Grand Valley Model Railroad Club

[friscobob]

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.


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Ship IT on the Frisco!
Bob T.

[Maxwell Plant]

Keep us informed and thanks for the info!

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RAILROADING-TO-THE-MAX, Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Style!
Brent Tidaback, Member #234

[friscobob]

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.

[friscobob]

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......


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Ship IT on the Frisco!
Bob T.
http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html

[friscobob]

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!! http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif
The "fun" stuff comes later, when we begin to plan our layout.....


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Ship IT on the Frisco!
Bob T.
http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html

[E-8]

We're reading Bob http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

Charlie

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Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org)

[tunnel88]

Any idea what the dimensions of the layout itself might be?

[friscobob]

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!


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Ship IT on the Frisco!
Bob T.
http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html

[friscobob]

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!!!!!!!!!!!!


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Ship IT on the Frisco!
Bob T.
http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html

[E-8]

Good work Bob! Keep us posted. http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

Charlie

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Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org) | IAMOKA.com (http://www.iamoka.com)

[friscobob]

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!


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Southeast....Southwest..
Ship IT on the Frisco!
Bob T.
http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html

[friscobob]

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!


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Southeast....Southwest..
Ship IT on the Frisco!
Bob T.
http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html

[friscobob]

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 http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif )



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Southeast....Southwest..
Ship IT on the Frisco!
Bob T.
http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html

[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.
http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif

Now I'm having FUN!!!

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Catt!#118

[friscobob]

<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.
http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif

Now I'm having FUN!!!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
OK Catt, stay out of the cooking sherry.....
http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif
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


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Southeast....Southwest..
Ship IT on the Frisco!
Bob T.
http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html

[N_S_L]

you still up and running? pics?

[friscobob]

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.

[bravogjt]

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

[bravogjt]

Here are some images of their layout from October 2006. They were still constructing some of the bench work.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVR_Club_2005_1.jpg

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVR_Club_2006_1.jpg

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVR_Club_2006_2.jpg

[bravogjt]

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

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVR_Club_121606_1.jpg

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVR_Club_121606_2.jpg

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVR_Club_121606_3.jpg

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVR_Club_121606_4.jpg

[friscobob]

Wow! Last I was there' they were using the former modules as the layout, plus added some extra trackage. Even had a miniature Mt. Garfield. I'm so glad they're making progress and are building a more permanent layout.

Funny thing, I think I recognize two of those fellas in the last picture.........but it's been 5 years since I left Grand Junction.

[bravogjt]

Friscobob,

Next time I'm there I'll get some more pictures for you. Grand Junction has changed a lot in the last 5 years.

Ben

[Alan]

I was surprised to see some posts from way back in 2000!

Looks like one heck of a layout is being built there. :thumbs_up:

[friscobob]

Alan, when I joined Trainboard in 2000, I had been a member of the Grand Valley club for a year. Most of the membership have NMRA memberships, and they were to build their layout according to all the NMRA standards they could find. They also mae the trips to the regionals in Denver, and were close buds with the club in Price, Utah. And of course, we had a lot of Rio Grande fans (gee- imagine that... :D)

[friscobob]

Friscobob,

Next time I'm there I'll get some more pictures for you. Grand Junction has changed a lot in the last 5 years.

Ben

Ben, While you're at it, can you check to see if Lobo Mountain Trains is still in business- they were on the business loop by 30 Road on the east side of GJ.

[bravogjt]

Ben, While you're at it, can you check to see if Lobo Mountain Trains is still in business- they were on the business loop by 30 Road on the east side of GJ.

Friscobob,

The gentleman that owns Lobo Mountain Trains had to close his shop in GJ and now only runs the one shop in Meeker, CO. He had moved from his 30 road location to the industrial side of town not knowing that the city would force him to find another building to rent when they started putting the parkway in.

Ben

[bravogjt]

Well I made it by the club and it doesn't look much different. It sounds like they have been doing a lot of wiring and track testing.

Ben

A small N layout is taking shape:

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVMRR_N_Scale.jpg

HO track plan:

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVMRR_Layout_Plan.jpg

HO Layout progress:

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVMRR_Club_Layout_Progress.jpg

Weathering Example:

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1541/GVMRR_Weathering_Demo.jpg

[bravogjt]

Ben, While you're at it, can you check to see if Lobo Mountain Trains is still in business- they were on the business loop by 30 Road on the east side of GJ.

Friscobob,

Here is the last web address I had for Lobo Mountain Trains. http://www.lobomountaintrains.com/

Ben