# Staver Spring Steamup 2012



## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Well, I think that I can say that all that were there this last Thursday to Sunday, had a wonderful time of steaming.
The track was open from 8am until 10pm each day, except for Sunday when it closed at 1pm.
There was a wonderful selection of locomotives, big and small, fast and slow, old and new.
Here are a few of my video memories from the days activities.
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

David
Tha nk you very much for the videos. Looks like you could have had all the track time you wanted.
How many Stemaers were in attendance.
Great venue.


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Hi Art, 
There were about 50 seats at the supper table on Saturday night, so I would say perhaps 35 steamers, and 15 wives, friends, non-steamers. 
When you got there at 8am the track was yours, likewise around noon, and then again at 6pm when everyone seemed to walk over to the pub across the road! 
One time I did NOT go to supper, and I was able to stand in one place and watch my train do many circuits for about 45 minutes before someone else steamed up and 'spoiled' my fun, or really they added to it. 
At other times we had five or six trains all chasing each other on the 400 feet of track (or 670 feet when it didn't rain). 
I like to pull of into one of the three passing loops every now and then, and test my stopping and starting skills, imagining that there is a station there. 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## rbednarik (Jan 2, 2008)

David, 

Wonderful video, looks as if Larry is still ever expanding his layout. 

The CPR mikado conversion is looking quite sharp!


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

David; 

Thank you for the video. I especially liked the BR Class 9F strutting her stuff with a passenger train, no less! 

Best, 
David Meashey


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## Bob in Mich (Mar 8, 2008)

David,Great Video.Looks like all had a great time.In looking at the track,it had wooden ties ! What kind if track is it? I see double slip switches,Curved switches.Thing You don't see on layouts.Great Layout,and a great job of Video the Event. 
Thanks David


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Hi Bob, 
You are quite right, you see things that you don't see 'normally', and it keeps getting better. 
The track is ALL made up of band iron, perhaps 1/8" x 1/2", I'm not sure of the exact measurement. 
This is fitted into the slotted wooded ties and is in long lengths, so not too many track joins. 
The switches and double slips are all made up the same way and welded to cross pieces. 
The frogs and noses are all MILLED out of solid steel! 
As in the words of an old song, Larry sings "I did it my way"! 
Nothing wrong with that in this case. 
Thank you all for the nice comments about the video. 
I always wish that I had taken more, but never get around to it as too busy steaming or talking. 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

@import url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Provide...ad.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css); Posted By rbednarik on 30 Apr 2012 06:34 AM 
David, 

Wonderful video, looks as if Larry is still ever expanding his layout. 

The CPR mikado conversion is looking quite sharp! 


Hi Ryan,
Thanks for the comment.
It is now an ASTERCRAFT, or maybe it's an ACCUSTER? 
For those who don't see it, it is an Aster USRA Mikado, with the Accucraft Royal Hudson cab, skirts, and front pilot.
It makes a very realistic Canadian Pacific class P-2-g.
I still have to make up a more correct looking tender, and add details like pipes and pumps.
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## Westport (Nov 28, 2009)

David, we arrived back to the wet coast after driving inland and north from Portland late Tuesday, so your video has lit up a dreary, rainy day....A great way to recall three and a half days of steaming, gracious hospitality and friendship...Looking forward to September, already! 
Myron


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## Jim Overland (Jan 3, 2008)

David, 
nice Pictures. 
A camera does a nice job of highlighting trains 

good times thanks 
jim o


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## Jim Overland (Jan 3, 2008)

Ryan, 
Four great runs with the daylight in 1.5 days flawless. I was fine tuning down to the level of 1/8 th turns on the alcohol to keep the safeties just weeping a bit


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## donupton (Jan 5, 2008)

David,
Great photos but an outstanding model of a P2. Sorry that I missed the show. Hope you have it at the NSS.
Don Upton, Calgary. 
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## Andre Anderson (Jan 3, 2008)

Greetings,

Larry is planning and hoping to have another loop completed outside by the fall steam up, after that there will one or two more expansion projects. This phase will just about double the length of the main line. In the future there will be a turn table and steaming facility out door as well as the ones that you see now. The new sections will have water features and much more landscaping than the present indoor section.


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Posted By donupton on 03 May 2012 05:03 PM 
David,
Great photos but an outstanding model of a P2. Sorry that I missed the show. Hope you have it at the NSS.
Don Upton, Calgary. 


Hi Don,
Good to hear from you.
Especially for you, (actually NOT) I will have the P-2-g in Sacramento.
Hopefully with the correct tender.
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## rbednarik (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Jim Overland on 03 May 2012 02:17 PM 
Ryan, 
Four great runs with the daylight in 1.5 days flawless. I was fine tuning down to the level of 1/8 th turns on the alcohol to keep the safeties just weeping a bit 
Jim,
Saw the GS-4 working it's way around in David's video with your superb rake of cars. Glad to know that the minor overhaul is holding up well, although Gordon's chassis and boiler work are what make it a top notch performer. We just did a little sprucing up. 

