Arizona Limited 2027 Convention
We invite you to attend the Arizona Limited 2027 Pacific Southwest Region NMRA convention hosted by the Arizona Division being held in Mesa, AZ on September 29, 2027 through October 3, 2027. The convention hotel is the Sheraton Wrigleyville conveniently located near the junction of Loop 101 and Loop 202. There are plenty of restaurants and shopping nearby, many within walking distance.
We will have all the exciting activities that make the PSR convention a great event! Planned events include a Welcome Reception, Hobo Auction, prototype tours, swap meet, operating sessions, layout tours, and much more. Of course, there will be plenty of clinics to learn new ideas and to sharpen your modeling skills. At the end we will wrap it up with a Harvey House inspired Awards Banquet and a guest speaker to share even more information about trains.
We look forward to seeing you in Mesa next September. Register now before prices increase!
Registration Information
- Register Now Register for the Arizona Limited 2027 Convention. Discount Pricing is now till 31-December-2026 @11:59pm.
- Manage My Registration View your information, your purchase history and more. If you didn't create an account when you registered, you will be asked to create one.
Hotel Reservation and Information
- The convention is being held at the Sheraton Mesa Hotel at Wrigleyville located at 860 North Riverview Mesa, AZ 85201.
Book the discounted Sheraton Mesa Hotel at Wrigleyville hotel convention rate of $164.00 per night. Last day to book a room is 08-Sept- 2027.
Parking is free. - You can book your hotel reservation at 480-664-1221 (mention NMRAPSR AZ Division Oct 2027) or book online at
- Map: Sheraton Hotel in Mesa, AZ
Buffet & Guest Speaker
The buffet will be a Harvey House inspired meal with food representative of Harvey House fare and table decor that reflects this heritage of the Southwest Region. Linda Irick, Harvey House Girls Historian, has selected a1920's beef, chicken and vegetarian recipe. The hotel chefs will mimic these recipes using today’s standards. Your choice will be served to you in the buffet along with salad, vegetables, desert and all the fixings! The banquet is free for NMRA members and guests during the Early Bird Special from 9/2/2026 to 9/15/2026 11:59 pm MST.
The guest speaker is Bart Bartman, one of the founding members of the Arizona Railway Museum.
Bart will give a presentation on railroads in Arizona and speak about the Arizona Railway Museum and some of the equipment they have on display at the museum.
Convention Schedule
Tours
- Tours will appear here when they are determined most likely in 2027.
Clincs
- AI - Claude
Presenter: ? MickPart 1 - A Claude expert will discuss the latest features of Anthropic Claude.
Part 2 - Using Claude in Model Railroading -
Earning your MRR
Presenter: Dennis Ranke
Earning your Golden Spike award and then continue to earn your MRR.
Dennis Ranke - He is on his journey to obtain the MMR -
Designing the new Arizona Railroad Historical Society layout
Presenter: Jesse Poole
Jesse will describe his approach to designing the new Arizona Railroad Historical Society layout being built at our new home at 2530 South Rural Road, Tempe. The layout features 19 cities from all around the Arizona. -
Unique wiring techniques for the ARHS layout in Tempe
Presenter:
Track
This clinic will describe the pluggable wiring approach for the new 1,800 sq. ft. ARHS layout. This includes Tortoise drivers,
current transformers, frog wiring, crossovers, DCC drop expanders, DC power distribution and documentation techniques.Signals
We are using two, three and five aspect signals of our own design. These interface to the LLC signal cards using 4-wire (RJ9 - 2&3 Aspect)
and 6-wire (RJ12- 5 Aspect) telephone cable that plugs into the signal base. - ARHS Model Building Lighting
Presenter:
Arduinos are used to control the LEDs in buildings. Each lighting circuit controls 1 to 9 LEDs. The Arduino PCB controls 48 circuits. These boards can be cascaded to control any number of circuits. We are expecting to have about 2,000 LED circuits - Using Neo pixels for Layout Room Lighting
Presenter:
The ARHS layout will feature Arduino controlled Neo pixels being used for layout room lighting. It will be able to go from daylight to dusk, night, dawn and back to daylight in a 20-minute cycle. The design will be described in this clinic.
- Hands-On Tree Making
Presenter: Don Stewart
This will be a Hands-On tree making clinic taught by Don Stewart. Each attendee should leave with several trees ready for their home or club layout. Don will demonstrate several techniques that he uses for making real looking trees.
2027 Saturday Convention Clinics
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Saturday, October 2, 2027, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, Free
Making Inexpensive Pine Trees by Don Stewart - Hands-On
Many layouts have mountains on them. This requires pine trees, lots of pine trees. Purchasing already-built built pine trees is expensive and the trees may not look realistic. This clinic presents a way to build pine trees that look good and are inexpensive.
Florist wire, sisal rope, paint and ground foam are used to build realistic looking pine trees. You will learn how to build the trees and go away with knowledge, an instruction handout, and built-up trees you have made.
Saturday, October 2, 2027, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, Free
Arduino for Model Railroaders - Hands-On
This will be a Hands-On clinic using a custom Arduino PCB for demonstrating Arduino techniques to control relays, servo's, LED's, Neo-pixels, stepper motors and other useful model railroad electronic devices.
Saturday, October 2, 2027, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, Free
Techniques for building Structures
Frank Baker will describe numerous techniques for assembling different types of structures.
After attending a clinic make sure you go the the Harvey House style buffet. See more at the top under Buffet and Guest Speaker.
Don't forget the banquet is free for NMRA members and guests during the Early Bird Special from 9/2/2026 to 9/15/2026 11:59 pm MST following the above clinics.
Contest Room
Information will appear here when it becomes available.