Winter President's Message 2021
Hello Model Railroaders,
How wonderful it is to have the year 2020 in the rear view mirror. Happy New Year! It's been a few months since I wrote to all of you, so I thought it was time to get busy and get a message out to you. I hope that as many of you as possible have taken advantage of the Covid19 vaccinations that are available in each State. It will certainly take some time before the majority of Americans are vaccinated. However, it is very good to see the number of Covid19 cases throughout the Country, on the decline. That is welcome news, indeed.
The Seacoast Division is still planning to conduct our future meetings and Events virtually, until the Board of Directors feels we can safely conduct an in-person Event. At this point, no one knows how long that will take.
So how is everyone getting along with our fantastic hobby? Have you been working on your layout or favorite modeling projects? I'll bet that most of you have been using the time to do just that. So if you have, I would like to ask that you take a few photos of your work and along with a sentence or two, send it to our webmaster, Steve Russo, so he can post it on our Division website. Steve's contact information can be found on the Division website at .
Board of Directors Meeting
On February 16, 2021, the Seacoast Division Board of Directors held a virtual meeting at which time myself and Glenn Mitchell were re-elected to be your President and Vice President, respectively, for this year 2021. The Board also approved the slate of Division Officers and Committee Chairs for 2021. This list is attached to this message. Once again, I wish to express my appreciation for all the help and support that our members have given to Glenn and I over the past several years. This is your organization and it works well because of your interest and willingness to make the effort to support it. Thank you!
Also, the Board approved the following tentative dates for our 2021 Quarterly Events. Those dates would be April 17, 2021 for the virtual Spring Event, July 17, 2021 for the virtual Summer Event, and October 23, 2021 for the Fall Event. These dates are tentative. As we get close to each Event, we will confirm the date and time. The detailed minutes of the BOD meeting should be posted on the Division website within the next several days.
As a reminder, Seacoast Division Board of Directors meetings are open to all Seacoast Division members. If you have an issue or item where you feel the need to address the Board of Directors, or if you just want to listen in to one of the BOD meetings, please contact me and I will send you the meeting information. The next virtual BOD meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at 10:00 AM. So please contact me if you need to attend a BOD meeting.
NERx Convention
As most of you are aware by now, the NER will be hosting another NERx Virtual Convention. The convention will take place on April 10 & 11, 2021, from 2 to 6 pm and 7 to 11 pm eastern time on both days. The NERx convention committee is in need of clinics and layout tours for this convention. If any of you would be willing to do a presentation for the convention, please contact Pete Watson, the NERx Clinic Chairman, directly using the information below.
E-mail: pawnh@comcast.net Phone: (508) 378-3582
Seacoast Division Virtual Spring Event
So as mentioned above, the Seacoast Division Virtual Spring Event will take place on Saturday, April 17, 2021. This date is confirmed and like our past virtual events, we will start at 10:00 am and hopefully finish by 12:00 pm. I will send out the Zoom meeting information on the day before the Event.
I will also plan a "practice" Zoom session meeting for either Wednesday or Thursday evening the week prior to the Event. These practice sessions are a great way to become familiar with the Zoom log-in procedures and also are a chance to see and catch up on the latest goings-on with your train buddies that you haven't seen for a while. We have a lot of fun at these practice sessions! Please think about joining us!
But as you know, we cannot have an Event unless we have a few clinics, a layout tour or two, and some show and tell stuff. So we need your help with this. Please contact Glenn Mitchell if you can provide any assistance in this regard. He will be very happy to hear from you. Please think about putting together a clinic for sharing with your Division buddies. We all would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks! Glenn can be reached using the information below.
E-mail:glenn.t.mitchell@
Request
A few days ago, I received an email from a fellow model railroader:
I found your email address on the Seacoast Division NMRA website. I am based in Bedford, NH and have a large collection of model train magazines. It contains a few decades of Model Railroader and others. Do you know of anyone who might be interested in such a collection? Thank you.
If there is anyone interested in thisgentleman's magazine collection, please let me know and I will provide his email address to you. Thanks for your consideration.
Division Staff Openings
We still need 2 members to help us on the Faulter Fund Committee. If you would like to help out with this worthwhile endeavor, please contact me.
Our Division Webmaster would like to step down from his duties. If you are the type of person that is very techsavvy and would be interested in running andmaintaining our Division website, if you havethose skills, please contact me. Thank you!
So that's about all I have for you today. Please be happy, stay safe and healthy!
I have attached a picture of the beginnings of my helix that I am building for my 3 deck layout. It is built over the stairwell in my garage that leads up to the train room. I think I spend as much time thinkingabout it as I do working on it. I am making progress and I will be giving more details about it at the“show, tell and ask†portion of the Spring Event.
Best regards,
Tage Erickson
Seacoast Division President