Clinics

Dave Bayless
Clinics Chair

Clinics are the heart of our conventions and the clinics at the 2023 PCR Conference will appeal to both experienced model railroaders and beginners alike. We are planning a variety of presenters for you to learn from and to talk with on a broad range of topics related to model railroading. Speakers will include respected names in our hobby as well as talented, but perhaps yet unknown, presenters. Most of all, clinics are meant to be a lively and fun exchange of knowledge, ideas, questions and answers, and a dose of inspiration you can take home. We're lining up presenters from all over the PCR and FRRS and hope to have even a few from beyond. Whatever your interest, we'll have the clinic for you.

Clinics will be presented on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings as well as Thursday and Friday evenings. Actual schedules will be posted closer to the convention.

Clinicians Wanted!

Share your knowledge with your fellow modelers, rail history buffs and layout design and operations fans. Have you found a better or easier modeling process? Have you uncovered some little-known history of a local railroad? Have you developed a technique or skill to share in a hands-on clinic? Do you have a story to tell about building your layout that others can learn from?

Would you like to present a clinic or give an oral history of your railroad experience?

If you would, please send us a Clinic Presenter Information Sheet. It is provided as a PDF form. We'd love to hear from you! (Note that the PDF is a form that can be completed using your computer and Adobe reader.)

Clinican-Info-Form_RBR2023.pdf (PDF)

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open and use the PDF form. It is available as a free download here: https://get.adobe.com/reader/

The 2023 Convention needs your knowledge and expertise. We invite you to submit your clinic title and a short description of your presentation, hands-on clinic or other. Please contact us at rbr23clinics@pcrnmra.org

Clinics and Presenters

We are starting to get information on clinics and presenters. They are provided below for the two track: PCR and FRRS. Please check back regularly for updates.

Clincs Schedule (both PCR and FRRS Tracks)

(Clinican bios are provided below the schedule.)

Thursday April 27, 2023

Chris Palermo – Joining and Using NMRA's New Interchange Digital Platform
Thurs. 8:30–9:30am Room D (Virtual). NMRA recently deployed NMRA Interchange, a new online platform offering instant messaging, spontaneous voice and video hangouts with other members worldwide, focused discussion of specific prototypes, modeling topics, region business, conventions, and more. With NMRA Interchange, Divisions and Regions can expand communication among members, hold small-group meetings, ask questions and receive answers, and much more--all at no cost to the member, Division, or Region. All you need is your NMRA membership card, a computer and a web browser. This clinic will show, using a live internet connection, all about how to join and participate.
Chip Meriam –Forms, Signs, and More Part 1 - Railroad Paperwork
Thurs. 8:30–9:30am Room B. Part 1 will cover using An Electronic Spreadsheet, Excel, to Create and Print Railroad Paperwork and More. Demonstration and samples using Microsoft Excel® with references to similarity with Corel QuatroPro® and Open Office Calc®. Exhibits will include a timetable, train orders, waybills, custom forms, etc. The applications are endless. Clinic will include a PowerPoint® presentation, printed handout, and printed samples. It will be focusing on forms (Timetables, Train Orders, Track Warrants, Switch Lists, etc) using built-in Excel tools.
Dick Witzens – 50 Years on the Sacramento Central
Thurs. 8:30–9:30am Room C. The Sacramento Modular Railroaders and their HO club railroad, the Sacramento Central have been around for about 50 years. We do much more than the usual running in circles at public shows typical of other modular groups. We'll talk about operating with switch lists, building light weight modules, setting up versdatile layouts in 1-1/2 hours, and more. Our main yard can be 30 or 36 feet long with layout sizes of 25 by 60 feet or more. We'll cover how we do all this with member dues of 40 dollars per year and other subjects..
Ed Hall, MMR– Painting Brass Locomotives - Specifically an SP Cab-Forward
Thurs. 10:00-11:00am Room D (Virtual). This clinic will cover disassembling a brass locomotive, cleaning it and soldering anything needed, cleaning it for paint, and painting. Then cleaning any areas where paint is not wanted plus decals and cleaning the setting solution and preparing for clear coat.
Phil Gulley – Designing and Planning the UP/Summit County Layout
Thurs. 10:00-11:00am Room B. First, I cover my journey designing and building the Union Pacific and Summit County Railroad. Then I share some of the unique approaches to problems. The Union Pacific Railroad is in a large purpose built metal outbuilding 30x40. One of the criteria was to have a complete walk-in model railroad without duckunders which required elevating the railroad and providing steps down so operators could walk under parts of the railroad to reach other parts. This will all be covered as well as what part of the vast Union Pacific System I am attempting to model and era. Anyone interested in layout design and planning needs to see this clinic..
Mike Brady – Basic Train Simulation Using Your Computer
Thurs. 10:00-11:00am Room C. No Layout? No Problem! You can run trains anyway, and if you're a good enough programmer and artist, you can build trains, routes, activities, and even the simulation software. I'll be highlighting Open Rails, which is free, open-source train simulation software that focuses on high-fidelity simulation of train physics. In addition, it's compatible with trains and routes built for Microsoft Train Simulator, which makes a wide variety of older free and commercial content instantly usable - sources will be mentioned.
Jere Ingram – Introduction to Modular Signaling Standards
Thurs. 11:30am-12:30pm Room D (Virtual). This clinic's objective is to increase our knowledge about Railroad signals and their use in the real world. A non-technical review of the Modular Signal System (MSS) standard will be presented along with the equipment necessary to implement it. Implementation considerations on a Free-mo module or lay out will be explored.
Jim Moomaw – The Dispatcher's Office: What's There and What It Does
Thurs. 11:30am-12:30pm Room B. Have you ever looked at old photos of Dispatchers offices and wondered what all that stuff was? Learn about the equipment and paper forms typically found in dispatching centers from the 1920s to the 1990s, and see how they supported track warrant (TWC), timetable & train order (TT&TO), and Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) systems. Provides a prototype basis for what model railroad dispatching offices might include from the days before regional offices were combined into the big computerized and centralized dispatching centers of today.
Eugene Vicknair – Western Pacific’s Typefaces and Graphics
Thurs. 11:30am-12:30pm Room C. Will discuss the Western Pacific's logo, typefaces and graphics used over time and the history of changes and styles. Has copyrighted information - no photography allowed.
