Colorado Midland and Platte Valley clubs

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’ve had visit the Colorado Midland and the Platte Valley layouts on my TO DO list. Both layouts are in the basement of Denver’s Union Station. I decided to go take in these layouts tonight.

You know you are in for a treat when the Colorado Ski Train is idling on the other side of the fence, getting ready for the run tomorrow!

We got there and were amazed at the LONNNNG line! Where did all these people come from? Heck there were not this many people at the Denver Train Show last Saturday. Turns out there was a big write up on the club in the Denver Post a week or so ago. When we went through the entry , the girl said there had been over 400 so far, and they usually have about 200 come through. Well, I’m telling you that there were a LOT more that came behind us. When we left, the line upstairs was LONGER than it was when we first got there! I’d guess they must have had about a 1,000 people come through tonight. (my estimate based upon the 400 number).

Click **here **to see the Platte Valley slideshow.

I’ll add the O Gauge Colorado Midland later.

2

Very nice!! I’ll have to check that out next time I go to Denver.

3

We have never had a crowd like that before. We had two members who couldn’t even get to the clubroom to run their trains and help out. The Colorado Midland actually stayed open past 9:00 p.m… This is unusual becuase usually their doors shut at 9:00 sharp.

All we can figure is that the recent article in the Denver POST News and the Channel 7 news feature that was done on our layout Wednesday night is what brought out the crouds. We handed out all 1500 information cards that we had made up.

I finally left at about midnight. It was a bitter-sweet night on the Platte Valley as some of our most senior members announced their plans to exit the club. Heavy sigh.

4

Zepher,

I’d believe the 1,500 number easily, based upon all the crowds I saw. Too bad about your club loosing some good people! Let us hope equally great new people are drawn to your excellent club!

Joe

5

Joe-Daddy - Thanks for stopping by. It took all of us by suprise & I think the station management is still trying to figure out what hit them.

By the way - the Platte Valley & Western has more pictures on our website - www.pvwrr.org - see the “News” & “Layout Tour” Sections.

Most Fridays are not usually this busy so if you stop by next Friday, hopefully we’ll be able to chat more.

Chris

6

Hope to see the Midland photos soon…Cox 47

7

Click HERE to see the Colorado Midland O Gauge slide show

8

I took my camera too, but only had time to get this one shot. This was before we officially opened and the crouds got heavy. The CB&Q book and folder under it are my scripts to read for the evening.