Clinician: Brian Sheron, MMR

NAVIGATION: Click on the day in the description box for that day's schedule--or use the buttons at the top of the page or your browser's "back" button to navigate your preference. To open in a new tab, right click link and choose "Open in new tab." Missing info will be added as soon as it is available. All info subject to change. Questions: Contact Clinics Chair John Seibert.

CLINIC: Modeling Urban Scenes
DAY: Friday	TIME: 8:00-9:00a	ROOM: Radnor
DESCRIPTION: Brian’s HO scale Long Island Rail Road primarily models many urban and suburban scenes found on Long Island, including Brooklyn, Queens, and Penn Station in Manhattan, and the town of Huntington further out in Suffolk County. His clinic focuses on how to plan an urban scene for your layout, identifying the key elements that make up urban scenes, and then explaining what the key modeling components are for each element, and how they all can be combined to produce realistic scale model urban scenes. Brian discusses how to create realistic backdrops for urban scenes. He also discusses using techniques such as “cutaways” to model underground stations, and also modeling overhead subways, or “El"s. His clinic presentation contains many photos that illustrate the techniques described.

CLINIC: Expanding the Long Island Rail Road
DAY: Friday	TIME: 9:30-10:30a	ROOM: Radnor
DESCRIPTION: In 2015, Brian expanded his Long Island Railroad. Like most modelers, he was faced with questions such as "what to model." and "how to design the expansion." Brian explains how he made these decisions, which resulted in modeling Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, and the Long Island Rail Road's car float yard in Long Island City. In his clinic, he explains car float operations, benchwork construction, including simple construction of curved backdrops, and installing a Faller Car System. His presentation walks you through the process with many photos and diagrams.

CLINIC: Electroluminescent Signs for Your Layout
DAY: Friday	TIME: 11:00a-12:00p	ROOM: Radnor
DESCRIPTION: This clinic will describe what electroluminescent (EL) signs are and how they work. It will then explain how to connect and install commercially available signs, and finally show how custom signs can be created from EL kits that are commercially available.

CLINIC: Installing Decoders in Older Steam Locomotives
DAY: Saturday	TIME: 4:00-5:00p	ROOM: Radnor
DESCRIPTION: Many models of steam Locomotives are not available with factory-installed DCC and sound, particularly older brass or die cast models. Brian shows you how you can install sound decoders in older steam locomotives relatively easy. He explains why the motor must be electrically isolated from the rails, and shows you ways isolate it. He also shows you how to get good electrical pickup from the rails for no-stall operation, and how to hook up and install a sound decoder (with or without a Current Keeper) and speaker in the tender.

About the Clinician...

Brian W. Sheron has been model railroading since 1980. His current and third layout, was started in 1988 and originally modeled the Long Island Railroad, Port Jefferson Branch, circa 1964 in HO scale. In 2005 he expanded his layout to model the City Terminal Zone, including Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, and in 2015 expanded his layout again to model the Atlantic Branch in Brooklyn, which included the car float facilities in Long Island City. His layout was featured in the September, 1997 issue of Rail Model Journal.

Brian earned Master Model Railroader Certificate #469 in 2011. He was formerly the Superintendent of the Potomac Division of the NMRA in the Washington, DC area. He has authored numerous articles for both the Division’s publication, “The Potomac Flyer”, and the Regional publication, “The Local.”

Brian has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Duke University, and a Masters and PhD degree in Nuclear Engineering from the Catholic University of America. Brian has 42 years of government service at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where he recently retired as the Director of Research. He is married with two grown sons, and lives in Poolesville, Maryland.