November 10th Meeting Information Updated

On November 10, 2018 the JRD will meet at the Richmond Railroad Museum (Hull Street Station) for a clinic on Reliable Track using Fast Tracks Fixtures and Jigs by Rick Lull.  After Lunch we will have the pleasure of seeing both Rick's Richmond Terminal layout

and Mike Pulaski's Layout.

We will have the usual contest table, door prizes and white elephant table.  Doors open at 9 and meeting starts at 930 AM

Hope to see you there.

Meeting coming up September 8th, McDonald Estate, and 2 more Meetings

Looking forward to seeing y'all at the September 8th meeting of the James River Division of the NMRA in Farmville, VA

Rod Vance will be talking about Vinegar and the Pickle industry which are classics in Model Railroad lore.  Philip Taylor will do a short clinic on the new ProtoThrottle. After lunch Richard McClintock will present a program on the High Bridge followed by a guided tour led by Rod Vance.  A full day.  All the details are at this LINK

Ken Montero has updated the list of items from the John McDonald estate that are still available.  Please look and see if there are any items you can use or perhaps do a little early Christmas shopping.  The lists are in this folder
Two events are coming up in October that you need to put on your calendar.  The James River Rails Ops Weekend and the MER Convention in Rockville.

Hope to see you this Saturday at the meeting.

Philip
JRD Superintendent

Next Meet in Farmville

Our next meet will be in Farmville, VA on September 8th with a full day of clinics and activities. 

Click Here for details

Great Meeting in Midlothian

Thank you to Keith and Mike for great clinics and Keith and Don for opening their homes to us today.  It was good to see the progress and updates to the layouts and how to put sound in older Kato drive Stewarts while fixing the split gear issue.  It was a good size crowd for July and I am looking forward to seeing everybody in September at the Farmville meet.  Thanks again to all those who helped today and made it so enjoyable.

Passing of Chuck Hladik - Updated

It is with profound sadness that I have to announce the unexpected passing of Chuck Hladik early on the 4th of July 2018.  Chuck was a valued member and friend of the James River Division and model railroaders in general.  Though Chuck could have a gruff exterior he was always willing to help.  He has served as a JRD Division officer and as AP Chair along with positions with the MER.  When the JRD leadership wanted to hold a hands on clinic and we needed a clinician Chuck volunteered to do his clinic on making trees.  I still have mine from that day and I will think about Chuck everytime I look at it.  Chuck took an early train and we wish to express the condolences of the JRD and members to Chucks family and wish him green lights on his journey.

Details for the July 17th memorial service in Lynchburg  can be found here

Meeting on July 12th Reminder

July 14, 2018— Midlothian, VA 

Time: Doors open at 9 a.m. and we start at 9:30 a.m. 

Location: Mt Pisgah United Methodist Church

Church near old Chesterfield Hobbies site and across from Arby's
Clinic 1: Agriculture on the Move - Keth Pritchard

Clinic 2: Problems and answers Session - Bring your questions about problems to seek advice from the group

Layout Tours: Keith Pritchard

Update on Module Initiative

The module initiative began earlier this year with an ambitious goal of starting an HO modular group and renewing the On30 group.  In line with these goals I ordered with my personal funds an end plate template from the Switching and Sipping Society group in NC earlier this year.  The templates were finished recently and I hope to have it by early June.  The next step will be to make two or three demo modules in HO for the July Meet.  The location and theme of the July meet is still in the works.

Remembering Railroaders

We as modelers tend to focus on equipment and structures of the railroad as that is what goes on our model railroads.  What we tend to forget is the men and women who work or worked the railroad during the period we model our chosen prototype or freelance.  Blair Kooistra has produced a roughly 30 minute video that captures the essence of those railroaders with shots of them in their daily jobs during the last days of Milwaukee Road's west coast operations.  It is worth your time to view this black and white gem that may rank as one of the best productions on railroading of this decade.  

Remembering the Milwaukee Roads Coast Division: Scenes from a Dying Transcontinental 

Remembering Milwaukee Road’s Coast Division: Scenes from a Dying Transcontinental

Operations Day

This past Saturday 10 March 2018 the JRD was treated to two excellent clinics on operations.  The first by Chris Artale on operating without car cards in N Scale which is still applicable to other scales.  Chris opened up his house in the afternoon to see his layout in operation.  The second clinic was by Andrew Dodge on operations on his O Scale (Proto 48) Colorado Midland.  Andrew gave a frank discussion on compromises necessary for operation along with how historical research changes what modelers have as preconceived notions of their railroads operations.