. If you are a member participating in a “Trolley Activity” send me the info at bob@dietrichsfam.com and I will add it if appropriate. I get the final decision. Note that unless otherwise indicated these are activities of individual members and not EPTC sanctioned events.

Bob Dietrich

Current EPTC President

The Meet.

1. We have signed a contract for East Penn Traction Club’s 20th National Trolley Meet. It will be held at The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center At Oaks on May 13 – 14, 2011. Watch for more information on the site at the East Penn Meet page.

Other Info.

Tony Tieuli sent a photo of a Scranton car he just completed that you should see – click here.

Upcoming Events.

January 23 – 24, 2010 – Chantilly VA.

The Hyland family, our guys from the DC area will be taking their N scaly setup and the HO “Olsen” layout to the Worlds Greatest Hobby Show at the Dulles Expo Center.

HO Module set-up is planned for the following events:

Feb 06 – 07, 2010  Great Scale Model Train Shown at Timonium , Maryland

Feb 20 – 21, 2010 Greenberg’s at Valley Forge, Pa

March 06 – 07, 2010 Greenberg’s at Lancaster , Pa.

April 10 – 11, 2010   Great Scale Model Train Show at Timonium, Maryland

August 21 – 22, 2010   Greenberg's at Oaks, Pa.

October 30 – 31, 2010 Great Scale Model Train Show at Timonium, Maryland

Past Events.

December 12 - 13 – Oaks, PA Expo Center.

I have not received a report on this activity, the following was taken from Upcoming Events section. David Gallagher and Tom O’Donnell will be taking Port-a-Pike II and the HO Olsen layout to the Greenberg Show. Port-a-Pike II, built by the late Ed Torpey, is a hands-on layout using the 1918 Hog Island Controller to run the trolley and the electric switch.  A certificate will be given to each student that completes the course.  The Olsen layout is a 3 x 5 foot HO layout that runs three trolleys which run at the same speed automatically without relays.  It is really a single track layout with two passing sidings all running around one city block and though the alley.  The buildings are row houses which are typical of both Philadelphia and Baltimore. 

November 28 - 29 – Bryn Mawr Hospital

The annual EPTC Holiday show in support of Bryn Mawr Hospital’s Community Services Department. This is a community outreach to both get the community involved and, with donations received during the event, support the community. We had an enjoyable, at least for me, weekend. A large O scale set-up contained modules from most module builders and owners. Linn Hammond brought a new module and Chuck Crouse’s modules were new to us. Only the newest HO modules were present. Larry Loyko set up his long narrow modular layout that now includes some remarkable narrow gauge railroad running. Chet Moore brought his modular layout that has a wealth of operating possibilities in about 2 x 8 feet. Everything ran well and seemed to be enjoyed by everyone who visited.

At our monthly meeting we defined some criteria for representing East Penn at train shows and other events. This will be posted on the members-only Business Page shortly.

November 6 – Ed’s House

I won’t normally report on the happenings at EPTC monthly meetings but this week I had requests for web sites of a couple topics we discussed:

Archer makes rivets on decal sheets, these are resin bumps that are applied like decals and painted over.

We discussed the Future of decal application and other miracles. Google “Models Future wax” for more on this one.

Lock-ease for overhead lubrication and electrical pickup was the third topic discussed and liberally applied to Ed’s layout. I don’t have a web page for them and the stuff can be hard to find.

If you are into CAD and want instant (expensive) models from your CAD drawings see the Rapid Prototyping site.

October 23 – 24 - Frederick Mennonite Community

The Mennonite Community hosted Tom O’Donnell for a slow paced couple of days giving the residents and visitors a taste of trolley modeling. Tom said that he had a good time and that everything got set up and ran well.

October 23 – 24 – New Brunswick NJ

The 2009 Mass Transit Modelers Convention and Trolley Meet – New Brunswick, NJ. – I’ll report on my day until I get input from others. I drove to New Brunswick with four other EPTC members arriving around 9:30, just in time for the Meet to open. There was already an enthusiastic crowd on the floor. There was a good mix of paper and model dealers set up. If you couldn’t find a photo of your favorite car it probably didn’t exist. On the model side I even saw a few HO products available. Modular layouts filled about half the hall, mostly O scale. It was good to see Bill Brandt with his Rink Loop layout. There was a layout of EPTC standard modules with a mixture of modules from East Penn, Long Island, and NYC with the elevated. Chet More had his beautiful HO modular layout running and a HO Chicago Elevated layout was also in operation. During my couple of trips around the room I got to say hello to old friends and acquaintances and meet new ones like Tony Tieuli and Charlie Pitts. We stayed at the Meet until around 3:00, leaving just after some East Penn guy won the Best Car judged contest, here is a photo. Check out their web site for information and photos - http://www.nycmodeltransit.org/2009Meet.htm. I’d be glad to add additional information you send to me.

