LALS 50th anniversary meet

[Harlock]

For those folks in California, the Los Angeles Live Steamers 50th Anniversary Meet is this weekend. Looks to be a pretty big affair. I'll be there on Sat and Sun, and of course taking pictures and video. Will post up afterwards. I'm hoping a lot of 3/4" scale stuff will show up. I haven't seen too much of it in person.

--Mike

[phutcheson]

Mike,

Great to hear that you will attending. We will also be there to enjoy the fun. We plan on getting there Saturday late morning. Would like to finally meet another A3 builder.

Can we meet somewhere ... say at the Disney Barn?
Email me offline for details at [e-mail]

I was talking with a board member yesterday and they are also hoping a lot of 3/4" will be there ... we will see.



Pat H

[Harlock]

It was great meeting Pat on Saturday and seeing his A3 progress. Here is a copy of a message I posted to a few other boards with links to photos. I'm still working on the video...coming up soon.

------------------

Hiya. Photos are here, split into 8 sub-galleries because there's over 100.
www.mojaveserver.info/gallery/main.php/v/harlock/LALS50th/

General:

The meet went very well from the eyes of a visitor (out of town associate member), the weather was cooperative (not a stretch in LA) and events went smoothly. Some of the booths that were present included OS Live Steam from Tokyo, Real Trains from Yucaipa, The Harvey Girls Society / Orange Empire RR Museum, and a booth selling quilted items. LALS also had a nice booth full of wearables and souveniers, and 50th anniversary FRED blinkers.

The Harvey Girls were selling the most delicious home made desserts you've ever had, and for only a dollar a bag. I bought several extra treats to take home with me and had half a browie after dinner tonight. Yum!

On Sunday, the head chef for Lufthansa Airlines cooked an incredible Goulash soup for lunch, served with salad, ham sandwich, dessert and watermellon, for a suggested $5 donation. He came out with LALS' sister club in Germany.

Highlights:

Running for the first time since being rehabilited, A 1 1/2" scale Shay, unpainted and in mostly brass, built from scaled up Kozo plans and superdetailed. Purchased by the current owner from the deceased builder's family. After 8 months of work he got it operational again and ran it for the first time at the meet. It was featured on the cover of Live Steam magazine in 1988 or 89. Many of you on this group are probably familiar with it but I had never seen it before since I haven't been in the hobby for that long.
www.mojaveserver.info/gallery/main.php/v/harlock/LALS50th/lalsshay/

The OS Live Steam folks from Tokyo were running their factory Mogul, which apparently lives here stateside as a demo unit. The man in charge of caring for it here indicated that it runs like a swiss watch, is really easy to fire and really powerful. High praise for OS Live Steam. It's a very nice engine.
www.mojaveserver.info/gallery/main.php/v/harlock/LALS50th/OSmogul/

Chris Wahl completed an OS Live Steam kit of a Japan National Railway loco in 3.5" gauge. He came on Saturday and saw the OS folks there and decided to bring the engine the next day, and fired it up for the very first time with them present. The OS folks helped him debug a valve gear problem and then it ran fine. Very good first run. The engine is exquisitely detailed and I'm glad to have seen it before it was ever fired. The engine is just spectacular. It's always exciting to see the maiden voyage of a long project.
www.mojaveserver.info/gallery/main.php/v/harlock/LALS50th/JNRC11/

The small scale steamers in the round bays were decently represented. Another person brought several 3.5" gauge steamers, and there were plenty of 4 3/4" gauge engines, both diesel / electric and steam. There was a 4 3/4" gauge Cli-Shay that was very well done.
www.mojaveserver.info/gallery/main.php/v/harlock/LALS50th/LALS50thsmallscale/

The high desert was well represented, with the Semeraus bringing one of their 9" gauge locomotives from Mesa Grande, and some panel track. (See www.mojaveserver.info/gallery/main.php/v/harlock/LALS50th/album/_MG_3506-01.jpg.html) It was really nice to meet them after the discussion about their railroad here on Chaski a month or two ago. The Pruitts were also there. Almost all of the Kern County Live Steamer's Club (KCLS) including myself was in attendance. On Saturday afternoon, we all sort of found each other standing next to KCLS president Roger Frymire's huge Centennial + train and we posed for a photo on the train. The Centennial made its last appearance in California for now, it is headed off to its new owner in Texas in a few weeks. Roger has a Tunnel Motor currently under construction to replace it. I took the centennial for a spin around the LALS track about three times on Sat and Sun, and Roger showed me how to read the line signals. KCLS is having its very first mini-meet and golden spike ceremony on June 30 at Murray Farms off of 58. Details at kclivesteamers.com/ (shameless plug)

