Milepost The December 2018 Official monthly publication of the Pikes Peak Division of the National Model Railroad Association East leg of the Pikes Peak Division s Module Group s setup at the PPD Swap Meet Train Show on Saturday, December 8th, 2018. Photo by John Emmot. NEXT MEETING: Friday, December 14th, 2018 at 7:00 PM at the Sand Creek Police Station, 4125 Center Park Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado (southeast of the intersection of Fountain and Academy Boulevards).
Calender Events P.P.D. Staff Members Friday, December 14th, 2018 NMRA-PPD monthly meeting and elections. Christmas party (no contest or program). Friday, January, 11th, 2019 NMRA-PPD monthly meeting. Meeting at TECO. No contest, no program. Saturday/Sunday, January 12-13, 2019 TECO 34 train show, Chapel Hills Mall. Saturday/Sunday, February 2-3, 2019 The Great Train Show, Colorado Springs Event Center. Friday, February 8th, 2019 NMRA-PPD monthly meeting. Contest: Caboose (Rules: any scale, must be kit or scratch-built, preferably weathered and detailed, built within the last three years). Program: David Bristow and Internet RR. Saturday/Sunday, March 2-3, 2019 Rocky Mountain Train Show, Denver, Colorado. Friday, March 8th, 2019 NMRA-PPD monthly meeting. Contest: judged contest. Program: no program, judged contest. Friday, April 12th, 2018 NMRA-PPD monthly meeting. Meeting at TECO. No contest, no program. Saturday/Sunday, April 13-14, 2019 TECO 35 train show, Chapel Hill Mall. Friday, May 10th, 2019 NMRA-PPD monthly meeting. Contest: Animation (Rules: any scale, anything that you built that is animated (moves). Can be motive power, but must have additional motion than just moving on the rails). Program: Mel McFarland {title coming}. Friday, June 14th, 2018 NMRA-PPD monthly meeting. Contest: {to be determined}. Program: {to be determined}. Friday, July 12th, 2018 NMRA-PPD monthly meeting. Contest: {to be determined}. Program: {to be determined}. Friday, July 12th-Sunday, July 14th, 2019 NMRA National Train Show, Utah. Superintendent: Joe Costa joe_costa@hotmail.com Assistant Superintendent: Charalee Topinka (719) 646-2783 charaleetopinka@yahoo.com Treasurer (And Door Prizes): Frank Pareso (719) 591-9470 wfpareso@gmail.com Secretary: Robert Allen (719) 661-5960 allen_rea1@hotmail.com Achievement: Jack Sousa (719) 576-7017 jackfrw@pcisys.net Contest: Jack Sousa, Charalee Topinka, and Kristin Phillips Membership: Dennis Snyder Milepost Editor: Michael Murdock midnightriver@ymail.com Module Group (HO-Scale) & Members Aid: John Emmot (719) 380-8421 jemmot@comcast.net Monthly Meeting Programs: Charalee Topinka (719) 646-2783 charaleetopinka@yahoo.com Public Relations: Kristin Phillips kristin.phillips7099@gmail.com Joe Costa joe_costa@hotmail.com Swap Meets: Dusty Thomson (719) 651-7064 dthom8787@yahoo.com x O F F I C E R S C H A I R P E R S O N S The Milepost, Volume 38, Number 12, December 2018, is published monthly, as an electronic document (Adobe PDF file), by, and under the authority of, the Pikes Peak Division (Rocky Mountain Region), of the National Model Railroad Association. Our meetings are usually held on the second Friday of each month at the Sand Creek Police Station, 4125 Center Park Drive (southeast of the intersection of Fountain and Academy), in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at 7:00 PM. Please come to one of our meetings. We d love to meet you. All scales are welcome. Besides our monthly meeting, we have swap meets, train shows, and other model railroad (and railroad) activities. All content in this journal is copyrighted to its respective owner unless otherwise noted. Please do not use content from this newsletter in other publications, newspapers, magazines, books, web sites, etcetera, without explicit case-by-case permission. The editor of The Milepost is Mr. Michael Murdock. He can be contacted at the e-mail address of: midnightriver@ymail.com. Thank you. 2.
