Crockett NTrak Meet-up

[nscalestation]

Yes, very enjoyable !  Glad I could make it to this one.  Thanks Junior for posting some good photos.  Everything I took came out blurry with the trains moving.   The best of my lot was this one of my new Kato E233 in Nambu line colors.  This was the first time I have run it on a large layout since purchasing it on my last day in Tokyo last spring.   Having not visited this layout for over 23 years, I did not realize that it was now all DCC.  We were running almost everything with one throttle on address 00.

 

 

 

We were also able to view some 1:1 trains from the window of the layout room.  From left to right Paul, Junior, and our host, Bob.   This was an east bound UP freight with 6 locomotives on the front a nice variety of car types including many different type of roll steel cars.

 

[serotta1972]

That was a nice and long freight train with a variety of cars and not your typical boring container train.  All it was missing was a caboose. :) Love that window as we get to watch the 1:1 trains, both passenger and freight go by every 20 minutes or so.  

[locidm]

Missed this this weekend! Wouldn't have made it anyways with conflict but good to know you guys had a good time!

[serotta1972]

Hopefully you can make it out next time, we’re going to plan a meet up once a month.

[Pauljag900]

On 27/01/2018 at 5:11 AM, serotta1972 said:

Getting ready to run some trains tomorrow.  Here's what I'm bringing in my new fancy spancy case.

 

Kato Amtrak California Zephyr

Kato Kiha 85

Tomix Kiha 40

 

 

Lovin that case junior👍👍👍😀

[cteno4]

They are great for shows as it’s a lot easier to move cars on and off the layout than from regular boxes that you need to set down to pull stuff out and juggle. One of our club members used his a lot this way and could holdmthe box in one arm while oading cars on/off with the other arm. Worked well.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[JR 500系]

I was wondering, wouldnt the carriages hit one another, especially those on the same level, inside the case?

[cteno4]

The lid has a foam insert with ridges that hold the cars in place when the lid is closed.

 

jeff

[serotta1972]

Monthly Meet up at the Crockett N-Trak club.  Bring trains to run or just come and hang out and watch trains on the layout and outside.  

 

Date: February 24, 2018

Time: 10 am - 12 pm

Location:  Bay Area NTrak Club - Old SP Depot 

                   900 Loring Ave., Crockett CA

 

http://bayarean-trak.org/home_main.html

[Kiha66]

I'll be there!  Looking forward to it.

[serotta1972]

Another nice little meet-up with Kiha66.  It's funny Sam and I each brought 103's to run, I brought the wrapped Osaka Power Loop train and he brought a Yamanote Line train.  I also got to run my new to me Milwaukee Road FP7A/B/A with DCC and sound and I even installed an app "wiThrottle" on my iPhone to run it.  I'm going high tech.  But here's the best part of the meet-up today, Bob gave us keys to the clubhouse and said that we can go there whenever we like.  Going there consistently and building a relationship and trust with Bob has paid off.  

 

 

Edited February 25, 2018 by serotta1972

[serotta1972]

Hello Bay Area Modelers, we are having another meet up this weekend.  Come join us to run trains.

 

Date: March 17, 2018

Time: 10 am - 12 pm

Location:  Bay Area NTrak Club - Old SP Depot 

                   900 Loring Ave., Crockett CA

 

http://bayarean-trak.org/home_main.html

[Pauljag900]

Looking forward to seeing your new purchases junior👍👍😀😀

[Kiha66]

I'll be there!  Should be a nice break from a stressful week.

[Pauljag900]

Enjoy gents,looking forward to Some nice pics👍👍😀😀

Edited March 17, 2018 by Pauljag900

[Kiha66]

It was a fun meet up this weekend, just Junior and I showed but we got lots of run time.  Not too many full sized trains today, possibly cause of the snow in the mountains.  I'm sure Junior will have plenty of pic's to share later but I ran my new kato Mikado and 181 series, while Junior ran some american trains as well.

[serotta1972]

It was definitely a fun morning running trains as we had the whole layout to ourselves.  We had trains on the yard and running at the same time.  We could've had multiple trains running as we had some DCC trains but that would've required too much attention and a little stressful.  I ran my new to me Kato Broadway Limited 15 cars pulled by a GG1, a Southern Pacific Commuter train and a short Freight train.  We are slowly taking over the club. :)

 

I think I took more videos that pictures this time around.  I will have to figure out how to upload videos.

[serotta1972]

More pics...see my runaway locomotive, it lost its cars.  All DC trains run on the same throttle so Sam stopped the trains and they happen to be all in the same area.  This area of the layout is seldom photographed as it is in the back.  The Japanese trains are Sam's and also the Mikado with really nice Wheels of Time passenger cars.

 

 

[Pauljag900]

Sounds like you guys had a blast,great pics and vids Junior,thanks for sharing buddy👍😀😀

[nscalestation]

Junior, great to see you are giving that GG1 a good work out.

 

Sorry I could not make it this time, Paul and I are both working on things getting ready for the week long setup starting in less than two weeks in San Carlos.  Hope you and Sam and anyone else that is interested can come by and run with us.

 

https://www.hiller.org/event/trains-and-planes/

[serotta1972]

We are having another meet-up on Saturday, April 21 from 10 am - 1 pm. Join us to run some trains, all trains welcome DC or DCC. 

[serotta1972]

We had a nice running session at the club today.  We had trains from 3 continents - North America, Asia and Australia.  Paul brought some of his unique trains from Australia and a DMU from China, unfortunately some of his Australian locos weren't cooperating with the power and control system.  Sam took care of the Japanese trains and brought out his 16 car 700 Series and many others and I ran the Caltrain local commuter and a Kato Smoothside Passenger car set, Illinois Central.  I've been traumatize after frying one of my motors so I'm a little hesitant about running my JP trains right now but it really should be okay, just got to make sure it's not a coreless motor.

 

Only got a couple pics as we were busy running trains and following them around the layout to make sure they're not derailing.  Hopefully Sam was able to take some pictures.

 

 

 

[serotta1972]

Hey Bay Area Members,

 

We're having our monthly meet up at the Crockett NTrak club, come join us and run some trains.  

 

Date: May 19, 2018

Time: 10 am - 1 pm

Location:  Bay Area NTrak Club - Old SP Depot 

                   900 Loring Ave., Crockett CA

 

http://bayarean-trak.org/home_main.html

 

 

[JR 500系]

On ‎22‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 2:13 PM, serotta1972 said:

 

 

 

 

 

This looks mighty interesting, a double decker train! Can I know what model is this? 

[serotta1972]

This is the Caltrain local commuter train from San Francisco to San Jose. These are Athearn Bombardier Bi-Level cars and of course this is a cab car as it operates as a push pull unit.  There's a diesel locomotive at the other end and Kato actually sells them - MP36 Kobo Custom Caltrain.  Sammy, getting bored with Japanese trains - want to branch out to North American trains.  Don't, not as great as what we have with our JP trains and cost 2-3x as much.  A 3 car set of these Bombardier cars is $120 with a discount, it could be as much as $140 and these are just passenger cars.