Lunch Break 12:30-2:00pm
Chris Skow – Western Pacific Final Years (part 1)
Thurs. 2:00-3:00pm Room D (Virtual). On-Line, DVD, and slide presentation with audience participation and discussion.
Chris Palermo – Developing an Operations Plan for a Small Layout
Thurs. 2:00-3:00pm Room B. For a 15' x 15' home layout based on the California citrus industry of the 1950s, this clinic will show a track plan, describe the industries, and explain how the presenter developed a simple and entertaining operating plan for three to four operators. Think of this as "ops light," with minimal paperwork and an emphasis on getting trains running and cars delivered rather than strict prototype accuracy. With this clinic, you'll be able to start thinking about how to move your layout into the operating phase.
Dave Sampson – Culemeyer - Railway Cars Delivered to Your Front Door
Thurs. 2:00-3:00pm Room C. In the early 1930’s, the Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft (DRG) recognized the economic threat of a burgeoning trucking industry to their freight business. To forestall a loss of freight business to the trucking industry, the DRG began experiments in the early 1930’s with the Culemeyer’s trailer that permitted freight cars to be delivered to customers who did not have a direct rail connection. This presentation will address the historical development of the Culemeyer trailers and associated tractors, Culemeyer terminals, a survey of HO scale models and a brief overview of an actual Culemeyer operations.
Chris Skow – Western Pacific Final Years (part 2)
Thurs. 3:30-4:30pm Room D (Virtual). On-Line, DVD, and slide presentation with audience participation and discussion
Steve Breezy Gust – Basic TWC, Track Warrant Control, Practice and Operations
Thurs. 3:30-4:30pm Room B. An introduction to and suggestions on how to apply this traffic control system used on prototype railroads to your model railroad. Breezy will provide examples of forms, verbal communications, and some brief rule applications. Will also look at how TWC procedures and operations are conducted by the Union Pacific Railroad.
Al Turnbull – Basic Scenery Tips and Techniques
Thurs. 3:30-4:30pm Room C. This is a beginner type class that shows how to achieve the 'magic' of making a railroad. I will show examples of different methods of constructing, painting and adding the elements that make a scene come to life. I'll discuss some the techniques used between portable and home layouts. Good refresher for those that have been around the block already.
Chris Skow – Western Pacific Final Years (part 3)
Thurs. 5:00-6:00pm Room D (Virtual). On-Line, DVD, and slide presentation with audience participation and discussion.
Dave Clemens – Timetable & Train Order (TT & TO) Basics and Challenges
Thurs. 5:00-6:00pm Room B. Before the signals and radio communications expanded 1950’s and 60’s railroads relied on Operating Rules and Timetable & Train Order authority to operate safely and effectively. This clinic will discuss the basics of the Operating Rules, the responsibility of train crews, and how a Dispatcher “weaves” trains across the railroad when things don’t go as planned. Modern CTC signalling and Dispatcher radio operating authority often feels like “Mother May I” operation. But TT&TO places the responsibility for safe and effective train handling with the Train Crews to apply the Rules and Train Orders received. In addition to the “basics”, this Clinic will be “hands on” with participants playing Roles and “applying the Rules” to situations they may encounter.
Thomas Blinn – Keeping Trains on the Track
Thurs. 5:00-6:00pm Room C. The purpose of this clinic is to help model railroaders understand and fine tune their layout so that it operate with the least amount of derailments. We will go over the causes of derailment on the prototype RR and the model RR. Also we will start with how rails and wheels are designed, steps in reducing derailments, the use of track gauges, operator errors, track, wheels, couplers and turnouts. Also, we will talk about car diaphragms, long passenger cars, temperature variations, and car weight. We will finish up with simple tests on rating your layout's performance.
Dinner Break 6:00-7:30pm
Thomas Blinn – JMRI Layout Wiring
Thurs. 7:30-8:30pm Room D (Virtual). The purpose of the clinic is to present a plan on how you might integrate JMRI (JAVA Model Railroad lnterface) into your current or future laYout. I will present a structured Plan that will walk You through all the stePs for getting started with "how to slides of' to get started, understand a organized way to do the necessary wiring, how to approach applying the software to your situation, auxiliary equipment to support JMRl, what to do when you get stuck and a review of the various forms necessary to install software. You will need to have a Practical knowledge of DCC, elementary understanding PC oPeration' and how to read and understand the manuals. l will identify other resources that will help you get the bigger picture of the task at hand.
Seth Neumann/Jim Providenza – LDsig OPsig Roundtable
Thurs. 7:30-8:30pm Room B. Introduction Of SIG members and others wanting to discuss layout design and operations. General introductions of people and their modeling/operating interests. We’ll pick topics (including plans brought for review) and discuss for layout design. After a short break we’ll re-convene and discuss operations topics, preferably about the same layouts if appropriate
Ken Rattenne – Twenty Years of Western Pacific, 1955-1975
Thurs. 7:30-8:30pm Room C. Show will cover the WP power and trains in the 1960's, Will feature the Jim Lekas Collection, Winterail type digital show with live narration.
Ty Smith/Michael Dufau – Teaching Trough Trains
Thurs. 9:00-10:00pm Room D (Virtual). At the heart of the California State Railroad Museum's movement toward formal education is the idea that the museum can and should be more than field-trip destination. To serve its highest calling, the museum should become a laboratory of learning. In other words, a place where young people can learn by doing. The NMRA exhibit at CSRM is the product of a wonderful partnership. It is, however, only living up to part of its potential. Model railroading is a wonderful hobby, but it can also be instrumental in hands-on education. This clinic highlights the new exhibit and asks how we can use it to teach and learn.
Seth Neumann/Jim Providenza – LDsig OPsig Roundtable - continued
Thurs. 9:00-10:00pm Room B. Continuation of the LDsig and OPsig Roundtable after the break with dicussion of operations.
Bill Scott – Contest Judging Demystified
Thursday. 9:00–10:00pm Room C. Judging models is a very rewarding experience and a great way to improve your own modeling skills. Although it may seem daunting at first, the process is straightforward and well documented. In this clinic the judging procedures and matrices will be presented and discussed. You'll find that it's actually very enjoyable. And, judging gives you 2 points toward your volunteer certificate. Learn how to become a GOOD judge, and how to fill out the contest forms to better showcase your entries and increase youir scores. This clinic will be more of a discussion than a lecture.

