Elkhart Model Railroad Club Announcements
The Elkhart Model Railroad Club meets Friday Evenings at 2703 Hawthorne Street in Elkhart, Indiana.
News for May 17, 2019
May is heading out the door quickly as the 103rd Indianapolis 500 is next weekend and that means an extra day off or Memorial Day weekend. Don't forget to think of the many persons who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces on the day that honors them. The Elkhart Model Railroad Club will be open Friday evening from 7:00 pm till 10:00 pm for operations. If you're looking for something unusual to start your Memorial Day weekend stop by and take a look.
Friday, May 12th was our monthly business meeting. We had several members in attendance and several items to take a look at. EMRRC is looking to replace our computer system and interface to the Digitrax DCC system. A committee had been formed last month and a report was submitted with recommendations. Also, we are working on getting everyone organized on run nights. With members and guests approaching 25 people that means a lot of trains and engines are showing up with the necessary boxes and cases to transport them. We are looking at members supplying roll-around cases which will fit under the layout and hold all of the cases and boxes while the trains run on the layout. 
We had several trains show up Friday night including Clinchfield, Virginian, and a beautiful Wabash Blue Bird passenger train. The Wabash introduced a heavyweight Blue Bird on the Chicago–St. Louis run in 1938. 
The train was painted blue-gold, previously reserved for the Wabash's Banner Blue. The Wabash relaunched the Blue Bird as a streamlined train on February 26, 1950, with all-new Budd Company "Vista-Dome" dome cars and E-unit diesel locomotives from Electro-Motive Division. The new train carried Wabash's standard blue-gray-white livery. The Wabash referred to the Blue Bird as a "Domeliner" in contemporary advertising. Amenities on the new train included radio and "recorded musical programs"; coach passengers had access to the "Coffee Shop Club". The Blue Bird running on the layout 
has Intermountain engines and BLI passenger cars.
Looking at another area on the layout we take a look at the coal mine area. Originally built in the 1980s it was rebuilt by Charlie Yoakam and Jerry Pyatt in the last 5 years. If you make it by the club and look closely at this area you can find black bears roaming the hills near the abandoned mine at the top of the hill. Click Here for all the action for Friday Night Running at the Club. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from Friday Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
News for May 10, 2019
The Elkhart Model Railroad Club had 17 members and 3 guests show up for an open running session Friday night. What is open running at our club? Trains are run with no dispatcher and at EMRRC a large majority of the layout is double tracked with mandatory right-hand running but there are areas where the main is single tracked to make it interesting and that means you have to arrange meets and move over for passenger trains. 
We fit in guests if they want to run their own trains or a club train. We had several steam locomotives show up along with diesels. We had so many trains running there wasn't room to show all of them in this weeks video. 
There was a 4 engine lashup of South Shore Freight GP38s running and we got to see BNSF, UP diesel and steam and a Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Baldwin VO-1000 #9379. 
This weeks building that we're taking a look at on the railroad is the Bates Mansion and motel. Built and scenic by Randy Robbins with detail painting by David Menges 
over the last year. Due to tight budgets, the "movie" Bates Mansion was partly constructed from backlot facades already built on the Universal Studio lot. The Bates Mansion was built as a two-walled exterior facade, only to be filmed from the front. The set has been rebuilt still stands on the Universal backlot. The original Bates Motel set no longer exists, but a reconstructed version of the motel was rebuilt for the studio tours. Randy built the mansion from a Polar Lights Kit and scratch built the motel from a variety of kits. Click Here for all the action for Friday Night Running at the Club. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from Friday Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
News for May 3, 2019
Several members showed up for cleaning & maintenance night and of course running trains afterward. One of the areas being worked on is the Elkhart River. Ironically the City of Elkhart is removing the dam on the river while the Elkhart Model Railroad Club is installing one. 
Looking at another one of the areas in town to the north is the Miles Laboratories complex. Makers of Alka-Seltzer, 
Miles started in 1884.