Minutes from November 2018 Meeting Meeting opened by Joe Costa at 7:00 PM. 28 people in attendance. Lister Colburn has been in the hospital. Charalee has also been in hospital. Planning to move to Cañon City. Mike and Sigi Walker were visitors and presenters. There were no minutes from the October 2018 meeting. Frank gave treasurer s report. Several awards were presented. Discussion about elections coming up. Four positions are open. Tony Pawlicki accepted nomination for treasurer. Mark Fuerstenberger accepted nomination for assistant superintendent. John Emmot accepted nomination for secretary. The Contest chair position is still open. Dusty discussed upcoming swap meet show. Motion made and passed to donate $230.00 to Youth In Model Railroading group for NCE equipment. Presentation by Mike and Sigi Walker. The Great Rock Island Road And How It Came To Colorado Springs. November 2018 contest winners announced (see Page #18). Meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM. 3.
December Superintendent Notes The November Division meeting was held on Friday, November 9th, 2018, at 7:00 PM at the San Creek Police Station. The award part of Meeting went very smoothly. A framed TECO patch donated by Roy Thompson on behalf of the vendors was given to Amber and Mark Fuerstenberger. Anyone who s been to a TECO Train Show in Colorado Springs knows how Mark and Amber have driven around their cart train between the parking lot helping vendors and module groups transport their wares and modules. Four hand crafted plaques (thank you, Kristin) honoring some of the folks who helped make the TECO show a success were given to the Mark and Amber, John Emmot and Michael Murdock, the Golden Needle, Golden Trolley, Golden Soldering Iron and Golden Quill. By no means were they the only ones who work hard to make the Division successful. I have already made up a list of other folks who will be honored next year. Then we got to the part of the Meeting where we did the nominations for next year s officers. It went relatively smoothly just like in Aesop s fable. Frank, who has done a great job for a number of years as Treasurer, let me know that was retiring at the end of the year. That meant we needed to nominate Assistant Superintendent, Treasurer and Secretary. We ended up nominating Mark Fuerstenberger, Tony Pawlicki and John Emmot for those positions. At the December meeting we will accept any additional nominations and have an election. Jack wants to retire from running the contests. That s not an elected position so we will be looking for volunteers. 4.
Sigi and Mike Walker Rock Island Presentation This is where the Meeting got a little crazy. We remembered to bring the overhead projector but no one remembered to bring a computer. I ran back home and got one which took about 20 minutes. But for those who were able to hang out, it was a fascinating story. Here are a couple pictures from the presentation. The first is from the stone monument outside the roundhouse. The second is from the Rock island baggage car. As a technical aside for any geeks out there, there is free software that lets you take an out of 5.
As a technical aside for any geeks out there, there is free software that lets you take an out of alignment picture and straighten it out. They went through the interesting history of the Rock Island and the Roswell Roundhouse (now home to the Trolley Museum) and Rock Island Museum baggage car here in Colorado Springs. Everything from Jesse James, to runaway trains and the Clampers was covered. Las Vegas, New Mexico Update On our way down to Rails Along the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, we decided decide to pay a visit to The Castaneda Hotel to check on the progress there and to takes some pictures at the Amtrak Station and Visitor Center. 6.
There was a great deal of work going on inside and outside the hotel. They are putting in diagonal parking along Railroad Avenue and the white elephant air- conditioning unit on the roof has now been covered with bricks and is barely noticeable. Landscaping is still all torn up. We stopped at the visitor center in the station, both to take some pictures and check on The Castaneda status. They are shooting for a Valentine s Day opening and are taking names for a waiting list at the downtown Plaza Hotel which Allan Affeldt also owns. Across the street is Rough Rider Antiques. They have old American Flyer trains, Fred Harvey and other railroad memorabilia. Visiting Rails along the Rio Grande in Balloon Fiesta Park in ABQ 7.
8.
This is a harbor scene which is something you don t see very often in the deserts of New Mexico. We met up with Al Hovey, JB and Roy at the show. Visiting the Santa Fe Historical Museum and Railyard The New Mexico Historical Museum has a nice visiting Fred Harvey Collection near the Plaza. This is a picture of one of the displays relating to the Harvey Girls: 9.