Friday April 28, 2023

Jim Collins – Designing and Building a Square-Foot Diorama
Friday. 8:30–9:30am Room D (Virtual). This clinic will consist of a discussion/demonstration with photos of the process to build a square-foot diorama from scratch (mostly), for the Square-Foot Challenge.
Chip Meriam –Forms, Signs, and More Part 2 - Signs, Logos, Photos, etc.
Friday. 8:30–9:30am Room B Part 2 will cover using An Electronic Spreadsheet, Excel, to Create and Print Signs, Logos, and More. Demonstration and samples using Microsoft Excel® with references to similarity with Corel QuatroPro® and Open Office Calc®. Exhibits will include highway speed limit sign, RXR highway sign, custom herald. The applications are endless. Clinic will include a PowerPoint® presentation, printed handout, and printed samples. It will be devoted to creating signs and images demonstrating use of Shapes, Photos, Snipping Tool, and Picture Formatting (removing background).
Frank Markovich, MMR– Modeling Westside and Inspiration for a RR Name
Friday. 8:30–9:30am Room C. I will cover what I did and how I used West Side Lumber as my main inspiration. Parallels will be covered. Also I will talk about construction techniques, what I learned and what I would do differently.
Kerry Cochran – FRRS Historical Archives webpages
Friday. 10:00–11:00am Room D (Virtual). This clinic is a presentation on the FRRS Historical/Archives, Western Pacific RR/Western Pacific RR Museum Archives on the FRRS website. Has copyrighted material used with permission - no photography allowed.
Tony Thompson – Operating a Small Layout With Realistic Waybills
Friday. 10:00–11:00am Room B. The clinic describes the operation of my small layout with prototypical waybills. The layout is switching-intensive, but does have mainline operating also. The presentationconcentrates on car movements and the use of prototype-format waybills to route cars, in order to maintain variety of operation in each successive operating session.
Mike Osborn & Dave Bayless – A trip aboard the Southern Pacific's Hot LABRF from Los Angeles to Bakersfield
Friday. 10:00–11:00am Room C. This is a video of the Keynote address given by Mike Osborne virtually at the PCR NMRA Sugar Pine Centennial 2021 Convention which was given virtually due to COVID shutdown. Mike will narrate his trip on the LABRF and Dave will take questions afterward.
Mike will take you back in time to 1980 on a 172-mile night-time trip as a new brakeman aboard Southern Pacific's LABRF, the hot Fast Forwarder and Intermodal train, from Los Angeles Shops Yard to Bakersfield and crew change point. Starting at Taylor Yard and LATC, you will journey across the San Fernando Valley, up Soledad Canyon, through the Mojave Desert, up and down the famous Tehachapi mountains to Bakersfield.
Mike will describe the night trip in detail, pointing out the duties of the head brakeman. The sights and sounds of the trip, the herders, interlockings, Train Orders, dispatchers and other events along the way will be a part of this fascinating journey.
Since this was Dave's regular run while working for the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railroads, he will help fill in some details and take questions afterwards
Richard Brennan – Artwork and Printing for DIY Decals
Friday. 11:30am–12:30pm Room D (Virtual). An update of the 2018 Clinic on preparing DIY decal artwork for printing at home or using a print service. We will review prototype letting practice, stencil letters vs 'Fonts', and artwork preparation for various printing methods.
Jim Zeek – Modeling a Sawmill for Model Railroad Operations
Friday. 11:30am–12:30pm Room B. Clover Valley Lumber Co., Loyalton, CA is the focus with respect to rail operations, both internal and external, covering the most relevant topics in logging, physical plant layout, lumber manufacturing, other wood products, shipping and destinations for products using Illustrations and photos from Jim's collection. Emphasis will be on a review of sawmill structures, equipement, operation support facilities, and often integrated remanufacturing plants, operations with information on creating a viable and authentic lumber mill scene and operations for the modeler. Questions and answers will follow as well as a breakout session if desired.
Dave Stanley – Black & White Favorite WP Photos
Friday. 11:30am–12:30pm Room C. This clinic will feature my own B&W images of the WP and feeder railroads. All black and white power point show consisting of my favorite WP photos and the shortlines that fed it.
Lunch Break 12:30-2:00pm
Kyle Wyatt – Western Pacific First Generation of Passenger Cars
Friday. 2:00–3:00pm Room D (Virtual). A survey of the first passenger cars used on the Western Pacific, purchased in 1909-1910 by the Denver and Rio Grande for use by the WP and ultimately returned to the D&RG in the late teens and 20's.
Dave Clemens – BN in Spokane, Concepts for a New Layout
Friday. 2:00–3:00pm Room B. The first railroad after moving to Rocklin and adding 7-1/2 feet to a bedroom simulated the joint trackage rights UP/MILW concept circa 1955 in and around Spokane. The IMR&N was featured in MRP 2007, and was open during the X2011W National. The layout was well received except for the lack of “people space”. I’d John Armstrong “wriggle worm aisled” my self into a corner - too much track and little for Operators. After eliminating one peninsula, and switching for the third time to the Camas Prairie, consecutive fall vacations watching the BNSF/UP “parade” around the Vancouver WA Amtrak station, the BN 1976 “flooded back”, and the die was cast to "Circle Back to BN Yardley 1976” or, as I call it, BN Yardley "Think Small”.
Bob Rohwer – LED Locomotive Lighting
Friday. 2:00–3:00pm Room C. This clinic is on how to replace the light bulbs and light tubes used on many HO locomotive with LED's and clear lens. The replacement uses very small pre-wired 402 warm white LED's. The LED's are glued onto a clear lens (Details West LN-341 - 6") and inserted into the model shell. Other size lens in 7", 12" and 14.5" can also be used. We will discuss connecting and setting up the lights on the decoder. This will include resistors and brightness adjustment on Sountraxx and ESU decoders.
Mike Coen – Proto-freelanced Western Pacific Power
Friday. 3:30–4:30pm Room D (Virtual). How I developed a realistic roster for my Proto-Freelance Western Pacific Oregon Division Layout.
Tony Thompson – Transition Era Freight Traffic on SP's Coast Route
Friday. 3:30–4:30pm Room B. The patterns of freight traffic of this specific part of the Southern Pacific are described and analyzed, both in terms of trains and the traffic they carried. This includes discussion of the distinctive yards and terminals on the route, the steam and diesel power used on the trains, helper operations, and freight movement patterns.
Michael Eldridge – Creating Human Figures for 3D Printing
Friday. 3:30–4:30pm Room C. This clinic describes the process of creating and clothing a human figure that can be 3D printed. I will describe my journey of discovery: methods I tried that didn't work well, and how I finally settled on a method. We will briefly look at 3D Capture software for your phone or pad, sculpting software, and character development software.
Richard Brennan – Unleashing the CAD hidden in Microsoft Office
Friday. 5:00–6:00pm Room D (Virtual). There are 'hidden' vector drawing tools... aka 'CAD', within the Microsoft Office programs you already have and use! This clinic will show how to use Office to prepare initial artwork for laser-cut structures or rolling stock, as well as lettering for printing high-rez decals.
John Stevens – Magic of Scale Model Railroading Gallery at CSRM
Friday. 5:00–6:00pm Room B. Newly positioned director of the Howell Day Museum Exhibit at the CSRM. Background information on the development of the NMRA's "The Magic of Scale Model Railroading Gallery" at the California State Railroad Museum" followed by a video tour of the exhibit. Has copyrighted material used with permission - no photography allowed.
Al Turnbull/Dave Bayless/Jim Moomaw/David Fryman– MINI CLINICS: (1) Soldering Track and Feeders, (2) Building a Pine Tree the Easy Way, (3) Demonstrating Easy Switch Controls, and Simple Shelf System for RR Equipment
Friday. 5:00–6:00pm Room C. Short audience participation with short mini-clinics, hands-on techniques for various subjects.
1.) Soldering track and feeders.
2.) Building a pine tree the easy way.
3.) Railroad-prototype switch controls for signaled layouts.
4.) Demo of Building a Simple Shelf System for Railroad Equipment.
Dinner Break 6:00-7:30pm
Shane Starr – A Brief History of the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway
Friday. 7:30–8:30pm Room D (Virtual). Learn about one of North America's longest narrow gauge railwaysthat once ran from Reno, NV to Lakeview, OR with a branch line to Davies Mill, CA. This little railroad in frontier country would become the predecessor to Western Pacific's Reno Branch and the Southern Pacific's Modoc Line. Today, the Nevada -California-Oregon Railwa is one of the newest historical societies in the western states dedicated to preserving the 50 year legacy of the original railway. Society President, Shane Starr, will follow his presentation with an overview of the society's mission and current activities, headquartered in Alturas, CA.
Al Turnbull – Trees, Trees, and Stuff
Friday. 7:30–8:30pm Room B. I will discuss the different types of trees and how to achieve the look. I'll present examples of what I feel works best for portable vs home layouts. I'll show how to put together different types with some emphasis on 'bottle brush' pines and how I make those.
Michael Eldridge – Laser Cut Building and Kit Development - From Concept to Finished Model
Friday. 7:30–8:30pm Room C. This clinic describes the process, tools, and materials I use to produce laser cut structure kits, including selecting an appropriate item to model, a brief comparison of laser cutters, the CAD processing, modern materials used, and a few points about the business of selling a kit.
Kerry Cochran – Western Pacific MOW Equipment (part 4)
Friday. 9:00-10:00pm Room D (Virtual). Will be discussing the Western Pacific's MOW equipment, Part 4, and how to model it. Examples will be shown as well as a slide show and history of the equipment used.
Bob Rohwer – Casting and Making Custom 3-Color LED HO Signals
Friday. 9:00-10:00pm Room B. This clinic is on how to build the 3 color LED signals used by the Sacramento Model Railroad Historial Society. The first part is how to make custom signal parts and cast them. It will include making the pattern, silcone mold and casting the parts in resin. Next we will make the signal head using a 805 3-color(RGY) LED. Finally we will make the signal. This will include making signal bridges, cantilever, pole and dwarf signal. At the end we will discuss where to find the parts.
Phil Edholm – Using PowerPoint to Make Modeling Images and Designs
Friday. 9:00-10:00pm Room C. This clinic will cover methods and ideas to use PowerPoint as a drawing tool to create a number of modeling projects. The clinic will discuss how to use PowerPoint tools, how to set up large slides for high-resolution images and how to manage objects in large slides spaces. I will also cover how to use PowerPoint for general design and archiving materials (images, historical, concepts, etc.). It will demonstrate how to output image files using different printing options, generally not a home printer. It will cover how to generate high-quality laser decals, photo quality images for signs, posters, etc., generating building flats in larger scales and other useful applications around the railroad.

