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PREFACE TO MRR CLUB HISTORY.......
In the winter of 1979 Rich Steiner had a dream to have a Model Railroad display as a Christmas treat for the young and old alike. Remembering his boyhood days, when at Christmas, his parents would take him and his sister to Dietz Hardware on Main Street in Clarion, to see Santa Clause and watch John's Lionel layout, which was in the back of the store. It was a very impressive layout with working accessories and most everything that Lionel had on the market. In the later years the L&R Store on Main Street in Clarion also had a similar event using American Flier (S Gauge). As the years went by these stores no longer had the displays. This was the reason for Rich to restart this Tradition that Clarion once had.
The following year (1980) after much discussion with a friend, Jake Beary the project went into planning. As they approached the Christmas of 1981, the dream was becoming a reality. The Knights of Columbus local had agreed to sponsor this project, with the donations going to the new Clarion Hospital Children’s ward. The layouts were a 4x8 ft HO with a single main line, one passing track, a siding and very little scenery. A 4x8 ft Lionel layout borrowed from one of Rich's friends Stan Dolby. The Lionel was a fairly new set (1968); it too had very little scenery. Jake Beary was asked to set this layout up which he did. A 2x2 ft N scale was also on display. Movies were also shown. The displays were located at the Clarion Mall in an unoccupied store beside First Seneca Bank. During the first few days of the show, Jerry Libis came in and asked if Rich would like to buy a portable HO layout? Or if he could display it at the Show and put a For Sale Sign on it. Permission was given to set it up without the Sign. Later the Club bought the 4x6 ft layout and stripped it for the larger layout. Not many people came in to see the trains or watch the Movies, even though it was advertised in the Clarion News. Although two good things did come from the show, the K of C had a good youth project, and Rich met Dr. Kevin Moore.
Two weeks before the show was to take place Kevin called Rich, to see if there would be any other modeler in the area that would be interested in starting a Club. This phone call went on for two hours. At the show Rich met Jeanie Moore, Kevin’s wife, who assured Rich that Kevin wanted to get together with him and discuss the matter, and have some fun on Rich's home layout the Miola Central.
The 1982 show saw lots of improvements the most major was that of a new location. The show would be at the Clarion Mall same as 1981 but it would be in the space beside the Walden Book store. This gave Rich an outside door to the parking lot to bring the dismantled layouts from home without having to go though the Mall. The layouts were also improved, the HO was now 8x8 ft with a double track main line, a passing siding and 3 spur tracks much detail went into the scenery. Kevin lent several buildings, and a tree by tree "planting" was done (over 35 hours to do) special lights were installed to show off the display. This was done so that movies could be shown. The movies shown were cartoons, a MRR movie from Model Railroader, and Johnny Garneau Sr. also lent them some movies. Rich even bought some new rolling stock and lettered the coal cars with the LEF&C logo. One of the workers (Clint Ashbough) was so impressed, that he brought in his LEF&C switcher and caboose for the train. Everyone enjoyed this train very much and wanted to know how to get one.
The Lionel was 4x16 ft. Jake hauled in his home layout, that was set up for his boys in the late "40s" and early "50s". Much work had to be done in order to get the layout in running shape. Jake ran out of time and the layout did not operate until after Christmas. But there was much interest in the layout even though it wasn't in operation. To most people it brought back many memories of when they had a toy train set up for their kids. This was some of the tradition that Rich had hoped to rekindle.
The 2x2 N scale did not change.
During the show another 4x8 was set up for extra running with only half of the board (2X8) being shown. It was set up as an old run down farm.
Out in the hall a large scale train was set up, so that the little kids could ride. All the Electrical hook up was provided by Steiner Electric, over 600 feet of 100 amp cable was needed for the project.
A sign up sheet was available for those persons interested in starting a Club. Then Kevin got in touch with those persons after the Show (Jan.)
Jan. 11, 1983 with 28 people present, the Clarion Model R.R. Club began. What had been one person’s dream in 1979 became reality in a few short years.
