TT-Tracks

[Bill Dixon]

Moderately productive today. Along with a run to recycle, some shopping and cleaning house to prepare for two new cats, I built two sets of stairs for the warehouse.

It turns out that 1/16" is the right height for a step.
So layers of 1/16" basswood, glued in a stack, sanded smooth and the first coat of concrete paint.
They look OK. Need to solder up some railings and add another coat or two of paint.
I think I will add one more layer on the bottom as a landing.

When they are glued in place they will help hold the building in place.

Not very happy with the ballasting. Going to dig it out and try again.
Bought some HO Scale cork roadbed today.

[Bill Dixon]

With the comment from the Chilliwack show about insurance, I been talking with other groups about what they do.
The best idea seems to become an all NMRA member group. They provide coverage for such groups who display at shows.
The dues are not too bad and we could use one of the show honorariums to pay the dues.
I am already a member, so we only need memberships for Terry, Tibi, Voytek, Xenia, and maybe Graeme. Richard probably already has a membership.
That would cover all our regulars at shows for 1,000,000 dollars.
I think the idea is worth pursuing.
As we will not likely have a show this year that will need it, I would do this February 2021.

[railtwister]

Is there new insurance requirements being set out by the sponsors of the show? I checked the NMRA site and it states that a sustaining membership ($120/year) is required for a group membership, while the cheapest individual membership is $47/year without the magazine, $75 with. What’s not clear is whether a group must have a sustaining membership for the group, in addition to all of it’s members individually belonging to the NMRA. Additional family members can be added to a regular membership for $9 each. I became a life member many years ago when it was a flat rate, which seemed insanely expensive at the time, but if I hadn’t done it back then, I couldn’t afford regular membership once I retired.

From the NMRA website:

<Sustaining Member
Mandatory for all group memberships such as Clubs, Associations, Corporations or other Businesses. Sustaining membership includes all the rights and privileges of membership including the NMRA Magazine. The NMRA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization and your professional association as a sustaining member is tax deductible. Any individual may also support the NMRA as a sustaining member in which ½ the cost of membership is eligible as a tax-deductible donation.
Cost - $120.00 (US) per year.>

[CFRiad]

The best idea seems to become an all NMRA member group.

I am all for it and will look at the options this weekend.

[Bill Dixon]

Been working on module five of the industrial area.
I had started to apply ballast.

But decided I did not like the result.

So I removed it.

Then I glued HO Scale cork roadbed and sheet down.

After the glue had dried I trimmed to size and added a coat of filler to smooth everything.

I saved as much of the ballast as I could. Some chunks couldn't be broken down into individual grains and were discarded.

Now I have a good surface to work on.