Saturday April 29, 2023

Jim Collins – Layout Planning with AnyRail
Saturday. 8:30-9:30am Room D (Virtual). This clinic will consist of a discussion/demonstration of using the layout design program, AnyRail, using a modular layout already completed. Will provide an Overview of AnyRail's features and walk through of its use to create two 30" by 4' modules.
Mike Roque – Signals - Identification, Aspects, Types, and Meaning
Saturday. 8:30-9:30am Room B. Will give general discussion on railroad signalling types, identification, aspects and meanings. Mostly will cover western railroad "route Signaling" from GCOR but will touch on NORAC "Speed Signaling" of eastern railroading signals. Learn the concepts behind signal aspects and discover how Automatic Block Signaling (ABS), Absolute Permissive Block (APB), Interlockings, and Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) keep trains moving safely and efficiently. This clinic focuses on Southern Pacific and Western Pacific practices, but the principles can be applied to most railroad signal systems.
Chip Meriam – Authorship
Saturday. 8:30-9:30am Room C This clinic will demonstrate the developing and submitting an article for publication. Creating ideas for worthwhile articles, submission guidelines from various publications, photography, getting the words out of your head and organized, transmitting text and photos to an editor, NMRA “Model Railroad Author” AP Certificate. Contains copyrighted material used with permission - no photography allowed.
Greg Elems – Freight Cars on the WP
Saturday. 10:00-11:00am Room D (Virtual). A Powerpoint presentation on modeling the various WP freight car fleet.
Dennis Drury – The Southern Pacific Klamath Falls Subdivision in 1984
Saturday. 10:00-11:00am Room B. This clinic will describe the Southern Pacific line from Klamath Falls to Crescent Lake Oregon as it was in 1984. Prototype information will be provided as well as a discussion of how that information helps in the construction of my layout. Operations will be covered as well as information on the signal system I'm using.
Mark Williams – Riding with the Chiefs and the Captain: Post-war ATSF Passenger Trains
Saturday. 10:00-11:00am Room C. We'll explore the origin and history of the Santa Fe's popular post-war named passenger trains to the land of citrus and sunshine... California! The Chief, Super Chief, and the El Capitan were some of the most popular ways west between Chicago and Los Angeles. Do you remember which was called 'The Train of the Stars?" The Santa Fe Super Chief.
Seth Neumann – Arduino-based Circuits for Operation
Saturday. 11:30am-12:30pm Room D (Virtual). Arduinos can enhance operations on layouts without full CTC: Seth will describe circuits for train order board control, approach bells for operators, grade crossings, “Arduino Relay” controllers for animation and staging ladders, automatic interlockings and also a stepper motor controller.
Marvin Schurke – Structure Mockup and Construction / Selective Compression
Saturday. 11:30am-12:30pm Room B. Accepting an invitation to create mockups of SP Sacramento Shops building models for the Sacramento Model Railroad Historical Society (SMRHS) yielded many lessons learned, and laser-cut models created from those mockups are now on the SMRHS HO standard gauge layout. Boiler Shop selectively-compressed length and width Erecting Shop selectively-compressed length. Car Machine Shop selectively compressed length. Lessons lerned from the SP Shops mockups were then put t good use in creating mockups of the SP Sacramento Passenger Station and Freighthouse recently put in place on the SMRHS layout. Passenger Station headhouse selectively-compressed width Freighthouse selectively compressed width Both projects will be reviewed with details of decisions made to fit “correct-looking but compressed” model buildings into spaces far too small for full HO scale models.
Ed Merrin – Focus Stacking Using a Smartphone To Take Realistic Model Photos
Saturday. 11:30am-12:30pm Room C. Over the past five years I have been presenting concepts and techniques used to produce photographs of model railroad scenes that mimic the types of perspectives and compositions resulting from taking photos of prototype trains from ground level. The challenges that present the photographer include the size of cameras and camera lenses, depth of field, and the difficulty avoiding unwanted things such as benchwork, light fixtures, and other objects from getting in the image. This clinic will go into more detail about these issues, including using smartphones, focus stacking software, photo editing software, dealing with common artifacts , and hiding unwanted background objects. Some enhancing effects that increase realism are also covered.
Lunch Break 12:30-2:00pm
Steve Cope – Art of the Steel: Modeling the SND, Sacramento Northern Detour Steel Trains
Saturday. 2:00-3:00pm Room D (Virtual). A PowerPoint presentation on modeling the SND, (Sacramento Northern Detour), steel train as it ran between Geneva, Utah and Stockton. The story of one man's odyssey to model a day in the life of the Sacramento Northern and the history that inspired it. Sidebar time will be devoted to the history of the train and my own personal reasons for modeling it. (It's a long story, but... Cliff Notes version: It involves my dad, a hotbox, a small mountain of smoldering boxcars, and a flurry of irate phone calls to the Trainmaster's desk in Stockton.
Tom Campbell – Sacramento's R Street Switching District
Saturday. 2:00-3:00pm Room B. Using Sacramento's R Street Corridor as an example, we'll look at some terminal operations facilities and concepts including freight houses, team tracks, interchange tracks, reciprocal switching agreements, and switching districts. Some history and modeling considerations will also be covered. For decades the R Street Corridor was served by the Southern Pacific and Western Pacific. We'll end in the modern era to see how the Union Pacific served the Sacramento Bee. Contains copyrighted material used with permission - no photography allowed.
Phil Edholm – Building O-scale Structures Two Ways - Acrylic and 3D Framing
Saturday. 2:00-3:00pm Room C. Phil will discuss building ruggedized contest quality O scale structures for a module using two techniques. First, he will cover using an acrylic box as the structure for a large building. Two additional structures, one large and one small, use 3D filament printed framing with traditional material for both strength and appearance. In these buildings, the framing and roof are 3D printed with all floors, siding, and roofing being more traditional modeling materials. The clinic will cover design, building, coloring and finishing for the structures.
Jim Providenza – Freight Car Forwarding
Saturday. 3:30-4:30pm Room D (Virtual). Freight car forwarding is a fascinating subject; figuring out how to do it prototypically on the model is also fascinating. This clinic looks at how to marry Excel and Windows files the output from JMRI Operations to create prototypical waybills for a model railroad.
Al Turnbull – DC/DCC wiring
Saturday. 3:30-4:30pm Room B. Let's discuss layout wiring. How to, what to watch for and apply. I'll go over the basics with instruction on DC and DCC electronics with methods of wiring a layout or converting from DC to DCC. Explanations of Buss / feeders and techniques, and why we should consider doing certain things. Some math is included. Bring your slide rules!
Pat Raymer/Joel Morse – Introducing the SurfLiner: Pacific Southwest Region hosted 2024 National Convention Presentation
Saturday. 3:30-4:30pm Room C. Our presentation describes the highlights of the upcoming SurfLiner 2024 NMRA National Convention, being held in Long Beach, CA. We will be featuring some of the finest layouts in Southern California, along with outstanding prototype tours. Southern California also offers a wide variety of activities for the entire family and, since our convention hotel is 2 blocks from the ocean, we will have comfortable August temperatures. Come and let us show you what a truly oustanding convention we are planning for you! Contains copyrighted material used with permission - no photography allowed.

