NOR-CAL EXPRESS. September 2007 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE CONGRATULATIONS NEW NOR-CAL OFFICERS FOR the

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1 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA DIVISION-TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION the NOR-CAL EXPRESS September 2007 See the Nor-Cal Express in FULL COLOR at CONGRATULATIONS NEW NOR-CAL OFFICERS FOR Following the recent election, the following officers were elected to serve for the Fiscal Year: President: Bob Nichelini Vice President: Rod Cornell (new officer) Secretary: Cliff Jarrard* Treasurer: Pete Goodier *Jack De Angelo was elected but was unable to assume office. Cliff Jarrard volunteered to fill the vacancy. FUTURE MEETS September 8, 2007 (LVMH) October 13 (LVMH) Nov. 2-4 Cal-Stewart Pasadena (TTOS sponsored) November 10 (LVMH) December 8 (LVMH) January 12, 2008 (LVMH) February 9 (LVMH) March Cal-Stewart Santa Clara April 12 (LVMH) May 24 (SRT) June 14 (LVMH) LVMH=Lafayette Veterans Memorial Hall, 3780 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette (see map on p. 7) SRT = Scottish Rite Temple 6151 H St. Sacto. Business Meeting: 9:30 AM Trading: 10-11:30 AM WELCOME NEW MEMBERS Frank Atkinson, Atascadero Marshall Droese, San Mateo Robert Gomes, Menlo Park Gerald Herbert, Dunsmuir Jane Howard, Carmichael Don Johnson, Pleasant Hill David Kreutzinger, Concord Frederick Lienhard, Reno Carl Miller, San Jose Don Nehring, Pacifica David Payne, Fremont Robert Rhodes, Loomis Jeff Schuster, Oakland PRESIDENT S MESSAGE by Bob Nichelini # As I write this we have just completed our second meet at the new Lafayette Veterans Memorial Building. During the business meeting, there was substantial discussion regarding the location of future meets. As many of you know, after holding our monthly meets at Montera Middle School in Oakland for more than 25 years, we have found that the Oakland Unified School District is just too difficult to deal with: Use permits were often delayed and on numerous occasion no one showed up to unlock the building or set up the tables. Therefore we have been looking for a new location with better facilities, while retaining a relatively central Bay Area location with adequate parking. So far, the best alternative is Lafayette. We have booked the Veterans Memorial Building through December of this year and will continue to reevaluate other alternatives. If Oakland ever gets their act together we may want to return to Montera School. Only time will tell. I was truly sorry that President Michael Andrews decided not to run for another term. He did an absolutely excellent job and will be impossible to replace. Additionally, since the winning candidate for Secretary withdrew following the election of officers, Cliff Jarrard graciously volunteered to fill the position. Cliff has many years of experience on the Nor-Cal Board and I am sure he will do an excellent job. However, no one, but no one, can replace Mark Boyd as Secretary. During his term in office, Mark developed a computerized membership data base second to none and never failed to get important information out the membership. Fortunately for TCA National, but unfortunately for Nor-Cal, Mark has become Editor of the Train Collectors Quarterly and has only so much time available in his busy life to deal with train collecting matters. Finally, Richard White will continue as your Newsletter Editor. I m sure you realize that Richard has been producing the best Nor-Cal Newsletters ever. See you next meet. Bob Nichelini

2 INTERESTING TINPLATE ITEMS Page 2 Left and above: Standard Gauge Thorley Hoople trolley, approx The inscription on the bottom reads Merry Christmas Warren, Sheila, Jeff and Suzzy from Thorley Hoople, December Thorley Hoople trains were manufactured by Nor Cal member Tad Cody (deceased) of Palo Alto. Owner: Warren Hyde Above (two photos): An early version of Lionel s No. 127 tunnel, with a factory-installed (soldered-in) tinplate liner. Lionel must have found the liner to be an unnecessary expense as subsequent tunnels had no liner. Owner: Rod Cornell Owner: Craig Miller Above (two photos): Marklin #1031 Gauge 1 clockwork locomotive, modeled after the NYCHR S1 type. This rare loco is lithographed, and dates from the 1920 s. It is missing its pilots, headlight and pantograph. Craig picked it up last year at York along with some Bing passenger cars. For additional details on the S1 type, see the March 2004 Express, page 7.

