PIKES PEAK "N" GINEERS MODEL RAILROAD CLUB

January 2008

SEEKING SERIOUS N-SCALE MODEL RAILROADING SINCE OCTOBER 13, 1989

January 4, 11, 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.
February 1, 8, 22, 29: Friday Work Sessions 7 – 9 pm.
February 2, 9, 16, 23: Saturday Work Sessions 9 – 11 am.
February 4: Board Meeting – Howard’s Pit Barbeque – dinner at 6:30 p.m. – meeting at 7:30 p.m.
February 5, 12, 19, 26: Tuesday Work Sessions 7 – 9 pm.
February 15: Business meeting at D&RG Depot 7 pm.
February 22: Load MTL around noon and head to Denver to setup for the GTE show.
February 23, 24: GTE Show in Denver – 10 am to 4 pm both days
March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29: Saturday Work Sessions / Run Trains 9 – 11 am.
March 3: Board Meeting – Howard’s Pit Barbeque – dinner at 6:30 p.m. – meeting at 7:30 p.m.
March 4, 11, 18, 25: Tuesday Work Sessions 7 – 9 pm.
March 7, 14, 28: Friday Work Sessions / Run Trains 7 – 9 pm.
March 14: Load MTL and head for Garden City Show 9 am?
March 15, 16: Garden City Show
March 17: Head home from Garden City Show
March 21: Business meeting at D&RG Depot 7 pm.

The club corporate meeting was held on Friday December 21, 2007. During the meeting, new club officers were elected to the board. Congratulations to the new board of the Pikes Peak “N”Gineers.
Superintendent – Rick Shumpert, Assistant Superintendent – Mike Peck, Stationmaster – Paul Schemm, Paymaster – Chris Dueker, Members at Large – Mary Peck, John Carrillo, and Lester Coburn will be the past Superintendent.

The club had a guest speaker, Roy Thompson, at the corporate meeting. Roy gave a presentation of forming a multi club/groups model train show and swap meet. The objective – “To assemble all local model train clubs/groups to host swap meets on a regular basis at an established location, avoiding conflicts with other swap meets in and outside Colorado Springs.” Roy stated 8 purposes of doing these shows – “To gather model train hobbyists together, To support and expand youth model train hobbyists, To recruit people into our model train hobby, Consolidate our swap meets making them larger to entice more sellers and dealers, Have exhibits and competitions, Have demonstration workshops, Available to put on displays for the public, More activities, more fun for less effort.”
The club voted to support Roy with this endeavor. As plans develop I will present them in the Railhead.

For those of you who have never listened to a program by Mel McFarland you are in luck. Mel will be giving a talk on Railroads, Mills, & Quarries of Old Colorado City. The time frame is from 1870’s to 1920’s. The talk will be given at the West side Historical Society it is an old church at the corner of Pikes Peak and 24th St. The day is Saturday February 16, 2008 at 2 pm. The program is free but donations are accepted. Get there early to get a seat as Mel always packs in a crowd. The final module is in place. A tilt up walk through bridge built by Steve Tesnear is ready for track and wiring. For those of you who want to learn how to lay track you need to come down during a work session. Two different ways of laying track will be taught to those that show up. After the track is laid the wiring drops will be added and we should be ready to run trains on red, yellow and blue lines by the end of January. Green line will take a little longer. As the board learns what clinics members want we will be offering them after the business meetings. If the interest is great enough, clinics can probably offered at other times as well.

New Bridge in Place		New Bridge in Open Position

Here it is 2008 and time to start thinking about a club train trip. Last year we went on the Rio Grande San Louis Valley Railroad and everyone had a great time. It’s time to start planning this trip so we can get the word out. We need to pick a trip, pick a time, and plan how to get there, lodging. If you need a list of railroads in the state let me know & I’ll send it to you.
Some of us have been going on short excursions checking out old railroad grades around the state. Last year we went to Como, CO and checked out the roundhouse and then went over Boreous Pass. We had a camping trip at the Duekers property so we could look over the Grape Creek road bed, what’s left of it. One of my goals for this year is to do the part of the DSP&P RR from Como to near Morrison on what is left of the grade. Most of it is now state Hwy, but there is history to see. There may be a plan to do the Grape Creek campout again if there is enough interest.


PS - I forgot to add this - With all the new members in the club there has been some interest in getting club name badges. I need to know who wants name badges and how many. Some members have purchased more than one name badge. If there are enough ordered we can get a discount on the price. I'll be checking on prices and the quantity discount.