Right across from the depot is the end of the line for the Rail Runner: 10.
The old car in front belongs to the Santa Fe and Southern Railroad which is trying to resurrect the dinner train to Lamy. Some folks argue that dinosaurs and trains do not belong together but look at the dinosaur breaking out of the wall of The Comic Book store behind the train: Visit to Raton Station Over the years, we have stopped at Raton for gas or lunch when going to or from Santa Fe but never actually stopped to see the town. This time Kristin said, we have time let s do it. We decide to go to Roundhouse Park but there really was not anything banything there. there. 11.
At home on the computer, using Google Earth, one can see the faint foundations of the roundhouse near the top of the picture between track and road and the wye across the tracks and road to the east of the station. Next time, we know where to look: Anyway, when we looked across the track and there was the station: 12.
What was cool was a locked portal we saw on the east side of the tracks: Now, that we knew where the station was, we drove around the tracks. And there was the other end of the tunnel near the station: 13.
The station itself, is a lot smaller than I expected. 14.
Barely visible behind the building is our neighbor, a BNSF worker who has been transferred to Trinidad. We didn t recognize him, but he recognized Kristin. Although no freight trains go over the pass, the railroad is still responsible for maintenance. There is a small waiting room with restrooms behind the sign visible in this rear view. The adjacent, old Wells Fargo Building is now an art gallery: 15.
There is a great sign on a building across the street: 16.
Also across the street is Pack Rat Gifts: They had some cool train coal carvings (that were made in Kentucky) for sale. Upcoming Train Shows We have reservations locked in for the Lower Level Event Center for TECO Shows in 2019 March and April and first dibs on the Upper Level if available. January 12-13, 2019: TECO 34, at Chapel Hills Mall Upper Level Event Center February 2, 2019 10:00 am - Sun Feb 3, 2019 4:00 pm.: Great Train Show, Colorado Springs Event Center 3960 Palmer Park Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80909. The Division will participate. March 2-3, 2019: Rocky Mountain Train Show at the Denver Mart, Denver, Colorado. April 13, 14: TECO 35, at Chapel Hills Mall Event Center July 12-14, 2019: NMRA NATIONAL TRAIN SHOW, Utah July 24-27, 2019: Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society, Pueblo Colorado. October 12-13, 2019: TECO 36, at Chapel Hills Mall Upper Level Event Center Upcoming Division Programs December is Elections and the Christmas Party. January s meeting will be the evening of TECO at Chapel Hills Mall so no program. February will be David Bristow and the Internet of Things applied to model railroading. March, hopefully, will be the judged contest. April s meeting will be the evening of TECO at Chapel Hills Mall so no program. May's contest is TBD; Mel McFarland will do a program. (May 10 I will in Cartagena, Spain) July s NMRA Convention in Utah does conflict so some of us will miss the meeting. October s meeting will be the evening of TECO at Chapel Hills Mall so no program. 17.
