Spring 2025 President's Message
Greetings Seacoast Members,
Seacoast Division Early Spring President`s Message
Greetings Seacoast Members,
We`ve had a busy winter and now spring is here. The Northern New England Railroading [NER] NERx video presentation series just wrapped up. I saw a couple segments of the presentation, but I need to go back on the NER website and see the episodes that I missed. Four of the layout videos were Seacoast members` layouts. Also, the Concord Flyer convention got a lot of coverage including a panel discussion (Peter McKenney, Tage Ericson, John McHugh and Tom Oxnard) and videos by Chris Carfaro. If you missed them take a look at them at: http://nerx.org/index.html.
Preparation for the Concord Flyer continues to get more intense. We expect to have the Convention Application on line by April 1, 2025 (less than two weeks!). The Concord Flyer link is: https://conventions.nernmra.org/home/home-2025/l. If you are planning on staying at the Courtyard by Marriot don`t wait - as of last night 40 of the 67 rooms that were blocked had already been booked. Book now if you want to stay at the convention location. Other "over-flow" rooms will be available since the owner of the Grappone Center and Courtyard also owns five other hotels in the Concord area. You can go through the Concord Flyer link to reach the hotel booking page.
In support of the Concord Flyer Convention I traveled to the Vermont Railway System Car Repair Facility in North Walpole NH on March 4, 2025. Member Larry Rine arranged for the access to the facility during the Concord Flyer Convention. Many thanks go to Larry for getting us in. We both met there to check things out. I went there thinking that it`s an old roundhouse with a turntable that used to house Steamtown USA decades ago and didn`t know much else. As I drove in from the south I passed at least a hundred freight cars parked on the old mainline. I thought these were there for long term storage but later learned that they were all there for repairs. Upon entering we met Aaron Bridge, the Superintendent of Railcar Repair for the Vermont Railway System. After suiting up in PPE (hard hats and safety glasses) we were led into the facility. We quickly learned that this was not just another old structure that appeared to have seen better days, but was a working repair facility for tankcars, covered hoppers, boxcars, and gondolas. Aaron explained how every repair meets some level of federal certification and every part is tracked, even the used parts that are being discarded. (Other railroads want proof that the repair that was made there to one of their cars was required.) The roundhouse has 5 stalls and 4 of them were used for car repairs. We saw a gondola and a high cube boxcar in bays 2 and 3 undergoing work. A Green Mountain excursion passenger car was in stall 5 waiting to have it trucks removed and replaced with temporary freight car trucks while the passenger car trucks were sent out to be overhauled. The turntable, estimated to be about 90 feet long, is still used. While we were there, all the 6 other employees were called into service unloading and reloading 16 freight car wheelsets from and on a flat-bed trailer. A contractor with a backhoe was also at work in front of a couple of the stalls. Bottom line - this is a dynamic, jumping railroad facility - and we got to see it. We together as Aaron escorted us around to see most anything we wanted including a working Alco RS-1 and a 1912 built snow plow. If you are interested in seeing real railroading, sign up for the Concord Flyer Convention and join me as Aaron gives the group another tour of the facility on Thursday September 11, 2025. We`ll be car-pooling as much as possible since parking is limited. The tour starts at 2:00. More details on the Concord Flyer website. I`ll see you there!
We held our Winter 2025 Event in the Westbrook Community Center in Westbrook, Maine, on January 11, 2025. Thanks again to Jay Ehlen for organizing the event. 19 members were there in person and we had 12 more on Zoom. President Glenn Mitchell conducted the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Seacoast Division of the NMRA. All three incumbent Directors - Geoff Anthony, Jim Gore, MMR, and Jim Seroskie - retained their seats. Tage gave us the latest info on the Concord Flyer Convention. We had three clinics. The first clinic by Joe Linuqita was a presentation/clinic on "Foam Based Scenery Techniques". Next on the agenda, John McHugh took us on a slide tour of his Ossipee Valley Railroad layout. His focus was on the design and development of his two deck layout in a relatively small space. A great work in progress. Lastly, Jim Gore MMR, offered a clinic on "Improving Clinic Quality". His theme was "organize your power point around visuals and limit text". He also told us to be enthusiastic about your topic and avoid passing sample items around. All very useful tips. Rich Breton and Jim Gore gave "show and tells" displaying their structures. Following the conclusion of the event, a brief Board of Director`s meeting was held where Glenn Mitchell and Jay Ehlen were elected President and Vice President respectively. All the officers and chairmen were approved by the BOD. Finally, the Southern Maine Model Railroad Club opened their layout for a tour by the attendees after the event.
The Seacoast Division Spring 2025 Event will be held on April 5, 2025 at the Stratham Firehouse from 10:00 to 2:00. There will be two clinics at this event: Tom Oxnard, MMR will show how the use of the Helicon Focus can improve your compositions and ability to get crisper images. He will also discuss lighting, related equipment and software to make photos ready for the NMRA Calendar. Glenn Mitchell will present the inspiration for the design of his layout and discuss the planning phase using XTrackCAD. His layout plan was the basis for his operational documentation which helped him earn his Chief Dispatcher AP Certificate. Chris Carfaro will give a brief presentation on organizing a photo contest for NMRA members. The winning photo will be on the cover of the Summer Edition of the Coupler. Chris will outline the contest rules and note - the winner will also receive a special prize.
Tage Erickson will present the latest on the Concord Flyer Convention preparation. We will be holding our usual "Show and Tell" session as well as a "For Sale" table. Bill Huebner will be opening his layout for the first time for the Seacoast Division. We all thank Bill in advance for supporting the Spring 2025 Event. Watch for more details in the next event notice.
Respectfully Submitted,
Glenn Mitchell
Seacoast Division NMRA President & Director
Published: 22 March 2024