April 2006 Railhead

PIKES PEAK "N" GINEERS MODEL RAILROAD CLUB

THE RAILHEAD

April 2006

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

Calendar of events for the Pikes Peak "N"Gineers 2006

April

April 10: Board Meeting – Howard's Pit Barbeque – dinner at 6:30 p.m. – meeting at 7:30 p.m.
April 21: Business Meeting – 7:30 p.m. in the dining room on the fifth floor of St Francis Hospital
April 22: Run trains at Charley’s from 1 to 4 pm.

May

May 8: Board Meeting – Howard’s Pit Barbeque – dinner at 6:30 p.m. – meeting at 7:30 p.m.
May 19: Business Meeting – 7:30 p.m. in the dining room on the fifth floor of St Francis Hospital
May 22: – Run trains at Joe’s from 1 – 4 pm. There will be a clinic on decals see later in news letter. May 27^th will be the alternative run date if the weather is bad on the 22^nd.

June

June 10: Tour UP Cheyenne roundhouse. We will leave the Monument Park & Ride at 8:30 am. Note: The new Park & Ride is on the east side of I-25 off of Woodmoor Dr. Use the second driveway for the parking area. There will be waiver forms for us to sign.
June 12: Board Meeting – Howard’s Pit Barbeque – dinner at 6:30 p.m. – meeting at 7:30 p.m.
June 16: Business Meeting – 7:30 p.m. in the dining room on the fifth floor of St Francis Hospital

July

July 22: The club will ride the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. The price is $29 per person if we have 25 or more people, so ask your friends and relatives if they would like to go.

Other events waiting for dates or conformation

Home operations: Will be reported when scheduled

GARDEN CITY SHOW

Those going to the Garden City Show met at the Peck’s at 9:30 am and loaded up and went to breakfast. As we turned onto Hwy 50 out of Pueblo we encountered winds from the south. Unfortunately we had them all the to Garden City. It really cut down on the gas mileage. We arrived around 4 pm Garden City time and were setup by and running by 7. We went and checked in at our motel and went to dinner. The restaurant there had an all you can eat Mexican buffet. Yes we ate like pigs and it was good.
This year the Saturday hours were 10 am to 6 pm instead of 8 pm like last year. This enabled us to find a place to eat sooner. Sunday’s hours were 10 am to 4 pm.
Lester, Rick, Paul, Mary & myself arrived early enough to finish cleaning track and getting setup. Mary said dispatching was easy as she had us select the line we wanted and that was ours for the day. We saw lots of different motive power. The crowd was not large but it was steady all day Saturday. We spent the day getting the bugs out. We had a few minor wrecks, but that’s normal. On Sunday we picked different lines to run on and saw some more motive power we had not seen. The most amazing was the Bachman 4-4-0 early American that Paul was running. These locos usually have two speeds – stopped or fast. This loco was running at scale speed and pulling 6 cars and a caboose. Paul received many comments on this loco as it ran so well. I asked Paul to send me an article on how he performed this miracle so I can include it in the Railhead.
Bob from the Boot Hill train club came over and invited us to do operations on DCC layout. Lester & I went first so Mary had to run two trains. Again we got so absorbed in operations that the time flew and left only an hour for the next two to run. Rick decided not to run so Mary & Paul went. Lester stayed to help Mary, as this was her first time at operations. She said she had a lot of fun once she understood the procedures.
We left Garden City around 9 am and headed back to Colorado. At first we had some wind and it soon died down and so the rest of the trip was pleasant. We came across a tractor-trailer that had rolled over and dumped its load. We couldn’t tell if it was grain or sand. As usual we counted trains on the way home.

Pikes Peak Cog Railroad Trip
The club trip this year will be up the Pikes Peak Cog Railroad. If we can schedule 25 or more people we can get the $29 per person rate. We have selected July 22 as the trip date. Ask your friends and relatives if they would be interested in going. We will probably start collecting the reservations and money as soon as possible. If we do not meet the 25 persons we will have to pay the standard price.
Decal Clinic
On May 22^nd there will be a clinic on dry decal application. The clinic will be at Joe’s house while we are running trains. If the weather is bad the alternative run and clinic will be May 27^th. If you have a car and the decals for it bring them along and any kind of burnishing tool. Other materials will be furnished.
17 March 2006 Business meeting
In attendance: Lester Coburn, Charley Bay, Chris Dueker, Rick Shumpert, Mike and Mary Peck, and Paul Schemm.

