PIKES PEAK "N" GINEERS MODEL RAILROAD CLUB
THE RAILHEAD
September 2007 SEEKING SERIOUS N-SCALE MODEL
RAILROADING SINCE OCTOBER 13, 1989
  

Calendar of events for the Pikes Peak "N"Gineers 2007
 
September
September 4: Board Meeting – Howard’s Pit Barbeque – dinner at 6:30 p.m. – meeting at 7:30 p.m.
September 9: Combined picnic at Palmer Lake – 11 am to when ever
September 21: Business meeting - clubroom at Rio Grande depot 7:00 pm.
October
October 1: Board Meeting – Howard’s Pit Barbeque – dinner at 6:30 p.m. – meeting at 7:30 p.m.
October 13: Club Anniversary Party
 October 20: Rock Island Days
 October 19: Business Meeting – after set up at Rock Island Roundhouse
November
November 5: Board Meeting – Howard’s Pit Barbeque – dinner at 6:30 p.m. – meeting at 7:30 p.m.
November 10 & 11: Great Train Expo at National Western Complex in Denver.
November 16: Business Meeting – 7:00 pm clubroom at Rio Grande depot.
November 24: Club swap meet

Attention! Attention! Attention!
Superintendent Coburn has made the decision to hold the business meetings at the clubroom at the Rio Grande depot. Note that the time has been changed to 7 pm instead of 7:30 pm. It is hoped that after the meetings members will work on the layout or run trains if work is completed.

Combined Picnic
It’s here already!!!! The combined picnic is the Sunday September 9 at the Santa Fe park in Palmer Lake. 10 DANS club members have signed up to join us watch trains, eat good food and tell train stories. We did not rent the gazebo so be prepared to bring your own chair. Bring a side dish for about 6 people. The club will bring the hamburgers, dogs and buns and paper plates and silver wear. We plan to eat around noonish. Lester is going to bring his grill and Mike will bring two canopies and the charcoal. Bring your cameras and dress for the weather. See you there!!

It Almost Got Away
At the board meeting Lester Brought up the fact that we had not planned the club anniversary party for October. So mark your calendars for Saturday October 13 at 6 pm at the Peck’s house. The plan is for those who wish to run trains before dinner can show up anytime after noon. For everyone else show up after 5:30 pm and we plan to eat around 6ish. The main course will be a chicken and rice dish so bring a side dish or salad, desert, or munchies for about 8 people. After dinner we will show a train movie or two from Mike’s collection. I’ve added Canadian Pacific since last year. Please let the peck’s know if you plan to attend so they have enough chicken and rice.
Rock Island Days
 
Please note the date change for the Rock Island Days to October 20 instead of the 6, 7, & 8th. It was determined that they did not do so well last year with the three days. So they shortened the show to just one day. The hours for the show we believe will be 9 am to 4 pm. The hours should be verified by the business meeting. We will be able to setup on Friday evening and will be setting up in the same stall as last year so be ready for a little extra work. The business meeting will take place right after we finish setting up.

Grape Creek Excursion
(Editor’s note – This article will be presented in three stages with the first stage in this months Railhead.)

Early in the week before the camping trip, Connie and I decided to take the Friday off from work. Mike and Mary said they'd come up sometime Friday, so we wanted to make sure we were there before they showed up.

Well, about 9:30 Friday morning, Mike calls and said Mary had come down with some flu-like symptoms, and that they would likely not be going on the trip. In that same call, he said that Lester's daughter and grandson both had colds and wouldn't be going. He also said that Lester would try to go anyway.

With that single phone call, the size of the camping group dropped from nine to three. Connie and I had already been getting ready starting the night before, and we decided to go anyway. We'd just spend another weekend at the property.

Well, we finally got out of town by around 11:30 or so and made our way down to Canon City, where we stopped at the Ye Olde Wine and Liquor Store. The store is owned by Ray Andersen, one of our newest members, and has an N-scale layout in the store. He had called a week or so earlier, to see if he could meet us at the end of the BLM access road down at Grape Creek. We agreed to meet around 2 pm Saturday.

So, Connie and I stopped to see Ray's layout and chatted with him for about a half hour. He's got a nice layout, about 2' x 4' right in the middle of the store. It's pretty much un-scenic'd, but has two loops with a viaduct crossover in the center, and a few sidings, all done with Kato Unitrack. Several buildings sit on the bench work next to the track, and there's a recessed riverbed running through the layout.

We left Ray's store and headed up to the property, finally arriving around 1:30. Nobody else had arrived yet, but we were only expecting Karen Seay and possibly Lester.

Once we arrived, we set up camp, then waited for Karen, maybe Lester, and the Port-O-Potty. After awhile, Karen arrived, and we helped her set up. Then the Port-O-Potty arrived and we got that set up.

Around 4:30 or so, I called Lester's home to see if he was going to make it or not. I talked to his daughter, who told me he had left not 15 minutes earlier. So, a little after 6:30, I walked down to the access gate to wait for Lester. I'd given him the code for the padlock to get in, but I thought it would help to be down there by the road. 'Twas a good thing, too, since Lester drove past the gate, and would have kept on had I not waved to him. All turned out well, though there were only four of us camping out.

After Lester settled in, we each fixed a supper, then sat around talking. When it got dark, it started to get a little cool with the breeze blowing, so we all went inside the caboose to continue chatting.

Much later, probably around 9:30 or so, we went back outside and did a little stargazing, planet gazing, and even some moon gazing. The wind had stopped so it was fairly comfortable outside. The air was so clear, even though there were a few wispy clouds in the night sky, we could see many more stars than if we were still in the Springs.

Then it was time for bed. We all turned in to get some shuteye before the historical excursions planned for the next day.

 (Watch for the next two parts in the Railhead, also in you are in Canon City stop by and see Ray and his layout.)

Club Swap Meet
As of this writing we have four vendors signed up. If you know of anyone who wishes to sell some stuff let the committee know so they can contact them. We will be putting the show flyers out to the train stores the first week of October so if anyone is going to Denver around that time contact Mike Peck so he can give you some flyers to drop off. The committee members are Mike Peck, Rick Shumpert, & Chris Dueker.

Great Train Expo
We have been verified for the GTE (Great Train Expo) for November 10 & 11 at the National Western Complex. We will load the MTL at 12:30 pm on Friday September 9 at the storage unit. Then grab a bite to eat and head to Denver to set up.