# Pennsy Live Steamers Labor Day Meet



## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

This will be my first steamup! i will be there friday morning- afternoon.
who is going? i will bring my ruby and some rolling stock. 
now for a few questions: how is the run time? is the gauge one track very busy? also, are there any "rules" i should be aware of? also, would any one be willing to let me try my hand at coal firing?





......and will somebody please bring a pennsy T-1 and a SR&RL 24?

nate


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## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

The PLS gauge one tracks can get busy. I will suggest that you watch what is going on while you are not running. Where we steam up and how to safely navigate from a steaming bay out to a main line. Care must be taken if this requires crossing over another main line. Being sure to return the turnout throws back to the correct position, so as not to derail someones engine & train. Ask questions if your not sure, and NEVER ASSUME IT WATER !, water and alcohol look the same! ( many of us add some food coloring to our alcohol, but not everyone does this) 
Can't help you with the coal firing all my engines are alcoholics :>) You will probably see a T-1, not so sure about the roundhouse.


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

are you talking about the portable green track or the permanent PLS track? have two trains ever collided at the diamond? can 2 trains run on the same track? my ruby can run with another trains as it usually only pulls 2 b-mann cars or less, and it has R/C.


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## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

These guidelines would pertain to any track.


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

okay. i assume its BYOB (bring your own butane) do you know what track is more crowded?

good night-nate


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## JoelB (Jan 3, 2008)

Nate,

There are a few rules -- or, perhaps, to sound less harsh, "best practices" -- that are followed at any meet:

1. You should be self-contained: that means bring your own water, fuel, steam oil, other lubricating oil, batteries for R/C, tools. Yes, others will not hesitate to help out if you're a newbie and having difficulties or left something at home, but you shouldn't assume that tools or supplies will be provided.
2. Busy tracks (Diamondhead or ECLSTS, for example) will have sign-up boards. That should be self-explanatory.
3. General practice is to only have one train on one track at a time. It's possible to share a track with another operator, but _only if the two of you agree to it_. Having R/C doesn't ensure that you can share the track. It has its limitations and is not a guarantee that you can control your train under all circumstances, especially if you get distracted and lose sight of the other train.
4. Corollaries to #3: Old-fashioned (76Mhz) R/C is prone to glitching and can't be relied on; New-fangled R/C (2.4Ghz) is glitch-resistant, but is unpredictable when RX battery voltage gets below a certain threshold or if you lose TX-RX binding. Resist the temptation to "set it and forget it".
5. As Jeff pointed out in an earlier posting, proper etiquette is to always reset turnouts when you've run your train through them. Equally true when in a yard or when exiting on to or off of a main line.

None of this is meant to scare you off or think that live steam meets are rule-bound. Far from it. You will generally find that other small-scale live steamers are very sociable, willing to share knowledge and non-judgemental. Enjoy your first steamup!


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

Had LOTS of fun! i met many nice people, and bob put a new o-ring on my safety valve(thanks bob!. she pulled really well. she only had two accidents. the first was when i was filling the gas i forgot to hold my hand under her to keep her still, and she flipped of the elevated part of the PLS track, and i JUST caught her with my pinky right before she smashed into the ground... Whew! good save.. the second was when she hit a dip in the rails on the outer track and she jumped off the rails and luckily it was on the ground level part of the track. just ask any of the guys there about my coupler problem... other that that, everything went great. I got to se a sandy river 24, a t-1, a GN s-2, and accucraft mogul and many more. i only ventured to the portable track once, and i saw the SRRL and the mogul there. i stayed all but a minute as nobody wanted to talk to me there i got about 4 good runs in and a lot of the time the track was empty. i took a ride on the 7.25 Ga. and that was nice. i met bob, tom, will jeff,brittany and the man that owned my ruby before me. (his name slips my mind) i didnt get to see a coal fired though. i accidentally ran real low/out of water on my 2nd to last run. (luckily i caught it soon enough, so no damage happened, in fact, nobody noticed! i wish i could come back tomorrow.. BTW if any body finds a little piece of stiff wire in the yard track area, its my throttle-servo connecting rod. overall, it was a great day!

nate


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is a picture of Nate, running his Ruby...








and it ran well, with a little help from Mr. Weltyk.


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## weaverc (Jan 2, 2008)

It is refreshing to see young people enthusiastic about live steaming. I wish there were more. Tom - thanks for the photo.


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

thanks tom. i was going to take pictures/ videos but i didnt know the camera card was almost out of memory. i did get a little video of tom running his british 0-6-0 (sorry , i dont know what its called) and jeff running his S-2.


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Nate

If you "stayed but all but a minute" you should not be surprised. Unless you had your locomotive, you were just another younger kid wandering around the club looking at stuff going on. If you were there for "just a minute" I suspect you did not try to introduce yourself. You will find that a lot of "old guys" who are focused on running their trains or just BSing with each other will not stop to talk to other folks [of any age] unless that person initiates a conversation. Next tiime have someone from the other track introduce you, or just say " Hi, I was just running my Ruby on the other track, what's happening here" [or something like that]. I know it isn't always easy if you are a younger guy trying to fit into an adult [chronologically] setting. Glad you had fun. I had a bug and did not want to share it so I stayed home. That took a lot since I had planned to have my PRR H10 boiler tested in hopes of running on the 1 in track.


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

jim, i tried to talk to this guy about his engine, and when i asked him a question about it, he looked at me really grumpy, and then returned to running his engine. i hightailed it out of there!


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Yes... there are some GRUMPY OLD MEN in this hobby. I had someone come to one of my meets and there were some younger kids [8-10] there watching. He came over and said, "They kids don't belong here, you should not invite them back". Guess who has not come back...

