Your Division Officers

From the Super's Office (July 2005)

Bob McIntyre, Division Superintendent

We have just got back from the Regional Convention in Montgomery, Alabama. For a Regional Convention that had its pains getting started I came away pleased with end result. Here is a recap on the three days. As many of you know the Convention Staff needed assistance in conducting the event. The Piedmont Division was asked to man the company store at the Train Show and conduct the Auction Saturday night, after the banquet. John Travis stepped forward and coordinated the volunteers and all the paperwork for the Company Store. Howard Goodwin with the help of John did the usual great job on the Auction. Almost everything was sold between the two events. Thank you guys for a job well done!

Due to the prototype tour I attended I was only able to attend a couple of clinics. The ones I did attend were very good. Bruce Smith provided and overview of World War II military loads. He had photographs and also brought along models and showed us how to create them. Ron Gough and Dr. Joe Sr. were clinicians. Ron present Scratch Building 101 and Dr. Joe explained how he made all those great styrene building on the Delta Southern.

The prototype tour we went on was organized last minute. It turned out to be very interesting. We visited a company called Knox Kershaw. It is a family run operation that custom builds track maintenance equipment. While at the plant we saw machines like a ballast spreader under construction. The really cool part was the owner drove up to the plant in a beautiful fully restored 1937 Packard. Since we showed an interest in the car he invited us over to his estate for a tour of his antique car and motorcycle collection. In the attic he had a fully built O27 gauge layout. As we were leaving he asked if we would like to see his gun collection. He is an avid hunter and the room that housed the collection contained a fully stuffed lion he bagged on one of his expeditions. The whole excursion was a thrill.

As always the fellowship with other modelers in the Region is one of the main reasons to go each year. If you have started to go to the Regional conventions you know that you make friends and look forward to seeing them every year. Montgomery provided a great opportunity renew friendships and make new ones.

The main reason I am writing about the Regional Convention is because of the Piedmont Division. On Friday night during the Regional business meeting the Superintendents were asked to give an update on their Division. I talked about the great Train Show, the upcoming Piedmont Pilgrimage, the auctions we are putting on, the great clinics, the high attendance levels we are experiencing at our monthly meetings, and Boy Scout Merit Badge Program. This is great stuff! When it came time for the other Divisions to provide an update many shared they were having trouble getting meetings started. Other Superintendents gave updates on "club" activities rather than NMRA events. I found this to be very informative and it hit home on the difficulties the local leadership experiencing.

We are very fortunate that we have a great bunch of volunteers that step forward to make our activities so successful. We have found a monthly meeting format that meets the needs of the local NMRA members. This includes the many scales, skill levels, and modeling interests. Essentially we serve as an effective umbrella association for everyone in the metro Atlanta area.

Now comes the challenge. If we are successful with this format can the same or modified program we use help the other Divisions in the Southeastern Region? Can it also help Divisions that are struggling across the country and beyond? I believe the answer is yes! Over the coming months we are going to start the process of looking at ways the Piedmont Division can help. We have a commitment from the Scale Rails staff to publish a how-to-article on the Piedmont Pilgrimage. This is just a start. Stay tuned and if you would like to be part of this exciting process see me and we can get you plugged in.

Happy railroading!

The Membership Train (April 2005)

Chris White, Director of Personnel

My comments on the membership of the N.M.R.A. have been very repetitive during the last four quarters. In the latest issue of SCALE Rails (March 2005), the Membership Thermometer indicates that the NMRA membership continues below 20,000 members. I noted with interest the comments of one of the candidates running for the Eastern District Director position (February 2005 SCALE Rails, page 46.) "The organization needs fresh blood and new ideas. I can't understand why other national hobby groups have over 100,000 members while NMRA membership is about 20,000 and headed nowhere but south." I agree with this candidate. The N.M.R.A. needs new leadership and new ideas. The Rail Pass program has now been available for a few months, but it does not appear to have impacted new membership.

However, on a much more positive note, the membership growth for the Piedmont Division has been excellent in recent months. As I stated in the last issue of the Timetable we finished 2004 on a very positive note, enrolling 8 new members at the end of the year. We have had excellent results for the first three months of 2005 with 22 new NMRA members signed up. This is already 4 more than for all of 2004. We signed up 10 new members at the Railroadiana Show in January and nine new NMRA members at the Piedmont Train Show in March. Again, my personal thanks for all those Piedmont members who assisted manning the booth at both of these shows, and a very special thanks to Tom Banks who has had outstanding success at both of these shows.

