The Railhead

NEWS LETTER OF THE PIKES PEAK "N"GINEERS MODEL RAILROAD CLUB

Celebrating 20 years of model railroading


APRIL 2010 RAILROADING SINCE OCTOBER 13, 1989

TIMETABLE FOR 2010

APRIL 2010
April 3rd: TECO 5 at the Doubletree Hotel (See Down Below)
April 30th and May 2nd: Brookdale Village at Skyline (See Down Below)
April5th Club Meeting at Giuseppe's Depot Restaurant.  Meet at 6:30 for dinner.
7pm to 9pm the meeting will conduct followed by a budget review
April 16th Business Meeting at the Club 7pm to 9pm
April 6th, 13th, 16th, 20th, &27nd Tuesday Work Sessions 7pm to 9pm
April 2nd, 9th, 23rd, &30th Friday Work Sessions 7pm to 9pm
April 10th, 17th, & 24th      Saturday Run Sessions    9am to 12 noon





MAY 2010
May 7th, 8th&9th Santa Fe Train Trip (SEE DOWN BELOW FOR MORE INFO)
May 22nd-23rd: Georgetown Show (SEE DOWN BELOW FOR MORE INFO)



2010 Events
June    11 & 12: Limon Railroad days Sat 9am to 4pm and Sun 10am to 4pm (More info to come)
October 7th, 8th, & 9th Brookdale Village at Skyline (SEE DOWN BELOW FOR MORE INFO )
October 23&24, 2010: Western Kansas Train Show in Hays, KS at the Ellis County Fairgrounds,
   1343 Fairground Rd, exit 157 on I-70.
Boot Hill show:  Dodge City, KS November 2010





2010 Club Field Trips:

   1. Tiny Town - Dispatcher - Chris

   2.  Alpine Tunnel - Dispatcher - need one

  3. Hagerman Tunnel - Dispatcher - Mike

  4. Moffat Tunnel West Portal - Dispatcher - Jeff - Jeff reported that AMTRAK fare is $40. From Denver to Winter Park. 2 rental vans will cost $75 and hold 8 people each. Date for this trip will be sometime in June or the fall

  5. Greeley Museum - Dispatcher - Bob - May 15 - Admission prices are; Adults $6, seniors $5, Kids $3. Since the Georgetown Show is May 22&23 this year, it was decided to change this trip to May 15. Meet at 8:00 AM at Monument Park & Ride to car pool.

6. Camp Hale Campout and Exploration - Dispatcher - Mike - July 10&11

7. Denver, South Park & Pacific - Dispatcher - need one







TRAIN TRIPS

Train Trip: RTD Light Rail Denver - Dispatcher - Les - June 26 or 27. We will ride to the terminal, look it over, return to the station and go to Caboose Hobby store. Meet AT 9:00 AM at the Monument Park & Ride for car pooling.




2010 Club Officers
Superintendent:     - Mike Peck
Assistant Superintendent:    - Lester Coburn
Station Master:     - Bob LaHair
Paymaster:     - Chris Dueker
Member at Large:    - Steve Tesnear
Member at Large:    - John Grier
















THE MANIFEST NEWS AND INFO


GARDEN CITY REVIEW


By Lester Coburn


March 19, 2010   Charlie Bay, Chris Dueker, Mike Peck, Rick Shumpert, and Lester Coburn loaded the MTL in the trailer and headed to Garden City Kansas. There we joined five clubs from the Dodge City, and Garden City area plus seven Vendors, in renewing friendships and finding good deals. We got to run many trains. While we had some Gremlins for the most part our trains ran smooth, and we had a good time. We also collected lots of ideas from the other clubs. On the drive out, the rail traffic was slight but on the way back we passed three coal trains and one long hopper train that was pulled buy six locos with five different color schemes, AT&SF Warbonnet, two different BNSF, one Green, Black, & White Burlington Northern, and two in Burlington Green & Black. We are happy to note that we have been invited back to the show next year. The Club is looking forward to another setup there for 2011.