Clinician Bios (in alphabetical order)

Dave Bayless: Dave Bayless has been interested in model railroading all his life which lead to a career on the Southern Pacific RR, then Union Pacific RR for 38 years as a locomotive engineer. He has been involved in building, operating, designing and learning about model/prototype railroading for at least 50 years. His main interest is the Pacific Northwest and western/northern railroads of DRGW, SP, GN, NP, WP, SPS, MILW RD, UP and any other railroad that ran in the Pacific Northwest such as the Pacific Coast. Currently working on a model railraod featuring mountain operations, helper service and lumbering, coal and rial/marine ops. He is the clinic shairman for this convention as well as the previous Sierra Division/PCR 2019 convention in Sacramento. He is active in the NMRA, AP Chairman, LDSig, OPSig and several Railroad Historical Societies.
Thomas Blinn: Thomas blinn has converted his Livermore Valley Lines, which represents SP railroading in the Bay Area during the 50s, over to JMRI and is sharing his experience how he did it and all the problems he had that could have been avoided. He has installed 64 senors connected 90 accessory controlled turnouts, 3 reversing loops, 6 IPad software panels and a wall flat panel of the layout. All display occupancy, turnout state and a operations desk. His layout is 20x20 ft with 250ft of mainline track and 100 turnouts.
Mike Brady: Mike Brady is a retired environmental planner, formerly at ICF, Caltrans, Coastal Commission, and Sonoma County. Not much of a modeler, though officially he's in HO and does have a tiny patch of layout, built to RED module specs of the late 1970s, so it's incompatible with anything reasonably modern or usable or presentable, that's been torn down and rebuilt many times, and only with considerable work could be made to run again. Current interests run more toward the garden (preparing for part of it being on a native plant society garden tour), computer science (treasurer emeritus - helped start up the chapter - of the Sacramento Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery), and local history (have to get the paperwork completed for docent at the Folsom Powerhouse). But model railroading just won't let go. So he found a way to combine it with the computer (takes a lot less space!) by using a train simulator (train operation, not dispatching, with Microsoft Train Simulator then Open Rails). That's kind of slowed down the process of cleaning all the piled junk off of the layout and fixing it up, of course.
Richard Brennan: Richard Brennan is probably best known as the 'TT-Scale' guy... as well as being an original member of the Yosemite Short Line (YSL) On30 group, and currently the On30 California Central Coast (CCC) modular group. He has created multiple liveries for factory pad-printing on US-prototype models in Europe, as well as decals and laser-cut designs locally.
Tom Campbell: Tom Campbell is a member of the Sacramento Modular Railroaders and an officer on the International Railfair Committee. He has been researching the R Street Corridor (on and off) for over 20 years.
Dave Clemens: Dave Clemens, of Rocklin, has been involved in layout design and operations for more than 60 years, and has a love affair with the railroads of Spokane and eastern Washington/Idaho for fifty years. He has been very active in the Layout Design and Operations SIGs and wrote a chapter called "Fundamentals of Freight Operations" in the OPSig Publication "A Compendium Of Model Railroad Operations - From Design To Implementation.” After building designing and building with local support the UP/MILW trackage rights railroading around Spokane WA in 1956 - IDAHO-MONTANA RY & NAVIGATION - see MRP 2007, and hosting visitors for X2011W NMRA National here in Sacramento. After realizing the I-MR&N concept was great but people access was severely hampered, one peninsula came out, and the Camas Prairie (part of Dave’s story) returned for the third time. In 2020 with Covid everywhere and modelers reluctant to meet, the BN in Spokane came streaming back to Dave's consciousness, and the current effort to emulate BN’s Yardley as experienced it in 1976 became Dave's central focus and subject of this Clinic.
Kerry Cochran: Kerry Cochran has been interested in model railroading at a late age (28). He has pursed this hobby off and on since then. He visited the Western Pacific Railroad Museum (known that as the Portola Railroad Museum) and shortly after (1985) joined the society. He is a left member of the FRRS and he is currently the General Superintendent and Archive Manager. He joined NMRA around 1988 and became a life member about 8 years later. He has been modeling the Western Pacific Railroad since he started modeling WPMW equipment about 5 years ago. He has been the FRRS convention Co-Chair for the last 6 years.
Mike Coen: Mike Coen grew up in the East Bay and discovered the WP on a railfan trip to Stockton in April of 1977 at the age of 15. He’s been modeling western railroads for 50 years. Mike served as Treasurer of The WP RR Museum from 2008 to 2011. He built the first version of the Proto-freelanced WP Oregon Division at his former home in the Oakland area. He now retired and lives in Reno, NV with Deidre, his wife of 30 years, where he has begun construction of the WP Oregon Division, 2.0.
Jim Collins: Jim Collins has been interested in model railroading since he got an HO-scale train set at age 10. He has pursed this hobby off and on since then. He joined NMRA in 2014. He has been the Sierra Division Superintendent, Director, and Membership Chair and is currently the Membership Chair. He was webmaster for the 2016 PCR convention in Modesto, co-chair and webmaster for the 2019 PCR Convention in Sacramento, and is co-chair and webmaster for this one.
Steve Cope: As the son of a 30-year railroader, Steve Cope was more-or-less raised in a railyard, which in turn led him to a life-long passion for all things rail related. Outlets for this interest include modeling and volunteering with local museum groups, and in order to support this hobby, he works full-time as a substitute high school teacher, finding answers you can't comprehend to questions you didn't even know you had.
Dennis Drury: Dennis hired out with the Southern Pacific in 1977. He worked in the signal department all over the Bay Area until 1980 when he transferred to the engineering department. In that role he ran rail detector and track geometry cars all over the western part of the system. Of all the territory Dennis covered, the area he liked the best was south central Oregon. After leaving the SP in 1984 Dennis spent a year in Colombia working to build a railroad there. When that project was completed he went to work for GE and stayed with them until he retired. Dennis is now building a layout based on the line from Klamath Falls to Crescent Lake, Oregon. This is the story of that layout. Thank you.
Phil Edholm: Phil Edholm’s model railroading is primarily in O scale, focusing on building modules with the California Central Coast On30 group and as part of the Alameda County Central Railroad Society, rebuilding a large O scale layout. While trying to build high quality model, scenes, and modules, Phil is intrigued by using modern tools, including computer, drawing, CAD, 3D printing and others into building realistic and detailed O scale modeling. Phil enjoys participating in operations and is looking forward to operations on a modular set up at home. In addition to modeling, Phil is the Superintendent of the Coast Division of the NMAR and Vice President of the ACCRS.
Michael Eldridge: Besides being part of this convention's committee as registrar , Michael Eldridge has given several clinics, models in 'S' Scale and belongs to the Bay Area S-Scalers hailing from San Jose.
Greg Elems: Greg Elems started photographing trains on the Tidewater Southern in 1971. The Tidewater Southern had a good variety of foreign freight cars. In 1979 I hired out on the WP and expanded my freight car photography and continued to photograph all things WP, TS, and SN. After moving to Nevada in 1999 WP cars were less common but still in general use and older cars were being moved into UP MofW service. Retiring in 2018, I lost my access to the UP-system computer to track WP cars but moved my efforts to scanning my near 45 yrs. of pictures taken.
David Fryman: Dave Fryman comes to the Sierra Division from the Coast Division where he was a member a few years ago. Recently, Dave served as the Coast Division Quartermaster, charged with maintaining and securing supplies and equipment. He has been a volunteer coordinator for the Roseville International Railfair held in November.
Phil Gulley: Phil is an Engineering Manager with Pasco Scientific here in nearby Roseville. He regularly works with CAD, Modeling, 3D Design and 3D Printing programs. He is modeling the Union Pacfic and Summit County Railroad, a multi deck HO scale layout in a 30’x48' purpose-built building. Currently only the Summit County Railroad portion is operational and occupies roughly 30% of the space. The Summit County is a proto-freelance 1952 railroad based on the UP’s Park City branch. The yet-to-be-built portion models Ogden and the Weber and Echo Canyon portions of UP’s trackage.
