Cowcatcher Division

Don’t forget that this Saturday is the next Cowcatcher Division meeting at the Texas Western club house: 6807 Anglin Drive, Ft. Worth. Darrell Cowles will present the second half of his excelent clinic on Ft. Worth railroad history.

The contest this time is for the best online structure. This can be any railroad owned structure like a depot, tool shed, outhouse, etc.

As and added bonus, Saturday is also National Train Day, and there will be a celebration at the Ft. Worth Intermodal Transportation Center on Jones Street. The organizers describe the event as:

Celebrate National Train Day at Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center with participation from Texas Rail Advocates, Operation Lifesaver, UPRR, Amtrak, DART Rail, BNSF, Trinity Railway Express and the Dallas Railroad Museum. There will also be train equipment displays, entertainment, balloon makers and face painters.

• Amtrak will have several of their passenger cars on display and a drawing for free tickets on their Texas Eagle service.

• BNSF Railway will display one of their locomotives and have railroad personnel on hand to answer your questions.

• Informative displays from Trinity Railway Express and the Fort Worth ‘T’; Operation Lifesaver and others.

• Musical entertainment.

• The North Texas Historic Transportation will have the NTT interurban at the Fort Worth Intermodal Station open for touring and information on the proposed City of Fort Worth Streetcar Circulator.

• Watch the action with the TRE and Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer and Texas Eagle trains and nearby freight trains.

• The Texas Rail Advocates table will feature National Train Day T-Shirts and Train Whistles.

• Union Pacific Railroad will show off its UP No. 2010 Boys Scouts of America Locomotive, honoring Scouting’s 100-year impact on the country.

I hope you can make it to the meeting before joining the festivities downtown.

Chris

The next meeting of Division 1 will be Saturday, Jan. 30 at 10AM. This meeting will be hosted by the Texas Western Model Railroad Club at 6807 Anglin Drive, Fort Worth, Texas 76140. More information about the Texas Western can be found at http://texaswesternmrc.org

This meeting’s theme is cabooses. Bring your favorite caboose to share with the group. The winner will be chosen by popular vote. There will be a prize.

We’ll also discuss upcoming meetings. Please send me your meeting ideas.

I hope to see you all on the 30th.

Bring a friend,

Chris

I just wanted to drop everyone a note and let you know that the final 2009 LSR convention registration form is online at http://trinityriverinterchange.com . I’m happy to report that many Division 1 members have already sent in your registration, but if you were waiting to find out what prototype tours are being offered, they have been finalized. This year we are offering three: the BNSF Network Operations Center, the McKinney Avenue Trolley car barn and the Trinity Rail Express shops.

We are also offering both Dallas and Ft. Worth Super Tours that were not included in the registration form published in the Marker Lamp. The Super Tour is a good way to enjoy touring many of the metroplex’s finest layouts while letting someone else fight traffic.

Also, if you would rather pay by credit card through Paypal, this year we are offering online registration through the company store at http://trinityriverrails.com . You can also view and purchase shirts, decals and everything else on the registration form. If you would prefer to pay by check, you still may be interested in the online form to save the hassle of printing.

This year’s convention promises to be very special. Besides the trip tp the Ft. Worth Stockyards on the Grapevine Vintage Railroad, we have filled 96 slots with clinics and have over 40 home and club layouts on tour. Many of the home layouts are not on tour at any other time that during the LSR convention.

We also have a very special banquet speaker, Harold Carstens. Harold as most of you know is the retired editor of Railroad Model Craftsman, and is known as a pioneer in our hobby for his many and interesting stories.

It’s also worth noting that the early registration discount expired April 17th, so now’s the time to send in your form or go online.

Hope to see you all in June.

Chris

Please remember that this Saturday, August 16th, is the next meeting of the Cowcatcher Division. The meeting will be held at 10AM in room #1 at the Lockheed Martin Recreations Association administration building at 3400 Bryant-Irvin Rd., Ft. Worth, TX 76109.

This time we are going to have a presentation on Jack Kibee’s outstanding layout by Frank Treadaway and Tom Stamey. Jack won’t be able to make the meeting, but has invited the group over to tour the layout and ask questions after the meeting Saturday.

We’ll also get an update on the 2009 convention progress and have a short business meeting.

As always, please feel free to bring any models or photos of your layout progress and other items for show and tell.

Hope to see you all next Saturday.

Bring a friend,

Chris

I have uploaded an updated copy of my RailOp clinic titled “Beginning RailOp” and it is available here in as a Microsoft Word document.

Please feel free to use all or part of this document in your own clinic as I have licensed it under the Creative Commons Attribution license. The only thing I ask is that you mention my name as a contributor. Also, if you make any additions, please send me a copy for my own future use, and I will attribute your contribution in turn.

What is not obvious from the handout is that when I give the clinic, the only thing I display with the projector is the actual RailOp program running with data from an example layout based on Allen McClelland’s plan in the 1996 Model Railroad Planning magazine titled “The Virginian & Ohio’s Muddlety Creek branch.”

I chose this track plan because it is what I consider to be a typical small to medium sized bedroom track plan within the realm of possibility of almost any Model Railroader. The plan has several things necessary for a good operating railroad: staging and classification yards, several industries and an branch line.

From Jerry Hoverson:

Just a reminder of the 2009 Convention Committee meeting at my house 10:30 to 12:00 on Saturday, March 1st.

Plan to discuss the following:

• Convention Theme/Slogan
• Guest Speaker
• Tarantula Ride
• Local layout to honor
• Non-Rail activities
• Prototype tours
• Special contest theme
• Budget items

I know there are a couple of you with conflicts and will be unable to attend but we’ll proceed anyway, after all June is just around the corner and we have to present this at the Houston Banquet.

Contact Info:

1900 Spring Blossom Ct.

McKinney, Tx, 75070

972-540-5315

Please let me know if you are planning on staying for the operating session after the meeting, I typically operate with a crew of 6 to 7.

See you Saturday,

Jerry

I received a note from Jerry Hoverson, please attend if you are interested in volunteering for the 2009 Convention:

Hi gang,

I’ve got the meeting room at the Sheridan reserved for 2pm on Saturday the 15th of December.  We’ll have a quick tour of the hotel facilities and get the ball rolling on the 2009 Convention.

I set the time at 2pm so that those in Division 3 can go to the division meeting in the morning if they desire and still make the meeting.

For those that don’t know the Sheridan Grande DFW is our hotel and is located at the north end of  the airport on Hwy 114, diagonally accross the street from the Hyatt where the 50th convention was held (hotel was the Harvey back then).

If anyone has the email address for Steel Craver please forward this to him and pass his address back to me.  I also realize that there are a couple of you that don’t live in the metroplex area and therefor won’t make the meeting but I’ll correspond with you individually later.

Thanks again for your help, this wouldn’t be possible with out you.