Next time you are at Mike's portable track, please ask for him by name. My guess is he was doing gate duty or something. Sorry for your first experience turning out like this. Brittany started at an early age, but she had a long-time club member running interference for her in the very beginning. Once folks get to know who you are, and see that you can keep your unbridled enthusiam in check around a bunch of OLD PEOPLE you will be OK.


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

jim, other that that,and me getting yelled at for stepping on the 7 1/4 gauge track because i was told i could have broken it, my experience was fine! i hope to become an associate member and go to hopefully the turkey trot (g scale only) and the spring meet. like i said, at my track everyone was helpful and nice and i got to see a lot of neat steam engines too. mike moore introduced himself and he was very nice, so i think if i did put in a lot of effort to talk to people at the "other track" they would have been fine. i am jealous of you guys that were there yesterday and today! 

take care


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

*questions of younnsters*

I knaow how sometimes it can get frustrating while you are trying to run your engines.
What gets me ,is the little squirts know more about the prototype of my engines than I do.
The day that I had my major trouble with the FEF, a squirt about 12 years old was giving evry detail that was known about the FEF 844.
Great that Nate had an oppurtunity to run his Ruby at the steamup.
I spend just about every Saturday afternoon at the Malll running trains for the kids.
Would not be a hobby without them


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

Running for the kids is the best part of the hobby...


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

*PLS meet*

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who made Nate feel welcome at the PLS meet on Fri. This could have been intimidating for a 13 yr old,but instead it was awesome for him! Tom,Jeff,Will,Bob and Mary(I'm sure there were more but these are the names I know)all treated Nate like he belonged and gave him some great pointers along the way! His dad and I know very little about live steam(Nate taught himself by researching and asking lots of questions)so we tried to stay out of the way. It was fun just for us to watch Nate being able to do what he loves with such a great group of people! So glad we able to be a part of this,Sherry Heffner(the mom!)


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

A few photos of an excellent steamup with great weather:

PLS steamup 16

Three coal fired locomotives in action yesterday.

A small video forth coming:






Got a couple of locomotives on video but forgot spare battery....


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## Gary Woolard (Jan 2, 2008)

*About that Tunnel at PLS*

I don't want to be a nag, but I think I've asked this question before without getting an answer -- it's about that tunnel that you can see in some of the pictures above --

How long is that tunnel, and how big is the hill it's running through? It sure appears to be longer than the traditional "two arm lengths -- one reach from either side." If that's so, how do they handle de-rails? Is there a hidden maintenance opening?

thanx,


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

the tunel is very long , and there is no access point on it.you either:

(A) hope you can reach your train.

(B) push it out with a stick, Ect.

(C) run another train in the tunnel and try to push/pull your train out.

and i almost forgot....

(D) Bring a shovel and dig out your train (i think a quarter stick of dynamite works the best)


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks to be a nice day and with all my plans to get there, Lily's Kindergarten orientation ran late and got home at noon. At that point was too late to get there and back in time for dinner with the company that was coming over. 

Glad that you got the oring replaced on the safety Nate. Was anyone able to swap the valve to check to see what pressure its lifting at? If you mail it to me I will still get it set for 60psi, but needs to be done on a loco with a pressure gauge. 

As to the guy that owned the loco before you, he passed away a couple years back. You may have met Bob McHale, he was good friends with him is the one that asked me to sell it for the guys wife.


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

j, yes that was the man i met, as i understand it, the original owner had passed away and his wife found the engine in a closet. she then gave the engine to Bob M. and then you sold me the engine for bob. i was going to ask somebody to swap valves with me for a run, but i didnt think of it as i was having too much fun, and none of the valves seemed to look the same as they all looked smaller.


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## Bob in Mich (Mar 8, 2008)

Nate and all,Here are the videos I took at P.L.S Fall Meet.


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Bob
Enjoyed the video along with having dinner with you and your wife.


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

Charles,
Great video. Who owns the Comley teaks? Did Bob Moser get to pull them with his Scotsman?


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## Bob in Mich (Mar 8, 2008)

*Chuck,Mary and I enjoyed having dinner with You and Ryan also.We both were amazed with your hidden talent of painting.Your Portraits were fantast, I know all would be surprised at what a great painter you are," if they seen them".Thanks for sharing them with us*


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## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

Great video Charles. I always have a soft spot for the GNR Ivatt large boiler Atlantic as my first Gauge one live steam loco was a Bing for Basset Lowke GNR atlantic, which I traded with a collector for a PLM pacific after having restored it. A friend owns it now. Great set of Gresley coaches behind a beautiful train.
I loved that New Haven stramlined hudson too, that loco although the prototype was unsuccesfull is an icon esthetically (I love stramlined engines). And was that a PRR H10 I was able to see quite rapidly?
Its great to help youngsters get into the hobby. Nate is quite lucky, I started with live steam at about 26.


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## Reg Stocking (Sep 29, 2010)

The New Haven Hudson streamlining was by Otto Kuhler. Almost sixty years ago he gave an illustrated talk in which he described his career as ALCO's stylist. ALCO was approached by the New Haven about purchasing the five engines and wanted Kuhler's styling. ALCO told Kuhler that probably Baldwin would underbid ALCO and build Kuhler's design. Therefore he did two designs; the first one was given to the New Haven and the second, which was better, was held back to be presented to the New Haven if ALCO got the job. Baldwin got it and used Kuhler's inferior design. Oh well....


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## snowshoe (Jan 2, 2008)

One of these days I need to come down. (Summer Holidays are always out because of mandatory work grrrrr)
Nate glad you enjoyed yourself. The guys are great, dont be afraid to start up a conversation. Just say Im so and so from MLS. That sometimes helps. You need to attend the Scranton Steamup Presidents weekend. Its a fun low key weekend with lots of track time.


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