Clinics are listed in order of date & time.

THURSDAY

Thursday 4:00 PM Diamond 1

This PowerPoint presentation will investigate the Canadian National 36 mile Penetang subdivision during the 1950’s. A mixed train served this line running north to Georgian Bay on the shores of Lake Huron. We will look at the route, towns served, industries, trains, motive power and rolling stock. This sub division is a good example of branch line service in Canada. It may inspire you to complete a model railroad project or two for your layout. Example projects could be used to earn credit in the NMRA Achievement Program. A reference list is included to aid in additional research. Copies of the presentation will be available on CD upon request.

Thursday 4:00 PM Diamond 2

This clinic will be a Power Point presentation that will take you through the building of the 16’ x 8’ Belden Mining/Eagle River Gorge section of Bill’s new Central Colorado layout. We will start with tips for researching the prototype and then progress through construction from start to finish. We will talk about bench work, roadbed, track laying, along with advanced rockwork and scenery, lighting, and finish work.

Thursday 7:00 PM Diamond 1

This clinic will use proto documentation to explore a multitude of railroad reporting marks used through the eastern US and Canada.

Thursday 7:00 PM Diamond 2

This clinic will look at the prototype railroad St Johnsbury and Lake Champlain history. Included will be photos and maps from the steam era to the end of operations. Also included will be modeling information and a look at a model railroad depicting the line circa 1980 as the Lamoille Valley Railway.

Thursday 7:00 PM Amphitheater

Professional photographer, Gustav W. Verderber, discusses and illustrates the principles and techniques of obtaining publishable quality images of model railroad layouts and dioramas.  Be sure to attend this clinic to learn how to get your modeling work featured in leading modeling railroad magazines.

Thursday 8:30 PM Diamond 1

This clinic will address constructing various G scale buildings including trestles from cedar. Also investigated will be structures made from scratch plus some purchased from Michael’s and bashed. The clinic will review building materials plus the use of rebuilt bird houses.

Thursday 8:30 PM Diamond 2

An overview of what Free-Mo modular railroading is plus an overview of the standards. A look at constructing a Free-Mo module with tips on construction methods. A Free-Mo module will be on site for viewing.

Thursday 8:30 PM Amphitheater

Tell Tale Productions, Vermont’s premier railroad documentary team, shares insider stories of how an idea makes it to script, planning, arranging, shooting and DVD reality. Jim Jones’ DVD appeal to historians, modelers and provide the “then and now” experiences with a Ken Burns style marriage of old photos, video, interview clips, mood, atmosphere and music. Marilee’s artistic touch makes them appealing to more then just railfans – even spouses enjoy them.

FRIDAY

Gluing with the Good Guys by Larry Cannon MMR and Paul Allard MMR

Friday 8:30 – 4:30 Valcour

Extra Fare Clinic – Pre-registration Required

This is a hands-on-clinic which will be conducted by two NER Master Model Railroaders, Larry Cannon and Paul Allard. It will run from 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM on Friday September 10, 2010 with a one hour lunch break. The clinic will consist of multiple small projects. The participants will be given prepackaged project bags. The projects will involve constructing layout detail items using styrene, wood and brass. Emphasis will be placed on construction techniques which can be applied to a broad spectrum of model railroading projects. There will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions. Construction material will be provided. Attendees will be asked to bring the following personal hand tools to the clinic: Rail Cutters, Scale Ruler, File Set, 25 – 50 watt soldering iron, Testors liquid plastic cement, Xacto Knife with #11 blades plus a quart bag of plastic, wood or metal parts from their junk collection (kit leftovers, etc). Attendance is limited to 20 individuals. The fare is $20.

Model Railroading on a Budget by Paul Lessard

Friday 9:00 AM Diamond 1

This clinic will be presented in two parts. The first part will address rolling stock. Techniques will be shown to enhance the appearance and operation of R-T-R and inexpensive kit built cars. The second part will address structures. Techniques will be shown to refurbish and detail low cost structure kits. A printed handout will be provided.

