THE RAILHEAD

Important Dates
Layout Hours and Address
Just a reminder
Affiliate members dues due
Bring joy, food, drinks & party
Board meets early
New Board meeting place
Welcome, Lester
Christmas open house
1999 was a mighty good year
Thanks, Ron
It's a sign
Get The December Senior Times
Thanks, Rick
Encoded letter
BNSF Y2K plans

Pikes Peak "N" Gineers held its annual three-day Thanksgiving Open house on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, November 26, 27, and 28, 1999. And it was a real eye-opener for some of the newer members.

Jim, Charley, Mike, Joe, Don, Steve, Ann, Glenn, Jeff, Greg, Chris helped out most or all of Friday. Steve, Glenn and Jeff came in also and helped for a shorter time. Joe had created a sign for placement on Academy Boulevard. It drew some visitors. During one of the quiet times, he painted another one. Joe's signs were the main reason we had visitors that day.

One visitor, John McCall, donated a great-looking picture of a train. He has great taste. It was a Great Northern train. Under Ann's direction, Joe hung it up in our room. It just looks great.

Craig brought in a lighted caboose and a hopper which he had customized. The hopper sports a realistic-looking FRED. The caboose had a lighted interior and two lighted marker lights on the rear. Both cars were really something special and drew a crowd. Craig ought to be very proud of them.

Saturday, November 27, another host of club members appeared. Since Joe couldn't make it in, Jim was the dispatcher. He did a good job, making sure that everyone had ample opportunity to run trains and that there was always some variety on the rails.

Helping out all day were Ann, Larry, Don, Mike, Margaret, and Paul. Vickie came in for the afternoon.

Thanks to The Gazette, we had many more visitors than we had entertained on Friday. Our bank balance grew a little more. Besides having more visitors, we also had some excitement.

While the details are still pretty hazy-Paul said it was all Jim's fault and Jim claimed Paul was a crummy engineer-nobody knows for sure since nobody saw it happen, but everybody heard it-Paul's two engines wound up on their sides along with 14 of Paul's 89' auto rack cars. They all just fell over like dominos. Jim's train was more fortunate. It suffered lesser damage. Lawyers representing these two rail barons are still trying to figure out what happened and who should sue whom.

Some time later, Greg watched helplessly as 21 of his cars and 2 steam engines fell off the mountain line while crossing Joe's Glow (oops, Nuclear Edge) module and entering Rick's Aspen Industrial Area. Everyone felt sorry for Greg as they viewed the awful wreckage. Greg definitely took the prize for suffering the worst disaster of the weekend.

Sunday was the most unusual open house day the club has had all year and it was a good thing that members Glenn, Joe, Mike, Ann, Jeff, Steve, Chris, Rick, Paul, Greg, Kirt, and Charley were at the club. We had wall-to-wall people all day long-thanks to a great notice in The Gazette that included a picture. It wasn't a picture of any part of PPNG's layout, but it got the message across. People came in droves. It got so busy that we ran out of pamphlets!

As a result, we had the best open house we have had since we moved into Jeannine Drive, Suite 108 two and a half years ago. The crowds were huge and the donations were many.

Ain't publicity great?

Many thanks to all club members who were able to support the club.

Dec 11, 12: PPNG Christmas Open House

December 17: PPNG Business Meeting; Elections

December 25, 1999: Christmas

December 27, 1943: War Department takes possession of U.S. railroads

January 1, 2000: New Years Day Y2k makes all of our trains disappear

January 10: PPNG Board Meeting at Charlie's Pit Bar-B-Que, on Nevada, just south of Austin Bluffs. Eat at 6:30 pm, meeting at 7:30 pm.

January 21: PPNG Business Meeting

This is just a reminder to all members that THE RAILHEAD presents the minutes of club meetings in an edited form for confidentiality and space considerations.

Please see our Stationmaster for an official and complete copy of the minutes of any meeting.

Webmaster's Note:  Meeting minutes will not be published on the website.
PPNG members may obtain minutes from the Stationmaster.

