Model Railroading Derry Fun Night April 5, 2019
Model Railroading
Derry Fun Night
April 5, 2019
Seacoast Division of the National Model Railroad Association is running their Derry Fun Night program for 2019.
The program is held the second Friday night of each month, 7:00-9:00pm, at the Marion Garish Community Center, 39 West Broadway, Derry, NH.
For our April program, we’ll take a look at how to build a prototypical grade crossing with operating gates and lights on your model railroad.
The prototype for this project is a B&M crossing on Granite Street in Manchester, New Hampshire.
We’ll take a look at the problem the railroad had to solve then we’ll build a model of it using some inexpensive circuitry, an Arduino computer module, and a pair of NJ International crossing gates.
You’ll learn a little bit about simple circuit design and some basic programming that brings this project to life! And you’ll be able to apply what you learn in this presentation to other automation projects on your railroad!
The total cost for this project as you will see is under $100 and the design is fairly universal so if you don’t need a gate but just want the signals, the same circuit will work.
We will set up a swap table so bring anything that you would want to give away, sell or swap. Remember, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
If you are interested in model trains and would like to join other like-minded hobbyists from beginner to expert for a fun evening program come to Derry Fun Night the second Friday of each month.
For additional information go to the Division’s website at seacoastnmra.org/calendar.
May- TBD
June- One Square foot module
Help the Seacoast Division Grow by Lou Champagne
The Seacoast Division currently has 178 individual members and 5 Club members. Our membership is comprised of diverse and talented model railroad enthusiasts. The range of expertise represented by our members covers all areas of our multi-faceted hobby and this is always evident in our Quarterly Events. For all of us, that’s a real benefit … because, individually, we are all very good at some things, OK at other things and downright scared to try some things … but because of our talent pool, you can always find the support you need with whatever it is that you’re working on or would like to work on. That puts the Seacoast Division in a good position to fulfill its Mission: To promote model railroading throughout Maine & New Hampshire through education, promotion of model railroading activities, serving as local resources for individual model railroaders, and supporting local model railroad groups.
But … your help is needed to keep the Division strong and vibrant ! We are strong at 178 individual members, but would be much stronger and healthier if we had 200+ members. If you’ve not noticed, the average age of our group is not low …
Here’s how you can help the Division grow … when speaking with others in the hobby, whether they be friends, acquaintances or strangers, ask if they belong to the NMRA and ,if not, …
Talk to them about the benefits of membership in the NMRA and specifically, the Seacoast Division. For great talking points, see pages 38-39 in the current August issue of the NMRA Magazine.
- Visit our website with them & also the NER & NMRA websites.
- Show, give or let them borrow copies of The Switch Tower, The Coupler and the NMRA Magazine.
- Show (or forward to) them the NMRA Turntable that comes via email.
- Invite them to come with you as a guest to the next quarterly event, Derry Fun Night or other Seacoast function.
- Invite them as a guest to a local operating session if available.
- Have other current members talk to a potential new member.
Let them know that a big discount is available for the first 9 months of NMRA membership through the Rail Pass program (plus the Division will cover part of that cost). The initial 9 months ends up being only ten dollars.
If you need materials to work with, let me know & I will email or send them to you. ( // 207-229-5475 )
Together, we can increase our membership … THANK YOU in advance for your help in recruiting new members to the Seacoast Division !!