Animas Rails 2017 Recap

2017 Rocky Mountain Region Annual Convention

ANIMAS RAILS – DURANGO, COLORADO – 8-11 June 2017

Convention Chair – Gary Myers

A Recap of 2017 ANIMAS RAILS!

This year’s Rocky Mountain Region annual convention was in Durango, Colorado, from June 8-11, 2017.  The 2017 convention was hosted by the Region with an assist from the Silver San Juan Division.  We had a very nice, somewhat intimate convention with a lot of spouses and family members.  We had a total of 75 people register for the convention.  Thanks to Jack Haptonstall, everyone received at least 2 door prizes, with many receiving three!  Thanks to our Registrar, Dick Hunter, who processed all of our registrants, coordinated our train ride and hotel meeting rooms!  Thanks to Don Francis for serving as Convention Treasurer.  Thanks to Denny Krausman, for serving as Vice Chair.  Thanks to our Clinicians: Don Bailey, Stewart Jones, Bill Tulley, Stan Jennings, Al Harper, owner of the D&SNGRR, and Soundtraxx!  Thanks to Silver San Juan for putting together our layout tours!  And thanks to all of our volunteers who helped out wherever we needed extra help!

The highline:

Thursday Evening, June 8th

The convention kicked off with registration and contest entries at the Durango DoubleTree.  Many enjoyed the evening in Durango, at the many fine restaurants and shops!

Friday Morning, June 9th

We started the morning with clinics at the Durango DoubleTree hotel.  We had clinics on Steelmaking, Scenery, and Mining Equipment.  At 10:30 AM was the first shop & yard tour at the D&SNG yard.  At approximately 11:30 AM, we closed up at the hotel and broke for lunch.  Many members enjoyed lunch as couples or tagged up with friends at the very fine restaurants in historic Durango.

Friday Afternoon, June 9th

After the lunch break, we held our layout tours from 1 to 4 PM, approximately 8 miles north of town.  We visited Duane Danielson’s 3000 sq-ft O scale Great Northern and Northern Pacific, the late Jim Richardson’s Canadian Athabaska HO scale layout, and Andy Saez’s 7 ½” gauge live steam railroad, full scale AT&SF replica depot and authentic full-size AT&SF Caboose.  We really appreciated the help from the Silver San Juan Division hosting the layout tour just north of town.  The tours were really fantastic and thanks very much to the hosts!  Thanks Silver San Juan!!

Some photos from Duane Danielson’s Great Northern Empire:

Some photos from the late Jim Richardson’s Athabaska Railroad:

We had a second shop & yard tour at 2:30 PM.  At 4 PM, we toured the new Soundtraxx facility.  Soundtraxx was very proud of their LEED facility, built to be environmentally friendly.  Soundtraxx hosted us for a clinic afterwards at their facility, and we packed the house.  They briefed us on the features on the new Tsunami-2, and afterwards offered us discounts on their current and new product lines.

Soundtraxx new LEED facility:

Friday Evening, June 9th

Did not have a banquet, but no one complained as we all enjoyed visiting our favorite or new establishments of fine dining. At 7 PM, we reconvened at the registration/contest room for the Region Board of Directors Meeting and Popular Vote Contest, which was held concurrently.  At the same time, we had our evening clinics, with the first on the Durango & Silverton Railroad by owner Al Harper, and the final clinic for the evening on western scenery sagebrush and yucca.

Saturday Morning, June 10th

At 7:15 AM, we boarded the first train out of Durango, riding in an open air covered gondola and coach, following the Animas River and the high line to Silverton.  We were the first train into Silverton at 11:30, and had first choice of restaurants for lunch, with time for some sight-seeing before departure.

Sights from Silverton:

Saturday Afternoon, June 10th

Most of us returned from Durango by train and some took the bus-coach.  We had our break for dinner following the trainride.

Saturday Evening, June 10th

After dinner at our favorite restaurants, we opened the contest room for NMRA judging and the clinic room.  The clinics closed out with Model Railroad Health and Steelmaking.

Sunday Morning, June 11th

Sunday morning, we gathered at Rotary Park a few blocks north of the Depot, and took photos of the train on the trestle crossing the Animas River.  After the train went by, we will gather along the bike path and presented the model contest awards.  Thanks to all the contest participants!  You can read about the contest in the Callboard Contest Chair report and check out all the models on the Region website.  That concluded a very quaint convention in the unique setting of Durango!

From Rotary Park:

Thanks to all who attended Animas Rails 2017, I thought a good time was had by all in Durango, I know I did!

- Gary