Steve Breezy Gust: Steve “Breezy” Gust has presented a wide range of clinics at model railroad divisional meets, and at regional and national conventions for over thirty years. His topics range from “Basic Scenery with Spoons and Sponges” to “Advanced Track Warrant Control Operations.” For this year’s NMRA PCR/FRRS Convention, Steve will again present “Basic Track Warrant Control” The program was presented previously at the RMR convention in 2012. A life member of the NMRA since 1974, Steve retired in 2009 after a career spanning over thirty-nine years with the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads. He spent most of those years as a train dispatcher on territories from Portland, OR to El Paso, TX. This will be Steve’s sixth time to present at the NMRA PCR Convention.
Ed Hall: Ed Hall comes to us from the PSR-NMRA and lives in Henderson, NV. He says he has been building models since the age of 5 yrs. He has earned his MMR #242 in 1995 with certificates for Motive Power, Cars, Structures, Electrical and Civil Engineering, Author, Volunteer, Official, and Dispatcher.He expresses that part of the joy of being in the hobby is helping other people by sharing what he has learned, and serving in the NMRA. He has served the PSR is various capacities, is the PSR's Head Hobo and is a prolific painter of models giving clinics on painting for many years.
Jere Ingram: Jere Ingram is an avid HO scale modeler and writer for model railroad publications. Mr. Ingram lives in the Bay Area and is a member of the Coast Division NMRA. He currently moderates the NMRA MSS (Modular Signal System) special interest group and IO group forums.
Frank Markovich: Frank Markovich's name has been a household word in the PCR. He is very active promoting the hobby having built 3 "Build a Memory" layouts, given many, many clinics over the years, served the PCR as Contest Chairman, Youth Chairman, Division Superintendent and Division Director and is now the PCR President. He is a good modeler having won 10 First Place awards at both National and Regional conventions. He is Master Model Railroader #514 and models in On3, open for "O-Scale west" and the "Westside Reunion". He was a Community college Instructor for 47 yrs., Engineering Manager for 35 yrs. and Engineering Director for 5 yrs. He is currently running for the PCR Vice President position.
Chip Meriam: Chip Meriam has jumped into Model Railroading with both feet following a fascination with trains at a young age. Joining the NMRA in 1992, he is currently the Sierra Division's Short Line Editor, the PCR's Branch Line Editor, and the PCR Vice President. He has earned his Authorship, Volunteer, and Electrical Engineer Certificates with the NMRA's AP program and is a regular clinician at our meets; even being Co-Chair of this convention. Living in Chico, Chip is a retired Glenn County Assessor, Clerk/Recorder, and Registrar of Voters with a 30 year career as a professional real property appraiser. He hopes to spend many more years model railroading and serving the PCR-NMRA.
Ed Merrin: Ed Merrin hardly needs an introduction. He has held various PCR offices - PCR president and before that Vice President as well as Director of Daylight Division. He regularly gives clinics at PCR conventions and has been serving the PCR is several other capacities over the years. He is faithfully modeling the Northwestern Pacific Railroad circa late 1950's in a 13x17 ft space utilizing a walk-around double tiered layout. He is a member of the NWP Historical Society and is used to, in his words, "time constraints of Exams, Tests, Proposals and Writings".
Jim Moomaw: Jim Moomaw, a West Coast native now living in Portland OR, who started out in childhood as a box-kit modeler and transitioned into model railroading through active club membership starting in 1980. More recently has focused on learning prototype RR operating systems and applying those to model railroad operations, and prototype railroad signaling systems as the basis for design and installation of an accurate CTC system on a large club layout. Formally trained in electronics, software, computers, project management and semiconductor manufacturing.
Joel Morse: I’ve been an N-Scale model railroader since 1973 and a member of the NMRA on and off since the mid-70’s, but solidly since 2009. I served as Cajon Division Treasurer from 2016 through 2019, when I then became Superintendent. I continue to serve as Superintendent after recently being re-elected for a second term. I’ve been serving as the Pacific Southwest Region Treasurer since 2019 and I’ve been working on the Surfliner 2024 Convention Committee as Finance Director since July of 2022. I’ve been modeling the New York, Ontario, and Western Railway in N-Scale since 1990 and have an existing, mostly scenicked, 150 square foot layout designed for operation.
Seth Neumann: Seth is a modern-era modeler whose home layout features the Union Pacific in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1999. He is an avid operator and hosts regular op session on his “UP Oakland Sub” as well as participating and being a regular operator at many Bay Area layouts and attending visiting ops meet around the US and Canada. Seth specializes in communications systems for model railroads, having developed telephone systems for several operating layouts and having presented clinics on the subject at many model railroad meets, including NMRA regional and national conventions. He also designs power distribution, DCC, signaling and other electronic controls for model railroads. Seth founded Model Railroad Control Systems with his late business partner Chuck Catania. MRCS offers cpNode CMRI nodes, telephone systems, Train Order Board systems and accessories, the popular MP series switch machines from MTB and many other electronics items to support operations. Seth is a founding Director of both the Operations Special Interest Group (SIG) and the Layout Design SIG and is President of LDSIG. Seth holds NMRA achievement certificates as Electrical Engineer, Chief Dispatcher, Model Railroad Author and Association Volunteer. Seth also belongs to the Santa Fe Railway Modeling and Historical Society, the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society, the Union Pacific Historical Society and the Western Pacific Historical Society. He has written articles or presented clinics on the following topics:
Mike Osborn: Mike Osborne, currently employed by the Union Pacific Railroad, works all over the Southern California area, including the entire LA Basin and from Fresno to Yuma, and Owens Valley to Calexico to San Luis Obispo. Mike has been an active model railroader since 1964 and is a 42-year veteran of the railroad, spending virtually his entire adult life working as a Brakeman in the Los Angeles Division for both the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads.
Chris Palermo: Chris Palermo lives in Austin, Texas, and serves on NMRA's national Board of Directors as At Large Director - North America. A newer Texan, he served terms as President and Secretary of PCR and was Co-Chair of the 2017 Daylight Express PCR convention. He holds four AP Certificates and is working on his fifth. He is interested in the Southern Pacific railroad and is building a 15' x 20' proto-freelanced HO scale model railroad based upon SP and Santa Fe operations in the San Joaquin Valley in 1956. The layout occupies a 20 x 20 finished room; benchwork is 90% complete, the track is 50% complete, all bus wiring and control systems are in, and the scenery is underway. He is a partner with the law firm of Baker Botts, LLP in Austin, Texas where he handles patent, trademark, and copyright cases.
Jim Providenza: Jim Providenza has been a model railroader for, to his own amazement over 60 years and is a life member of the NMRA and a long time member of both the Layout Design SIG and Operations SIG. Jim's primary interests include realistic operations and freight car modeling. Jim has authored over 60 articles and writes the quarterly Tales of the Santa Cruz Northern column in the Branchline. The first Santa Cruz Northern, started in 1977 was one of the earliest double deck layouts; Jim built it with walk around carrier control for realistic operations. He switched to DCC in 1994. Jim began using Time Table and Train Orders in 2000, which in turn drove his interest in the cooperative nature of railroad jobs. He is a past winner of the OpSig Bill Jewett Award. Jim's Santa Cruz Northern RR has been the subject of several videos which can be watched on YouTube. Jim is married to Terri and has three children and one grandchild.
Ken Rattenne: Ken Rattenne (pronounced Rah-teen) is a retired IT professional living in Modesto Calif. In addition to his Feather River Route books, he has had bylines on over 50 articles and more than 350 photos published since 1983.
Raymer: I have always had a fascination with trains. I believe it all started with a coast-to-coat train trip in 1965. My mother, who was an elementary school teacher and thus had the summer off, took my sister and me from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. via the Santa Fe to Chicago, then the Pennsy to New York. I don’t recall which road got us to D.C. but, overall, a memorable trip for an impressionable young fellow. My modeling career started with a HO trainset. I eventually worked my way up to a Plywood Central layout with brass Atlas snap track and a Tyco transformer. Fast forward to 2008 and I am picking up Model Railroader at the newsstand. Fast forward again to 2011, and my wife Mona and I are attending the National Train Show in Sacramento. I re-joined the NMRA there, and Mona joins 2 weeks later. We became membership co-chairs for Los Angeles Division that year. I advanced to Division Director, then Pacific Southwest Region Vice President, and am now in my second term as PSR President. In November 2021 I took on the chairmanship of the NMRA National Convention, SurfLiner 2024 in Long Beach CA. As a native Southern Californian, I look forward to sharing with the world all that our Region has to offer.