By 1890, the sales success of his patent medicine tonic, "Dr. Miles Restorative Nervine", in treating "nervous" ailments (including "nervousness or nervous exhaustion, sleeplessness, hysteria, headache, neuralgia, backache, pain, epilepsy, spasms, fits, and St. Vitus' dance") led him to develop a mail-order medicine business. 
In 1932, the company became Dr. Miles Laboratories, then, in 1935, the name was again changed, to Miles Laboratories. In 1979, Bayer AG purchased Miles Laboratories and its subsidiary Miles Canada to reestablish a presence in North America. In the process, Bayer also acquired products such as Alka-Seltzer, Flintstones Vitamins, One-A-Day Vitamins, Bactine, S.O.S Soap Pads, and Worthington Foods. Bayer AG bought Miles in 1979 and by 1992, Bayer AG moved the United States headquarters of Miles to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from Elkhart, Indiana. On April 1, 1995, Bayer eliminated the Miles brand name from all products and facilities. 
At the Elkhart Model Railroad Club, Miles Laboratories still exists just north of the downtown area. Two club members Charlie Yoakam and Jerry Piatt are retired employees of Miles. No one is sure who originally built the Miles complex as it has been on the layout for years but Charlie and Jerry keep an eye on it adding updates and performing general maintenance.
Click Here for all the action for Friday Night Running at the Club. We had lots of steam, side-swipes and young and old operators. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from Friday Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
NEWS for April 2019
News for April 26, 2019
A dozen members of EMRRC headed over to Duneland Model Railroad Club in Michigan City, Indiana for their annual Hobo Dinner. Duneland was formed in 1986 and in 1996 moved to their current location at 915 Franklin Street.
Several years ago they decided to host a dinner every spring to invite the public in to take a look at the layout, meet the club members and enjoy some great food. Everyone from EMRRC had a great time enjoying the fellowship, food, and trains running. 
Several members brought their own engines and pulled Duneland cars. Several large and scenic areas make the Duneland layout an interesting run. There are many tunnels, lower levels, and the entire layout is DCC along with a Digitrax LNWI system that allowed many members to run with their cell phones as throttles. 
EMRRC would like to thank Duneland for their hospitality and hosting the event.
This week I thought we would take a look at one of Dunelands buildings on their layout. Union Station is a huge structure with upper and lower levels dominating one room of the layout. This impressive structure was kitbashed by Don Nagdeman in the 1990s. This weeks video takes a look at Duneland and their great layout in Michigan City. And if you visit don't forget the South Shore's main facility is very close by. Click Here for the Duneland video. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from Friday Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
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News for April 19, 2019
The April 19th meeting opened up with a business meeting with a large group of members in attendance. Several items were discussed, among them the success of our March 2019 Train Show and some starting plans for the EMRRC 2020 Train Show on March 21st, 2020 at the Claywood Event Center. One member was welcomed back. Jeff Cain went through an extensive hospital stay and rehabilitation after slipping on the ice in early January. Thank goodness Jeff put up a hard fight to come all the way back. We also welcomed 2 new members. Ken Prager was voted in as a probationary member and Nathan Overmyer was voted in as a regular member. Congratulations Ken & Nathan. 
After the meeting, several members were checking out Matt Glassman's build of an NS SD 70ACC. The Norfolk Southern 70ACC is a rebuild of an original SE70. Some of the prototype changes are DC to AC, a safer comfort cab and better electric system. Matt's model has a Pacific Northwest Resin cab, with a shortened nose and an ESU decoder with a TSU motherboard.
This is 1 of 2 builds for Matt, 1800 and 1801.
A couple of club projects were also discussed. 
A new dam is being added to the Elkhart River
and a new building has been added to the roundhouse area which is the start of the new interchange for 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.
Taking a look at another one of the buildings on the layout and this one is huge, the Budweizer Brewery complex. The complex was built over 15 years ago by Jay Freet and lit by Bob Wilson. There is a modified Walthers Power House hidden in the complex along with a lot of additions and modifications. Also, one last note, don't forget the annual Hobo Dinner will be Friday, April 26th at Duneland Model Railroad Club. The club hosts a great dinner with lots of trains running. We finally got to running trains late Friday night so for all the late night action Click Here. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from the weekend Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
News for April 12, 2019
Several members were on hand Friday for open running.
