Elkhart Model Railroad Club Announcements
The 14th Annual Train Show will be presented March 16, 2019 by EMRRC in Nappanee, Indiana at the Claywood Event Center. Don't Miss It.
Click Here for a link for general information and vendor registration.
We're getting close to the holidays and the end of the year. Our last business meeting of the year was Friday. The business meeting date for December will be the annual club Christmas party. Several items were on the agenda and discussed at the meeting. President Chuck Hart and several members attended Trainfest in Milwaukee last weekend. With over 70 layouts, over a hundred dealers and manufacturers, plus dozens of clinics there was plenty to do. Club officers were elected for 2019. The current officers Chuck Hart President, Jerry Piatt Vice President, Steve Storey Treasurer and John Banicki Secretary were all re-elected. Projects are all moving along. The Twin Branch Creek upgrade has been finished by Charlie and Jerry. The roundhouse area is moving along and big changes will be noticed in the next couple of weeks. Matt is upgrading mainline signals and the first panel to show switch alignment in areas that are tough to see is in place. 
The December 7th Clinic was announced "What's a Plate C?" 
Afterwards Ron was helped by several members to set up for next Friday's "Operations Session" which will concentrate on operations in 1975. Several members ran trains after setup and one of the interesting trains to show up was Matt Glassman's Kato Union Pacific #1943 "The Spirit." Here's a refresher on the locomotive courtesy of Kato. The SD70ACe is the latest in the line of EMD's "70" locomotives, an evolution of the SD70MAC, although its radiator design harkens more to
that of the SD80/90 body. The SD70ACe has been designed to fit the latest EPA standards and regulations, and sports 4300 horsepower. The Union Pacific has currently put in the largest purchase order for these units, and as a display of respect for the railroads it has incorporated, has produced six "Heritage" style painted locomotives with road numbers designated by the year they were merged into the UP.Union Pacific #1943 "The Spirit" Union Pacific’s Locomotive No. 1943, The Spirit, is the 16th commemorative locomotive introduced in the 155-year-old company’s history. The Spirit honors the United States’ armed forces and the men and women filling their ranks. Created in collaboration with Union Pacific veterans, the locomotive illustrates the railroad’s connection to the thousands of veterans who helped build America through the centuries. Every detail in The Spirit’s trade dress incorporates a piece of each U.S. armed forces branch. The Spirit’s front is symbolic of Air Force Silver, and the blue stripe is a reflection of the former Strategic Air Command’s “nose sash.” The lettering inside the sash is the original handdrawn font used on the B-17. It is followed by the Coast Guard’s “Racing Stripe” and the Navy’s Battleship Gray, which frames Union Pacific’s traditional American flag. The military camouflage is a nod to the Army and Marines. As the train passes by, the final message on the tail is dedicated to U.S. prisoners of war and those missing in action, featuring the POW/MIA symbol and its motto, You Are Not Forgotten. The model has the following features. Prototype-accurate bolsterless non-radial HTSC truck and five chime airhorn. Exceptional and crisp molding to accentuate the distinct angular lines of the nose and high dynamic brake.Powerful five-pole KATO motor with dual brass flywheels. Directional Headlight and illuminated, preprinted numberboards. Illuminated ditch lights. Kato magnetic knuckle coupler. Matt likes the paint job on the locomotive. He owns the HO scale version also but believes Kato did a better jobe shading the paints on the N scale version. Matt ordered the DCC friendly version of the locomotive and is going to drop in a Loksound decoder. Several other trains ran during the evening. For more trains check out our latest Friday Night Running at the Club video on Facebook or YouTube. Easier yet just Click Here. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from Friday night Click Here. Vendor Tables are going fast for the EMRRC 2019 Train Show, I believe we have over 40 tables spoken for so far. CLICK HERE for general and vendor information. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading. See you next week. November 9, 2018
A cold beginning to "Open Running at the Club" on a Friday night in early November 2018. Some maintenance items to talk about first. The track and bridge crew, Charlie and Jerry have finished working on the double bridge area on the E&W trackage. They poured new water and put in new scenery around the bridges. Charlie & Jerry used Woodland Scenics water to complete the scene.
Also new trees made in last weeks clinic were planted on the layout.
Some interesting locomotives, cars and trains appeared on EMRRC trackage during the evening. The 911 commemorative locomotive, a SD60E honoring emergency first responder
s with insignia recognizing police, fire, and emergency services made a run along with NS 5642 part of the NS hazmat safety train including two of the four styles of tank cars, NS #362785 and NS #49001 to illustrate a variety of car valves and fittings.
Another interesting car to show up was PRR X31F Turtle Roof car designed to haul automobiles and during WWII jeeps. Also an express passenger train pulled by CN F7 A
& B units, numbers 9030 and 9037 in the olive green paint scheme made a run through our trackage Friday night. For more trains check out our latest Friday Night Running at the Club video on Facebook or YouTube. Easier yet just Click Here. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from Friday night Click Here. Vendor Tables are going fast for the EMRRC 2019 Train Show so CLICK HERE for general and vendor information. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading. See you next week. November 2, 2018
The first meeting of November 2018 occurred with warm nice weather but changes are coming. The meeting started with our normal monthly clinic this time on building trees. We had a clinic earlier this year on building trees conducted by Steve Storey. Steve did a quick recap of how to build trees and than we got into the real reason for the clinic, having all the members build trees for the layout. We just a combination of Super Trees and Hydrangeas for armatures and Super Trees foliage. Everybody did a great job and we ended up with many trees for the layout. Be sure to check out our Tech Files page for our original clinic on building trees. Also there are several more pictures on tree building on our Friday Night Pictures at the Club page. After the clinic trees were planted in several areas and maintenance was done in the roundhouse area, twin branch bridge and signal electronics were rewired.
