Topic: Ramblings
A couple years ago I had seen the Sun N Sand layout while visiting a Scottsdale, Arizona, city park devoted to trains. An account of the visit can be found in the March 10, 2008 entry in this Journal. The Sun N Sand is one of three clubs occupying a building in McCormick Railroad Park.
Thanks to the friendly members of the Sun N Sand club in Scottsdale, Arizona, on a recent weekend I was able to run trains for the first time in three years. The Rio Grande PA's and the California Zephyr car set which I had purchased several months ago finally came out of their boxes. It was a thrill to see one of my trains running again. This was my second visit of this summer to the Scottsdale layout. A week earlier I had dropped by the club's layout and was impressed with the energy and friendliness of their club. After taking a few pictures of their layout, I shared a few photos of the MK&P layout. I even got an invite to become a club member. Too bad I live four hours away and then for only five months of the year. Plus my unpredictable schedule makes it nearly impossible to participate in any regularly scheduled activity. They invited me to bring trains of my own on future visits. This was not an offer I could not refuse. Of course, there were SNS members running trains of their own. 
One had a train with several pieces of FerroMex rollingstock. The member is a fan of Mexican railroads and these units are only a part of his collection. Oddly enough while eating lunch last week, I saw a BNSF train passing through Flagstaff with a FerroMex locomotive as one of the DPU's bringing up the rear. I'm told it is not too unusual to see FerroMex equipment in Phoenix, but it would be rare to see anything so far north as Flagstaff. Unfortunately, the train was passing too quickly for me to get out a camera.
While while running trains I learned they are scheduled to move into a new building being put up by the Scottsdale city parks board to house new layouts for the N, HO, and O scale clubs. How lucky! Isn't it a shame more municipalities do not recognize the public benefit of such facilities? A couple years ago while visiting a Scottsdale, Arizona, I discovered the city park devoted to trains both model and prototype. An account of that visit to McCormick Railroad Park can be found in the March 10, 2008 entry in this Journal. The Sun N Sand group is one of the three clubs. .
A
fter learning about this new layout project I was determined to find out more about this new layout project. Fortunately for SNS one of the club members owns a commercial property with some empty space where the club stores their NTrak modules. (Interestingly enough, the club owns all modules and none are held by individual members.) This vacant space is where club members are buiilding their new layout. The bench work is built in sections which will be separated for moving and installation in the new building. SNS is one of the oldest NTrak clubs and their lengthy experience building modules shows in this construction. They are using 1/2 inch plywood for light weight. The sectional approach also allows wiring to be done without crawling under the layout. The layout will have separate wiring for DC and DCC. Because several members have locomotives without DCC installed, it was decided to retain both DC and DCC control systems. This sort of dual system likely will not be needed when current modelers has been replaced by a new generation. I suspect that within five or six years even the current generation will seldom run DC equipment.
Last month on another weekend I attended the Spring meet of the NMRA Arizona Division in Flagstaff. The clinics focused on the experience of the host club shifting to more formal operating sessions on their HO scale layout. A final presentation was made by a member of a Scottsdale HO club. He showed how a club could move from the track warrent style of operation being implemented by the Flagstaff club to timetable and train order operating. TT&TO operations are all the current rage in model railroading circles and I thought this was the clearest explanation I had heard of how to begin TT&TO operating. TT&TO was certainly a prevelant mode of prototype operations during the steam and the transition eras. I was interested, however, if any railroads were currently operating under this system. After the presentation I approached the presenter with my inquiry. His response was I should "grow up" because I would never be permitted to operate on any quality layout without learning TT&TO. He asserted any other system is little better the "sending up smoke signals. I would suppose the fellows in the UP Omaha dispatch center might be a bit surprised to hear they are just sending up smoke signals. And I certainly hope TT&TO is not a requirement for a quality layout. While I understand it is incongruous to be using radio dispatching on a steam era layout, would it not be equally out of place using TT&TO on layout featuring contemporary mainline railroading? And is CTC only appropriate for dull-headed operators?
In another event of this summer, the rail yard at the South Rim in Grand Canyon is undergoing significant modifications. For more years than I have been in the Park several tracks have had no connection with the rest of the yard. The Park Service has decided to remove these un-used tracks and put parking for tour buses in their place. From a practical point of view this makes a lot of sense, but it does remind me that the days when rail travel had large significance for the the Grand Canyon will never return. It was, after all, the Santa Fe railroad which built the El Tovar hotel, Hopi House, and Bright Angel Lodge. The railroad was a major player in tourism development in the Grand Canyon. Those rails which were being pulled up were at required one time by the level of rail traffic to the Canyon. One train a day, sometimes two, handle all of the current rail passenger traffic. The American Orient Express had been making a few visits each summer to the Canyon, but the AOE is no more. However, the successor train to be operated by Xanterra will likely be seen here at least a few times when it begins operations next year.
I have also managed to squeeze in a small bit more railfanning at one of my favorite locations just west of Flagstaff. This train has just completed the climb out of flagstaff, one of the steepest grades on the line in Arizona. It required only two lead units and two DPU's on the tail to get these containers up the hill. Many trains boast more numberous power, so I suspect the containers were empty. This journal entry has not had any central theme; just accounts of unrelated experiences since returning to Arizona. Maybe I can manage something a bit more coherent for my next entry.