As 1999 ends and a new year makes your hand stretch towards a new calendar, your dues for the year 2000 are becoming due.

The dues due January 1, 2000 to renew your affiliate membership and receive the club newsletter are $16.00. Please send your check to the Paymaster:
  Pikes Peak "N" Gineers
  c/o Kirt Bailey
  5732 Hermit Pass Drive
  Colorado Springs, CO 80917

Don't put this little duty off and forget it.

Just put your check in the mail before you read anything further. We are truly a non-profit organization and we need the money.

Thanks, much!!!

Just a reminder, fellow members. We are having our annual impromptu Christmas party right after the December business meeting ends. [For that reason alone, our esteemed superintendent should keep the meeting short.]

So, bring some smiles and laughter and whatever you like to drink and eat and share all of the above with your fellow members. Together, we'll celebrate the holidays and have a good time!

Party, Party, Party (and run trains!)!

Because of a scheduling conflict and an unexpected job requirement, it appeared that the club's Board of Directors would not be able to have a quorum at its regularly scheduled monthly meeting. So, Superintendent Kleinman quickly reacted and directed that the December meeting be held a week early.

The Board met at Charlie's Bar-B-Que on December 6.

With the recent disastrous fire at Guiseppe's Restaurant, it became necessary for the club's Board of Directors to find another place at which the board could meet and conduct club business.

Some of the finest experts alive were called in to give their opinions on this troubling question. After much deliberation, debate, and discussion, a place was selected on a tryout basis.

It is Charlie's Pit Bar-B-Que, 4325 North Nevada Avenue, just south Nevada's intersection with Austin Bluffs.

After filling their faces, the club's board members decided that they liked Charlie's place. It would be suitable for future board meetings.

So, the club's board will meet at this restaurant at 6:30 pm on the second Monday of the month for dinner. The meeting will begin at 7:30 pm. All members are invited to join the board for the dinner and the meeting.

Just for the record, and to smother an old rumor, the club does not pay for the board members' meals. All expenses are paid by the members, themselves.

We are pleased to announce that Pikes Peak "N" Gineers has grown just a little bit more. Lester Coburn must have liked what he has seen. He has filled out an application for regular membership and plunked down his money.

Lester has been modeling for about two years and is planning a home layout. So, let's add Lester to your copies of the roster:

Lester Coburn
(Members can obtain this information from the Stationmaster.)

Welcome to the club, Lester!

Pikes Peak "N" Gineers held its Christmas open house on Saturday and Sunday, December 11 and 12, 1999. We had a good time.

Thankfully, the club members who committed themselves to helping out kept their word. As a result, we were able to adequately entertain a number of visitors.

We did not have any publicity from The Gazette for this show but, Joe's signs, the recent favorable article in The Senior Times and our flyers picked up some of the slack. Joe's signs were the most successful means of advertising. They snagged most of the visitors.

Helping out for most of Saturday were Mike Peck, Joe Morgan, Chris Dueker, and Charley Bay. Alan Rex and Rick Shumpert spent all day at the club.

On Sunday, Charley Bay, Glenn Hobbs, Jeff Hobbs, Joe Morgan, Rick Shumpert, Mike Peck, Alan Rex worked all day. Kirt Bailey and Greg Pitman were able to help out for a few hours as well. Like Saturday, we had small numbers of visitors coming in fairly steadily.

Thanks to all who helped out. We received enough donations to make the weekend well worthwhile.

Looking back, we have had a pretty good year. 1999 was a continuation the club's rising from the ashes, so to speak. Most members will remember that 1997 ended on a very high note with the successful and first open house at 3645 Jeannine Drive.

1998 continued this happy trend. And, 1999 saw even more good things. We were active this year.

We had five open houses-on February 20, 21, May 1, 2, October 9, 10, November 26, 27, 28, and December 11, 12, 1999. Not bad.

