Well 2012 has begun and the GMRC has passed its 5th year anniversary.  While both of these are significant, the fact that the layout continues to develop provides the most satisfaction and fun for the members.  The club has also made a minor change in its leadership team, adding Chris Shubert as Secretary.  His fresh ideas and input will help the leadership maintain its focus and continue to expand our horizons.

The Picacho yard has been laid and is in process of getting its support structures and landscaping in place.  Poston and Sacaton have begun to show thier local identities, Chandler continues to expand and complete its local land development scheme and the Superior mine area is beginning to establish rail connection with the rest of the layout.  Additionally the Red Rock area is showing life with some much needed attention.

With 85% of the track in place, the club has initiated 'mini' operating sessions every third Tuesday of the month.  These sessions allow members who are new to operations the opportunity to experience running on a time table and 'prototypical' issues on the rails.

We continue to expereince some issues with the functionality of the turntable. Seems it looses track power while in a specific location of it rotation. We have our experts investigating this issue and I am sure it will be cleared soon.  Automation of our turnouts continues as does the rewire of our two helixes to clean up some of the early days work and minimize issues down the road.

Installation of backdrops and facia continue as monies and materials are available.  We still have about 40% of the layout to complete with these improvements.

As always, you are welcome to stop in and see our progress and just talk trains with the members.