3 INTERESTING TINPLATE ITEMS continued Page 3 Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Owner: Rod Cornell Three rare Ives O-Gauge streetcars from the Warren Heid collection: Photo 1- This #801 (early type) is the earliest, It also came in a plain black body. Photo 2 This is the #800 trolley, It has a movable cowcatcher. Photo 3- The #801 (later type) Newark trolley, , was the last of Ives small trolleys, and has the same body and roof as the passenger car with the same name. These are all clockwork-powered, and each came in a set with a circle of 2-rail track and a metal overhead trolley wire supported by poles that fastened to the track. Apparently the streetcars in Photos 1 and 3 are rare enough that none were available to photograph for inclusion in Greenberg s Ives Trains, Volume 1. Owner: Rod Cornell Above: This late nineteenth century J. Bateman & Co. (England) live steam Dribbler dates (approx.). Locos of this type earned the name Dribblers owing to their profuse leakage of hot water when running! Above right: 1902 O Bing set is live-steam powered! Right: Weeden live steam loco, O gauge. Owner: Craig Miller

4 RICHARD ZANOTTI FINDS EM IRA KEELER RESTORES EM! PART 1 WINDMILL/DREDGE By Richard Zanotti # Photo 2 Photo 2 Page 4 Photo 1 I picked up this steam toy accessory at the Spring Cal- Stewart Meet. It had been well played with! The lithographed windmill was detached and missing its rotor. The base was bent and overall there were many nicks and scratches. I found a similar toy of page 171 of Steam Toys, a Symphony in Motion, by Morton A. Herschberg. This publication indicated that this toy was manufactured by Mohr, Krauss and Sawyer around Ira Keeler was able to restore this toy to its original showroom appearance. He straightened and repainted the base and the dredge. He restored the lithography on the windmill tower. He was even able to fabricate a new, correctly embossed, rotor. For this he used thin copper sheet, pressed into a wooden die using a vise as a press. Finally, he fabricated a new flag. [note that the toy is belt-driven from a separate steam boiler Ed.]. Photos 1 and 2: The restored toy Photo 3: A page from Steam Toys, showing a similar toy, a Mohr & Krauss Windmill, with a pump and reservoir, circa Photo 4: A scan of a photo showing the rough condition of the item, prior to restoring. Photo 3 Photo 4 Photo 4 Photo 6

5 PART 2 ELECTRIC CARETTE CROSSING Page 5 After Before This early electrified crossing caught my attention on Ebay. From its shape I determined that it had been made by Carette, a French firm doing business in Germany prior to World War I. When I received the crossing I examined it and discovered that it was made to be easily taken apart by removing a couple of pins. I discovered that it had an electric motor as advertised in Carette s 1911 catalog. It looks as if a bell had been attached to the left side of the house on the crossing. The bell would be struck by a spring mounted striker coming up from the motor. The missing crossing gate remains to be constructed, however I haven t been able to locate this exact crossing in a Carette catalog, for details. VOLTAMP FACTORY SPECIAL THIRTY-INCH PASSENGER COACH Note: Chuck owns the other 30-inch car as well. This is one of two Voltamp factory-built 30- inch long one-gauge passenger cars, circa , possibly constructed to exhibit at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Voltamps' owner had a number of children, and "ADELEDNA" is a combination of his children Adel and Edna. This name was used on several versions of Voltamp passenger cars and on the later version of the 2115 Interurban. Owner Chuck Schaffer restored the exterior of this car to match the existing paint color and texture on the interior and underside. He put Adeledna on the car assuming the factory would probably have done the same, owing to its length. The graphics on the restoration match the original in terms of letter/number style and method of application (dry transfer).

6 KEMTRONS S HO GAUGE TOONERVILLE TROLLEY By Robert Chappell # For years the Toonerville trolley and crew have been favorites of mine, and a favorite study. Fontaine Fox, one of the most popular cartoonists of the last century, created his nationally syndicated Toonerville Photo 1 Folks strip in The strip was last published in February, At its peak, the cartoon was in nearly 300 newspapers. The first commercial comic book, Famous Funnies, published in July 1934, included the trolley and her friends. The most famous of Fox s characters was this careening trolley that met all trains at the depot. Indeed, the decrepit Toonerville Trolley became an American slang term for a third-rate railroad. Kemtron became a player in the model railroad industry by the mid-fifties, and that s where our story begins. Kemtron, a maker of high-quality kit locomotives, rolling stock and detail parts in several different gauges, approached Fontaine Fox about producing an HO gauge model of the little trolley. Kemtron received permission, and in 1954 the trolley made its debut in the hobby market. Photo 2 shows the original box for the Toonerville and Photo 3 shows the underside permission. The piece was made fully of brass, soldered together, was 2-1/2 inches long, and was fully painted. It could be purchased as an unpowered unit or one powered using a Kemtron 4- wheel #KL-66 power truck with a bronze frame. The unpowered unit cost $11.50, while the powered unit cost $ Kemtron considered the unit a kit, since the purchaser was required to install a single screw to attach the superstructure to the power unit. The Kemtron Toonerville, unlike some other Toonervilles, did not have offset axles to provide a wobbling forward motion. The power truck is shown in Photo 4. The trolley is, of course, grossly oversize for HO scale. I know of three color variations at this time, and they are: (1) a unit painted with a basic orange body, a red lower frame with black ends and a red trim line just below a black roof and cupola. (2) a basic light orange body with a red lower frame and ends with a light orange roof and cupola. (3) a light orange body with a red lower frame, ends, roof and cupola (see illustration). Some Kemtron Toonervilles come with the Skipper, the bewhiskered motorman. The Kemtron Toonerville is quite rare, indicating that not many were manufactured! One sold on Ebay in July 2007 for $95. Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4 Three photos by Dick McNary #