Club Members Setting up the layout photo by Mike Peck



TECO 5


Will be held April 3rd at the Double Tree Hotel. Show hours Saturday - open to early buyers 7:30 AM and to the general public 9:00AM to 3:30PM. We will load the trailer Friday at 5:30 PM at the club and store the modules in a spare room and set them up Saturday Morning. We need to bring our train show signs. We will set up in a 14'X18' configuration. Club members working the show need to wear their PPNG name tag. If you are working the show and do not have a name tag, let Mike know and he will get a TECO tag for you. The Grand Door prize will be the same as last year, an N scale layout. TECO would like some donations of locomotives and rolling stock to go with it. Use the southern entrance to the hotel. Parking is free.



Brookdale Village at Skyline


Mike moved the visit to October 7th, 8th, & 9th. We will do a 2 day show on October 8 & 9th, with set up on Thursday night. Hours would be 10 to 4 both days with tear down after 4 Saturday. We can put out a donation Jar.




Georgetown show


Georgetown Mining & Railroad Days: May 22&23 Contact person is Joan Eaton.   Show hours are 10AM to 4PM both days.  They will give us $50 gas money and put out a donation jar for us. Georgetown Mountain Inn (800 940 1045) will give us a 10% discount, just mention Joan's name. Rooms are $66 or $77 a night. The Rose Street B&B (303 569 2222) offers a 10% discount: rooms are $150 per night. There is another motel (303 569 3211) with rooms at $66.88 per night.




Santa Fe  Train Trip

John Grier It will be a trip to Santa Fe with chartered bus service, a round trip on the Rail Runner to Belen, NM and 2 nights in a motel. This trip is being sponsored by the Colorado Midland Chapter, NRHS. Cost is $320 per couple or $240 single occupancy. Additionally an optional trip on the Santa Fe Southern "High Desert Highball" for $28 will be offered Friday evening.




Royal Gorge Tickets

If anyone who did not get a chance to ride the Royal Gorge train the club has 9 tickets to use before they expire. If anyone is interested in utilizing these tickets the cost is $49.25 each. This is the group discount price. They can only be used on a weekend. Contact Mike Peck so he can make the arrangements for you.






A CLINIC REVIEW

By Charley Bay


The next clinic class will be on April 27 (Tuesday) and repeated on April 30 (Friday). We have 9 members attending the classes and we welcome anyone else who is interested. The first class was on March 9 and March 12. We got a little organized and gave an overview of what's planned for future classes:


CLASS TWO: create basic ground, using a foam base on one side and a hydrocal base on the other.

CLASS THREE: Using molds. Create rocks and install them

CLASS FOUR: Start basic colorings of base.

Homework--plant one or more buildings

CLASS FIVE: Install track, and solder feeder wires in place.

Create and plant pine trees.

CLASS SIX: Finish making and planting pine trees and Create and plant deciduous trees

Homework: Finish making and planting trees.

CLASS SEVEN: Make & Install details: cribbing, ditches, bushes, people, animals, vehicles.

CLASS EIGHT: Judge finished modules and awarding prize(s): PARTY.


Due to popular demand (by Chris Dueker) Mike Peck and I are adding a clinic on making water. So, there will be 9 classes in all.

All classes will have handouts for present and future reference. And, there'll be homework.

The homework for the second class is for each member to start building a kit containing tools and materials for creating all kinds of scenery. Further, each should devise a plan of what his class "module" should look like at the end of the classes.

Mike and I hope that we can maintain interest in these clinics and provide something which will truly help everyone be a bit better on creating scenery.


If there are questions, just holler!

Charley



Superintendent's Corner

Photos by Mike Peck La Junta, Colorado

From the Superintendent, Here we are April already and boy have we been busy. We have completed four shows since the first of the year with many more to come. The first in a series of 9 clinics on scenery has been done. While at the Garden City show we got the bug to do fiber optic on the modules. If you are interested or know anything about this technology let us know as we have big plans and little knowledge, but sounds like fun.