Joel from Tehachapi brought his 'Quail Valley' train set, including a Roll Models Forney (Oil fired) with a tank car tender that contains the oil/diesel tank and two water tanks. After sorting some trouble with the oil burner, which he is going to replace after this weekend, he was pulling around a set of nice RMI rail cars around all day Sunday, representing the large end of 7.5" gauge at 3 3/4" scale. www.mojaveserver.info/gallery/main.php/v/harlock/LALS50th/album/_MG_3723-01.jpg.html

Other folks from the Bitter Creek crowd included Karl Hovanitz who brought his RMI black widow diesel switcher with premium sound system. Jack Bodenmann was in attendance but left his toys at home and came as a spectator. Both of us were marvelling at the 3.5" gauge engines. Mike brought the Colorado & Southern 7.5" Narrow Gauge loco.
www.mojaveserver.info/gallery/main.php/v/harlock/LALS50th/coandsouthern/

A giant Santa Fe 2-10-4 and its train of riding cars was a big hit for riders. Very well detailed model.
www.mojaveserver.info/gallery/main.php/v/harlock/LALS50th/LALS2104/

The Disney Barn was neat, lots of nice models and memorabilia. The Stationary engines were up and running, and next to the stationary platform a gentleman had an operating replica of a steam crane.

A very nice thing for me was meeting up with a fellow Kozo A3 builder and seeing his progress on the tender. Very inspiring.

There is a nice recap video on the way and I will post the link when it's up.

--Mike

[Ed Hume]

Mike,

Thanks for posting those great shots. Did you have a shot of that 4-3/4" CliShay that you mention? I did not see it in the gallery.

Ed

[Harlock]

Aaah no but I have video of it. Will post later.

--Mike

[siggy]

harlock said:

...Chris Wahl completed an OS Live Steam kit of a Japan National Railway loco in 3.5" gauge. He came on Saturday and saw the OS folks there and decided to bring the engine the next day, and fired it up for the very first time with them present. The OS folks helped him debug a valve gear problem and then it ran fine. Very good first run. The engine is exquisitely detailed and I'm glad to have seen it before it was ever fired. The engine is just spectacular. It's always exciting to see the maiden voyage of a long project.
www.mojaveserver.info/gallery/main.php/v/harlock/LALS50th/JNRC11/--Mike

There was a guy at HALS (Houston Area Live Steamers) on Saturday running what I think was an OS BR-24 in 1" scale. It was spectacular and ran very nicely. He was pulling 3 very nicely detailed passenger cars and a caboose. He had an OS Rocket too but I didn't get a chance to get a close-up look at that one. Unfortunately, we got rained out so I didn't get any pictures of it - not that my photography would come close to comparing to your superb pics...

Robert

[siggy]

Pat - the A3 tender is looking good! I see you got the verge board bending all figured out. Did you decide yet if you're going to trim the front plates / Vertical board with the front plate edge showing or the vertical plate edge showing?

Robert

[phutcheson]

Mike,

It was really great to meet you Saturday at the LALS 50th anniversary meet. We arrived there about 10:30 or so and got to see all the trains in action, some of them were very large ... making the 3/4" A3 very small . Starting to think about building a larger train, after the A3 is completed or maybe sooner! But it was a perfect day and we had lots of fun.

As expected your pictures came out terrific ... thanks for posting . I have a few that I will post this weekend. Keep plugging away on your A3 and posting your results. If you need anything be sure to ask and I'm sure that everyone here will help out .

Siggy ...

Yes ... I think so and thanks for all your help . Looking back it's very clear on how it should be made and I wonder why I got lost .

No ... I haven't decided on which way to go ... are you still happy with your change? I will probably make the decision when I start that part ...

I have been busy with a few changes in my work shop so I haven't been working on the A3 ... will be updating my web site in the next few days on those things (read ... new STUFF! ).

Take a look at my web site and see how everything came together on the Verge board (if you look very closely you may see a mistake about to happen) .

Later and thanks again guys ...

Pat H

[Harlock]

phutcheson said:

Mike,

It was really great to meet you Saturday at the LALS 50th anniversary meet. We arrived there about 10:30 or so and got see all the trains in action, some of them were very large ... making the 3/4" A3 very small . Starting to think about a building larger train, after the A3 is completed or maybe sooner! But it was a perfect day and we had lots of fun.