Friday 9:00 AM Diamond 2

This clinic is a black and white photo plus verbal presentation on the Rutland, Boston & Maine and Central Vermont activities at the rail crossroads of Bellows Falls in the early 1950’s. A printed hand out will be provided.

Friday 10:30 AM Diamond 1

A member of Tony’s Train Xchange Technical Staff will demonstrate all the realistic performance features that culminated in the design of the Quantum Revolution DC / DCC sound and power decoders. The clinic will include Operations Demo, Programming Demo, FAQ’s plus a question and answers session. Support documentation will be available as a hand out.

Friday 10:30 AM Diamond 2

This clinic is a photo plus verbal presentation for model railroaders on what is the logical content of freight cars in the steam to diesel transition era. If you want authentic cars in your model train, you should also have authentic contents in or on those cars. A printout will accompany the presentation.

Friday 10:30 AM Amphitheater

This clinic will describe how to go about constructing model structures from pictures. It will feature a Power Point presentation and give the basics of making simple drawings that can be used to create original structures for your model railroad. Examples will include plans made from historic pictures found in old Railroad books. It will also include how to take pictures of existing structures so that you can make drawings yourself. Quite often while completing this process, we find that the building we would like to construct is too large for the intended use. We will show how to make a simple paper mock up to help set the limits of what will look right on your layout before actual construction begins. How may we reduce the plans to a more suitable size that will still maintain the integrity of the original and yet look right on your particular layout?

A member of Tony’s Train Xchange Technical Staff  will demonstrate “how to” use of the unique features of the widely used HARE and WABBIT stationary decoders, the Power Shield A Series of DCC Circuit Breakers and Auto Reverses, the Model Railroaders RRampMeter, DC/DCC/AC Digital Volt-Amp meters and the Power Pax DCC Programming Booster. The clinic will include Operations Demo, Programming Demo, FAQ’s plus a question and answers session. Support documentation will be available as a hand out.

Central Vermont Railway 1948 – 1958 by Bill Brigham

Friday 1:00 PM Diamond 2

Bill will investigate the Central Vermont Railway during the transitional period. Subjects include steam & diesel locomotives, rolling stock and branch that could be modeled. An interesting collection of photos with descriptions will be presented.

Friday 1:00 PM Amphitheater

Mike shows an easy way to adapt more realistic waybills to the common4 cycle system using prototype waybills as a guide and the MS Word “Table” feature.  He is using “Freight Waybills”, “Empty Car Bills” and “Perishable Freight Waybills”.

Speakers: the Cheapest but most Critical Element of Locomotive Sound by a member of Tony’s Train Xchange.

Friday 2:30 PM Diamond 1

A member of Tony’s Train Xchange Technical Staff will discuss speakers used in DCC sound decoders. You can spend $50 - $100 on a quality sound decoder for your favorite locomotive, yet the inexpensive speaker and how to optimize the installation is as important as the sound decoder. Learn how to select the ideal speaker and baffle for your installations, the best source for these speakers plus: the speaker baffle what is it and why is it important? How does speaker size affect performance? Frequency response and distortion. Speaker’s sensitivity and decoder output power. Where to mount your speaker. Directing the sound out the bottom of the locomotive – Why? One or two speakers. What is the high bass series? The clinic will include Operations Demo, Programming Demo, FAQ’s plus a question and answers session. Support documentation will be available as a hand out.

Friday 2:30 PM Diamond 2

A look at how I am modeling the Rutland Railroad’s Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain sub division including operations, track plan development. How I build model scenes from prototype scenes plus information sources and available model equipment. I will also discuss some facts of interest for those who don’t model the Rutland.

