May 17, 2008 - Meeting Summary

SDSG's May meeting was hosted by Peter Gagnon. Six people attended. The main discussion topics were modular standards for the club and promoting S model railroading in the community. Peter conducted a short demo on his techniques for modeling rocks out of lightweight spackle.

Modular Standards. May's standards discussion focused mainly on conceptual ideas like how to add staging to a modular layout, and different ways to connect the modules to make shapes other than the basic oval. Both Mike Forys and Bob Graves presented their ideas on paper for the group to consider. Among other ideas, Bob suggested replacing one 90-degree module with two 45-degree modules to provide added flexibility and interest to future modular layouts. The discussion of staging tracks lead to a discussion of how to serve the outer mainline from staging if we are operating with different power/control systems on the two mains. A number of good ideas were presented on how to design power and track interlocks to deal with this issue.

Good ideas were also presented on making the legs of the modules easily adjustable to both the standard 42-inch S-mod height and to an SDSG "kid friendly" height. Alex Sibbald's suggestion to use interchangeable bottom blocks to achieve the height adjustment seemed most promising. Also discussed was the form of the club's corner modules. The S-mod standards are flexible in this area, but SDSG will need a standard for overall form, size and mainline radii. Design goals for the corners include meeting minimum radius recommendations for S scale operation on the outer main while keeping the modules compact enough to be transportable in a standard pickup. It was agreed that Mike and Peter would get together and come up with a concrete suggestion by the next meeting.

Alex brought an American Flyer Pacific and transformer along and ran it on Peter's layout built with code 131 SHS track. The engine ran fine through the SHS turnouts and there was no indication of the wheel flanges bottoming on the ties. The consensus view was that this pretty well demonstrated SHS track's compatibility with AF equipment, making it suitable for use on SDSG modules.

Outreach and Promotion. Alex brought a sample of the NASG promotional brochures to the meeting and passed it around. There was general agreement that these should be among the things SDSG makes available at any public event we attend as a club. Additionally, Alex had a flyer announcing The Great Train Expo will sponsor a train show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on December 12/13. This gives us a target to shoot for on our club module construction.

The design of interactive displays based on action accessories got more discussion. Concerns raised were the labor burden we would place on ourselves by using accessories that are finicky in operation or require material replenishment. A detailed discussion of the use of the American Flyer classic Cow On the Track accessory explored some ways to incorporate public interactions without their becoming burdensome for the operating staff. The idea was that the layout operator would control if and when the Cow "wandered" onto the track, and there would be a public side button to allow visitors to "urge" the cow off the track so the train could proceed.

Club Logotype. MIke reported that his friend expected to have a revised logotype completed within about a week of this meeting.

Next I'd like to read the minutes for:

April 2008 June 2008