NMRA-MER Convention in October, 2021

The staff at the Deer Creek & Susquehanna Railroad are excitedly getting ready to participate in this year’s NMRA Mid-East Region Convention from October 21 to October 24. Scott Wooddell will be conducting a clinic on Friday on JMRI Operations Pro basic setup and operations. On Sunday, the DC&S will be hosting an operating session in the morning and then be open for layout tours in the afternoon. Other members of HARM, Ken Poznaniak and Bill Freeland will also have their layouts open on Sunday for tours. Even amidst the pandemic, this convention promises to be spectacular. For more information about the convention and reserve your spot, go to https://mtclarejct.com . See you there.

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National N-Scale Convention

This year, The N-Scale Enthusiast hosted its annual N-scale convention in Pittsburgh, PA. That is only about a five hour drive from my house, so I talked the wife into a weekend trip and off we went. For my first time at any convention like this, I decided that I just wanted to go to the public show to see the vendors and the layout display room. It was a great experience with just these two components. At most train shows I attend, I am lucky to find a vendor with N-scale stuff every four or five tables or so. At this convention, EVERY table was N-scale! Although I might not have been interested in what everyone had to show or sell due to the locale and period of my model railroad, it was nice to see a good representation from the hobby. There were a few manufacturers there such as Athearn, Atlas, Kato, Digitrax, Fox Valley, Bar Mills, RSLASER and of course Micro-Trains showing off some of their newest offerings as well as a peek at what is coming down the road. It was also nice to be able to have a conversation with some of the representatives and let them know what you are looking for from them. I truly believe that they listen and take our input into consideration when making product decisions. Of course, I bought a few items from the vendors.

A few of the items purchased from the vendors.

A few of the items purchased from the vendors.

The other portion of the show was the layout displays. There were three large rooms filled with N-Trak, T-Trak and individual modules. Much of the work was awe inspiring and inspirational. It ranged from a very detailed carnival scene with hundreds of lights and animation, to mountain vistas, to industrial switching. There was something to see for everyone. It was also cool to see that several clubs were joined together to make a couple of large NTrak layouts. This is what is nice about the modular standards. The T-Trak room was a great demonstration of what can be accomplished by individuals with a very limited amount of space, whether that is by choice or not. This was the first time I had seen in person the T-Trak concept executed so beautifully. My only regret, is not taking any pictures of the modules (hence no pictures on my post). But there are plenty of people that did and you can find those at sites such s YouTube.

My wife and I rounded out the weekend by visiting some of the other sites around Pittsburgh such as the incline railway, Fort Pitt, and the downtown area for dinner. I think the next time I attend this convention I just might have to make a week of it and participate in some of the workshops and even submit a model for judging.

Reflections on 2014 and Goals for 2015

As I think back to what has been accomplished on the Deer Creek and Susquehanna Railroad during the past year, I realize that the layout has not progressed as far as I thought it would have by now. However, many lessons have been learned and significant changes have been made during that time. Early in the year, the first operating session with HARM took place. One of the valuable things learned from this is that a conversion from a two-throttle DC system to DCC was inevitable. This did mean putting some of my older DC only locomotives on the display shelf for now, but that can be a project for another day. On the other hand, I was able to purchase a few newer DCC locomotives as well as install decoders in some other locomotives that had previously been in storage. So far, the conversion to DCC has been well worth the expense and work. The other major lesson learned has been the need for a defined operating system for the railroad. I have begun to use a program called Switchlist to keep track of rolling stock, cargos, and trains. It is also used to generate train orders for our operating sessions. This, coupled with a timetable and assigned jobs has made operations much more enjoyable. I even print orders for myself to use between official sessions. It is still a work in progress to balance cargos and train sizes, but it is much better than not using a system or generating all of that information by hand.

As I look toward 2015 and think of all the tasks that need to be completed on the railroad, a few immediately come to mind. First of all, more scenery needs to be completed. I am getting tired of much of the railroad having benchwork and plywood showing. However, some of this can only happen after the second item is completed; the last few major structures for railroad industries. I don't want to create too much scenery and then have to tear some of it out to place a structure properly. Lastly, there are some electronics projects that I would like to complete soon. This includes wiring all of the turnout frogs and installing some short circuit protection and auto-reversing modules for the various sections of the layout. I would also like to setup JMRI for my layout, but that is much further down the priority list. Overall, 2015 should be a busy and productive year on the Deer Creek and Susquehanna Railroad.