After a career as an engineer in the petroleum industry, Steve retired and moved to Tulsa, OK where he was able to actively pursue his long-time interest in model railroading. He has been a member of the NEONS (North East Oklahoma N-Scalers) since 1999 and has either built or participated in the building of many of the club's NTRAK modules, all of their power boxes and all of their storage cabinets. His NEONS title is Minister of Modules.
Starting in 2011, Steve began writing and publishing articles in N-Scale magazine, N-Scale Railroading magazine, N-Trak Newsletter and the NMRA Layout Design SIG Journal. As a member of the NEONS, Steve authored most of the information presented on the www.tulsa-neons.com website.
Tulsa has a roving band of model railroaders dubbed the Tuesday Night Gandy Dancers. Steve is active in this group that helps Tulsa area modelers build their home layouts.
In 2008, Louisville, KY hosted the Derby City Express 2008 National N-Scale Train Show which set a record with a 700+ module NTRAK layout covering 50,000 sq. ft. Steve was a member of the team that designed, coordinated, and implemented that feat. He was also on the committee that hosted the 2003 N-Scale Collector Convention in Tulsa. Beginning in 2016, Steve began working with the NTRAK organization as the layout design coordinator for the annual N-Scale National Convention NTRAK layouts, and more recently, the annual NMRA National Train Show’s N-Trak multi-loop layouts. In 2019, he was elected to a 3-year term on the NTRAK Board of Directors and is now in his 2nd 3-year term on that board. With the advent of NRail’s Zoom Trak monthly online meetings, Steve has been the meeting Master of Ceremonies and co-administrator.
In Tulsa, Steve is on the committee that has hosted the Annual Tulsa Layout Design & Operations Weekend for the past 12 years.
Steve, who is nicknamed "Razor", is the owner of the Spaendahl Yamánee & Densum (SY&D) railroad, an operations-oriented, 10½’ x 13½’, tri-level, N-scale, semi-prototypical home layout.
CLINIC - Passenger Yard Operations
Passenger yards are not just a parking lot. A prototypical passenger complex has just as much activity as a freight yard. To design, build and operate a passenger yard complex you need to know what facilities are needed and how those facilities are used. There can be a lot more to it than just building a terminal with a few tracks. A sample layout with every bell and whistle imaginable will be presented. From that example, you can pick the design elements you like and create an opportunity to do more than just pilot your passenger train around the layout.
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