Silver San Juan

SILVER SAN JUAN - DIVISION 10

The Silver San Juan Division has had an active fall.

On the weekend of October 3-5, members met in South Fork, Colorado for a Friday dinner at a local restaurant. The following day the group rode the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad from South Fork to the Wasson Wye near Creede, Colorado. The day was perfect for viewing the fall colors, and all had an

enjoyable time. Our hosts, Robert and Don Shank provided an educational tour that included railroad history, geology of the area and local gossip about the filming of the Lone Ranger motion picture on the railroad and Creede area.

The Fall meeting of the Division was held on Saturday, October 25th in Durango. Larry Brewer presented his amazing 1:20.3 Farmington Depot, researched and built over 7 months this year. As noted by an unnamed wag at the meet, it was a model that could be entered in either a narrow gauge or standard gauge convention, depending on the era modeled.

A video from Trainmasters TV on “Tearing Down a Layout” led a discussion from the members on their experiences and feelings when “that day” came to them.

Jarrette Ireland of Soundtraxx gave a well-received clinic on his company’s new products as well as how they could be used in modeling running and switching activities using in-cab video from the Durango and Silverton. The many steps in running either steam or diesel locomotives in the yard, while observing the appropriate rules, suggest operating on even a small layout can be made more realistic.

A photo contest, and presentations on card stock modeling and a homemade tree flocker completed the afternoon.

The next meeting of the Silver San Juan Division will be in Farmington, New Mexico on April 4, 2015. It will be held in a new venue for us, the Farmington Museum. All NMRA members and guests are invited.