Originally wrote by Rich Steiner, submitted and edited by Robert Hartle
CLARION MODEL RAILROAD CLUB HISTORY
JANUARY 1983
saw the beginnings of a full fledged Model RR Club. A name for the Club was selected ( CLARION AREA MODEL RAILROAD CLUB & HISTORICAL SOC. ). The first Club officers elected were, President Rich Steiner, E. L. (Lumpy) Sommer, Secretary, Treasure Larry Curran. The type of layout for a 15x30 HO layout was in operation. It consisted of two loops of track on two different levels.
DECEMBER 1983
The Lionel layout was set up on the 17th of December 1983 and it was operating for the Christmas show. The size of the layout was (46x14). It could operate 2 trains on separate loops at the same time.
JANUARY 1984
The Club got the ball rolling. First the meeting nights were changed to Thursday from Wednesday, and the meetings would be held every Thursday of the month. The reasoning behind this was that a member might not be able to attend a meeting on a specific week of the month, but if the meetings were every week then they would have a chance to attend at least one of them.
The officers from the previous year were retained. Membership was at 12 members. The dues were set at $12.00/year or $14.00 with a newsletter.
FEBRUARY 1984
An expansion project was undertaken and the layout was expanded to 70x15. The main lines totaled about (5) scale miles.
MARCH 1984
The N Scale made it's appearance. The layout size was 21x5ft. That's a lot of N scale!!.
APRIL 1984
The Easter Show was the clubs first non Christmas time show and it went very well. One of the problems that we were confronted with was the lack of promotion. Most of the people that came into the Club didn't know that we were there, and a lot of them ask if this was a permanent setup.
MAY/SEPTEMBER 1984
Was spent getting the track electric turnouts and wiring ready for the ALF Show in October.
OCTOBER 1984
This was the clubs first Autumn Leaf Show. A lot of people saw the layouts at this time. This was the best show the Club had up to this date.
NOVEMBER 1984
On November 23, the day after Thanksgiving, the Club held a special showing of the layouts. It was sort of a preview of the up coming 4th Annual Christmas Show. Channel 5 (TV) was at the Club the last meeting night of the month. It was for the promotion of the Christmas show. Robert Hartle was appointed as the new Secretary, Larry Curran still remained the Treasurer. From this point on the last night of the month would be an Operations Night. The purpose of this was to get familiar with the operation of the trains and to have some plain old FUN.
DECEMBER 1984
The Lionel had its upper level operating. The HO had more of its scenery done. The new 10 track East Yard was getting started. We had the cardboard up for the backdrop. It hadn't been painted yet. Total membership hours for the 1984 year was 2,500.
JANUARY 1985
The Annual Business meeting was held on the 17. The Rules & Regulations were approved as read. Plans were begun for the ALF Show in Oct. The officers from the previous year were retained. The HO got a 5 track hidden yard, and the switch back bought more land.
FEBRUARY 1985
The total of all existing HO track on the layout figures out to about 15 Scale miles. The N Scale layout was torn down and a 4x8 layout started. The Club joined the NMRA at this time.
MARCH 1985
The Club was busy preparing for the up and coming Easter Show. The Show was the 28 ‑ 29 ‑ 30 of March and the 4 ‑ 5 ‑ 6 of April.
APRIL 1985
The Brookville Newspaper did a write up on the Club, and then the Clarion Paper did an interview on the 25th.
MAY/JUNE 1985
The time was spent working on the hill above PINE CITY JCT. A lot of hand carved plaster work was done. They now had a camp site and a Fire tower. The road leading to it had a hand made guard rail with individually drilled posts. Paul Mowry, Bill Keatley and Bob Mellon were responsible for the new additions.
JULY 1985
The July 4th Show had a good turnout. The layouts were open the 4, 5, 6. The HO layout received some scratch built buildings, and hand carved bridges. This was the work of Steve Knight & Barry Chandler.
AUGUST 1985
The work continued on the hill above Pine City JCT, and at Ashwood Station. Hidden valley was completely electrified, which made it a little easier to operate the trains.
SEPTEMBER 1985
The N Scale had a lot of new buildings installed, and the track was ballasted. The LIONEL was getting ready for ALF by installing some more wire jumpers. The HO was getting some new trees installed near Tunnel 2. This was a result of Mike & Sandy Barr. They were our new detail members. A 10 track yard at Union town, was installed and most all of the switch machines were installed on the HO layout.
