The Grand Valley Model Railroad Club, based in Grand Junction, CO, is currently building a 30 by 60-foot club building on the grounds of the Cross Orchards Historical Farms. We're affiliated with the Museum of Western Colora- do, which also owns Cross Orchards. When com- pleted, we plan to build & operate an HO scale model railroad depicting Grand Junction and the surrounding area circa the 1950s. Of course, since we ARE in Colorado, narrow gauge will also be featured. We'll be able to operate our own personal equipment (we have New Haven, Frisco, UP and DRGW buffs, as well as a Santa Fe fan or two) on the layout, since we're not going to DCC at this time. I'd like to say in about five months or so, if you're in Grand Junction, stop by our clubhouse- we meet the second Monday of every month at 7:00 PM. Cross Orchards His- torical Farms ( a representative of the orchards & farms in the Grand Valley) is on 3073 Patterson. I'll keep you posted on how we're doing from time to time. ------------------ Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T.
Keep us informed and thanks for the info! ------------------ RAILROADING-TO-THE-MAX, Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Style! Brent Tidaback, Member #234
Well, here's an update on the GVMRC club building: The insulation has been put up, the new evaporative cooler is on the roof, and we're ready to install sheetrock (if it hasn't been done already). The local building inspectors have to check out every step of our construction (don't ya just love bureauracry? ), and coupled with the volunteer nature (and warm weather) work has slowed a bit. We hope to have the building closed up so we can host an open house, featuring our HO scale modules.
Progress report: The sheetrocks is up, taped & mudded, and we await the electricians to install the switches & outlets (yes, we could do that ourselves, but local ordinances require licensed electricians to do this). Next comes the toilet & work sink, and then the paint. We've set up a standards committee to start coming up with "givens & druthers" for our layout. We're sticking with NMRA specs as much as possible. Stay tuned...... ------------------ Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
Here's the latest update: The painting has been done inside & out, and the ceiling tiles have been installed. We await the occupancy permit from the local building inspectors; after which we'll start moving all our stuff in, and getting our HO scale modules put together, worked on & running. Then, we play!! The "fun" stuff comes later, when we begin to plan our layout..... ------------------ Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
That's where the planning committee will come in. We're required by ADA laws and state & city ordinances to keep 6 feet or so wide for a front aisle space, we're gonna have about 2 to 3 feet along the east wall for a workspace and bathroom access (maybe wider), so with other provisions for access by operators, club membres & guests, that should cut it down somewhat. We'll still have a pretty good-sized layout "footprint" after we add all this into the plan. The layout, locomotives & rolling stock are all going to adhere as close to NMRA standards & Recommended Practices as possible. We're also gonna take a few field trips (including one hopefully to Price, Utah to the Carbon County Model Railroaders) to get other ideas as well. How about youse guys? Can you tell us what your club layouts are, dimension-wise? Granted, 1800 sqare feet is not the biggest club layout space, but it's still pretty decent size! ------------------ Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
GREAT NEWS!!!!! The inspectors have given us the green light, and we now hane our occupancy permit. A sidewalk has been poured in front of the building (including a ramp for handicap access), so now all we have to do is lay carpet & tile, and get our modules in, hook 'em up, and start playing trains. WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!! ------------------ Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
Update: We have the HO modules up & running, and had out first show at the Pride of the Valley festival here at Cross Orchards. Crowds were large, and we got a lot of positive feedback. With all our stuff moved in, we're concentration on upgrading our modules, repairing damage caused by the bozo who stored them for us, and just running trains. No word yet on when we'll start building the permanent layout, as we need to replenish funds- costs a bit to build out here, even when we did it ourselves. So, if any of you model rails around this area are in "Junction", stop by & see us! ------------------ Southeast....Southwest.. Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
Update time, folks: Our club is having a dedication for the new section house (our name for the building) next Friday, Sept. 22 at 7:00 PM at Cross Orchards. We also hope to have our Christmas shows there, and will be back to having our annual swap meets again. Stay tuned for more details, or if you're passing through this area (hint to JCater and slimjim!), stop by & say hello. Highball, y'all! ------------------ Southeast....Southwest.. Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
Another update: The Grand Valley Model Railroad Club is hosting an open house & swap meet on Saturday November 18 at its new club quarters at Cross Orchards Historical Farms, 3073 F Road. It kicks off at 10:00 AM. Besides the swap tables, we'll have our HO and N scale sectional layouts operating. Hobo stew will be served for lunch. Can't remember the admission fees, but they're cheap. If you're in the general vicinity, stop on by- bring money and any RR stuff you wanna swap. Tables hopefully should be available. (end of shameless plug ) ------------------ Southeast....Southwest.. Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
Hey Bob T nice of you guys to name your club after my free lanced railroad,BUT you miss spelled Grand. It should be spelled GRANDE as in Grande Valley RR. Now I'm having FUN!!! ------------------ Catt!#118
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Catt: Hey Bob T nice of you guys to name your club after my free lanced railroad,BUT you miss spelled Grand. It should be spelled GRANDE as in Grande Valley RR. Now I'm having FUN!!! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> OK Catt, stay out of the cooking sherry..... BTW, you neede to telle the city fathers of your towne to adde the "E" to the name "Grand Rapids". At least that's what this Quayle guy is telling me...... LOL Life's too short to take it seriously ------------------ Southeast....Southwest.. Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
I wish I knew- I moved from the area back in October of 2002, and when I'm not out & about, my home is in Sherman, TX, and has been since I got back. I'm not a member of the local club for several reasons (time, personality issues with the muckety-mucks that I don't care to deal with, etc), so I've been lone-wolfing it since then. Wonder if our friend Bravogjt can stop by & check things out- he lives out that way.
Hi guys! I stopped in back in December and was shocked to see all of the new bench work. They decided to rebuild the layout which will include the various towns on the Western Slope. I will dig around and see if I have any pictures from that visit. I wanted to go check things out last month at their open house but was out of town. Ben
Here are some images of their layout from October 2006. They were still constructing some of the bench work.
Here are some pictures from December 2006. Most of the bench work was complete and they had a lot of the track laid. I plan on stopping by there sometime this summer and checking out the progress. Ben