October 2 – Bryn Mawr PA

At our monthly club meeting Tom Buckingham came up from the Washington DC area to present a great program of Scranton, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh slides. For the first two subjects Tom showed slides taken by Bill Bateman, the Pittsburgh slides were taken by Tom. Everyone present enjoyed the program, none more than me, and we expect Tom will be back with another program soon.

September 26 – Eagle PA

The club got some exposure to Philadelphia area NMRA members when Bob Dietrich’s layout/modules were part of the layout tour after a Philadelphia Division meeting. Watch for pictures on their web site - http://www.phillynmra.org/. Tom O’Donnell, Dave Gallagher, and Gary Reighn helped me keep things running for our guests. Thanks guys.

September 19 – 20 – Bryn Mawr PA

On Saturday Sept 19th the module/car, tune up/work session, went very well.  Clothier Auditorium was filled with N, HO, and O scale operation.  Rich Kerr, Ed, Patrick, and Chris Hyland and new member Philip Cook, along with Bruce Harvey and Scott Hastings, all had N scale trolleys running in Easy Track and T Track modules - quite impressive.

  Tom O'Donnell and Larry Loyko were working on 2 new HO modules with a lot of operating capabilities.  These modules are looking very good and should be fully operational soon.  And of course, thank Larry and the Parker Avenue Traction Co. for the donuts from Maria's bakery.  DE-LISH!

  David Gallagher and Rich Crooks set up a small O scale layout where cars and rolling stock from Chuck Crouse, Richard Vible and Rich Crooks were upgraded, tested, and run all day long on Saturday and Sunday. 

  Saturday night was a special treat for Phil (who is from Australia) when Bruce and Scott took him over to the P & W (RT - 100) and rode the N5 car.

  Sunday,  Rich Johnson, Chet Moore and Charlie Long joined us for more fun, conversation, and lunch. A lot of work was accomplished and all agreed this was a Great week end.

September 12 – 13, 2009 – Washington PA

I, Bob Dietrich, and Howard Andrews took modules to PTM in conjunction with their Antique truck show. David Gallagher, Tom O’Donnell, Fr. Bud Brezlin, Gertrude Barringer, and Fred Sauerburger came along offering some very valuable assistance – thanks to all of you. This was the first time for a two-day show; it is usually only held on Sunday. So Saturday was a slow day for us which was a good thing because we had trouble throughout the day. Cars would stall, not run at all, or run into each other and it looked to be a long weekend. But by the end of the day things began to improve and things ran much better on Sunday, it turned out to be a good day. This has been an annual event the past several years, getting the South Hills Junction module as close to home as possible.

I got the Junction module home and set up quickly because Saturday 9/26 I’ll be on the layout tour of the Philadelphia Division of the NMRA.

September 4, 2009 – Bryn Mawr PA

We had several clinics at the September EPTC Meeting. I took 5 minutes to show uses for 3M double sided tape. Stuff similar to that used by laser kit manufacturers can be purchased by the roll. I attached wood walls to a small building with a wood core.

Larry Loyko explained his switch-machine control panel that used two small power supplies and a common ground.

Charlie Long brought along an HO Peter Witt with the sound system available from Fred Miller. The DCC controlled car was intriguing.

Finally John V. Gallagher showed how he added power to an O scale Birney. He did a great job of hiding wiring within the car making use of Vero Boards (PC boards with uniformly spaced holes in separated rows). John plans on formalizing his clinic and hopefully he will present it at the 2011 Meet. The Vero boards are available at http://www.futurlec.com/ProtoBoards.shtml.

August 15, 2009 – Oaks PA

Larry Loyko and Chet Moore set up modules at the Greenberg Show this weekend. Tom O’Donnell is mourning the death of his wife and will not be bringing his modules.