A couple of members made the trip to Cass County Rail in Dowagiac, MI for a visit.
It's a large nice layout in a modern building which the club owns. 
We are fortunate at EMRRC to have several clubs in driving distance. On April 26th many members will make the trip to Michigan City, IN for the annual Hobo Dinner at Duneland Model Railroad Club. The club hosts a great dinner with lots of trains running.
Meanwhile back at the club a thank you to Matt Glassman whom if you want to see you have to crawl under the layout as Matt is going to be working on wiring switch panels for quite a while along with several other electronic projects on his list.
We had several modern diesels running along with a couple of nice steam engines.
Randy Robbins had his NYC Niagra out pulling Virginian coal cars and Jerry Piatt was testing a new BLI T1.
The Pennsylvania Railroad T1 4-4-4-4 may look and sound like an articulated steam locomotive, but it really was a rigid frame locomotive with a second pair of cylinders dividing the drivers, making it a duplex drive locomotive. The design was a successful one and after a trial of two locomotives, the PRR ordered 50 more. Click Here to see all the action at EMRRC. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from the weekend Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
News for April 5, 2019
A dozen members showed up for a work night and open running for our first meeting in April 2019. Gary Pressnell has been working diligently on the roundhouse area while member Gabe Smith has been installing flashing crossing signals on the layout. Matt Glassman is working on wiring switch panels which involves a tremendous amount of wiring work under the layout. 
Member Paul Ewing brought in a HO scale brakeman with a lantern in his hand he scored at our March train show. Afterward, trains were running on the EMRRC layout. 
The Algoma Central passenger consist made another appearance pulling a full complement of 8 passenger cars with FP9 A&B engines.
BNSF units made several appearances with doubles and singles. Also, the South Houston and Indian Territories Hybrid unit ran through pulling several cars.
Continuing with a tour of structures on the EMRRC layout here is one structure that prominently shows in a lot of photos and videos of our layout, the trestle that runs over Berkey Canyon and Ponds. The trestle was built by member Bob Mangum in the 1970s on his kitchen table at home and then moved to the layout prebuilt in 1974. Bob built the trestle to last as it has been in continuous use for over 45 years. For more on the history of the club Click Here. Click Here to see all the action at EMRRC. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from the weekend Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
News for March 29, 2019
Our last meeting for March 2019 and a lot of members and guests showed up for open running at EMRRC. We had several modern diesel locomotives running along with some older NYC and B&O. We had a Chesapeake & Ohio H-8 Allegany running tonight pulling a ton of cars and running over signs placed too close to the track.With four fewer drivers than a Union Pacific Big Boy, an Allegheny could deliver nearly a thousand more horsepower to the rails. Its massive firebox was big 
enough to host a board meeting — so big it required a unique 6-wheel trailing truck to support it. Its drivers carried the highest axle load of any steam engine, ever. To make the Allegheny fit the C&O’s existing 115-foot turntables, its tender was made taller at the rear, to accommodate 25 tons of coal and 25,000 gallons of water. This required a unique 4-wheel rear truck on the tender. When the final H-8s were retired in 1956, No. 1601 steamed under its own power to Dearborn, Michigan, to become a permanent exhibit in the Henry Ford Museum. The one other surviving Allegheny, No. 1604, resides today in the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
We also made some significant progress on the roundhouse area as member Gary Pressnell delivered the rebuilt bridge for the turntable and new ash hoist and coaling tower. Gary built and added the power arch, doghouse, and the handrails.
Here is a shot of the coaling tower and hoist set in place for a look. They're probably not in their final resting place but look great on the layout.
Click Here to see all the action at EMRRC. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from the weekend Click Here. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
News for March 22, 2019
We had over 15 members and guests show up for Friday Night Running at the Club on March 22nd. Several members were talking about our 2019 train show which just finished up on Saturday, March 16th.
