August 19, 2025 - Meeting Summary
The San Diego S-Gaugers held the August club meeting at the Grossmont Center clubhouse. Attendees were Don Briggs, Mike Forys, Robert Graves, Dale Minard, Raulf Polichar, Dave Posladek, Ken Sadlock, Allen Keil, Craig Carlson, David Horn, John Racey, and Paul DeLaurell.
Introduction of New Faces / Show and Tell:
Dave Posladek showed a circular plaque he created with a Grossmont Central Railroad train logo. He also circulated his home potential layout track plan for comments. Mike shared that he was in the hospital and had 3 stints put in. He is feeling much better and continuing to improve.
Treasurer's Report:
Bob Graves reported that the club received $410.42 in visitor cash donations during June, $50.64 more than last month, and $80.95 above the average for July. $59.86 of the donations came via Venmo, this is about normal after significantly above normal numbers in May and June. In the 36 months we have had Venmo Service, we have received $2587.44 in donations from 254 donors, 18 of which were repeat donors.
He also discovered $0.75 worth of Assets for Sale that had not previously been recorded.
Other income included $11.34 in savings account interest and $2.50 from recycling.
To date, the club has received $9789.25 from the sale of donated trains $315.78 this year
Expenses included $196.11 for electricity ($42.82 above last month and $19.34 less than the average July), $5.16 for CA glue, and $9.20 for repair parts for equipment on the club’s layouts. We paid $20.00 for window cleaning and $30.00 for June.
The result for the month was a net gain of $164.54.
Standards Report :
Raulf Polichar reported that he is continuing to work on the new turnout required for the S29 module and that its details are challenging.
Publicity Report:
N/A
Library Report:
N/A.
Window Layout Success and Visitor Attendance:
Mike Forys reported that between July 19-August 16, 2025 the window buttons have been pushed 2,983 times. Window 1= 1,915, Window 2 = 1,068 average 106.5 per day over the 28 days.
Grossmont total (beginning Feb, 2016) = 357,428
Day One (beginning May, 2011) total = 396,986
Visitor Total since February 1, 2016 = 107,459
Mike projects that total pushes since Day One will reach 400,000 by the end of September. Awarding of an HO starter layout was among options discussed for recognizing this person.
Old Business:
SDSG Website and Facebook:
Need to upgrade SDSG Website, Google my business and Facebook page.
Liberty Loop Update:
The train stops consistently near Ghost Busters. The rail joiners need cleaning. A conductor can be added between sections of track that receive power directly and those that receive power from neighboring sections. This may be accomplished today. The crossover may need to be replaced. A new crossover is available. Dale will check to see how difficult the replacement will be.
Window & Sn3 Layouts:
N/A
Front wall display:
Looks good with Paul’s trains. Need text explaining the current display.
Lego Days:
The next Lego Build Day is August 23, 2025. Expect a lot of visitors.
Boxcar Wall Mural:
The door locking mechanism needs to be attached. This is the last item to accomplish.
Club Secretary:
Don Briggs will finish out the year as club secretary.
New Business:
Future Meetings:
The next meetings will be on Tuesdays, September 16 and October 21, 2025; both will be held at the clubhouse and on Zoom.
July 4, 2026:
Dave Posladek showed a red 3D printed flat car, 1 of 6, to display items for the July 4th 2026 celebration.
NASG Convention:
Mike talked with 2 people associated with the NASG. One deals with hotels. Mike also talked with Robert Carter who was trying to combine O Scale West with the NASG national convention. The tentative date for the show is July 7-10. Mike will check on hotels. Mike will organize a meeting with interested parties to select chairmen and make a decision on whether the convention can be held in San Diego. Getting enough personnel to perform all of the necessary tasks was recognized as the most important item. Dale will check with the chairman from the last NASG convention.
Main Layout Module Repairs:
Mike to accumulate a list of items that need to be worked on a module by module basis. Everyone can contribute to the list.
Peter Gagnon’s Layout Donation:
Need to put AC on the layout to get a quick assessment of the operating status. We should get pictures of the underside of the layout while it is on its side for leg installation. The table it is sitting on now needs to be disassembled and stored. May have a workday on Thursday depending on how much gets done today.
Operating Hours, Especially Saturday:
Saturday has been difficult to staff consistently. Suggestions were made to change the number of hours the cub house is open and the time of day (different from 12 to 6). The club house visitor attendance per hour will be tracked to help make a decision.
Water:
If you take a bottle of water out of the refrigerator, please replace it with a bottle from the supply on the book shelf on the wall opposite the refrigerator. Also, put empty bottles in the recycle bin by the Liberty Loop window display.
Storage Area:
We are waiting to hear from the mall if the storage area behind the clubhouse is available and if there will be a charge.
Great Train Show:
The Great Train Show at the Del Mar fairgrounds on October 4, 5, 2025 is on the schedule through next spring at greattrainshow.com. The question was posed on whether we want to transport part of the layout and run trains, or take the time-saver, or collaborate with another club on a sales table. All agreed we do not want to take part of the layout and run trains. Mike will check with the president of the So Cal S Gaugers. A side discussion was held on the fact that S gauge (and other scales) prices are way down. It was suggested that our prices for club sales be drastically lowered to reduce our inventory and generate some cash. Bob is already pricing our sale items at half of the Greenberg catalog price. It was also suggested advertising on additional online entities. Bob to check on reducing prices and using other websites to advertise.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 a.m.