Mike Philo

Editor’s note: In a recent e-mail newsletter I mentioned Marty Quaas’ web site about Alaska model railroading (which includes his wonderful layout “The Consolidated South Western Railroad” as well as his well known display layout “Mooselip, Alaska”): http://alaskamodelrrnews.homestead.com/, and reminded 4th Division members that Alaska is part of this division. This is Mike’s reply.

Your recent note on model railroading in Alaska prompted me to write to you. I live in Anchorage and am a member of the NMRA. I belong to the Military Society of Model Railroading Engineers, based on Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage. Our club has permanent layouts in HO, HOn3, N and O scales, plus modular layouts in HO, HOn3 and N scales.

For many years we have been displaying our three modular layouts (N, HO, HOn3) at an Anchorage winter festival called Fur Rendezvous (“Fur Rondy” for short). Until a few years ago, Marty Quaas was displaying his Mooselip layout at Fur Rondy, too. It is a wonderful layout and the crowds loved it. So did I. Unfortunately, Marty has not been able to attend Fur Rondy in recent years, probably in large part due to the long drive from his home to Anchorage. Many people, including me, miss him and Mooselip.

I have been receiving the Grab Iron Newsletter for a long time. Attendance at the PNR meets is impractical for me because of the distance from Anchorage, but I do enjoy the newsletters.

Since I retired, my wife and I have been spending winters in Green Valley, Arizona, about 20 miles south of Tucson. Every November the Arizona Division of the PSR has a division meet in Tucson, and I have attended almost all of them since we started wintering in Arizona. Last April I called NMRA and became an Affiliate Member of the PSR. Now I am a member of two (!) NMRA regions.

This November, at the Arizona Division meet, I entered my first ever modeling contest of any kind. My 4-wheel HOn3 locomotive won Best Of Show. It can be seen on the front page of the Arizona Division’s website: http://www.azdiv-nmra.org.