Bob Rohwer: Bob has been a railroad enthusiast and model railroader for over 50 years. He is a member of the Sacramento Model Railroad Historical Society. He has held every positions on the Board of Directors including being President twice. Bob models the Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, and modern Union Pacific. He has considerable experience with locomotive detailing, locomotive repair, scratch building, DCC and custom signals. Bob joined the CSRM in 1999 and has over 11,000 hours of service. He has been an instructor for docent training, a presenter of railroad history, a tour guide, a brakeman and conductor on the Sacramento Southern Railroad. He is currently employed part time as a conductor and engineer on the River Fox Train near Woodland, which is part or the Sierra Northern Railroad System.
Mike Roque: Born and raised in New York City, Mike is a lifelong model railroader whose interest in signals began with his first subway ride as a child. A move upstate for college in 2001 brought him to Rochester, where he served as President of RIT Model Railroad Club and Superintendent of Lakeshores Division NMRA (Niagara-Frontier Region) before moving to Sacramento in 2009. Today, he serves as President of Sacramento Model Railroad Historical Society, whose layout features CTC signals and a vintage Western Pacific US&S CTC machine.
David Sampson: David Sampson was first exposed to Model Railroading by his father who in the late 50’s was building what are today called ‘craftsman’s kits.’ About the same time, David began building Kitmaster and Airfix OO scale plastic model railroad kits. In the mid-1970’s, he became interested in the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railroad in Switzerland, an interest which he maintains to this day. In the early 1980’s, he was the unofficial chairman of the Bay Area European Train Enthusiasts (ETE) and later publisher of ‘Das Flügelrad’ that focused on European model railroad topics. For more than a decade, he displayed European train modules at the International Railfair in Placerville. During the pandemic, he researched, developed, and made numerous online presentations to ETE members on a variety of topics including Culemeyer road trailers. He graduated from Ohio State University and worked for 38 years for Lockheed in a variety of systems engineering roles.
Marvin Schurke: Marv Schurke grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago and got his first O-gauge train at age 5. After college in Chicago on a Pullman Foundation scholarship and law school in Minnesota, he has managed to stay married to one wife for 55+ years even after switching to HO scale modeling. They have traveled on numerous passenger trains in the United States and Canada, and he has assembled HO models of many of those trains. Living within a triangle of PRR, IC and IHB lines in the Chicago suburbs, he commuted by train to a job in downtown Chicago, and took up photographing prototype trains. Those interests continued after moves to Wisconsin, Washington and ultimately to the Sacramento area of California. He models (and has written a fanfiction backstory for) a merger of the Northern Pacific with the Milwaukee Road and the Spokane, Portland & Seattle. Along the way, he has been an active member of model railroad clubs in Washington (5.5 scale mile mainline) and Sacramento (11 scale mile mainline) and his interests have expanded to include historical research on rail passenger operations, Pullman operations and the Milwaukee Road electrification, as well as creating databases of the SP cab forward steam locomotives and named passenger trains in the U.S. and Canada.
Bill Scott: I joined the PCR in the early 80’s. I’ve been the Daylight Division Director, PCR Vice President, PCR President, and National Trustee. I was the chairman or co-chairman of four PCR conventions and part of the committee for the 21st Century Limited. I’ve received the Daylight Division Member of the Year, PCR Member of the Year, and the John Allen Award. I was Contest Chairman for a decade, and been part the judging in almost every convention for forty years. I’ve also been involved most of the changes to the contest manual during those years. I am currently the PCR head hobo. I came to like trains from my father. Before WWII he worked for Missouri Pacific. His brother worked most of his life for Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe. When I started elementary school most kids MAY have had a circle of track and one Lionel train. My dad had a 50 sq ft layout with many special features. To this day I think of The Great Northern freight cars as “nany goat” cars, and streamlined observation cars as “round hiney butt” cars. As a young boy I saw, The Great Locomotive Chase by Disney. From that, I loved the American 440. After I was married, and had a spare bedroom in our apartment, I decided to start a model rail road. It had to have 440’s. So I found out about the Virginia & Truckee. That is still my favorite rail road. I also have gained a great deal of knowledge about passenger trains. I’m currently trying to reproduce the SP Lark. Last September 25th, Rita and I celebrated our 46th anniversary. I am retired now. I was a truck driver for 43 years, logging over 3 million miles. Since retirement, I’ve joined Civil Air Patrol. For the Fresno squadron, I am an Assistant Aerospace Education Officer, teaching both cadets and senior members, Assistant Safety Officer, and the Transportation Officer. I’m training for Airborne Photographer. I have a wood shop in my garage, I’m currently making shop cabinets for my church’s Temple. I am a disciple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My callings are, leading young boys activity days, and working in our Family Search Center helping people find their genealogy. I also like to dig into the minutiae of history and consider myself a master of useless knowledge. I know the difference between tomAto and tomato, I know what it means when someone says, “he was hoist by his own petard”, and I know how a young Mongolian boy’s desire to get revenge for his mother’s treatment, lead to Columbus discovering America.
Chris Skow: Chris Skow became interested in railroads in 1964 at the age 16 when his parents took him to Newton, Iowa to meet his grandmother. A few blocks away was the passenger depot for the Rock Island Railroad. His father allowed him to walk down to the depot. Shortly after he got to the depot the Newton Switch Engine conductor invite him up into the engine for a cab ride. Needless to say for the next week everyday Chris could be found in the cab. On his last day he was presented with a Rock Island employee timetable signed by all of the crew. He was hooked. While in college at San Bernardino in 1968-69 he was hired by the Santa Fe Railway as a station operator full time with his home terminal at San Bernardino. It was early morning on September 2, 1969 and he was working the 3rd trick at Mission Tower in downtown Los Angeles which controls all of the passenger trains coming in and out of LA Union Station. At 5am Bob Larson called Chris to ask if he would like to get on the interview list for a brakeman. Chris became good friends with Bob in 1966. Chris made it up to Portola that afternoon on the 2nd and by then the trainmasrter had hired enough brakeman, but he was so impressed that Chris drove up from Los Angeles that he hired him to be a temporary clerk and crew caller at Portola until a brakeman's job became available. Chris accepted and officially went to work for the Western Pacific on September 9, 1969. He worked the midnight clerk and crew caller at Portola, The highlight of this job was servicing and watering the California Zephyr which arrived at 7:10am. When it departed one of his duties was to set up the washing racks and make sure the silver lady departed Portola nice and clean. The trainmaster kept his word and two months later gave Chris his brakeman's job. The next adventure was getting involved in forming the Feather River Rail Society and the Western Pacific Railroad Museum. Being a founding father for this museum he ended up on the board of directors and started the museum's gift shop and the display room and spent countless hours working on some of the rolling stock. In 1983 Chris helped organized some of the events for the First Annual Feather River Railroad Days Festival and then a few years later joined up with the planning committee for this event. The Railroad Days Festival is what gave him the idea to run a charter passenger train from Emeryville (Oakland) to Portola up the Feather River Canyon for this event. As if his life was not busy enough every summer from 1974 until 1982 he would go back to New Jersey and put on his overalls and work on the steam locomotives of the Black River & Western as fireman. He would always drive back east and would line up a number of sound movie programs to show at railroad clubs and groups all the way across the country. Wanting to keep a very active lifestyle in 1984 he took over being editor for the Western Steam column of the CTC Board Magazine. He kept this column going for several years. Moving forward into the 2010’s he joined the Central Coast Chapter of the NRHS in Santa Clara and got on the excursion committee to help the club plan and operate train tours and excursions. During his time on this committee he was involved in a number of trips including the ATSF 3751 steam excursion from Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon and return. To date Chris has been involved in arranging and operating 535 charter trains in 47 countries and and countless private rail car charters. According to Chris his passion for working with railfans and folks that love train travel will continue as long as his health holds out.
