1999
Steamup Report
Article by Mike
Martin
Photos by Richard Finlayson and Gordon Garb
Steamup Report
Article by Mike
Martin
Photos by Richard Finlayson and Gordon Garb
The essential elements for a great steamup are tracks to run on, a bunch of locomotives to steam up , and a ballroom full of your friends. We had all of that and much much more at the 1999 National Spring Steamup in Newark California.
Richard moved the event this year to another Hilton just a few minutes across the Bay. The Hilton proved yet again to be a great host, and the facilities in Newark are ideal for a national event such as this. The dealer room and seminar room were just across the hall from the ballroom, and the ballroom easily and comfortably accommodated the tracks, tables, and live steamers. Ample parking was just feet away from the ballroom and dealer rooms making it easy on those who "brought it all". The hotel provided a very reasonably priced sandwich bar on the busiest days of the steamup and it was heavily patronized and much appreciate by live steamers with more locomotives to run than time for lunch! The Hilton cleared us for use of the swimming pool for live steam boat activities and several interesting live steam boats were demonstrated all through the day by several of the attendees.
The 1999 National Spring Steamup was held over Memorial Day which provided for an additional day of live steam activities. By the afternoon on Friday most of the attendees had arrived, and the busiest days were Saturday and Sunday. Monday was a lighter day at trackside, but it provided an opportunity for longer run times with some of the bigger (and longer!) mainline locomotives and trains. Charley Lix's '0' Gauge track module was heavily used this year, with almost continuous running. The word got out last year about this unique and interesting aspect of The National Spring Steamup and even more 16mm modelers pounded the rails this year.
Without a doubt though the main reason to attend a steamup like this was the best reason to attend a steamup like this. Interesting locomotives, notably accompanied by prototypical trains to pull, were everywhere. The usual umpteen car long Daylight, Hudson, and Schools runs were augmented this year with scratchbuilt locomotives hauling scratchbuilt rolling stock. Jim Overland demonstrated his live steam yarder dragging huge chunks of California Redwood, and Mike Krivolavek's multi-year project to build a locomotive based on Charlie Mynhier's design put on a performance that registered Mike's efforts and the locomotive as an unqualified success. Michael O'Rourke debuted the "Economy" Cricket - the standard Cricket engineering design in a standardized, simplified package. Jim Crabb represented Bayou Ltd in the dealer room, and he had a half dozen of the new Roundhouse Millies with him. Jim and Paul Kinney of Bayou Ltd. passed on a few tips on running Millie and Jim was getting runs in excess of 45 minutes. The Aster Mikado prototype was on hand and was put through it's paces by many attendees. Clark Lord and Jon Toumanian teamed up to fix a driver that had come loose on the rear axle and the locomotive hauled what must be the entire available west coast supply of MDC 1:32 scale boxcars around and around the track. Rumors abound regarding the disposition of axle and tender pumps and many are eager to hear the official line. The Wireless Trackside Webcam put in a nearly non-stop performance that many enjoyed, and many ideas and suggestions were offered on how to improve the use of the technology. Next year Richard will have access to ISDN level bandwidth and is noodling hard on how to best take advantage of it. Dare we hope for video-like clips of the action?
The dealer room was as active as usual and vendors purveyed everything from steam locomotives to structures and battery powered locomotives in between. The door prize program was extremely well supported and is one of the highlights of the event.
Richard says that next year we can look forward to more of the same next year - same location and four days over Memorial Day Weekend with open houses the days after the event. Watch for details for another excursion to a new Bay Area live steam event like those enjoyed this year and in years past, and the possible debut of a new mainline track and a second track dedicated to narrow gauge use.
The 1999 National Spring Steamup was clearly the best one yet, an ever improving and ever increasingly fun event. Mark your calendars now for N2K.. Newark 2000!
Lee Barrett checks out a prototypical multi-diesel and GS4 lash up.
The finescale GPs are Gary Raymond's, and head-ended Dave Passard's
GS4.
Jon Toumanian with DOT, a locomotive he is in the process of rescuing
from the scrap pile. The saga will one day make an interesting
National Spring Steamup seminar!
Dave Gast examines an item for sale at the Swap Table.
Final Wireless Web Cam shot!
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Jon Sudol always assembles the correct tools before adjusting the
couplers on a goods van!
Charley Lix, Gary Watkins, and Dave Gast conducted a very well
attended session on 7/8ths scale developments. An in-progress live
steamer was shown along with lots of interesting rolling stock and
battery locomotives.
Dan Liebowitz and Norm Saley perform the steamup ritual.
Norm Saley's scratch built Mogul 2-6-0. An amazing locomotive in
detail and completeness of accoutrements.
Light freight arrives while mainline passenger locomotive
simmers.
A Catatonk Heisler works a rake of Trail Creek Models side dump cars
in a quarry on Gary Broeder's railroad.
Dragging the empties home.
Barry Harper (left) and Jim Overland (right) talk with Gary Broeder
at his open house held the day after the Steamup.
Southern Green in repose.
Norm demonstrates flexibility while servicing his beautiful scratch
build Mogul.
Clark Lord, live steamer!
Barry Harper's radio controlled Bayern S 2/6 roars through a
curve.
Ray Bell demonstrates his live steam tug boat for interested
onlookers.
John Porter knows how to use the tools to prepare this Grasshopper
for a run. Some supervision required!
Richard's modified and converted SNCF locomotive. Truly reliable
mainline power.
Onlookers and visitors enjoy the live steam action at Dan Liebowitz's
open house, held on Wednesday after The Steamup.
Additional
Coverage from the Hilton
Additional
Coverage of Gary Broeder's Open House
Additional
Coverage of Dan Liebowitz's Open House