I�d like to measure the level of interest of gauge 1 live steamers in the San Francisco Bay Area in contributing toward a readily accessible track for all to use. This might be appealing to apartment dwellers, those with small yards and people with limited financial ability. Ann Stephens, Jeffrey Williams and I (all BAGRS and PCLS members) visited the Golden Gate Live Steamers track in Tilden Park (east of Berkeley) recently and talked with their club president, and several GGLS members about resurrecting a gauge 1 track at the GGLS site that has laid dormant for about 10 years. The GGLS folks were very friendly and supportive of such an effort. The GGLS has a tradition of accommodating all live steam gauges at their extensive and well-developed site and a gauge one presence would be welcomed. The Golden Gate Live Steamers has a nice website at www.ggls.org. The area set aside for the gauge one track is a roughly triangular wooded knoll, about 100feet by 80 feet. Some years ago a few GGLS members built a ground-level, egg-shaped loop of about 110 feet of gauge one track on the knoll with 11-12 foot minimum curves and a waist level steaming track. The leveled right-of-way and base for that track still exists but the rails have been removed. A quick survey indicated that with a little effort, an additional loop of about 160-180 foot length could readily be accommodated, requiring some filling or trestle work to provide a level right-of-way. Additional trackage could be imagined for a "mountain division" with smaller radii curves and grades for those with small RC and/or geared locomotives. The GGLS site is very well developed, with ample parking, picnic area, meeting room, running water, restrooms, etc and is secured by locked cyclone fencing. The site is available for members use year-around by keyed access. Membership in the GGLS is $25/year plus $25 initiation. The cost of resurrecting the gauge one track would be borne by those interested. If you are interested in this effort, please contact me through this message board or directly to my e-mail at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hopefully we can find some steamers who are interested in helping us bring this plan to life. -Eric Maschwitz www.grabiron.com