OCTOBER 1985
The new yard was wired for the ALF Show by Robert Hartle. He spent the week before the show making the control panel at home, then he spent 3 days before the show was to open, wiring the panel to the layout. There were some very exciting moments during the show learning the new panel operations. ALF was our best show ever for attendance. After the ALF Show all the members started working on the LIONEL layout for the Christmas Show. The Scenery was put in. The track work was revised and the wiring was up graded to handle the ever increasing loads being imposed on it. A lot of the operating accessories were installed.
The Club received a letter wanting a story on the LIONEL layout and pictures for a national magazine. This made everyone more excited that the Club had a chance to be in a national magazine. The work progressed steadily.
NOVEMBER 1985
The work continued on the LIONEL layout. During the month the Club gave tours of the layout, on the Thursday meeting nights to the CUB SCOUTS PAK 58. On the 7th the Club hosted County Commissioner Keith Martin, at a ceremony recognizing November as National Model Railroad Month, the Clarion newspaper was on hand for the occasion. The Club Show on the 29, which is the official beginning of the Christmas Shopping season, was very successful. The LIONEL was semi‑operational.
DECEMBER 1985
The Lionel layout was operational for the Christmas Show. The HO hadn't been changed so it worked well also. The weather was a limiting factor this year, our attendance was down from last year.
JANUARY 1986
The Club was going into its 3rd year, we are at the 40 member mark. Total Club hours logged in 1985 was a tad less than 3,000 hrs. The Annual Business meeting was held on Jan 16. Plans were set up for the Scenery & Operations Committee. The Club was informed that it was on the NMRA Division. 2 layout tour in October. The Club members were assessed a 5 car HO assessment. This was to aid the clubs rolling stock. The Club also finally voted on a new LOGO. This would be the official LOGO seen on all the Clubs correspondence. The officers for 1986 were retained from the previous year.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 1986
The Club was in preparation for the up coming Easter Show. The HO had a new Branch line added at PINE CITY JCT, a new control panel and the Saw Mill was moved. The West Yard control panel was moved above the layout and the legs under the table were moved to allow the use of a chair with casters, to operate the yard. This was also the beginning of the Walkaround Memory Throttles. The Lionel had the upper level all laid with Gargraves track. The new area was semi operational.
APRIL/MAY 1986
The Easter Show went well, the layouts operated better than ever. The Membership was now at 45. The train shows usually get some new members. The NMRA division 2 held their monthly meeting at the Club MAY 18. There were about 40 people attending. A clinic on weathering was presented by one of the Pittsburgh members.
Most of the Memory throttles were installed by this time. The Operations nights were becoming a big success. There were still a few bugs to be worked out with the wiring & control.
About this time Bob Hartle came up with a plan to change the complete Clubroom. This would mean tear down the layouts and rebuild them, the HO in an around the wall layout, the Lionel layout into an island layout. This had a very big reaction with the Club membership. At first it was very negative, but as the membership started thinking about it they could see that this would be the only way for the Club to continue to grow. The main problem was that during operations the operator couldn't follow the train. The wiring was getting totally confused even for the person who designed it.
The Club Newsletter at this time contained its first seminar paper describing the operation of the layout and the use of the Memory Throttles. The MAY/JUNE newsletter was our biggest to date with 10 pages of news and information. The Club also wrote a letter to AAA to inquire about getting listed in the AAA Tour Book.
JUNE/JULY 1986
The Fourth of July Show was very slow. The Club membership turnout wasn't good at all, so the board decided to cancel the show for next year. It was also decided that we would have operations night, every night throughout JULY & AUGUST to hopefully get the membership orientated to the operations and the operation of the layout during a show.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1986
The operations went well but there was a lack of membership due in part to the summer weather and with the controversy with the changing of the layouts. We picked up 3 new members and started getting things in order for ALF. The computer was also installed and Lumpy was busy getting the Lionel inventory on disk. Rich started using the Word processor with regularity and it seemed that he was always at the keyboard. Bill Keatley was busy trying to get the GLO rewired. He had replaced all of the turnouts with nickel silver and readjusting the track for smoother operation. Rich had talked to the Principal of Union High School and they were willing to paint the backdrop after the ALF Show. The Club also produced its new version of the Newsletter. Bob Hartle had a new program THE NEWSROOM and used it to do the JULY/AUGUST issue. It contained several departments like the Electronics corner, Superintendents Report, Events, Editorial, Special Report and The usual Scales news. Also planned in future issues would be The Weathering Report, The Scenery Scene. It was hoped that the membership would get more involved with the newsletter by contributing articles.
