THE RAILHEAD
NEWSLETTER OF THE PIKES PEAK "N"GINEERS MODEL RAILROAD CLUB

August 2008 RAILROADING SINCE OCTOBER 13, 1989

Calendar of events 2008
August
August 4: Board Meeting – Maggie Mae’s – dinner at 6:30 pm – meeting at 7:30 pm
August 7: Western Museum of Mining and Industry party – 6:30 pm
August 9: DSP&P tour – 8 am – see DSP&P below
August 15: Business Meeting – Club room- 7 pm – C&T trip money due
August 23: Combined picnic – Palmer Lake – 11 am to? – see picnic below
August 1, 8, 22, and 29: Friday work session – 7 to 9 pm
August 2, 9, 16, and 30: Saturday work session or run trains 9 to 11 am
August 5, 12, 19, 26: Tuesday work sessions – 7 to 9 pm
September
Sept 8: Board Meeting – Maggie Mae’s – dinner at 6:30 pm – meeting at 7:30 pm
Sept 10, 11, 12, 13: ARM (Association of Railroad Museums) conference – see below
Sept 19, 20, 21: Cumbres & Toltec trip – see below
Sept 26: Business Meeting – Club room- 7 pm
Sept 27: TECO joint swap meet and train show – see below
Sept 2, 9, 16, 23, 30: work sessions – 7 to 9 pm
Sept 5, 12, 19: Friday work session – 7 to 9 pm
Sept 6, 13, 20: Saturday work session or run trains 9 to 11 am



DSP&P
For those interested in the Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad we will tour another section of the line on Saturday Aug 9. Meet at the Woodmen Park and Ride by 8 am. Bring a sack lunch, munchies and something to drink as we’ll be gone most of the day. Mike will have an itinerary available for any extra cars. The plan is to cover much of the old road bed from near Nighthawk to Como depending on how many stops we make to explore. See you there.
Picnic
The combined picnic will be held on Saturday August 23 from 10:30 am to whenever at the park in Palmer Lake. Whoever gets there first check out the gazebo to see if anyone has reserved it for the day if not settle in as it is then first come first served. The DANS club will be bringing the meat this time and we will bring the side dishes. Let Mike know if you are planning on going to the picnic so he can let DANS know how much meat to bring.
Western Museum of Mining & Industry
The regular members should have received their invitations to the Western Museum thank you party. The party starts at 6:30 and ends at 8:30 on Thursday August 7.
Cumbres & Toltec trip
For those going on the trip you have to make your own motel reservations. You need to book Friday night Sept 19 and Saturday night Sept 20. Three of the hotels I was able to lookup on the internet are Branding Iron Motel – rate $94.95 a night for two 1-800-446-2650. Chama Station Inn – rate – same for all rooms no matter how many people – about $73 including tax – they were filling up fast when I made our reservations 1-888-726-8150. Chama Trails Inn 1-800-289-1421 – have to call to get a rate.
If you wish to go on this trip you must use the signup sheet in the club room so we know you want to go. You must turn your train ride money into Chris by the August business meeting as we have to have the money into the railroad two weeks in advance of the trip ($79 & children 11 and under $39.50). We did not meet the group discount quota. Some members want to leave early on Friday and take a leisurely trip down to Chama and others may want to carpool down after work. The meeting place is the Nevada Park & Ride under I-25 between Tejon St and Nevada Av. The meeting time shall be 5 pm. This may change at the business meeting.
ARM Conference
We will load the MTL at 2:30 pm on Wednesday Sept 10 and head to the Crown Plaza Hotel and setup. We will run trains on Wednesday from 5 to 8 pm and participate in the opening reception. For those who can do it (we need you to sign up at the club room) we run trains from 7 am to 11 am Thursday through Saturday. You may purchase a buffet breakfast for $5 each morning. Tear down will on Saturday after 11 am.
Leadville C&S and Camp Hale
Eight of us left the Nevada Park & Ride at 8 am on Saturday July 12; we ate breakfast in Johnson village and proceeded to Camp Hale. We were able to spend about an hour there and determined that to really study the area we needed to camp there for a few days. Not only to check out all of Camp Hale but to explore the old D&RG narrow gage route that was abandoned back in 1915 when the railroad built the standard gage line. We then went to Leadville and got our tickets and got on the train. The weather was hot so moved back and forth from the open to the covered cars. Chris & Connie had the opportunity to ride in the engine cab back down to Leadville. We could have had the whole caboose but were glad we didn’t as it was very hot in there. A great time was had by all.

TECO – Train Expo Colorado
We held the first meeting of the TECO group. As of the meeting 18 tables had been sold, we need to sell 40 to 50 tables to break even. So if anyone wants any tables please let Mike or Roy know. What is needed from the club members is a few volunteers to man the door on a rotation basis every hour or two. I’ll have more on this in the Sept issue of the Railhead. The most important thing Roy asked for was that everyone talk to people and talk up the swap meet. Word of mouth is about the best advertisement. There is a school dance at the Crown Plaza the night of Sept 26 so we can’t get in to setup until after 9 pm. Roy said he will have the room open at 6 am for setup. Venders need to be setup by 7 am for the early bird shoppers. Layout setup needs to be completed by 8:30 am as the doors are open to the public at 9. The show will go until 4 pm and then tear down. Roy has done about 99.8% of the work on this project and should be commended for this forget the word out everyone. This could be a great series of shows for our town.
TECO Needs a WEB Master
Roy is asking for someone to be the TECO WEB master. The people he had lined up to do the web have all been reassigned to IRAQ. So if you want a trip to IRAQ sign up to be web master! Just kidding!!!! Roy said this would be a paid position and so anyone who would like to try this contact Mike and he will give you Roy’s number.
Club Swap Meet & Train Show
We are set to have our third annual swap meet and train show. The room at the DAV has been reserved and we are a go for Saturday November 29. The times will be set at one of the business meetings. If you have stuff to sell or are ready to run trains, work the door or work the train puzzle at the Youth in Model Railroading table or all the above we’ll see you there.

This is what went by on a June Tuesday evening. The strange looking steel design in front of the 737 is called an Ice breaker. The purpose is to break icicles in tunnels so no damage is done to the plane.
Chris looking for spikes main line just visible at left. Old spur grade edging toward mainline.


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