Sunrise Division

SUNRISE DIVISION

The Sunrise Division had regular meetings in April and May but skipped our June meeting because it conflicted with the Regional convention.   In the last Callboard we described setting up our modular layout for the Rocky Mountain Train Collector’s meet in March.  We displayed our modular layout again at the Regional convention in June, shown below:

Convention Set Up 

The remaining photos show "A Town in the Making" and the crew at work in Dick Hunter’s Garage.

A Town in the Making

Crews at work in Dick Hunter's garage

Our next scheduled display will be at the Denver Public Library, September 18-20, and we are working hard to complete more of the scenery and details.  The modules will be assembled on 5th floor at the Library, which is the home of the Denver Public Library Western History/Genealogy Department. The Department maintains one of the largest collections of genealogy resources in the country, and numerous staff members are well-qualified to assist with genealogy questions. Folks who are interested might also pick up information on genealogy classes, lectures and other events that are offered fairly regularly. 

The modular display will be located directly in the center of a large collection of fairly rare and out-of-print books dealing with Western history. These do not circulate, but there are lots of reading areas available. A huge collection of additional resources are available on the floor in what are called the stacks and these books can be brought to our manuscript room on request. I believe that the library has one of the largest collections of Western railroad books around, for example. 

The crown jewels of the Western History/Genealogy Department are located on the 6th Floor, and are not generally open to the public, but materials can be delivered to 5th floor quickly and easily by request. These are the manuscript collections that deal with almost every aspect of Western History. Manuscript collections include personal papers of famous individuals, letters, journals, financial records of various institutions and so forth. Many historical groups have said that as far as Western History research is concerned, "all roads lead to DPL Western History." 

Anyone interested is invited to check the website at www.denverlibrary.org. Scroll down to find a blue box on the lower right side titled "Genealogy, African-American and Western History." This link leads to all manner of interesting possibilities, though a tutorial is probably too long to include here.

There are almost always some very interesting art displays on the 7th floor and in the gallery on the 5th floor that leads to the area where the modules will be displayed. If our younger visitors are not worn out by the time they finish viewing the modules, there is also an extensive children's department on first floor.

Dennis Hagen, a member of the Sunrise Division, is the librarian there. Several years ago he described a project involving the restoration of Mikado K-27 #463 for the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. There were parts that needed to be replicated for the restoration, but no drawings were available to the restoration crew.  From the Western History collection, over several months Dennis was able to find literally dozens of detailed drawings for various parts and assemblies of various K-27 locomotives that were very useful in restoring and in some cases even fabricating new parts for the restoration.

For those of you who model historic Colorado railroads, this is a valuable source of information that you may not have been aware of it.  Later Dennis and Jim Poston, head of the restoration crew, spent a bit of time reviewing photographs in the DPL collection that showed various lettering styles that had been applied to the 463 over the years. It was really a very rewarding project.

Dennis is currently working on a massive cleanup of the Library's D&RGW records.  He estimates that there are some 14,000 drawings showing details of locomotives, freight cars, structures and even some track diagrams. There is also an extensive collection for Union Pacific and Great Western railroads.

Stewart H. Jones, Sunrise Division Secretary