Desert Division - The First Decade 1970-1980

In the late 1960’s a group of tin plate train collectors who used to meet at a local hobby shop in Phoenix decided to split away from the local model railroad community and form a group unique to their passion of collecting and operating tin plate trains. Some members had been exposed to the Western Division of TCA and had thought about possibly becoming a chapter of that TCA Division. They formed a club of like minded collectors, both TCA members and not, and called themselves the Grand Canyon Train Collectors.

The group began regular meetings and newsletters in 1970 and established communications with the TCA to inquire about an affiliation. Jim Harrison became the lead person in the early days and was elected President of the newly formed club. Early letters from TCA showed that they too had an interest in establishing a new Division “out your way”, and early boundary requests had the proposed TCA Division encompassing numerous western states including Colorado.

Many of the members thought of keeping the Division exclusively within the state of Arizona but that soon changed after a Tucson Meet where members from Phoenix met TCA members from New Mexico and El Paso! As the letters were exchanged back and forth between Jim Harrison and the TCA Secretary, more realistic boundaries were proposed and the two day drive to Denver was dropped in favor of an easier four hour drive from Tucson to west Texas. Early names of the Arizona Division or the Grand Canyon Division were dropped and new choices included the Cactus Division, Great Southwest Division, Southwestern Division, Southwest Division, and the Desert Division. Membership in the Grand Canyon Train Collectors grew to the required twenty-five TCA members needed to petition the national Association and in the closing days before the June TCA National convention the membership agreed to having New Mexico and west Texas within the boundaries and settled on the name of Desert Division. The petition was presented at the TCA National Convention held in Anaheim California, at the Disneyland Hotel in June of 1971, where it was ratified and the Desert Division came into existence becoming TCA’s 14th Division.

According to the 1970 census, Phoenix was ranked the 20th largest city in the United States with a population of 581,500 and the entire state only having a population of 1,771,000. But as small as Phoenix and Arizona was at the time, TCA itself only had a total of 3,200 members nationwide, so there were going to be several challenges ahead to grow the new Division. Jim Harrison who made the transition possible was elected as the first Desert Division President. During those early years with Division membership hovering around 25 member mark the newly founded Division began to hold its first meetings at various members’ homes, however the fledgling Division struggled to establish a foothold in the sleepy desert city of Phoenix and after several years began to flounder. By 1975 no members stepped forward to run for office so a “scribe” was appointed to keep notes, send out meet notices, and watch over the very small treasury. Not having officers went against TCA National Bylaws and when they became aware of the Division’s actions phone calls were exchanged and at an emergency Desert Division meeting nominations for officers were received, an election held, and all offices were filled. Sometimes it takes the threat of losing everything you worked hard for, to make the realization of how special something really is. The Division has never looked back.

With the first Thanksgiving Meet under their belts Division members began showing up and doing public train displays. 1978 was the breakout year with the Division beginning to setup layouts at the Big Boys and Their Toys show at the Phoenix Civic Plaza and the TTOS Open House. Then in 1979 in addition to setting up at Rail Fair in Scottsdale the Division also setup for the first time at a local shopping mall. That year, many members set up several of their own personal portable layouts for the first time at Thomas Mall. The event proved so popular with members that in 1979 they secured an even larger mall and setup their portable layouts for the first time at Chris Town Mall. The run at Chris Town Mall would last for almost 30 years, setting the stage for the Division’s long run of exposing toy trains of various vintages to the public, and an event that has never been equaled in TCA or any other toy train club or organization in history.
With its humble beginnings of a group of friends breaking away from the model railroad clubs in the area to establish a club of train collectors, to achieving and then almost losing its status as a Division of TCA, The Desert Division survived the first decade. The dedication of the charter members and of their President Jim Harrison, who worked to have the Grand Canyon Train Collectors become a TCA Division often, goes unnoticed by the members today. As the Desert Division, looks ahead to its 40th anniversary we wish to publicly recognize these individuals and their families, the twenty-five Charter Members of the Desert Division, who made it all possible.