We had an estimated 650 paid attendees to the show and we believe there were over 100 kids under 12 who came and had a great time with the operating layouts. One layout from the Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society is set up especially for kids. "The Red and Black" layout is a 4x8 foot layout that they take to many functions, for children to run. The children's layout has 2 main lines. The layout is wired for Digital Command Control and 2 children may each run a train independently using the supplied controllers. The layout has scenery, the engines are wired for sound and there are stations to stop at to give the children a feel of actual railroading. Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society members are always thereto assist the children and answer any questions. There were no empty seats around the layout. Thanks to the vendors, exhibitors and the staff of the Claywood Event Center who made our 2019 show a success.
The UP Turbine X74 along with its tender made another showing on the EMRRC layout. In late 1955, UP extended the range of the gas turbines by adding a 22,000-gallon fuel tender. The original assignment for the gas turbines was Ogden, Utah to Green River, Wyoming. 
When the second order was delivered, the gas turbines began operating further east to Cheyenne, Wyoming. With the addition of the tenders, they could run between Ogden and Council Bluffs, Iowa without refueling and that remained their normal operating range for the rest of their careers.
A new BNSF ET44C4 also was moving through EMRRC trackage Friday night. Introduced in 2012, General Electric's Tier 4 GEVo Series represents the latest in diesel-electric locomotive technology. The GE Tier 4 GEVo is designed to meet the increasingly stringent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions regulations. The EPA “Tier” emissions standards are a series, or Tiers, of allowable emissions levels based upon a locomotives’ date of manufacture. The highest and most stringent tier level, Tier 4, sets maximum allowable NOx and hydrocarbon emissions levels for locomotives built for domestic use 2015 onward. While similar in appearance to previous GE GEVo designs, the Tier 4 models featured a longer frame compared to their predecessors. 
This allows for a larger radiator “cab” (GE refers to the various sections of the long hood as “cabs”), and a "hump" over the engine cab for advanced exhaust treatment equipment. Initially, a boxy housing filled the entire roofline on the blue-painted field test/demonstrator units. Due to changes in treatment equipment and clearance issues, the "hump" would decrease in size and shape into a boxy compartment around the exhaust on initial production units. This culminated in an angled compartment surrounding the exhaust manifold on the latest production versions (2016+). Despite boxier engine cab rooflines and a radically styled radiator cab, the basic Tier 4 design shares a family appearance with GE safety cab-equipped units going back to the DASH-9s of the 1990s. It even includes the same 12-cylinder GEVo-12 series prime mover and 4,400hp as its predecessor model. The Tier 4 units have proven to be popular with the major railroads including BNSF Railway, Canadian National, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific. While GE has settled on a basic carbody design to keep production costs down, there are notable variations and detail differences due to customer specifications. With many units built for railroads across the US and in Canada, the Tier 4 GEVo can be seen operating nationwide in a variety of assignments.
Click Here to see these engines and many more at EMRRC. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from the weekend Click Here. We've already scheduled our 2020 show for March 21st so check back here for upcoming info. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
News for March 15, 2019
Members of EMRRC spent Friday the 15th setting up for our annual train show. 
We had one valiant group meet Friday afternoon at Claywood Event Center to help with table and chair setup and solve all the little last-minute problems.
A
few members gathered Friday evening at the club to relax and run trains. On Saturday, March 16th EMRRC had our 14th annual train show in Nappanee Indiana. We had 150 vendors and several operating layouts.
People were lined up out the door doublewide starting at 10 am and we had a steady stream of people all day. 
