Front Range

FRONT RANGE DIVISION

The normal August meeting was replaced with the annual picnic at the Colorado Railroad Museum. The museum has upgraded their facility with a wonderful pavilion which includes about 18 picnic tables and all are in the shade. We had about 21 people attend from the Sunrise, South Suburban and the Front Range divisions. All had a good time eating potluck and talking trains.

Here, I would insert a photo of the FRD picnic at the Colorado Railroad Museum. However, I reformatted the card in the camera, forgetting that I had not downloaded the photos I took.

In September, we held a hands-on clinic. Kris Blackmarr has been experimenting with a new material called Foam Balsa. He brought kits for each of us to work with. Tools used to carve the material were anything that would cut hot butter, including screwdrivers, pocket knife blades, pencils and paperclips among a bunch of other innovative ideas. We all made rock walls and Kris sealed them with flat acrylic Gesso. At he October meeting, we brought them back after coloring the rocks with various paints, chalks and colored pencils

Kris Blackmarr is leading a hands-on clinic on carving Foam Balsa.

Harold Linke discusses coloring of his Foam Balsa work piece.

The October meeting featured slides by narrow gauge fan Jack Haptonstall. Jack attended the Railfest in Durango and took photos of the various trains he rode on. He has a real good eye for detail and has a wonderful knowledge of narrow gauge and mining history.

Jack Haptonstall presents a clinic on Railfest at Durango, CO

The Front Range Division meets in the main building (Delay Junction) of the Colorado Railroad Museum at 7:00 pm every third Monday to the month. Exceptions are in August when we have our picnic and December when we have our Christmas party. 

We contact all new or renewal members by phone (thank you, Doug Whetstone!) and follow up with an emailed copy of the Telegrapher. The personal interaction has been well received. Each of the FRD meetings features a “Show and Tell” where modelers talk about their work. The number of participants continues to grow and many wonderful models and techniques are presented.

Paul Brennecke

Superintendent

Front Range Division-NMRA