August 15, 2009 – Orbisonia PA

Dave Gallagher, Chuck Crouse, and Rich Crooks set up O Scale modules at Railways to Yesteryear. Here is David’s report:

East Penn Traction Club “O” Scale Modules and Ed Torpey’s Port-a-Pike 2 were setup in the Railways to Yesterday Shop to serve as part of RTY’s contribution to Community Day on August 15^th 2009. The “O” scale layout featured both street and private right-of-way running. The street modules consisted of Frankford Terminal and a loop and straight module built by Donald Wright Sr. The private right-of-way modules were Rich Crook’s Lou Rakus modules and Chuck Crouse’s module with a grade crossing and animals.

The crew rotated service to both Port-a-Pike 2 instruction followed up with a “Certificate of Proficiency” and maintaining revenue service on the O scale routes. In addition to the crew that brought the modules, setup, running and take down assistance was also provided by Joel Salomon, Matt Nawn and some of RTY’s younger members. The younger members were also taking part in a Civil War re-enactment camp that was setup only a few feet away from the museum trolley line.

The museum organized the day so that each trolley trip would finish the ride with a trip to the car barn and then the shop. This kept the layout attendance constant all day without being overcrowded. The Civil War group added a new dimension to running model trolley each and every time they fired the cannon. This was especially true the first time it was fired as they never warned us that it would fire, but at the day progress, Rich Crooks learned to keep an eye on it.

At the end of the day, we packed up the layout and Joel made sure we were treated to a trolley ride on Johnstown 355.

View some photos of the day.

July 30, 2009 – Philadelphia PA.

Several club members Bob Dietrich, Rich Allman, and Charlie Long had the opportunity to evaluate the new HO Bowser standee-window PCC. This car will be sold with a plastic floor in San Francisco gift shops. A powered version will also be available to trolley modelers from Custom Traxx. The powered version is designed for two-rail operation and will have plastic trolley poles. It is a simple procedure to add a pole and a switch inside the car allows power to be taken from the pole. The car comes with a printed circuit board to support a NMRA DCC socket and numerous LED's for lighting.  Although the board may need some modification and/or relocation to allow interior detail and for all of the lights to operate on DC as well as DCC

The car we evaluated arrived with a trolley pole already installed but otherwise was right out-of-the-box. We had to add a half ounce of weight for the car to negotiate the 4% grade on Rich’s layout but other than that it performed flawlessly for over an hour. This car appears to be an excellent model of the PCCs that currently ply the streets of San Francisco and it will be an excellent starting point for a variety of post-war PCC cars.

July 17 -19, 2009 – Scranton PA.

As the EPTC summer activity several members set up modules at the Lackawanna Trolley Museum at Steamtown in conjunction with ECTMA. I, Bob Dietrich, had my HO South Hills Junction modules with an additional loop supplied by Tom O’Donnell. Dave Gairo, David Gallagher, and Rich Crooks brought O Scale modules. The museum made a nice bright location available to us is the same bay as P&W car 46. The only problem was the lack of air conditioning causing some operational problems and discomfort at time. There was a bit of a communication problem in that ECTMA led us to believe that we could stay late at the museum to work on the modules and ride the operating trolley car. This did not pan out as we had to leave the grounds at 5:00 PM except on Sunday when we got additional time to break down.

Public turnout was somewhat disappointing, especially on a weekend of free admission to Steamtown. We did enjoy the camaraderie of several members who came to observe and help out.

June 17 - 20, 2009 – Towson MD.

Two weeks after the EPTC National Convention, David Gallagher, Bob Kelly and I (Rich Crooks) set up the O scale modules for the O Scale National Convention in Towson, Md.  Bob Deitrich assisted with setup on Wednesday, June 17th, on the 2nd floor of the Student Union Bldg where the convention was held.

  Rich Randall, EPTC Member, and Chairman of the convention, reserved space for our layout right behind the registration table so the East Penn layout was the first thing attendees saw upon entering the convention.  This turned out to be very good PR for the Club as many attendees returned to the layout and stayed for long periods of time.

  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, were very enjoyable days spent with members Charlie Long, Ed Skuchas, Charlie and Don Grant, Charlie Grant JR, and Reggie Brown who brought many varieties of cars to run, or just came out to support the Club.  Since David brought a cooler full of lunch meats, drinks, etc., plus many other assorted "goodies" we all got to have lunch together, while the cars and modules performed "flawlessly."  Dinner was even more enjoyable as the members got to eat together at some of the local Diners in Towson.

   Although East Penn Member participation was very small, it was a "Great" time had by All !

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