Things are shaping up at CSME!

[jwr_1986]

CSME stands for the Catskill Society of Model Engineers. I've been a member for the past year now and am proud to report on our improvments. Our biggest problem was that none of our membership had any experience with the finer points of layout design or construction. We only have three "active" members so there is little support for us to draw on. Well Track is mostly down and Mountains are up so thats no going to be changed too soon but through some of the great scenery books available we hope to really save our layout.

A major milestone was reached when the 8X8' Mural was hung outside for all to see. It is a point of club pride that we point out to every visitor. It was the culmination of months of work by one of our members.

Trackwork is being improved as bad spots are found and replaced and new functionality is added where poor planning had in the past hindered it. After a long winded speech the club was converted to Digitrax DCC late spring of 04. Recently the Dispatchers area was built and everything electronic moved to that area.

The current plan is for the Layout to represent all four seasons here in upstate New York. We don't focus on a prototype as most of us view the club as a way to learn what we would want in a home layout.

Recent experimentation with various scenery techniques have yeilded a neat snow area, cool rock castings, and one large tumbleweed imported from New Mexico for use as tree armatures.

The coolest thing is that my Mother and Father are getting involved. My father is very good with wood and he is building a lot of stuff for our building (We own our own). He built the panel for the dispatchers area and fit it into a curved Bar (Like the one you'd serve drinks from) perfectly with the DCS50 next to it so the dispatcher can operate a train and still have everything in reach. My mother is more of the Scenery mind. She sat inwith me on a Scenery clinic at the Springfield show and really enjoyed it. Now she is getting a bit more involved and is looking forward to the arrival of my book on Basic scenery techniques.

Another triumph is I am finally getting certain members to sit down and try operating with the system. For months they've whined that it's too complicated but once I got them to sit down and try it one on one with me they picked it up in less than a half hour. The new UT4R's are wonderfull as for walkaround control they really simplified things.

I know this is one long rambling post but I couldn't help spreading the good news. I even found a LHS. One hour away in Lake Ariel, PA is a great little shop called the Train Shed. If anyone is interested in visiting us in Liberty, NY you can e-mail me for information. Please note though that it isn't perfect but in the rocky learning process it is a step in the right direction.

Jesse
Trustee, CSME