But, 1999 had a "first" in a long time. According my records, the traveling layout was brought out of mothballs and went traveling for the first time in 2 1/2 years. The first outing was to the Great America Train Show where the club was well-received. So well, in fact, that the club's traveling layout was invited to the National Model Railroad Association's Regional Convention in Denver on June 11, 12, 13.

After that successful visit to the NMRA, the traveling layout visited Chapel Hills Shopping Center August 28.

Then, the traveling layout ended its year with a successful return to Slim Rails's Swap Meet on October 9.

These all of these visits were under the direction of Dispatcher Joe Morgan. Thanks, Joe, for making the visits easy with your trailer and module rack. These trips gave the club some very welcome exposure.

For fun of a different kind, the club continued its tradition of having the ninth joint annual picnic with the Denver N scale folks August 22 at Palmer Lake.

Then, the club celebrated its tenth birthday with an anniversary party October 16 at Guiseppe's Restaurant.

In another "first" in a long time, the club held a swap meet November19. This was the first swap meet the club has had since June 27, 1992!

Probably one of the year's highlights was the visit to Union Pacific Railroad's Steam Program in Cheyenne September 11. This was Rick Shumpert's idea and he picked up the ball and arranged everything. Thanks, Rick, for a great job well done.

Other good activities included the third annual visit to InterMountain Railway Company in Longmont and the April visit to Colorado Springs of Union Pacific's Steam Program's Bob Krieger whose presentation inspired us.

Probably most important of all, 1999 is ending with 33 members. At the same time in 1998, we had 31 members. We're still moving in the right direction!

As most members will recall, our decision to sell another club collector car some time back led to the manufacture of 300 cars. That's a lot.

The BIG reason why our project was so successful was Ron Theisman and his store, Train Showcase. Ron sold more cars than all other sales sources combined. That would normally be considered quite an achievement.

But, it is even more a remarkable achievement because customers were plunking down their money for something in Ron's store rather than spending the same dollars on something that Ron sells to make his livelihood. How many of us would be so generous and selfless?

So, as our club collector car project winds down, each club member should walk up to Ron, shake his hand, and thank him. Our project would not have been so successful without Ron's help.

THANK YOU, Ron Theisman!

If club members have been paying attention over the past year or so, they will notice that the club has been gaining an increasing number of signs. And, these signs have been pulling in visitors to our open houses on a spur-of-the-moment basis.

These signs are a sign of Joe Morgan's thinking and work. He made the signs and lettered them. He donated all of the materials: wood, hardware, and sandbags. (Don't tell anyone because Joe doesn't want the word to get out-but, Joe even painted them).

More often or not, Joe has been placing the signs on the street and picking them up after working all day long to make our open house a success.

So, THANKS, JOE, for your efforts in behalf of the club. You are a big reason why our club is so special.

Lois did a great job and established contact with The Senior Times which sent a reporter, Ann Patton, to see us on November 13, at 10 o'clock in the morning.

Besides Lois, a number of club members scrabbled and re-arranged their schedules so that The Senior Times reporter could see us in all of our glory. We ran trains while Craig talked and talked and talked. He did a good job, too.

Helping out were Joe, Rick, Steve, Charley, Paul, Craig, and, of course, Lois. [I'm going from memory here. If I left anyone out, I apologize. Please remind me-CB.]

Ms. Patton wrote an article about the club. It appears in the December issue of The Senior Times. It's a very good article!

So, if you want to see a good picture of our esteemed Superintendent Craig, go out and find a copy of The Senior Times (it's free).

Thanks, Lois, for making the club visible to Colorado Springs. This is great publicity.

The last day of our Thanksgiving Open House exhausted our supply of pamphlets about touring the layout and our club history. Charley updated the tour pamphlet to reflect new module ownerships and to mention new attractions. Then, armed with an ample supply of paper, Rick made new copies of both pamphlets-more than 200 copies of each or more.

To complete the project, Rick donated still more time and probably a bit of skin, too, as he neatly folded each new pamphlet copy. If you've ever done something like this, you'll have learned that such projects take more time than expected and they often cause physical pain from paper cuts, blisters, etc.