Modular Musings Modular Musings The Pikes Peak Division SwapMeet was held on December 8th at the Trinity United Methodist Church off of Uintah St. We had a 32 foot oval with modules from Drewes, Maline, Costa/Phillips and Emmot along with the PPD trailer pieces. Setup was on Friday evening about 5 o clock. Mike Murdock, Wade Mountz and the Fuerstenbergers were there to help the owners with the modules and vendor tables. While we didn t have a lot of help, it was good help. For the most part, the layout ran well. There were the usual minor problems, but no train stoppers needing a whole crew of gandy dancers. The Velcro skirting was much appreciated. The show ran from 9AM to 3PM on Saturday. This was a local show as some of our big vendors were at a show in Boulder. We still had a room full of stuff for sale. I understand there were around 120 through the door. Not a record, but a good representation of kids and parents and bargain hunters. There were lots of things that went home with new owners. The next module setup is scheduled for January 12-13, 2019 at the upstairs Event Center in the Chapel Hills Mall. Setup will the afternoon of Friday, January 11. This will be a max setup for the PPD. If all of the modules come, we can be a boomerang of 56 by 44. The regular December meeting is the Christmas Party this Friday the 14th. This is significant in two ways. It is the night the voting or the 2019 officers takes place and it is our Division Christmas party. I believe Joe has laid out the slate of railroaders/railroaded. Nominations from the floor will be accepted if there is anyone else who is willing to earn some NMRA service points. But, on to the rest of the story. In the spirit of tradition, there will be Christmas goodies, gift exchanges, gift giveaways, railroad camaraderie, and good cheer. The PPD will provide soft drinks and a cake. Everyone is invited to bring a sample of their favorite holiday treat to share (but it is not required). There will be two progressive gift exchanges for the attendees. One will consist of gifts appropriate for the ladies, not necessarily of the railroad hardware variety. The second will be a general exchange for all to include railroad hardware and associated paraphernalia, etc. Let your conscience be your guide, use your imagination, give something you would like to get yourself. The final giveaway is the stuff Frank has collected through the year from the monthly drawing proceeds. You must have bought a door prize ticket at sometime in 2018 to be included in this one. Everyone who did will have a chance here. I would like to see a lot of folks attend this event. It is a chance to greet the model railroad cadre in the Colorado Springs area. Even if you aren t a regular at our meetings, come on out and enjoy an evening of trains and train people. We would love to see you. Hope to see you all round the roundhouse. John Wade Mountz won first-place with this five car work train. Tony Pawlicki won second place with this gondola. 18. Tony Pawlicki also won third place with this gondola.
Swap Meet Train Show Photographs 19.
20.
Hansz-On Modeling By Jerry Hansz ANOTHER BLUE BOX LOCOMOTIVE It happened again, stopped at Roy s, saw an old blue box Athearn GP35. Bought it. Need more 4-axle diesels for my tight curves. When I got it home, I looked it up in The Santa Fe Diesel by Cinthia Priest. Number 1477 is too high. They originally were numbered up to 1460. The lettering is too nice to mess with, so I ll live with it. It was run on DC, with excellent results. However, the stall current at 12 volts was 1.75 amperes, too much for DCC. I had a Northwest Short Line can motor intended for another project, which was on hold. I disassembled the locomotive and compared the motors. First disassembly. The can motor is a tight fight, but is okay. The shaft diameter was too small and the shafts were too long. I tried some shrink tube and it was a good fit for the parts. The Dremel tool took care of the excess length. Shrink tubing test. 21. Adjusted shaft length.
Drive parts fit okay. I applied a little super glue to the two swivels, and set the motor aside to dry. The chassis was completely disassembled to permit further work. Lots of parts! Trucks painted and lubricated. 22.
The normal technique I use to connect the Red and Black wires from the decoder is to run a wire between the upper truck contacts for the Red wire and install a brass screw on the chassis for the Black wire. The chassis was drilled and tapped for a 2-56 screw. Chassis with brass screw installed. The chassis was reassembled, the motor leads were connected to DC test voltage, and the wheels were cleaned with a flat blade. Lots of accumulated crud! I decided to use an NCE D13SR decoder. They are a good fit in narrow shells, and don t take up much vertical space. NCE D13SR decoder. While the glue and paint dried, I looked over the NWSL can motor specs: 23.
The decoder was wired as follows: Red wire to the upper truck contacts Black wire to the brass chassis screw Orange wire to the red motor wire Gray wire to the black motor wire I didn t have any 12 volt bulbs, so the loco will be blacked out for now. Normally the lamp wires would be White to front, Yellow to back, and Blue-common. I enclosed them in shrink tube for future use. Assembled chassis with D13SR decoder. The chassis was programmed on the programming track- manufacturer= 011, version=038. When the chassis was placed on the main line, it ran in reverse! I had noted the end with the straight line as rear. Wrong! It was the front! So I programmed the decoder to run forward in reverse. I felt that was better than resoldering the motor leads. With the thing running the right way, I secured the decoder to the top of the shell, and assembled it. After break-in runs forward and reverse to spread the lube it was parked at Chestnut Hill engine terminal. ATSF 1477 ready for service. Another blue box project successfully converted to DCC. Total cost with decoder- $47. 24.
25.
26.
27.