Good Day,
Is the Lone Star Hi-Railers Model Train Association in Grapevine, Texas still active?
Regards,
Swafford
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Swafford,
I don't know. I live up in McKinney so that is a little far for me. I wish there was a club close by to me or just a group of guys that met every so often to run trains. I had to take down my layout down a few years ago and now I have several kids in college. So I have been reduced to running trains on the carpet central. But that does not happen very often. I have basically been reduced to a collector and I do not like it.
Joe
The website is still up.....the calendar of train shows has been updated recently. They have contact info if you need it.
Yes, we are still active. Still in the baggage car near the Grapevine Depot (across from the about-to-close police station).
We're regularly open from 10A-4P on Saturdays and from noon-3P on Sundays. During Grapevine "events" like Main Street Days, Grapefest, etc., we're open extended hours.
I'm a member, so if you have a specific question, let me know...
Our monthly meeting is Weds, Aug 24th at 6 PM in the Spring Creek BBQ in Grapevine. No trains running, and mostly business and maintenance discussion, but all are welcome! We're in the "banquet" room thru the doors on the left of the dining room.
Not only is Lone Star Hi Railers still active, but it is a very pleasant and friendly group. I'm also a member, although I live 350 miles away in Amarillo. However, I do go to a few meetings each year and I run some trains when I can. Out here in the west, hi-rail clubs are pretty far apart.
Rob Leese, who also posts on the Forum, is also a member.
It would be a perfect fit for you, Swafford. 
Swafford, I see you are from B.A and I am from Tulsa originally. I was back on business in either 1994 or 1996 and connected with a engineering mgr with PSC who had a nice collection and layout. He lived in the area of 71st and Harvard if my memory is correct. Another guy had a large layout in his attic and was a Wabash fan. He lived between Union Avenue and I-244. Both were super nice guys who I found via the TCA directory (hope nobody gets upset with me using those letters together). You might try to contact the local TCA chapter and see if they know of an operating club closer to your location than Grapevine. Sounds like a long drive to me, but not as far as Amarillo.
Thank you all for the information.
Regards,
Frank
I read on another rail-related forum that they recently suffered from vandalism after a break-in. Any data from members?
Interesting, as we had intended to drop in and see them while passing thru to visit a friend but as all their image links no longer worked we figured the club was gone and did not go while in Grapevine.
BobbyD, sorry you didn't stop by. Yes, we are alive and (somewhat) well. Based on your post, I just went and checked the website. On the "photos" page, you can see the thumbnails, but you are correct - the link for each photo is broken. Will look into that.
Bill - yes, we suffered vandalism about 2 1/2 wks ago. Someone kicked in the wood-covered window on one end of the baggage car (next to the tender) and basically walked around on top of the layout. Dunno if they had any source of illumination, because the path was somewhat erratic.
They took out the catenary (well, most of it) that we had installed. Crushed some buildings (kit bashed and scratch-built), destroyed the roundhouse, water tower, etc. Some rolling stock damaged.
It appears they never set foot on the floor of the baggage car; perhaps they didn't think they could get back up onto the layout. Didn't damage the plexiglas around the layout.
No damage to electrical; trains run OK. Nothing taken; could have ripped-out command control stuff if they knew what they were doing. Didn't touch the MTH nor Legacy remotes. Didn't touch the few dollars we had in the till.
If they were intent to vandalize, it didn't appear that they did much. Since the baggage car is coupled to an old steamer, they probably were just goofing around on the locomotive and decided to see if *anything* was in the old baggage car.
Funny (?) thing is that our layout is directly across the street from the Grapevine Police Dept.
Carl
LSHR Member / Secretary