We have TECO 5 coming up on April 3, 2010. As with past TECO shows I'll be asking you for your help with different jobs at the show. Keep passing out those flyers and encourage people to come to the show.

Still looking for a few more folks to go to the Georgetown Mining or Railroad days. Mike




STATION MASTERS NEWS

By Bob Lahair


A proposal was made to rent track time to the general public to run their trains. This would bring in additional income to the club and might attract new members. Sessions would be held Saturday afternoons. This could be accomplished with little or no expenditure of funds. A motion was made to appoint a committee, chaired by Bob LaHair, to design this service. It was seconded and approved. Members will be Les Coburn, Jeff Govin and Chris Quinlan. Issues to be addressed include; hourly price, member operating check list, customer liability waiver, customer operating rules, hours, staffing requirements, and a marketing flyer.



NEW MEMBERS

By Jeff Govin

This is a new section I have started. Each month I will get small bio and some photos of each member to give us a chance to know one another. Our new member that just came on board is Chris Quinlan. Here is a little intro and photo.

Hello to all! My name is Christopher (just call me Chris) Quinlan and I just moved here from Scott Air Force Base in Illinois (20 miles East of St. Louis). While in the St. Louis area, I was part of the Gateway N-Trak club. I am here with my family: Kendra (my wife of six years), Saidi (my four year old daughter) and Donovan (my son who is two and love trains already!). My whole life centers around my family. As you probably guessed, I am in the Air Force, but I work at NORAD and NORTHCOM. I spend a lot of time in Cheyenne Mountain, which if you ask anyone who knows me well, is a dream come true.

I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and have loved trains almost as long as I can remember. My first train was a HO G.I. Joe train set that I got in kindergarten for Christmas. That didn't last too long as small boys are hard on their toys. During the summer between my kindergarten year and first grade, my parents took me on Amtrak from Albuquerque to Hutchinson, Kansas (I had been on Amtrak about 6 times before, but was too young to remember). I have been Amtrak's biggest fan since that day and have probably ridden it 30+ times.

I eventually switched to N-scale when I was about 10. Shortly thereafter, I joined the New Mexico Rail RunNers (yes that N is suppose to be a capital), an N-Trak club. Those guys took me under their wings and treated me like a son (although they gave me a good hard time about liking Amtrak) There was a lot of camaraderie in that club, so if you see it in me, that's where it came from. As middle-school and high school wore on, I stayed semi-active with railroading, but girls and other teenage oriented things took the center of my attention, so the hobby fell to the way side.

After a two year mission for my church to Accra, Ghana (West Africa) and college I joined the Air Force and got interested in trains again. Four years later I am still strong in the hobby. I still model Amtrak almost exclusively (all eras), but I also do the New Mexico Rail Runner and a little Burlington Northern. I will admit that I am a rivet counter when it comes to my own work (it's the OCD), but love seeing everyone's work and learning about different aspects of the hobby from others. I really look forward to getting to know everyone in the club over the next couple of years!







   Photographers Corner



Warren Buffet's inspection train Nolanville, Texas Temple Engine Yard Temple, Texas


Temple Engine Shed Temple, Texas Temple Engine Shed Temple, Texas




EDITORS NOTES: Hello Pikes Peak E"N"gineers another month was good with the club as we have many new members to the club.  The club has started new clinics to further out knowledge in scenery, proper wiring, and over all have a good time.  The club has participated in many events like shows, open houses and getting each member involved having a good time getting to know one another.  The photos I have posted in the photographers section is from Jerry Voss of Killeen, Texas. He is one of my rail fanning buddies who I have known for years. He sent me these three photos recently of the Temple Texas Engine/ Maintence Facility and Warren Buffets train touring his giant new layout .The third one is a BNSF freight in Palmer Lake Colorado with 7 flat cars full of piping heading north.  I hope you enjoy and have a good month.


Jeff