Seacoast Division 2018 Fall Event Report
October 17, 2018
The Seacoast Division Fall Event was held on October 13, 2018 at the Stratham Firehouse, 2 Winnicutt Rd., Stratham, NH. The Seacoast Division would like to thank Mike Graham one more time for providing the venue.
35 people attended and 2 were new attendees to the Seacoast Events.
The Event kicked off at 10:00 AM. After welcoming everyone, new attendees were recognized and each introduced himself. President Tage Erickson followed and welcomed the members. Tage announced that president Chip Faulter had to resign due to health reasons, and Tage, who was the Vice president, has replaced Chip, as required in the bylaws. Chip continues as a director. We all wish Chip the best as he recovers.
Next, Tom Oxnard presented the Association Volunteer AP Award to John McHugh and the Golden Spike Award to Jay Ehlen. Larry Cannon had presented the Association Official AP award to Chip Faulter prior to the meeting since Chip could not attend. We congratulate John, Walter & Chip for their hard work and dedication. Great Job!
Bruce Robinson, the head of the nominating committee announced three candidates for the three director positions that would open in January. Tage Erickson (incumbent Director), Mike Pederson, and Dave Kotsonis have accepted the nominations. Voting on the positions will be held at the Annual Meeting which is part of the Winter Event on January 5, 2019. We thank Bruce Robinson and the nominating committee for their work and we thank the nominees for volunteering.
Ken May, John Campbell and Robert Quimby arrived early, after a two hour drive from Connecticut, to set up their 24 foot set of modules for the "Introduction to Hands-On Operation" clinic. After setting up the modules, Ken May kicked it off with a brief presentation on the concept of railroad operation using car cards. Two 2-man crews (engineer and conductor) could operate on the modules at a time. Each session lasted about 20 minutes, and the Seacoast members in attendance kept the modules running from kick-off to the end of the event. Everyone who operated had a great time and we thank Ken, John and Robert for all of the time and effort they put out to support the Seacoast Division. Well done!
Tage Erickson gave a presentation on the NRMA National Convention in Kansas City and the NER Convention in Mahwah New Jersey. Bruce Robinson also gave a presentation on the NMRA National Convention. Both had a lot of great photos of prototype railroads, layouts, tours, and the national train show. Tage and Bruce showed everyone how much fun it was to attend, and we hope all of the members will attend a regional and/or national convention in the future.
The Show, Tell and Ask part of the Event began with introduction of the winner of the 2nd Annual Square Foot Module contest. The Square Foot Module contest is held at the Derry Fun Night (DFN). At the June DFN, participants are given a square foot of homosote and the contest rules. Over the summer they were to design and build a module with a theme. After the summer hiatus, the participants brought their modules to the September DFN where they were judged. This year`s winner was Walter Jablonski for his humorous "The Great Escape" module. You just don`t see cows on Segways very often. Good job Walter.
Tom Oxnard presented his Boston Station model which is under construction. Tom is scratch-building the station which is based on the Kansas City Station which he photographed at the NMRA National Convention. Rich Breton presented his street car model. Bruce Robinson presented three structures that he built for his layout, the Sheaf Warehouse, the English Muffin Diner, and the Sanding Facility. All three had just won awards at the NER convention in New Jersey. Dexter Baum presented his kit-bashed factory made from 3 Faller kits.
The "Improve Your Modeling through the Achievement Program" panel discussion kicked-off just before lunch. The panel was made up of two of the Seacoast Division`s MMRs, Larry Cannon and Tom Oxnard and two experienced contest judges/evaluators, Rich Breton and Paul Lessard. Larry got things rolling by introducing the Achievement program, including the history of how it got started. Rich Breton and Larry Cannon both described how a model is scored using the evaluation matrices. Tom Oxnard and Rich brought in several of their models and described how they modified a kit or scratch built a car or structure with the goal of earning at least 87.5 points and earning a Merit Award. Tom also described the requirements for the Author AP award and how writing for the Coupler or The Switch Tower will fulfill some of the requirement. In all, the panel helped the members understand the AP requirements and it helped take the mystery out of how models are scored for Merit Award or in a Contest. Our thanks go to the panel members Larry, Tom, Rich and Paul and the members who participated in the discussion.
Finally, closing remarks included thanks and Certificates of Appreciation went to Ken May and his crew and the discussion panel members.
Upcoming event are:
Seacoast Division Winter Event - January 5, 2019
Westbrook Community Center, 426 Bridge Street, Westbrook, ME
Seacoast Division Spring Event - April 6, 2019
Newington Old Town Hall, 336 Nimble Hill Rd., Newington NH
During the event a table of model railroad sale items were available for purchase by members and Larry Cannon held the raffle of 3 items.
The Fall Event was adjourned around 2:00.
Following the conclusion of the Fall Event, Tom Oxnard and Gregg McFarland held open houses for their layouts and Bruce Robinson opened his layout for an operating session. Tom, Gregg and Bruce thank you for supporting the Seacoast Division.
Respectfully Submitted,
Glenn Mitchell, Director and NH Event Coordinator