I remember it being "on test" at our track and sitting back on a nice spring day watching it make lap after lap for over an hour during lunch. Quite a nice way to relax!


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Ryan, 
Jim's Daylight really was running 'like an Aster'. 
Larry's track with a couple of nice gentle reverse curves, really showed off the 14 car Daylight train well. 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## HampshireCountyNarrowGage (Apr 4, 2012)

Hi, 

I'm new to the site and have really enjoyed the videos of the steamup. Could you please tell me where this is located. I'd like to go someday. 

Thanks. 

Chester Louis SA #64 
Hampshire County Narrow Gauge


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Hi Chester, 
It is held in Portland, Oregon. 
Here is Larry Staver's web site: 
http://staverlocomotive.com/ 
He has one steamup in April, and one in September each year, the fall one having more attendance. 
A wonderful track to run on, and great people in attendance. 
Hope to see you there one day. 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## TIMX (Dec 8, 2011)

David, 

You captured the steam-up so beautifully! Thank you for sharing. 

Its so rewarding to see such a great variety of locos running so flawlessly and everyone working together and making the "open track" system work so well. Its a testament to the wonderful folks who come from so far and from so many places and can still cooperate like they do this every day. 

I was so moved as I sat and watched the action on Saturday, that it was possible to hear the quiet murmur of conversation the chuffing of up to six or more locomotives out on the track at one time and very little need for a voice raised above conversational volume. 

Thanks to all who showed up and we hope to see you all and more come fall! 

Tim Miller 
Portland Oregon


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Tim, 
Welcome to this group, nice to have you with us. 
Part of the reason that everything runs so flawless is the incredible work that you have done in building and maintaining the track. 
For those who don't know, every time we go to a steamup, there is always some additional trackwork, and the last couple of visits, incredible modern type double slips have appeared. 
All this is Tim's work, although I am sure that Larry is behind him with the whip! 
See you in September. 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## nsimpson (Mar 15, 2010)

Hi Tim, 
So nice to see you on the forum....! 
I have to echo the comments that David made about the effort that you and Larry put in to constantly upgrade an already fantastic area to run live steam. But also, it is the relaxed and self-responsible atmosphere that you, Larry, and Yolanda create that makes the event a special time of camaradre for a bunch of crazy steamers...!! Each time as we pack up, we look forward to the next event. See you in the fall.... 

Cheers and thank-you again, Neil Simpson.


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## Gary Woolard (Jan 2, 2008)

David,

Just wanted to add my 'thanks' for the delightful video of a delightful place. Hard to believe it's been a couple of years since I visited, but I have that humongous Staver coffee mug to remind me! Someday... someday I'll get back up there... but it was great to watch your video in the meantime!
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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Hi Gary, 
I am glad that you enjoyed my video. 
With regards to the mug, for those who don't know, for the first couple of Steamups, Larry had the HUGE Staver Locomotive mugs as part of the registration package, and they must hold a pint. 
Anyway, we recently became grandparents, and on one of the first visits by my daughter, she needed something to hold hot water, to heat up the baby's bottle. 
She spotted the Staver mug, which is just the right size, so one now lives at her house and one at ours, being used for 'alternate' duties currently. 
Hopefully you will make it back to a Staver Steamup in the not too distant future. 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## Dan Pantages (Jan 2, 2008)

The mugs are great. You fill them up with hot coffee and to keep the coffee hot you put a can of Gaz on to, which fits perfectly. This keeps the coffee hot and keeps the Gaz warm enough so it transfers quickly.


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

I was just going through my video library, and found some shots that I didn't use in my Staver Spring Steamup 2012 video.
I thought that I would share with you why sometime people, and trains, just don't co-operate!
Nothing too exciting for you.
Anyway,
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

Very well done David.
I wish I could come up this fall and bring the new Goody from Aster if it gets here by then. Anyone you know of bringing a Challenger this fall
.


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Hi Art, 
I'm sure that Dan Pantages will have his kit put together within a couple of days of him getting it!!! 
Well, maybe not! 
I know that there are a couple on order by people who go to Stavers, but not sure if they are kits or r-t-r. 
I have a feeling the kits will be a winter project for most. 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Hi Guys,
I was going to start a new thread, but decided that since I saw this at Staver's, that I would add it here.
It is an ELECTRIC STEAM ENGINE for a narrow boat.
It was built by Jim Montgomery of Seattle and runs just 'like' a steam engine.
He has used solenoid coils with a make and break arrangement to act on the piston.
I wish that I had taken a movie with it in action.
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## Jim Overland (Jan 3, 2008)

thanks for the out takes David, 
For every good shot it takes [email protected]*? others to get ready 

jim


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