I was REALLY impressed with that Shay. I'm thinkin' that exact thing is the way to go for the next project - 1 1/2" Kozo Shay. Although every time I go to a meet I see something new where I think "that'd be a great project!" So there are lots of them. I'd also like to do an American. But...can't think about that! not for years! back to the A3!

The thing about the small stuff though is it's really easy to handle and take on road trips with you. I think we'll be glad we did it before moving on to bigger things. I was talking with Jack Bodenmann, who builds things big and small, and he said the small stuff is his favorite.

--Mike

[Ed Hume]

Mike, Pat,

Did you guys see the Shay actually move? I am wondering about the speed of it in comparison to the rod engines. Did it seem like it was running faster than you'd like to stay up with the expected travel speeds?

Ed

[GoldenSpike53]

Ed,

I wasn't at this meet and didn't see that particular Shay, but we have had several 1½" scale Shays at SVLS meets over the years, and they can really boogie! It's pretty fascinating to watch them, as well, although I do like rod engines better myself. The action of the Shay engine is really quite smooth, and it can handle a good bit of speed with ease. I assume the one at LALS would be similar if it's in good running condition....

Dale

[GoldenSpike53]

Ed,

I wasn't at this meet and didn't see that particular Shay, but we have had several 1½" scale Shays at SVLS meets over the years, and they can really boogie! It's pretty fascinating to watch them, as well, although I do like rod engines better myself. The action of the Shay engine is really quite smooth, and it can handle a good bit of speed with ease. I assume the one at LALS would be similar if it's in good running condition....

Dale

[phutcheson]

Ed,

Yes, we did see it running. I saw Mike chasing it with camera at one time ... so maybe he can comment on that !

When the Shay was in the bay getting steamed up, she had a very prominent water leak in a fitting . The new owner tried to tighten it but that didn't work. No one seemed concerned about it so off it went leak and all .

Take a look at the second photo in Mike's Shay group ... the fellow on the right (wearing gloves) is the new owner ... the fellow across from him (with the pipe) was providing a lot of instructions on how to get it steaming correctly (apparently not part of the team, but very knowledgeable about the Shay). The owner and his helper (guy in back of owner, also wearing gloves) was following each "how-to" in detail.

The Shay seemed to have a lot of zip as it almost got away from them when pulling out from the bay ... apparently they were not expecting the quick response to the throttle lever. The owner classified himself as "newbie" and had a good laugh when at first they couldn't get any steam pressure ... that is until he put the throttle in the correct position! Then it shot up to about 80 - 90 psi.
They and all the viewers had a great time watching the Shay ... makes me wonder if that is a project I should take on ... ?

Pat H

[Ed Hume]

Thanks for the inputs and I would enjoy Mike's comments about chasing it down!

If you guys build a shay - do what he did as far as a vestibule cab style, instead of an over hanging roof and a gap for the doorway. Also, the air tank on the right side (starboard) should be put under raised running boards for a modern look. I would shorten the water tank on the engine frame too since you should build the extra tank/truck to use as a seat - that gives you the Pacific Coast Shay look whether you are using Kozo's old shay or new shay design.

Someday I may have to build a shay to complete my collection. But I have my hands full right now with the Climax.

Ed

[Harlock]

Scale model shays travel at far above scale speeds, the gears just become a blur if you want to let them. I will be posting the video up hopefully tonight! Stay tuned. It's a beauty to watch.

Here's the back story on it, from a poster at Chaski Home Machinist:


That's Henry Stephani's old shay. He was a Sacramento Valley Live Steamers member.

First time I saw that shay was just after Henry had finished building it. It looked amazing, but didn't make it far out of the steaming bay. He spent the next decade trying to get it to run right, but it never did.

He brought it out to all the meets. Fired it up in the steaming bay on ocassion, but never moved a wheel. It always had a crowd around it at the meets, and is probably the most photographed engine in the the Western US.

In the few hours I was at LALS on Saturday I saw it run more than it had in all the previous years of it's life. Until the sight glass broke. Not sure why, but it looked like an alignment problem with the sight glass valves exasperated by the expansion of the boiler.

I can confirm the sight glass problem as well as the fact that the injector was leaking, which is why you will see the worthington pump running all the time in the videos. (what a great pump!)

The new owner got it running in 8 months, fixed whatever problems it had before that made it a hangar queen. Ran beautifully.