This is just one of the behind the scenes jobs that has to be done if a club project is to be successful.

So, Thanks, Rick, for being dedicated and doing one of the less glamorous but necessary jobs!

3645 Jeannine Drive, Suite 108

Tuesday: 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Fridays: 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Saturday: 1:00 - 4:00 PM

From Karl Anderson, of Stamford, Conn., comes this letter written in code. If you know your Whyte system for classifying steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, you should be able to read it:

Dear MR,

Years ago, after I had become a 4-8-8-4, I was allowed to make a trans-4-4-0 trip. Starting at Boston, on the 4-4-2 Ocean, I traveled over the 2-8-4 Hills to Albany, on the 4-6-4 River.

Changing trains I rode through the 4-8-2 Valley until I arrived at 4-8-4 Falls on the New York Central RR. The engineer was named 2-8-8-8-2. Next I crossed the Mississippi River and enter[ed] the 2-6-2 states. In order to avoid the many 4-8-2 ranges of the Union Pacific's 4-8-4 route, I turned south toward 2-10-4. Again I headed west, picking up the 2-10-2 trail, which I followed to Los Angeles on the 4-6-2 Coast. The trip was a true 4-6-6-4! It made me so interested in trains I took up modeling and subscribed to your magazine.

Yours truly, Karl Anderson

Model Railroader replies: Thanks, Karl, and you might also take a look at our sister magazine, Trains. The two might form a happy 0-10-2, and I'm not just whistling 4-8-4. Okay, readers, if you knew all these then you're a real 2-6-0. Here's a list to help the rest of us:

4-8-8-4 Big Boy
4-4-0 American
4-4-2 Atlantic
2-8-4 Berkshire
4-6-4 Hudson
4-8-2 Mohawk
4-8-4 Niagara
2-8-8-8-2 Matt Shay (Erie gave this name to its first Triplex.)
2-6-2 Prairie
4-8-2 Mountain
4-8-4 Northern, Dixie
2-10-4 Texas
2-10-2 Santa Fe
4-6-2 Pacific
4-6-6-4 Challenger
0-10-2 Union
2-6-0 Mogul

Jim Kelly, managing editor

Editor: Charles J. Bay

THE RAILHEAD is published monthly by the Pikes Peak 'N' Gineers Model Railroad Club, P.O. Box 594, Monument, CO 80132; Telephone 719-488-9318. Subscription is covered through membership in Pikes Peak 'N' Gineers, a nonprofit corporation. ©1999. All rights reserved. We assume letters, questions, news releases, and club items are contributed gratis.

I was at a train dispatchers informational meeting on Wednesday where BNSF's Y2K plans were announced. As was told to us this is the plan as it now stands.

At 2330 (CST) on December 31st all train traffic system wide will be brought to a stop. This includes Amtrak, METRA, DART and Metrolink. Trains will be told in advance to avoid stopping across crossings, on grades where they couldn't get started again or on moveable bridges.

At 2350 all computers systems will be powered down for the rollover. This shutdown will last for 20 minutes.

At 0010 computers will be brought back on line. Testing of code lines, signals and switches and other systems will commence. At about the same time two METRA test trains (empty, crews only) will run between Chicago Union station and Aurora (one from each end). Once the two train make it to either end, trains at CUS will be allowed to leave. Trains stopped at other locations will be started up once testing is complete.

While only the central time zone was mentioned at the meeting, I assume the same thing will happen for the mountain and pacific time zones (BNSF does not operate in the eastern time zone).

Dispatchers and other personnel working at the NOC 3rd trick will be treated to a buffet dinner...so there's no need for anyone to bring their canned food or bottled water :-) . Generators at the NOC will be on standby mode at ready status. Field locations (interlockings, control points, hot box detectors, radios and the like) generally have battery backup systems that can last between 12 and 24 hours should local power fail because of the Y2K glitch. Should local power be down longer than that, things could get interesting....