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Seacoast Division 2019 Summer Event Report

April 21, 2019

The Seacoast Division Summer Event was held on July 20, 2019 at the Great Falls Model Railroad Club, 144 Mill Rd., Auburn Me. The Seacoast Division would like to thank all of the members of the Great Falls Model Railroad Club for providing the venue.

The Board of Directors Meeting was held at 8:30. Acting Secretary Chip Faulter will submit a separate report for BOD meeting.

Glenn Mitchell kicked off the Event at 10:00 AM. 25 people attended and 24 were NMRA members. After welcoming everyone and giving opening remarks, he introduced President Tage Erickson.

Tage welcomed the attendees and thanked everyone for coming to the event. Currently the Division Secretary and Maine Activity Coordinator positions are vacant and need to be filled. The North East Region Convention in Syracuse New York was briefly discussed. The convention offers great opportunities to see and operate on outstanding layouts that we have all read about. It was also noted that several Seacoast members will attending the NER convention.

Next, Tage gave a great presentation about his experiences at the National NMRA Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. He showed photos of each of the layouts that he toured. He noted that everyone models western railroads and they are all very adept at modeling the western scenery. Tage showed photos the re-enactment of the Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory Point. Tage`s trip was topped off at a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. Thanks Tage for a great presentation.

Two AP awards presented by Larry Cannon, MMR, Maine AP Chairman or Tom Oxnard, MMR, New Hampshire AP Chairman. Paul Lessard received the Chief Dispatcher Achievement Award and Tom Oxnard receivedthe Motive Power Achievement Award.

The first presentation was given by Victor Hand and was titled `Railroads of New England`. Victor presented 63 outstanding photos from his huge collection. He started out with an extensive set of Maine railroad pictures starting with the B&M, MEC and BAR and ended with the Guilford Railroad. He worked his way through the rest of New England including steam at Conway, NH, and several shots of the AEM7`s, and he even captured a shot of the short-lived Turbo Train. Victor`s great technical photographic skill and his knowledge of the New England railroads were used over the years to capture railroad history in New England. The Seacoast members in attendance were rewarded with a fantastic show Thanks Victor! Victor has agreed to work with us to publish his presentation in The Switch Tower in the future.

Larry Cannon, MMR was the second presenter and his topic was `Developing a Freight Car Rolling Stock Inventory. Larry went through his method for determining what type of and how many freight cars are need to operate his Otter Valley Lines layout. With 260 car spotting locations, Larry had determined that the Otter Valley needs over 500 freight cars. Larry has also developed a method of operating his layout that did not require him to create 500 car cards or other burdensome paperwork. Thanks Larry!

Once again our treasurer Dave Kotsonis organized a great lunch. Dave and GFMRRC member Terry King served hot dogs, chili, chips, coleslaw, cookies, and drinks to many of the attendees. We are very grateful to Tage`s wife Lois for providing the chili, coleslaw and cookies. Proceeds from the lunch support the Seacoast Division. We all thank Dave, Terry, Lois and Tage for their efforts.

After lunch Larry Cannon, ran the Seacoast Division event raffle. Thanks Larry for running the raffle.

The third presenter was Bob Bennett who gave `Alternate Structures for the Railroad. Bob`s layout is near completion and real estate for new structures is hard to come by, but that has not stopped him from enjoying his favorite part of model railroading building structures. Bob showed us how he builds `alternate structures that match the foot-print of those that are already there. He demonstrated his technique with a small square `module that he brought with. He also brought multiple unique versions of stations, water tanks and platforms that he scratch built based on many different prototypes. He walked through his construction methods using both strip wood and styrene. Regardless of the construction material, all of his structures look great. Thanks Bob, for sharing your knowledge and techniques with the Seacoast members!

The fourth presenter was Dr. Jack Lutz who talked about `Pulp and Paper Mill Car Fleets. Jack has an extensive background in forestry and gave an overview of the science behind pulp and paper mill production as it applied to past and present mills in Maine. Starting with historical production data, he broke down the quantities of materials and chemicals going into a mill for a given amount of product produced. He then calculated the number of each specific rail car type needed for the daily production at the mill. Jack illustrated that there are a lot more different materials needed in the manufacturing of pulp and paper that might be expected and that dictates a very diverse fleet of freight cars. Once again Jack brings realism to our layouts. Thanks Jack, for a great presentation and for allowing the Seacoast Division to post the presentation to the website!

The `Show, Tell and Ask session was canceled due to a lack of participants.

The meeting was closed with comments from Tage Erickson and Glenn Mitchell. It is important to reiterate that the Seacoast Division needs members to volunteer for open officer positions and be presenters/clinicians for the future events. Again, we thank the Great Falls Model Railroad Club for hosting the event and all the presenters for their time and effort.

During the event many model railroad sale items were available for purchase by members.

Summer Event was adjourned around 2:00.

Following the Event, Larry Cannon opened his Otter Valley Lines layout to the membership. We thank Larry for his support to the Summer Event.

Upcoming events:

Seacoast Division Fall Event - October 12, 2019
Stratham Fire House
2 Winnicutt Rd., Stratham NH

Respectfully Submitted,

Glenn Mitchell

Seacoast Division Vice President, Director, and NH Event Coordinator