OCTOBER 1986
New this year for ALF, the Club had a raffle. Jim Myers donated an N-scale layout. This venture brought in some much needed working revenue. Because the weather cooperated, and with the help of the Club members, ALF Show was a very big success.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1986
The Club had meeting on the 13th of November. There was much discussion about the changing of the layouts. (Pro & Con) It was a unanimous vote FOR the changing of the layouts and would start after Jan 15th. The Students of Union high School came in on Nov. 18, 19 and painted the backdrop behind the Lionel layout, a total of 10 students were there to do the project. There were pictures of the project in the Clarion News. The Club added 3 new members to its roster.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1987
The Annual Business meeting was held on Jan 15th and was very short, and the rest of the evening was used to operate the layout, as this was the last that the old layout would be running. The officers from the previous year were retained and the new Board Members were installed, they were Al Crate, Larry Boorech, Aric Hartle, Judy Crate, Carl Callenburg, Kathy Sommer. Previous Board Members retained for the year were Bill Keatley, Paul Mowry, Lance Rickard, Kent Mays.
The total Club hours logged were 4,280 for the previous year, this brings the grand total hours to 9,969, just shy of the 10,000 mark that the Club was shooting for. There was also a layout name change to the IRS which is The INTERSTATE RAIL SYSTEM. This would be similar to the interstate highway system. There were 6 new members added to the Club roster in January.
The HO layout was gone in 2 weeks and the new tables were being erected. The members were to be congratulated on the cooperation that they displayed in the removal of the old layout. The new Glenside yard area has a 4 track passenger terminal planned and there is also an engine facility which is large enough to handle all of the traffic on the new mainline.
The Lionel layout also was busy rebuilding the Timberlin area. The bench work was rebuilt to the new modular style, the track work was installed and the new scenery was started.
MARCH/APRIL 1987
The Easter show (APR 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18) was a success, but there were some tense moments, like 5 minutes before the doors opened for the first night (Apr 9) the first train made its complete run around the new layout. As the 2nd week of the show came, the layout was working much better and as the operators became more familiar with the workings of the panels the operations smoothed out. The new dispatch panel was installed in the Bullpen, its purpose is to observe the operations and coordinate the movements of the trains during operations. The sensors were installed in the tracks and the lights on the panel would display the movements of the trains. All operators would call the dispatch for instructions on train movements.
The Lionel layout was operational for the Easter show and more scenery was added. The trees were being made out of Pepper plants and covered with weeds and sprayed with green paint, they made very convincing looking trees.
The N scale layout was not operational at this time. There was talk of getting rid of it, if there wasn't any thing done with it by the time the Lionel layout was to be moved. The Club also had some scenic materials for sale and they also sold some of the old Club equipment that was no longer needed. This helped with the much needed money for the rebuilding process.
The Club had a special open house for the IU6 kids on Apr 26.And one of the Lionel members Leonard Hughs passed away. He had a large collection of Lionel on the Club layout for several years. Also new this year the Club was giving out special fliers that gave a special discount to persons subscribing to Model Railroader Magazine, this would give the Club some money for each subscription by using this special form.
MAY/JUNE 1987
The Club was getting ready for the ALF show, which was only 90 days away. Some of the members made a visit to the Jamestown, NY. layout and did some operations. This got the Club on the ball with its own operations. The Club rolling stock was converted to Kadee couplers and inventoried. Then there were card order cards made for all of the rolling stock, to be used in the operations. The Club had a chance to make a video of the new layout in June. This was just a quick shooting and the Club members didn't have time to do any special work in advance.
The Lionel was busy changing some wiring and testing of the new track work. The scenery was growing with some buildings being installed and the roads being paved.
JULY/AUGUST 1987
All of the old HO layout was removed. The Club had come full circle. With the removal of this last bit of the old layout the Club had embarked in its new direction. The old Union town yard was used until the Easter Show was over, this was to conserve the time needed to get the layout operational after the initial rebuilding was started.
