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

Calendar of events for the Pikes Peak "N"Gineers 2007

December
December 3: Board Meeting – Howard’s Pit Barbeque – dinner at 6:30 p.m. – meeting at 7:30 p.m.
December 4, 11, 18: Tuesday night work sessions 7 – 9 pm.
December 7, 14, 28: Friday work sessions 7 – 9 pm.
December 1, 8, 15, 22, 29: Saturday work sessions 9 – 11 am.
December 21: Corporate Meeting & Elections – 7:00 pm St Francis Hospital dining room on 5th floor.
January 2008
January 4, 11, 18, 25: Friday work sessions 7 – 9 pm.
January 5, 12, 19, 26: Saturday work sessions 9 – 11 am.
January 7: Board Meeting – Howard’s Pit Barbeque – dinner at 6:30 p.m. – meeting at 7:30 p.m.
January 8, 15, 22, 29: Tuesday work sessions 7 – 9 pm.
January 18: Business meeting at D&RG Depot 7 pm.
Great Train Expo
The crew met at the storage unit at 12:30 pm loaded the MTL and headed to Monument for lunch. After lunch we headed to the Western Stock complex and began to setup. I believe we got out of there around 7 pm. On Saturday some of us arrived early so we could clean and check track. We have learned over the years to check the rail connectors in the morning as some slip out over night as the layout warms. We usually find three or four connectors have popped out over night. There was a good turnout of club members so everyone got to run trains and go shopping. We did have a few gremlins but that is nothing new. I assume every thing ran smoothly on Sunday as I did not hear any stories of any great train wrecks I may have missed.
Wreck of beer train floods prison inmates tipsy Family viewing trains, typical scene at show.

Club Show & Swap Meet
For our first show in a few years it really turned out quite well. I would like to thank the following vendors for their participation in the event Gordon Bassett, Gideon Diamon, Roy Thompson, Jack Hutchens, Scott at “N” Scale Supply, Lon Wilson. They all reported that they had a good time and would like to be back for our next show. I would like to thank the following vendors and individuals for donating door prizes – Ron at Train Showcase, Chris Dueker, Custom Railway Supply, Rick Shumpert, “N” Scale Supply, and Mike Peck. We had enough “N” and “HO” prizes to make everyone happy. Again thank you.
Saturday morning was abuzz with vendors setting up, club members checking and cleaning track. Drinking coffee provided by the DAV. Connie Dueker came in with a bow of homemade train cookies for the club to sell. Connie and Annie (Chris’s sister) baked and decorated the cookies. We sold every single one of them. I guess I should have taken a few photos of children trying to decide which of the three types of cookies they wanted. It was great, Thank you Connie and Annie for making those they were a big hit. As all the vendors were setup and we were running trains and had a large crowd at the doors we opened 15 minutes early. It seemed we had a steady crowd until about one pm then it started to slow down. By four pm we had two vendors left and we had a drawing for $20 for those vendors who stayed til 4. Jack Hutchens won the prize. Congratulations.
I want to thank all the club members who showed up and participated with the show. We had a great club turn out for the show. We had plenty of people to watch the door, walk the floor and run trains. It was great!
Although we did not have another layout setup we did have a couple of train switching puzzles setup by Gerry Drewes with the “Youth in Model Railroading” organization. His table was crowded most of the day and he received a few donations for the organization. Gerry told me they are looking for volunteers in any scale to work with them. If anyone would like the info I can send it to you, let me know.

The crowd The vendor tables
Puzzles & Trains OH! MY! Train Cookies!!
Corporate Meeting
The last business meeting of the year is the Club’s corporate meeting. During this meeting the club elects the board members for the next year. The club also has a small party and swap meet after the meeting.
For those new to the club the purpose of the corporate meeting is keep the club non-profit status. During the year, one business meeting has to have corporate meeting in the minutes of the meeting. The club has picked the last business meeting of the year to be the corporate meeting as well as elections. The corporate meeting will be held at 7 pm at St Francis Hospital on the fifth floor dining room. Bring snacks and your own drinks. If you wish to participate in a small swap meet you may bring a few items for this.
The election for the new board for 2008 will be held at this meeting. As of this writing the nominations for the following offices are – Superintendent – none, Assistant Superintendent – Rick Shumpert, Paymaster – Chris Dueker, Stationmaster – Paul Schemm, Members at large – Mary Peck & Mike Peck. You need to attend this meeting!
Work Session Schedule
Starting with this issue as well as those in the future I will be adding the work session schedule to the list of events until we are up and running. There is still a lot of wiring to be done on existing modules. We need to level the existing modules again and get ready for the bridge module. When this last module is in place we need to lay track and wire everything and test run trains. Once the track is in place and wired we can designate Saturdays as running days and Fridays as limited work/running days. Most of the scenery work will be done on Tuesdays and some on Fridays. Jobs like gluing ballast in place should be done on Tuesdays so it is dry by Friday. Then on Friday the trackage can cleaned and ready for running trains.
Hopefully we can start doing clinics in January. For those of you who wish to know how to do track laying, wiring, soldering, scenery, etc. make a list and turn into board so they can schedule these clinics for you. In fact now is a good time to come in and learn about wiring as this is currently what is going on.