I ate at the restaurant and the food was top notch. Many vendors commented on the
great facility and the many people in attendance. Everyone I spoke with had a great time and there were lots of young kids and teens in attendance which gives me hope for the hobby. A little bit of bad news this week. There is a post on NWSL's Facebook page about closing the business. If there is anything you want you'd better order it before August.
https://www.facebook.com/1470545813221465/posts/2315577498718288/
This week we didn't have as many trains running so the video is a combination of trains from the club and the train show with overall scenes from the show. To see our video Click Here to see all the action. If you want to see more pictures of trains and members from the weekend Click Here. We've already scheduled our 2020 show for March 21st so check back here for upcoming info. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
News for March 8, 2019
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Friday the 8th started with a business meeting covering our upcoming March 16th Nappanee Train Show. All of the vendor tables have been sold, the assignments for club members working the show have been made and EMRRC is ready for a great 2019 train show. After the meeting members ran trains and socialized for the rest of the evening.
We had some interesting trains show up for the evening, among them was CSX 3440. CSX created the locomotive decal to honor the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation, which is based in Ravenna, Kentucky. GE ET44AH locomotive No. 3440 has received a Spirit of Ravenna decal along with a Kentucky Steam Heritage logo and a special Louisville & Nashville decal. The ScaleTrains.com Tier 4 GEVo diesel locomotive is the first model in HO scale and is officially licensed by GE.
We also had an Algoma Central passenger train make a run through. The engine is Rapido and the cars are IHC. In the 1960s, the railway began to promote the natural beauty of the District of Algoma to tourists, especially the Agawa Canyon, a canyon carved by the Agawa River, located 114 rail miles (183 km) north of Sault Ste. Marie, and not accessible by road. The Algoma Central developed a tourist stopover here and it proved to be a great success for the railway. Owing to the popularity of the Agawa Canyon excursions, the Algoma Central would run the longest passenger trains in North America, often up to 20 to 24 cars long. During the 1970s and 1980s, around 100,000 people per year would tour Agawa Canyon.
Member Paul Ewing will be conducting a clinic on cardstock modeling, He brought several examples with him Friday night. The Ewing Cafe is based on an actual building in South Bend, Indiana and the walls, roof and floor were cut with a Cricut machine. The 2 story building was downloaded from the internet and made with cardstock. 
Continuing with our look at buildings at EMRRC here is a look at Chateau Paper built by Stan Shatto. For more pictures of trains and members from Friday night Click Here. This is the final notice for our 2019 Train Show. We are sold out of vendor tables but CLICK HERE for general information. For a schedule on train shows and swap meets in the area Click Here (this is the latest list) courtesy of the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.
News For March 1, 2019
March has come in like a cold lion with some snow and record low temperatures coming. We had a good turnout for Friday with several members showing up for show prep and running trains.
Getting ready for our large train show on March 16th takes a lot of work on all the members part. Just about all 150 vendor tables and operating areas have been spoken for. As you walk into the 14,000 sq. ft. Claywood Event Center we will have folks up front to get you quickly checked in and there will be a video running that will give you some insights into how the club operates showing several trains running on our large HO layout and some looks at our new N-Scale layout that is just getting underway.
One of our great creative friends Jay Freet, look for him shooting racing at the South Bend Motor Speedway this summer, posted a great idea on Facebook for building interiors.
Jay uses old electronics boards inside his N-Scale buildings and from the exterior, it looks like the building is full of equipment.
Member Paul Ewing does the same thing at our club. Here is Jacobson Wood Products and you can see how this great idea brings interesting looks to a couple of buildings both N-Scale and HO-Scale.
We have a ton of buildings on the layout so I thought we would take a look at some of the buildings around the layout that get overshadowed by the trains but add ambiance to the total scene. Here are a few of the buildings in downtown Elkhart to take a look at. We'll try to come up with some history on the buildings but many have been built over the life of the club which extends back to 1950.
Ed's Built by Jay Freet
Sweet Corn Charlies a summer stable in Elkhart and surrounding counties. This guy has perfected the formula for sweet corn
As always we had lots of trains running Friday night Click Here to see all the action for our latest video in 2019. 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, we are close to selling out 150 tables. 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 the Grand River Valley Railroad Club in Wyoming, MI. For 2018 Past Announcements at EMRRC Click Here. Have some fun with model railroading.