The new tables were installed and the yard tracks were put down. The rebuilding of the loop now called Kelly was done and the tables set up on the far side of the rear door. The new area, would consist of a return loop and a siding, this new area was called Ford City. The wiring of the new Union town Yard was being done. The scenery was being put in at Newport and the IN/OUT loads track was installed between Union town and Newport. There was another IN/OUT loads track installed between Newport and Glenside Yard.
The N Scale layout made some progress with the old wiring being removed and some of the scenery being redone. This sure made an improvement on the looks of the layout
AUGUST 1987
The Club also embarked on the long talked about idea of getting incorporated. The process was started in August and as of AUGUST 16, 1987 the Clarion Model Railroad Club was incorporated. The next project was to get the Tax exempt status from the IRS.
The Club newsletter had been running classifieds in the newsletter for the past few issues, but very few of the other Club members were contributing any articles. This would be an issue to be worked on in the New Year. The Club Picnic was held at the Steiner=s residence on Aug 15, the turnout was better than any of the previous years, there was a slide show presented by Bob Hartle with some of the his slides taken at Kinzua bridge. This was about the K & K RR having its first commercial excursion across the bridge, and Kevin Moore presented some of his slides also. The Club voted on the new Constitution for the Club and some important changes in the way that the Club would handle equipment of former members and any problems with the conduct of the members.
The total Club membership was at 38 members.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ‑ 87 ‑ The big push was to get the HO operational by the end of Sept, as this was the beginning of the ALF Show. The Union town yard track work was nearly complete, and the wiring was well under way. The signals were installed on the layout but not yet operational. The South Greensburg, Kelly area was wired but the turnouts in the whole area were yet to operate.
The ALF Show was on Sep 27, Oct 1, 2, 3, and 4. The Club was selling Scenery materials again. New this time was the selling of Athearn Car kits. The members of the Club were not to enthused about the idea of selling the junk HO cars that had been sold at the Easter Show, so this was the reason for the selling of the better cars.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1987
The Thanksgiving Show was on Nov 27, 28, and 29. The Christmas Show was on Dec 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, and 19. There was one week between the Thanksgiving Show and the Christmas Show that the Club was not open. The membership had discussed the idea of opening the Club show for a full month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but this would depend on the number of members willing to come in and operate the layouts during the Holidays. This will get some discussion in the New Year.
The Club received $5.00 for the year from the special subscription offer by Model Railroader Magazine. The Club also applied for the Walthers Showmanship award, which is a special car that is presented to a Club for promoting the Hobby of Model Railroading during that year. The Showmanship Award Car for 1986 arrived just before the Christmas Show. It was on display at the ticket booth during the Show. Also new this show was an actual count of all visitors to the show and there were just under 1000 people that viewed the Layouts during the two weeks before Christmas.
The Club had acquired headsets for use during the show. They would allow the dispatch to talk with an operator at Glenside, to coordinate the movement of trains up and down the ramp area on the Huntsville Secondary Track. Before the use of headsets there would usually have two trains running on the Main Line. With the headsets there could be six to nine complete trains moving on the layout. The viewing public could usually see three trains moving on the main layout with three to six trains being staged, ready to move out on the Mainline.
The total hours for the year was 4351 and the total accumulated Club Hours were 14,319. The total estimated visitors that had viewed the Layouts, from its beginning in 1983, was over 20,000. This was without any major Promotion by the Club.
CLARION CLUB HISTORY – Pt 6
JANUARY 1988
The Club had it's Annual meeting on the 14th. The existing Officers were re‑elected. The main topic of discussion was the tear down of the Lionel. This was to begin after the Easter Show. Work continued on the HO layout, with Bill Keatley working on the GLO Branch line.
FEBRUARY 1988
There was a discussion to begin selling Club T-shirts, Hats and Mugs to raise money for our building fund. The plans for the Lionel move were also continuing.
MARCH 1988
The preparations for the Easter Show were in full swing. The selling of the Athearn cars and Engines continued and the Club also had electronic kits available. These kits included Highway Crossing Flashers, Signals, and Flashing Modules for use with animation.