Several locomotives showed up among them NS 8520 roaming across NS trackwork. Originally built by General Electric in 1996 as Dash 9-40CW number 8946, the unit was recently rebuilt and converted to AC traction at Norfolk Southern's Roanoke Locomotive Shop in Virginia, and painted in a red variation of the "mane" scheme at Juniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The red color was chosen for the corporate colors of CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) of Spain, NS's partner in the design of the updated equipment and electronics. 8520 will venture across Norfolk Southern's network in revenue service, testing the new #technology in advance of additional locomotive rebuilds. Th unit Introduces the latest in Norfolk Southern's DC to AC conversion technology. Member Matt Glassman built. painted and decaled the unit. 
Also running along with 8520 was AVR 1206. For some reason it kept trying to slow down 8520. Check out the movie "Unstoppable" for further information. To see more trains check out our latest Friday Night Running at the Club video on Facebook or YouTube. Easier yet just Click Here. Vendor Tables are going fast for the EMRRC 2019 Train Show so CLICK HERE for general and vendor information. As mentioned above if you want to see more pictures of trees, trains and members from Friday night Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. have some fun with model railroading. See you next week. NEWS for October 2018October 26, 2018
The operations scenario was for late 1940s and early 1950s so there was plenty of steam running along with Alcos, Nickel Plate and GP7s. 
One of the areas changing on the layout is a former intermodal facility that is being rebuilt into a new industrial area. Thanks to member Ron Breniser for all the hard work. Several new tenants including Precision Technology and Rupp Cement are in new buildings or have new buildings under construction in the area. 
Also a fence crew working with member Matt Glassman has been constructing industrial chain link for installation on the layout. 
Lots of switching , locals, over the road and passenger express were running during operations so for a video of Friday's running Click Here. Vendor Tables are going fast for the EMRRC 2019 Train Show so CLICK HERE for general and vendor information. For current pictures from the club taken in 2018 Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. NEWS for October 2018October 19, 2018
and in various areas around the roundhouse. Studebaker Parts and Conn Selmer have both moved into warehouses near the yard. Rumours are PRR and NYC are both looking for building space nearby as are several other corporations and suppliers. 
We are looking at giving the Grand Elk access to our yards and mainlines. To do this there will be a diamond added to the mainline near Hammes Yard and several switches will be taken out or moved. More information to come on this as it develops. The track gang was out working on switches and trackage coming out of Elkhart. 
Also several members were setting trains for next week's operation session. Members were running trains as open running took place after the meeting. As mentioned Vendor Tables are going fast for the EMRRC 2019 Train Show so CLICK HERE for general and vendor information. As always for a video of Friday's running Click Here. For current pictures from the club taken in 2018 Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. The Kalamazoo Swap Meet, is October 28th at the Expo Center at the Kalamazoo Fairgrounds 10:00am-3:00pm. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. October 12, 2018
Also Friday night member Gary Pressnell brought in the new roundhouse for the roundhouse area near Hammes Yard. The roundhouse looks great with complete lighting and an auxiliary building with an overhead crane. The area is starting to come together with background buildings outlying buildings cropping up. Gary was going to line up tracks in the roundhouse with the turntable bridge but parts of the bridge came apart so Gary is also working on the bridge for the pit doing repairs, adding handrails, light and electrical tower and a control shack. After checking out cabeese and roundhouse several trains ran through EMRRC. 
A couple of unusual engines showed up including Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad (AWVR) train #1206 the chase train from the movie "Unstoppable". Behind it is the ultimate graffiti train C&O #4834.
4834 is the former CSX Transportation blue-and-gold SD70ACe No. 4834 with Progress Rail reporting marks is on lease to Norfolk Southern. The locomotive’s CSX lettering had been overwritten with PRLX’s reporting marks only to have those efforts re-patched with C&O logos. No one has any idea who patched the locomotive with C&O logos. Vendor Tables are going fast for the EMRRC 2019 Train Show so CLICK HERE for general and vendor information. As always for a video of Friday's running Click Here. For current pictures from the club taken in 2018 Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements Click Here.
Afterwards several members worked on the layout. Member Matt Glassman worked on signaling. 
David Menges finished up the and delivered the new tower for Shultz yard, and several members teamed up on the roundhouse service terminal area. Afterwards members brought out several trains. 
One interesting loco owned by Jim Ford (me) is a GP40 ran on the The Belt Railway of Chicago. The Belt Railway is the largest intermediate switching terminal railroad in the United States. With Chicago being the largest hub of the railroad industry, very few rail cars travel transcontinentally without coming through Chicago. Owner lines, as well as several other railroads, bring trains to the Belt Railway to be efficiently separated, classified, and re-blocked for cross-country departure. The GP40 is an Atlas Gold series with a Loksound decoder. Here are all the links of interest this week. For a video of Friday's running Click Here. For current pictures from the club taken in 2018 Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements Click Here. And for the EMRRC 2019 Train Show information Click Here. Dealers can download a PDF for Vendor Registration and Table Leases.