Friday 2:30 PM Amphitheater

Bob will explore the concept of having a business that is also a hobby. He wants to have fun and be creative. He would like to utilize his experience in architecture and landscaping to bring the element of reality to his model designs. He wants the end result to be believable. Many times a model railroad is started with good bench work and an interesting track plan but the builder is not sure how to take the railroad further. Bob will draw upon his experience and education to provide guidance to enhance the reality of your miniature railroad empire.

Friday 4:00 PM Diamond 1

With over 10 years of experience and 1000’s of successful installations, Lew will provide a demonstration of “Live” DCC decoder installations in various locomotives. As a technical member of Tony’s Train Xchange, Lew will address both sound and motor control only decoder installations. The demonstration will be interactive, encouraging questions during the clinic. 

Friday 4:00 PM Diamond 2

Through the use of slides and commentary, Jerry will explore the Burlington and Lamoille Railroad as operated under the Central Vermont Railway. The B&L ran from Burlington, VT to Cambridge passing through Essex Jct., Jericho and Underhill, VT.

Friday 4:00 PM Amphitheater

NER and National Contest Chair Bob Hamm takes you through the who, what and where of how to judge the model contest including team judging, model categories, code of conduct, the AP/Contest Judging Guidelines, five judging factors, what to look for in each case and using the judging matrices. Calibrating for the merit level model, a topic of current focus by the National Staff, will also be discussed.

Friday 7:00 PM Diamond 1

This clinic will address modeling tips for low cost details and creating realistic scenes. Painting and weathering techniques will be addressed for use on figures, parts and vehicles.

Railfan Trips Can Yield Modeling Ideas by Robert Carmichael

Friday 7:00 PM Diamond 2

Bob will use his extensive slide collection to investigate a variety of New England Railfan Trips from the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. These adventures can yield a multitude of model ideas and projects.

Friday 7:00 PM Amphitheater

Vermont railroad author Robert C. Jones will discuss railroad background techniques used researching his many books including anecdotes. As many NMRA members build more prototype focused railroad, these techniques can be used to better locate and utilize information about the chosen prototype railroad.

Friday 8:30 PM Diamond 1

Whether you are running a PCC car, an interurban or simply a local freight rolling down Main Street to a switching location, street rail with its specialized structure is there. It adds a great scenic element along with interesting challenges for operation. We’ll look at photos of specialized rail, in-street switch boxes and its respective paving. Following that we’ll explore practical methods of replicating your street rail paving and switches to scale. 

Friday 8:30 PM Diamond 2

This clinic will utilize a series of photos and narration by Master Model Railroader Brian Whiton. He will discuss layout design techniques that he has learned and developed over the years which result in useful switching configurations within space limitations. Multiple examples will be presented. The clinic will provide an opportunity for questions and answers.

Friday 8:30 PM Amphitheater

This PowerPoint presentation covers fine scale animation including working bascule bridges, water tanks, coal triples, ore bins, water plugs, engine houses, coal elevators, warehouse doors, dump trucks and other animated line side structures enhancing operations. Some operations have appeared in Model Railroader. Three working models: a blast furnace, coal triple and ore bin, all winners of NMRA National Awards, are used as teaching aids. A fifteen page handout plus two CDs are provided.

SATURDAY

Build an Animated Warehouse Roll-up Door by Bill Day

Saturday 8:30 AM Valcour

Extra Fare Clinic – Pre-registration Required

Following a PowerPoint presentation on fine scale animation, this make and take clinic enables attendees to build the key mechanism for an animated roll-up warehouse door using a unique (provided) kit that includes Design Preservation Model panels and pilasters, Evergreen styrene H columns, door and bearing. Upon returning home, the modeler will need to provide a Tortoise switch machine and several DPM panels to complete the model. This roll-up door design has been covered in Model Railroader. Three working models are used as teaching aids. This clinic will run on Saturday for approximately 2 hours. Attendees receive a fifteen page handout and two CD’s replicating the presentation. Attendance is limited to 20. The fare is $15.