The HO layout had some animation installed at Newport to show the guests what was available. A tow truck had a flashing warning light, the Sheriff's car had the four‑ways going as well as the flashers on the top of the car, an ambulance was leaving the scene and the red flashers on the back were blinking as was the top red flashers. A water tower in town had a red warning light blinking on top to warn low flying airplanes.
The go ahead was given to get the Club T-shirts and Hats. The Logo was discussed and it was decided to include the original Club Logo, which was the silhouette of an engine that is displayed on the front wall of the room in the Mall. It also had the name of the Club written above the engine in a semi circle, with the year below and to the left and INC. on the right. There were two colors of T-shirts available, a dark blue with a white Logo, which was only available to the membership, and a light blue similar to the color on the front wall, and this had a black Logo. The Hats only came in the light blue, and they were the winter type.
APRIL 1988
The Easter Show was held on March 24, 25, 26, 31, April 01, 02. It was the best Easter Show that the Club ever had. The Easter Shows were not one of the best shows because every one is thinking of spring instead of cold weather, but this was a nice surprise. The Club received its second Showmanship Award Car from Walthers about a week after the show; this was for the year 1987.
After the Show the Lionel layout was dismantled in very short order. It was gone in two meeting nights. The tables had been cut out at one of the member’s house, and then brought to the Club to be assembled as needed. The main assembly of the new layout was done before the end of the month. The N Scale layout was moved to the rear of the room. Al Morrison was the first member of the new year to join the Club. The Club T-shirts and Hats arrived during the month, it was decided to get some summer Hats to sell at the NMRA meeting the following month.
The Library was put in order as the Club got some more book holders, this allowed the books to be grouped into years. The Club is trying to have two complete years of any of the popular magazines to make it easier for the Club members to have access to the magazines. Any member could sign out the magazines, and they will just take a whole year folder instead of a single issue. The idea behind this is to keep the magazines in the folder for transportation, therefore keeping them from getting soiled.
MAY 1988
With the start of May the Club was into its Rail Fanning month. Three of its members, Rich Steiner, Garry Hrinda and Bob Hartle, made a trip to HorseShoe Curve on the 6th. They also stopped at Bill Drummonds layout to operate. His layout is located in Punxsutawney. On the 16th Bob Hartle and Lumpy Sommer made a trip to Akron OH. to visit the Right‑of‑Way Industries to acquire the needed turnouts and track for the Lionel layout. They were just getting the last of their Christmas orders filled and were all out of the items that were needed. They did get to see the 30 x 60 ft Lionel layout of the owner and it displayed all of the company’s products on it.
On the 21st, 8 members of the Club, Al & Judy Crate, Garry Hrinda, Steve Waltman, Bill Keatley, Rich Steiner, Bob & Aric Hartle made a trip to Jamestown, NY. to visit some layouts and do a little operations on Dave Eggleston's HO layout. The Club hosted the NMRA Division II meeting on the 22nd. The agenda included the regular NMRA meeting, the Bring & Brag, 2 videos, Sandwiches & Snacks. There were 38 people in attendance.
The Lionel layout had the rest of the main tables assembled before the NMRA meeting. The HO layout was gotten ready for the NMRA meeting, as it had not been run since the Easter Show and there was a lot of dirt all over it. The N Scale layout got the shelves built under it and casters installed. This made it easier to move the Layout, when the back of the room was to be used for meetings, and it also got some of the extra pieces and parts out from under the other layouts and into some sort of organization. The track had arrived and the last of the ramps was installed on the Lionel layout by the last meeting night of the month. A call was received on the 27th that all of the turnouts were ready to be picked up from Right‑of‑Way Ind.
JUNE 1988
On the 11th Rich Steiner, Bob Hartle and Larry Curran were a Titusville, Pa. helping Dr. Kevin Moore get the last remaining side of his caboose ready for paint. Rich and Bob had most of the side painted by 3:00 o'clock and they then went for a ride on the train (O C & T RR) Bob had his Video Camera along and he took some video of the ride and of the caboose. Larry came just after the train left and he helped finish up the job.
The Lionel track work got under way this month with the end loops getting installed and some of the roadbed was glued down by the 17th.
On the 19 the Club attended it's first Flea market as a vendor, at Brookville, Pa. There were only 5 vendors there besides us and the room was very small. They did not have a sign out in front of the building to even let the attendees know that this was the place. The people that did find the place, did stop at the Club table and talk with us, again most did not know that there was a Model RR Club in the area. On display the Club had electronic kits, Athearn car kits, along with the Plaster Castings and Scenery materials.