Ty Smith: As museum director, Ty Smith is responsible for managing the California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento Southern Railroad, Old Sacramento State Historic Park, and the historic Southern Pacific Shops. Ty’s extensive knowledge, background, and experience working in the museum community coupled with his passion for history and interpretation makes him uniquely qualified for this key position in California’s state park system,” said Capital District Superintendent Matthew Bellah. “California State Parks working in partnership with the Foundation, and Ty’s visionary leadership will help guide these prized rail units forward at a very exciting time for Sacramento. Ty has served various roles within California State Parks. He joins the Railroad Museum from Hearst Castle where he served for the last past five years as an interpreter III/ chief of museum interpretation responsible for managing interpretation programs and ticket office. Prior to this job, Smith served as an interpreter II/ museum services manager at the California State Capitol Museum and as an interpreter II / program coordinator for the Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students Program. Smith earned a Ph.D. from the University of California Santa Barbara in Public History, an M.A. in Public History from California State University Sacramento, and a B.A. in History from California Polytechnic University State University-San Luis Obispo.”
Dave Stanley: Dave Stanley's 41-year railroad career began in June 1974, hiring on as a brakeman for Central California Traction. In November 1978 he moved over to Western Pacific (and later Union Pacific), working in train service until November 1988 when he was promoted to locomotive engineer. He also worked as a yardmaster at UP's Stockton yard from October 1983 until May 1988. Dave's interest in black and white photography manifested thanks to college courses and 50+ year friendships with Ted Benson and Dick Dorn, both master rail photographers. Studying the photographic works of Steinheimer, Hale, Hastings, Gruber, Plowden, Lamb, and Kooistra has inspired Dave as well.
Shane Starr: Shane Starr is the President of the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway, a nonprofit historical society dedicated to preserving the 50-year legacy of the narrow-gauge railway.
John Stevens: I was born in Wichita, KS as my father was working as a contractor for Boeing’s Kansas facility which at the time was building B-47’s and KC-97’s. At the age of five we moved back to my parent’s hometown north of Boston where I graduated high school. I went to college at the Unites States Air Force Academy graduating in 1976. Pilot Training in southwest Texas followed with assignments in Ohio and Michigan flying KC-135’s. In the early 80’s, I flew T-43 Navigator Trainers at Mather AFB. I got out of the Air Force in 1985 and was soon hired by Delta Air Lines where I was a crew member on B-727’s, MD-88’s, B-737’s, B-757’s, and B-767’s. I retired in 2018 after 32 years with Delta. I have been a member of the NMRA since late 1997. I am an active member of the Piedmont Division of the Southeastern Region. I have held committee positions within my Division, held the Secretary position for the SER for four years, and held the National Scout Coordinator(14 years), Assistant Secretary(4 years), Secretary (6 years), VP Administration (3 years), and now the Howell Day Museum Department Manager position at the National level. The Howell Day Museum Department Manager is responsible collecting and storing donations. There is a large collection of donated items at HQ in Soddy Daisy. They are also responsible for the “The Magic of Scale Model Railroading Gallery” located at the CSRM in Sacramento. I model in HO and am currently building a layout in my basement. The layout room is about 700 sq ft and is three levels. I am modeling Pan Am Railways which is a New England Railroad which was recently purchased by CSX. My timeframe is “around the time of the sale” as this allows me to run CSX locos, NS locos(Pan Am had a joint venture with NS), Pan Am locos (blue with a Pan Am globe on the nose), and Guilford grey and orange which was the company name until the early 2000’s. Pan Am doesn’t have much in the way of freight cars so my trains can contain cars from just about anywhere in the US. Trains tend to be a “Dog’s Breakfast”( a confused mess) of locos and cars. Geographically, I am modeling from the ocean to the interior mountains of New Hampshire during the fall/early winter timeframe.
Tony Thompson: A long-time SP modeler in HO and a native Californian, Tony Thompson is interested in both SP and PFE history, and has published both magazine articles and books (Pacific Fruit Express, SP Coast Line Pictorial, Southern Pacific Freight Cars, in five volumes, SP Freight Car Painting and Lettering Guide) on these subjects. His freight car enthusiasm has generated an extensive car fleet for his 1953-era modeling of SP’s Coast Line south of San Luis Obispo. He wrote the modeling column in the SP Historical and Technical Society’s magazine, Trainline, for 25 years, and has served as the Society’s President. He is retired from the University of California, Berkeley, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.
Al Turnbull: Al Turnbull resides in Monroe, WA. He has been awarded certificates for ‘Master Builder – Scenery’ and ‘Model RR Engineer – Electrical’ in the NMRA's AP program. He has been involved with the PNR and authors articles for the 4th Division. Al participates in the N-Trak group ‘Mount Rainier N Scale’ has helped with their wiring and scenery projects.
Eugene Vicknair: Eugene Vicknair is co-founder of Driven Innovation, a product development firm in Livermore, California. He has worked professionally in product and graphic design for almost 30 years. He has been a member of the Feather River Rail Society since fall 1984 and is a founding director of the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway. As such most of his model railroad efforts are in 12 inches to the foot scale. Eugene is a lifelong fan of the Western Pacific and its components, especially the Tidewater Southern, the Santa Fe and obscure, overlooked railroads, like the N-C-O, Deep Creek and Indian Valley. He operates and hopes to one day return to updating the website TidewaterSouthern.com. When he is not inventing products or volunteering for museums, he likes to motorcycle, kayak, and try to improve his photography, study paleontology, write, cook, hike and travel.
Mark Williams: Like many of us, Mark got his first train set as a Christmas present at an early age. Later, school and work and family took center stage, and it wasn't until he was in his late 40's that he had time and disposable income to get back into the hobby. A couple of cross-county train trips as a kid instilled a lasting interest in passenger trains. He models in N scale, and has build four layouts over the years. He has presented at several regional and national model train conventions.
Dick Witzens: As it has frequently occurred, my first exposure to the hobby was Lionel trains as a young boy and this continued into my early teens. Then the usual other things interfered, like school, the Air Force, college, and raising a family. In the early 1980s, a local paper ran an item about International Railfair. I went to the show a few times and in 1985 joined Sierra Division of the PCR and NMRA, and the Sacramento Modular Railroaders. International Railfair's steering committee needed some additional volunteers, which led to my being their secretary for over thirty years. I've enjoyed attending a number of NMRA conventions, and giving clinics at the local, regional, and national levels.
Kyle Wyatt: California State Railroad Museum – Curator of History & Technology, retired – 1999-2018. Nevada State Railroad Museum – Curator of History – 1990-1999. Railroad history and museum consultant since 1977. Member of numerous (mostly) West Coast rail preservation organizations. Tuolumne Historical Railroad Association – Vice-Chairman since 2022.
Jim Zeek: Jim Zeek is somewhat of a living legion, being the last of four generations in the forest products industry, with education at Oregon State University College of Forestry and experience as a laborer at the Feather River Lumber Co. and machine operator at Michigan-California/Sierra Pacific Industries Camino, CA. He has been giving clinics and insight into the Lumber industry for many years, based on his extensive experience and knowledge. He also has earned a Master's Degree in business Administration and owns a Organic Farm in Camino, CA.

Dave Bayless
Clinics Chair