During the first quarter of 2005, I have been fortunate to be able to participate in two railroad outings associated with Piedmont members. In January, a group of us attended the Timonium Train Show in Baltimore and also visited the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum . The attendance at the Timonium Show was exceptional, with waiting lines to enter approximately half a mile long. If we could have had our membership booth at that Show, we could have signed up many, many new members. Much to our disappointment, there was no local, regional, or national representation of the NMRA at this show. The B & O Museum is really worth the trip. They have many of the major large steam locomotives on display. You may recall that a large snowfall a few winters ago collapsed the roof of the roundhouse, the major highlight of the museum. This roundhouse, which to my surprise was originally built as a passenger car repair roundhouse, has been repaired at a cost of approximately $30 million dollars. It has been restored to its original condition and is an absolutely magnificent structure. Unfortunately, a number of the very old steam locomotives that were stored in the roundhouse were badly damaged when the roof collapsed. The museum is now constructing its own large workshop and will be repairing these old locomotives in the near future.

I was also fortunate enough to participate in the Ferroequinologists' recent trip on Amtrak to New Orleans. This was a very worthwhile trip and I want to compliment Charles Cole and Dan Berman on their excellent organization. We had a single passenger car for the entire group of 55 and we partied there and back. I had not traveled on a passenger train in the United States since 1965 (Denver to New York) and of course my major passenger experience has been on British Railways in suburban trains out of Waterloo, London. You can set your clock by the arrival and departure times of European trains. I was therefore somewhat surprised to find that the Amtrak timetable appears to be an approximate estimate of arrival and departure times. The majority of the track from Atlanta to New Orleans is single track with a significant quantity of freight traffic. Naturally, it is almost impossible for the passenger train to maintain high speeds for continuous periods without being delayed by a freight train. We were nearly two hours late arriving in New Orleans and over one hour late returning to Atlanta. Nevertheless, we all had a great time.

As a last comment, I would urge all of you that have not already done so, to review the candidates' comments in the February issue of SCALE Rails, and VOTE. If you are at all interested in the continued future of the hobby of model railroading then I really encourage you to vote for candidates that you believe will ensure the best possible future for our hobby.

A Blast from the Horn (July 2005)

Howard Goodwin, Director of Operations

Another quarter has gone by and another is beginning. The new quarter brings some really great clinic opportunities for the members who regularly attend the monthly meetings. July's clinic will be on harvesting ice for reefers before the advent of the mechanical reefer, done by our own resident reefer geek Charlie Crawford. You have seen the many examples of his prowess at scratch built wooden reefers at many meetings and contests on his way to obtaining the Master Builder - Cars AP Certificate. His cars are really "cool" literally and now he will tell us how they get that way.

August's clinic will be on the old Georgia Railroad and some interesting facts surrounding the railroad. Come and test your knowledge of railroad history as it pertains to our own backyard which will be done by our own Dr. Joe Nichols Jr., who is very close to obtaining the coveted AP Master Model Railroader title. In doing some preliminary research, I cannot find any instance of a father and son obtaining MMR status, which would make this one very special.

September's clinic will be one which will be very interesting for those who are into really neat bridges for their railroad, done by John Travis who will discuss the history and construction techniques of the Loyalhanna Stone Arch Bridge on his Johnstown & Gerryville HO railroad.

The monthly layout tours will be an interesting mix of the various stages of layout building from the mostly complete CSX HO Railroad of Larry Smith in July, the continuing stages of the L & K HO Railroad of George Bloodworth in August and the relatively new Great Cypress Lines HO Railroad of Howard Goodwin ( WHO?) in September.

There is still an opportunity for you to sign up for doing a clinic and hosting a layout tour for 2006. While there are some months already spoken for next year, there are openings for anyone who might consider presenting a clinic at the monthly meetings. If there is a tip or technique you would like to share with the group, get in touch with me and we can make it happen. If you are hesitant because you may need help in planning and organizing, contact me. We have a host of people who can help in your presentation.

The same opportunity applies to the layout tour program for next year. I need more volunteers for the program as well. Some of your garden railroads would be very nice to see during the middle part of the year when the weather is more cooperative. Hint, hint!

Plans are shaping up for the upcoming live auction in September, so be sure to get your excess "stuff" ready for a fun evening of buying and selling. The information will be found on the recently redesigned Division Web Site, with kudos going out to the web page development staff for a great job done there. The "biggie" is the Piedmont Pilgrimage in November and while the schedule is being worked on as I present this report, there is room to add YOUR layout to the tour. The goal this year is 40 layouts but I will turn no opportunity away. Your help is what makes this program so impressive. Let us all see what you are doing at home.

Lastly, the SER Convention in 2007 to be held here in Cartersville and hosted by our Division is coming along nicely having just confirmed the first of what I hope to be several prototype tours in the area, at the Trinity Railcar Plant in Cartersville. The convention will be heavy on clinics, with some of the top names in the Hobby presenting clinics, from out of OUR area that is! Stay tuned for periodic updates, which will also be included in the Web Site. Other than that, there's not much to report for this quarter. Did I hear you say you were bored? Till next time, may all your signals be green.