7:37pm Meeting called to order by Lester.
7:38pm Business meeting minutes: The minutes where accepted on a motion from Rick and seconded by Charley.
7:38pm Paymasters report: Chris reported that the Club brought in $***** and had $***** in expenses last month. The Paymasters report was accepted on a motion from Charley and seconded by Rick. Chris reported that 4 Regular members are behind on dues, and 4 Affiliate members have not paid for 2006.
7:43pm Membership Change: Chris reported that Craig Kleinmann has requested to have his membership status changed from Regular to Affiliate. The request was approved on a motion from Rick and seconded by Charley.
7:46pm March Open house: We have been invited to operate at Chris’s on Saturday February 18^th from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.
7:49pm National N Scale Convention: Mike reported there is no information at this time.
7:51pm Rock Island Festival: Lester reported no information.
7:51pm Cheyenne Roundhouse tour: Rick reported that we can tour the roundhouse on June 10^th at 1:00pm. We will meet at the east Monument Park and Ride and leave at 8:30am. We will have to sign a liability release.
7:54pm Cog Railroad ride: We will ride the Cog on Saturday July 22, tickets will be $29 per head if we get over 25 people.
8:00pm Great Train Expo: Mary reported that everyone had a good time, good turnout both days. The only problem was they didn’t let vehicles in till 4:30pm and we parked the trailer inside, when they opened the doors all the vehicles rushed in.
8:05 Garden City: I reported everyone had a good time, the Show had steady attendance Saturday but was slow Sunday. On the was out we where fighting a 45mph wind Rick lost a wind guard off his truck, and on the way back we had the same wind till Lamar CO and lost a sign of the trailer. We have been invited back next year, Henry asked us what we thought of changing the times of the show to Friday night from 6:00pm to 10:00pm and Saturday 10:00am to 6:00pm. I will send a thank you letter to our sponsor Becker Alfalfa who paid to fill our gas tanks for the trip back.
8:17pm PPNG Website: Chris reported that he is still trying to contact Glenn Hobbs.
8:19pm Business cards: Lester reported that he picked up some Club Business cards.
8:20pm Royal Gorge Route: Rick reported that the Royal Gorge Route offers a discount for local residence in February and in the fall. The Club decided to table riding the Royal Gorge Route this year on a motion from Mike and seconded by Rick and try to ride the new tourist line over La Veta pass next year.

New Business:
8:29pm Club Trailer Rick reported that the Trailer needs a new tongue jack. Rick researched and believes our best choice is the one from Wal-Mart, it has good travel and costs $19.95. A motion to buy the jack from Wal-Mart was presented by Charley and seconded by Paul, Rick will pick it up.
8:41pm Lester reported that we have been invited back to operate on Joe’s layout in May, the exact date is not set.
8:43pm Designated representatives: Just as a clarification when a Board member asks another Non-Board member to represent him at a Board meeting he need to clarify whether or not his representative will be able to vote in his absence and should notify the superintendent.
8:47pm Board Member Responsibilities: There is a responsibility for Board Members to show up to as many meetings as possible and if they will not be able to attend meetings they should decline the nomination. Lester will get with Mike L and Steve B to see if they will be able to attend some meetings.
8:49pm Rail Cam: We where asked about our Rail Cam by a few visitors at the Great Train Expo, Rick and Mike will form a committee to look at Rail Cams available on the market.
8:55pm Throttles: There where intermittent problems with the throttles at the Garden City show, Lester will send them to Caboose Hobbies to be looked at.

8:56pm Great Train Expo: Lester reported that we have received the registration for the November 2006 Great Train Expo, a motion was presented by Rick and seconded by Mike to send it in.
8:57pm Chris reported that he is sending in the annual Business meeting report electronically due to cost.
8:58pm The meeting was adjourned on a motion from Charley and seconded by Paul.
Bachmann 4-4-0 Locomotive
For anyone who has a Bachmann American they know that they are not known for the slow speed starts or smooth running. The technique that worked for me was to disassemble the locomotive taking the drivers out and go over the gears filing off any burrs and rough edges. Then put it back together and put a little toothpaste in the gear box and run the engine hard, I put about 5 cars on it and ran if for about 1 to 2 hours in each direction. I could not figure out how to get the tender apart to lube the motor so the locomotive will still run jerky at really low voltage but at least now it will start slow without jumping forward like a race car.