LIFESTYLES
Lee Brice
kicks off
Round-Up/3C
WEEKEND, JUNE 11-12, 2016
Tribe begins
Columbia canoe
journey/4C
How to make
NYC lamb
kebabs/4C
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Ed Glenn holds one of the rulers he had made for his garden railroad business in his workspace at his Boardman home.
Model history
Boardman train hobbyist recreates logging camp in his living room
“They all have a story
to tell,” he said.
Glenn said most of
his earlier models were
amp 5 could
built on the HO scale,
represent any
where one foot translates
number of historical
to roughly 87 feet for
logging camps that were
the model. The scale for
once prevalent in Oregon
garden railroads is quite
and along the West Coast.
a bit larger, with one foot
Ed Glenn prefers to
equal to about 22.5 feet,
think of it nestled in the
and 45 millimeters of
White Pine District of the
space between the tracks.
Sumpter Valley, where
Working on a larger
he spent a summer laying
scale has its benefi ts
track for the local railroad.
for Glenn, who was
The model is still a
Staff photo by E.J. Harris diagnosed with a
work in progress, but
Glenn, 75, knows the story Ed Glenn holds his hand over a section of F gauge track familial tremor six or
to show scale.
seven years ago. The
he wants to tell. Logging
symptoms cause his
camps were once the
creations to life.
hands to involuntarily shake, though
centerpiece of the American timber
On his kitchen table rests a short
he underwent brain stimulation
industry, only to be phased out as
stretch of track made out of recycled
surgery — implanting electrodes
relics of the past. Most camps were
tomato cages, where he shows off the
portable, moving from place to place
fi rst few model cars that will carry the directly into his brain — to keep it
under control. Glenn said when he
by train as the wood was cut.
bright red cabins for Camp 5.
does shake, it doesn’t show up as
As a model railroad hobbyist,
“They move in with the camp and
much on garden scale projects.
Glenn said he gets to build miniature
set up operations for maybe two or
In addition, Glenn’s arthritis makes
worlds over which he has total
three years,” said Glenn, describing
it diffi cult for him to get down on his
control. He envisions Camp 5, his
his fi ctional world. “In that time, the
knees to build tracks on the ground.
latest project, as the re-creation of a
railroad extends farther and farther
For Camp 5, he has placed the tracks
bygone era with 10 rail cars hauling
out. Then it’s time to move again.”
up on stilts that allow him to work
bunks and cabins for lumberjacks
It was Glenn’s father, Harold, who
while standing. This, he admits,
deep within the forest.
introduced him to model railroads
does limit the amount of trackside
“Not many people remember or
when Ed was only 5. Harold was a
vegetation he can include.
know about the logging industry
machinist helper for Union Pacifi c
Glenn eventually hopes to have
around the turn of the century,” Glenn during World War II, and later he and
said. “Camp 5 has been a real place in Ed would work together logging trees more than 100 feet of track looping
around his yard, but he scoffs at the
a lot of different places.”
from the Wallowa-Whitman National
idea of ever truly “fi nishing” the
The camp is partially inspired by
Forest in Baker County.
model.
Glenn’s own eclectic career, which
Glenn was born on a family
“A model railroad is never
has included stints in both the railroad farm south of Lostine and moved to
fi nished,” he said. “It may look pretty
and timber business. Glenn has been
Boardman in the early 1970s. Earlier
neat, but there’s always something to
building model trains for 70 years,
this year, he and his wife Francis
be done.”
and last year he took an interest in
were given the Pioneer Award at the
Glenn is selling limited numbers
garden railroads, which led to the idea Boardman Chamber of Commerce
of his Camp 5 models, which are
for Camp 5.
Awards Banquet, recognizing their
available on his website at www.
Glenn’s living room in Boardman
40-plus year in the community.
fn3inc.com.
is a craftsman’s paradise with rulers,
In that time, Glenn has been an
———
plywood, paint and tools splayed out
attorney, winemaker, newspaper
Contact George Plaven at
on his work tables. He has another
editor, duck call guru, city councilor
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or
paint shop and wood shop around
and mayor from 2005-08. Model
541-966-0825.
back of his home, where he brings his railroads remain a constant in life.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
C
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Glenn has three N scale locomotives for his garden
railroad.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A model of a lumber camp bunkhouse car sits on a track
in the home of Ed Glenn of Boardman. Glenn hopes to
design a ten-car lumber camp theme railroad in his
garden and sell the cars online.
OUT OF THE VAULT
Pendleton fi remen take work home with them
By RENEE STRUTHERS
East Oregonian
F
iremen wasted no time
extinguishing a car fi re in July
of 1929, but because they
weren’t properly dressed to fi ght an
evening fi re, they took it back to the
station with them instead of risking
embarrassment in front of Pendleton
crowds.
A fi re alarm came in from the call
box at the corner of Alta and Garden
streets about 9 p.m. on July 15, 1929,
and the volunteer crew made haste to
the scene. There they found a parked
car with the seat cushion blazing
merrily away. But because the fi re crew
was wearing afternoon attire, instead
of more appropriate evening clothing,
and the fi remen did not wish to be
embarrassed in front of the crowds that
usually turned up to watch them work,
a plucky fi reman grabbed the fl aming
cushion and carried it to the fi rehouse,
where the fl ames were quickly doused.
When the fi remen took the cushion
back to the scene of the fi re, however,
the car was gone.
Fire Chief W.E. Ringold immedi-
ately set about looking for “a slightly
scorched cushionless Ford,” while
the soggy seat was retired to a pile of
rubbish at the city dump.
■
Renee Struthers is the records editor
for the East Oreognian. Contact her
at rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or
541-966-0818.
ODDS & ENDS
10 million bottles of beer on the wall ...
VIENNA (AP) — It
takes a lot of beers to
collect 10 million bottle
caps. But Austria’s Hans
Heiland didn’t drink them
alone.
Heiland says that most
of them have come from
others, many of them by
mail, after his passion for
collecting beer bottle caps
become known.
Heiland, from the town
of Ybbs, west of Vienna,
started his hobby fi ve years
ago.
State broadcaster ORF
said Thursday that his
collection now weighs 18
tons.
Heiland recently sold
the caps to a metal collector
for $1,700 and says he will
deliver all three truckfulls to
the new owner Friday.
He says he plans to give
the money to a needy family
in the region.