July 24, 2010 - Meeting Summary

Alex Sibbald hosted SDSG’s July meeting. Attendees were: Bob Graves, Mike Forys, Raulf Polichar, and Alex Sibbald.

Old Business

Mike has completed the update of the electrical standard and emailed it with some work pictures to Bob for posting on the club website.

Treasurer’s Report

Bob reported that there was no financial activity again this month.

Poway/RB Show Planning

The last of the modules were transported to Alex's garage staging area just before the meeting.

We discussed who would be available at what times during the show:

Bob will contact Al Keil, Lee Davis, and others.

Mike will bring his six-foot table for the club and manufacturer literature Alex has, and for Bob's module tiles.

Mike will bring his Mikado and AM Amtrak train. Raulf will bring his Southern Crescent. Alex will bring a couple of steamers. Al had earlier said he would bring his Big Boy. Bob will bring his Mikado, Northern, and Santa Fe Freight ABA Alco set.

Alex will contact Gary Robinson, president of the Poway club, about out setup questions: times the hall will be open for setup Thursday and Friday; how close to the hall we can unload our equipment and whether we need to go up any stairs. He will report back to the group and schedule our setup.

Alex has name badges for Al and Jim. All members are reminded to wear their badges at the event.

Alex will clean the tracks on Roland's module and repair the stairs on his coaling tower.

Labor Day weekend at San Diego Model Railroad Museum

Mike will visit the Museum and measure the room. It is our belief that we can set up four straight modules in length and one wide.

Everyone offered to help Raulf finish the two modules he is building. He will look into scheduling a workday.

Mike, Alex, and Bob will all be in town and available all four days of the Labor Day weekend. Raulf will check his schedule.

Forward Planning

Bob reported that the All Gauge club is looking into holding a December 11 event now that GTE will not be at the Fairgrounds. He is in contact about SDSG participating. If it's a one-day event like S-Fest, we agreed that we might consider displaying the Powell Yard or the Gilbert Siding, but definitely not the whole layout.

We discussed participating at the Pomona GTE show December 18. The consensus was that it was not worth the cost of the trip plus hotel accommodations and meals. Most, if not all of us, will probably go up for the day; hopefully we will be able to see the SCSG layout there.

We agreed that we would talk to the leadership of the other clubs at the Poway/RB show next weekend about the possibility of putting something together in the Thanksgiving/Christmas timeframe in lieu of the GTE show.

We discussed the 2011 Sacramento show again. It appears that most of us plan to go to Sacramento whether or not we take the club's modules. We all agree that this is a really great opportunity to get some club recognition and to show the East Coast that S is alive and well in the West. But we still don't have enough information about the show logistics, and the commitment being asked of us, to make an informed decision about taking the modules.

Mike brought up the point that since we don't have a show to get ready for in December, unless we put our own show together, that maybe we could start the reverse corner, etc., to take to Sacramento. (In earlier meetings, we had concluded that a dogleg would require a reverse corner, Krause corner, and four straight modules.) Alex expressed a preference to finish just two more modules and integrate them into a smooth running, well polished layout, which will be in the national spotlight for the first time. Bob pointed out that if we could work it out to hook up with SCSG, we'd only need to build the reverse corner and one new module to do a dogleg, and that hookup would be something really impressive to show at the national level. Alex's reluctance to move into a multiclub situation at that national venue is partly because he doesn't want us to be regarded as the little brother of a larger club and lose our identity, and partly because interfacing with another club is fraught with potential problems and our success would be dependent upon people, hardware, and situations that we have no control over. The consensus was that a multiclub meet is something we would embrace and support at another time and place.

Other Items

We fantasized a bit about having a semi-permanent location to set up and work on modules. Bob saw a former Frazee paint store in Solana Beach that has been vacant since December. It would be a great facility. Mike cited certain advantages of a space in a light industrial area like Ronson Road.

Next Meeting

Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 7:00PM at Peter's.

Late Breaking News

A few days after the meeting, it was announced that the Great Train Expo is coming to the Del Mar Fairgrounds this year after all. The dates will be December 4 – 5, with setup on Friday the 3^rd. See you there!!!

Next I'd like to read the minutes for:

February 2010 August 2010