7 Nor-Cal Board of Directors Meeting Minutes June 20, 2007 Page 7 A Nor-Cal TCA Board meeting was held on June 20, 2007, Back Forty BBQ in San Ramon. Meeting began at 7:30 PM. Present: Michael Andrews, Cliff Jarrard, Richard White, Pete Goodier, Mark Boyd, Rod Cornell, Jack D Angelo Absent: Bob Nichelini, Chapter representatives. No minutes were available for approval. It is unclear who took minutes as the secretary was late arriving at that meeting. Cliff M/S/C to adopt proposed schedule for 2007 July 14, Lafayette Veteran s Memorial Hall, Lafayette, CA August 11, Lafayette Veteran s Memorial Hall, Lafayette, CA September 8, Lafayette Veteran s Memorial Hall, Lafayette, CA October 13, Lafayette Veteran s Memorial Hall, Lafayette, CA November 10 Lafayette Veteran s Memorial Hall, Lafayette, CA December 8, Lafayette Veteran s Memorial Hall, Lafayette, CA January 12, 2008 Lafayette Veteran s Memorial Hall, Lafayette, CA February 9, 2008 undecided location March 14, 15, 16, 2008 Cal Stewart Meet at the Santa Clara Convention Center April 12, 2008, undecided location May 24, 2008 Sacramento Scottish Rite Temple, Sacramento, CA June 14, 2008 undecided location Mike Andrews volunteered to chair the 2008 Cal Stewart assisted by Cliff and Rod Cornell, (Mike M/S/C) 2008 Cal Stewart Convention Center Contract reviewed, Cliff M/S/C approval Hotel rates were discussed. More information is needed. Progress on the 2011 National Convention was discussed. Mike will provide the National Rules and Regulations Committee with a set of Nor-Cal By-Laws. Mark M/S/C, 50 th Anniversary Party Breakfast to be catered at the September meet. Rod Cornell volunteered to be the Nor-Cal Standards Committee Representative. Adjourned at 9:31 pm. Respectfully submitted, Mark C. Boyd, Secretary Nor-Cal Express Richard White, Editor 7 Francisca Drive, Moraga, CA Phone: (925) toytrain13@hotmail.com GETTING TO THE LAFAYETTE VETERANS MEMORIAL HALL (LVMH) Route 24 Freeway to Oakland Happy Valley Rd. LVMH 3780 Mt. Diablo Blvd. Oak Hill Road Deer Hill Road Mt. Diablo Blvd. Central Lafayette Exit to Walnut Creek From Oakland: Take the Oak Hill Road Exit (Lafayette) Turn right onto Oak Hill Road Turn right onto Mt. Diablo Blvd. (at the traffic signal) Continue on (about 0.8 mile) to LVMH on the right (Alternate route: Take the Acalanes Road exit; at the stop sign at the end of the off-ramp continue straight across to Mt. Diablo Blvd, continue to LVMH on left). From Walnut Creek: Take the Central Lafayette-Moraga Exit Turn left onto Deer Hill Road at the end of the off-ramp (at the traffic signal) Continue on Deer Hill Road, past the BART station, to Happy Valley Road Turn left onto Happy Valley Road Turn right onto Mt. Diablo Blvd. (at the traffic signal) Continue on (about 0.5 mile) to LVMH on the right.

8 TIN PLATE JUNCTION Toy and Model Trains, all gauges; layouts; die cast vehicles; toy train repairs 681-4th Street, Oakland (510) Hours: Mon-Fri 12-6 PM Saturday 10-6 PM Sunday 12-5 PM Website: JUST TRAINS Largest Selection in the East Bay Friendly help for the young and the young at heart O-scale Hi-Rail and Tinplate, G, HO and N 5650-H Imhoff Drive, Concord Tues-Fri 10-5:30 PM Joan Bradford, Owner Thurs. 10-7:00 PM Website: Sat. 10-5:00 PM (925) Sun. 12-4:00 PM FAX: (925) Submit all address changes to: Secretary Cliff arrard cliff@cliffjarrard.com the NOR-CAL EXPRESS