Saturday 9:00 AM Diamond 1

Jack is well known for his expertise building contest winning structures. In this clinic, he will address how to build a craftsman kit from start to finishes. He will cover how to start, what tools are needed glues, paints and lots of hints. Overall, attendees show learn many very useful techniques that will improve their modeling results.

Saturday 9:00 AM Diamond 2

Scenery design in tight spaces, which in reality is every model railroad.  It was felt that hiding tight space in urban scenery, but difficult to do the same in the country.  While assembling the clinic, I found the same devices will work in both.  I’ve tried to include every trick I could think of, and much mention is made of what is popularly known as “forced perspective”   This clinic makes use of prototype photos.

Saturday 9:00 AM Amphitheater

This clinic will address the use of Gatorfoam in modeling as substrates, back drops, modules and model bases. Building actual model structures out of Gatorfoam. Cutting, painting and detailing techniques will be demonstrated. Packets of samples and technical sheets will be given out as part of the clinic.

Saturday 10:30 AM Diamond 1

Jack has built many realistic, contest winning dioramas containing outstanding details. In this clinic, he will address where and what to find from “Alternative Suppliers”. From tools to paints, glues and many things that you never thought of.

Saturday 10:30 AM Diamond 2

Over the years, I’ve worked with a number of ways to build scenery and scenic elements, including  landforms and detailing.  I will describe my experiences with many of them, some of which I feel are unusual.  Most of the finished work is set in autumn, not often modeled but among the most visually compelling times of year.

Saturday 10:30 AM Amphitheater

This clinic will investigate the duties of yards found on typical rail lines. What pitfalls does the prototype seek to avoid? Following a step by step process, Tony will design a yard by addressing each of the various tracks that can be found in a yard.

Saturday 1:00 PM Diamond 1

This PowerPoint presentation will investigate the Canadian National 36 mile Penetang subdivision during the 1950’s. A mixed train served this line running north to Georgian Bay on the shores of Lake Huron. We will look at the route, towns served, industries, trains, motive power and rolling stock. This sub division is a good example of branch line service in Canada. It may inspire you to complete a model railroad project or two for your layout. Example projects could be used to earn credit in the NMRA Achievement Program. A reference list is included to aid in additional research. Copies of the presentation will be available on CD upon request.

(Also scheduled on Thursday 4:00 PM)

Saturday 1:00 PM Diamond 2

This clinic will describe how to go about constructing model structures from pictures. It will feature a Power Point presentation and give the basics of making simple drawings that can be used to create original structures for your model railroad. Examples will include plans made from historic pictures found in old Railroad books. It will also include how to take pictures of existing structures so that you can make drawings yourself. Quite often while completing this process, we find that the building we would like to construct is too large for the intended use. We will show how to make a simple paper mock up to help set the limits of what will look right on your layout before actual construction begins. How may we reduce the plans to a more suitable size that will still maintain the integrity of the original and yet look right on your particular layout?

(Also scheduled at Friday 10:30 AM)

Saturday 2:30 PM Diamond 1

Backdrop painting step by step from bare wall through sky painting, clouds, distant mountains, distant trees, close up trees and foreground scenes. All for the non-artistic.

Saturday 2:30 PM Diamond 2

This clinic will address modeling tips for low cost details and creating realistic scenes. Painting and weathering techniques will be addressed for use on figures, parts and vehicles.

(Also scheduled at Friday 7 PM)

Saturday 3:30 PM Diamond 2

Industrial architecture is of special interest to model railroaders to recreate prototypical scenes.  As I model quite a few bridges on my C&O Railway, I have taken photos of many prototypical bridges.  Also, on a suggestion from a fellow model railroader for a particular scene on my railroad, I am modeling a small hydroelectric dam and power house. There are many small prototypical dams and powerhouses that would make great models.  This clinic is a selection of photos of prototype bridges, dams and powerhouses that I am using as guides in building similar structures on my layout and to give you possible ideas for your layouts.