On the 24th Rich Steiner attended the NMRA Regional Convention at Akron Ohio. This was the first convention that he had attended and he made every minute count. He attended various clinics on scratch building structures, train movements on the Ohio Southern, early day coal mines, distinctive rolling stock and laying ballast with a live demonstration. On Sunday Bob Hartle joined Rich and they went on the self-guided layout tours. They visited about 11 of the layouts out of the 25 that were available.
JULY 1988
The Club held it's Annual Picnic on the 16th. This year it was at Bob Hartle's house and the weather was HOT! HOT! HOT! It was well over 100 degrees. The first Fiscal meeting was held at the same time. At the meeting ten members decided to have a Flea market at the Mall in April. In this months Newsletter was a Trivia Contest form, which would run till the end of the year.
The HO Hand held Throttles had Velcro put on them and new hangers made, this would eliminate the old steel hangers that someone could easily get hurt on. The Lionel was making progress with the track lying. Every section of the new track that was put down was getting a drop wire in each rail. Then all of these would be tied together with the feed wires that are #14 and #12 gauge house wire, this should take care of any power drops. On the 21st at 9:10pm History was made as a steam engine and caboose made its first run on the lower loop.
The first Operations Sunday for the HO was held on the 31st. Only 3 members attended. A new record was set of 60 cars operating on the layout breaking the old record of 56 set back in April.
The N Scale Layout was rebuilt for the fourth time. This time the track work was done with great precision and care. Each joint was soldered and aligned properly. The track plan was a folded dog bone type and when the main line was finished, the trains would go around it backwards without derailing. A few sidings and a passing track were installed. A backdrop was being planned and should be in by ALF Show.
AUGUST 1988
The Lionel had run out of the new track and was using up its entire stock of old Gargraves track. It was decided to use some of the old Lionel track to connect the upper level together temporarily till after the ALF Show, so that the upper level could be used. The Backdrop was installed and it was over six feet high and it runs about 40ft long. The HO again held an Operations Sunday on the 28th.
This month the Club published a special edition of the News Letter. There was so much that was going on with the Fiscal Meeting and the NMRA Convention that it was decided to put out the extra issue. The July/August issue was printed at the end of June so that the Picnic announcement and map could be available to the membership before the picnic. This left too much to report on for the next issue that would be out in September, which is the ALF issue, that an extra was needed.
On the 14th the Club made a trip on the K & K RR. We left Knox, Pa. and headed for Marienville, Pa. The Club was riding in a Rail Speeder owned by Larry Curran. There was also a wagon that was built which would carry about 8 people. Seven members made this trip, Rich Steiner, Bob Hartle, Kent Mays, Steve Waltman, Kevin Moore, Jake Beary and Larry Curran. They departed at 7:30am. and arrived at Crown, Pa. at 12:30pm. It was decided to return to Knox without trying to complete the trip as the track was getting progressively worse and the track conditions would keep the speed down and it would make it very late getting back to Knox. There were three derailments that had happened during the trip, because of the poor track. They had traveled about 23.5 miles and there was still about 11 miles to go. Three of the members had Video cameras along and there was about 5.5 hours of film taken. It was hoped that a Video would be made about the trip and be available for sale. It was talked about going on a trip on the L E F & C RR in the near future (Before Winter).
About this time Rich Steiner had been talking with some of the local businessmen and they had expressed an interest in developing a tourist attraction. The idea of a railroad tourist line was discussed. The Conrail Secondary between Piney Creek and the Ohio border was abandoned and it was given some thought, only a 7 mile section at the end that was located in Clarion County was being considered. The problem was that the line was being scrapped and the wheels would have to be put in motion very soon if it was to be saved from the scrapper.
SEPTEMBER 1988
The Lionel layout was starting to take shape. The control panel was installed and the track switches were connected to the track. The wiring to the various track sections were made, but the Scotch Lok connectors were in very short supply, so not every section of the track was tied into the main wire feeds. The long second level connection was installed and the start of the scenery was begun. An area two feet wide by six feet long was made with the scenery extending all the way to the floor. The table height at this point was 46 inches
On Saturday the 3rd Larry Curran and Bob Hartle started to do a video of the planned trackage that the investor group was interested in. This continued on the 10th but it was then taken of the old B & O route that the K & K RR owned. The area that was of interest was from Clarion JCT. to Knox, Pa. This included the most scenic area as it included a curved trestle and some steep grades; it also interchanged with the Conrail Secondary, which was the other section of track that was being looked into.
The Newsletter talked about the K&K RR trip and the video that was taken, also that the Club was planning to have seminars in the coming months. On the 15th the Club had it's first formal meeting to get the Flea Market underway. This was planned for Apr. 7 & 8 of '89.
On the 27th of Sept. Rich Steiner (Pres.) informed Robert Hartle (Sec.) that the Club would have to vacate the room at the Mall by the 1st of Nov 1988. This was quite a shock, by the 29th most of the membership were called and told about a special meeting that night. When the membership was told about the move, there was a period of silence. The question was asked, "Do you still want a Club?" It had to be asked twice before there was an answer, which was YES! The next order of business was that the Club would have to find a place to store the Layouts until a new place could be found. Also that anything that was not needed for the ALF Show should be taken to the various members houses to be stored. The Mall did allow the Club to have the ALF Show.
OCTOBER 1988
The newsletter was mailed on the 3rd and it contained information about the ALF Show (w/work Schedule) and all the information about the move. At that time Steve Knight had found a place to store the Layouts in an old barn near Emlenton, for $10/month. It was also scheduled that the meetings after Nov. 1 would take place at a member’s house; the first would be Rich Steiner's.
Bob Hartle continued to work on the Lionel trying to get the track in working order for the Show. Lumpy Sommer was back from his trips with the Lionel Trailer and set out the have some of the turnouts working. The scenery was stopped and the only other things that were done were to get the HO Layout operational for the Show. The N Scale layout was in good working order and for the first time it would operate a train without constant attention. The Club also received the N Scale Engine from LIFELIKE; it got tested during the Show. The show was the best that the Club had ever had, with over 1100 people in to view the Layouts. Too bad that it would be the last that many people would get to see them.
Around the 3rd, Rich Steiner had found a place to move the Club. It was as large as the room that the Club now occupied and it also was FREE. Now the bad news, it was located on the third floor in Brookville. The news was brought up at the Meeting on the 6th. It had mixed feelings, the members that were in Brookville said YES, and the Members from the Knox area said KEEP LOOKING. But from the reality stand point; there was no other choice. If the Club stored the Layouts, the Membership would not stay together very long, and if it moved, there would be a loss of attendance from the long distance members. The membership decided to look into the Brookville area and see what it might have to offer. After the Show (Sunday Night Oct. 16) the members started to dismantle the layouts and pack the equipment. Quite a few loads were taken to several of the member’s homes that night. In the next few days it was decided to move to Brookville and set up the layouts there. Brookville had tried to get the Train display that Bual Planetarium displays each year, a few years back and they would not even consider it, but they sounded very enthusiastic about the Club wanting to move to the area. The reaction, by the members, to this move was mixed and as anticipated there was a loss of members from the Knox area (4). But the Club had found that there were potential members from the Brookville area yet to be asked.
The 19th was set as the first tear down of the Layouts, but Lumpy had been hard at work that day and most of the Lionel track and turnouts were removed by the time the members came that night. On the 20th the first load of tables were removed from the Mall. About six pickups were used, and most of the Lionel layout had made the trip. There were a lot of tense moments as the larger sections were brought up the stairs, but it was moved without much of the equipment getting destroyed. On the 25, 26 & 27th was scheduled as tear down nights and the membership made a very strong effort to get the equipment removed from the walls and ready for shipment. Sunday the 30th the LAST load was taken from the Mall in 8 pickups. It took longer to load the trucks than it did to go to Brookville and unload them, but the Club was officially moved. The next day Rich Steiner, Bob Hartle and Lumpy Sommer removed the last of the lights and all of the wiring including the main cable which went to the back of the Mall (400ft). They swept the floor, put the trash in boxes and packed the last of the items that were thought to have any value for the new Club, handed in the keys to Denny Hill (Mall manager) and bid farewell to the Mall.
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