Amherst Railway Society Newsletter January 2016 The mission of the Amherst Railway Society is education regarding and the promotion of hobbies related to Railroading. Amherst Railway Society P. O. Box 2351 Amherst, MA 01004-2351 www.amherstrail.org The next meeting of the Amherst Railway Society will be 7:30 pm EST Tuesday, January 19, 2016, at the Amherst Regional Middle School Auditorium. Meetings are canceled if Amherst Regional Schools are canceled, if meetings are canceled, the notice will be posted at www.cbs3springfield.com and at www.nbcconnecticut.com The Pennsylvania Station in New York City, from Corporate Jewel to Corporate Vandalism by Rick Abramson A 44 year veteran of the railroad industry,and longtime train aficionado, Rick Abramson will cover the concept, design and construction of Penn Station, including the six tunnels under the North and East Rivers. Dozens of photos will be shown depicting the various stages of construction and eventual tragic demolition of this grand structure. The presentation will include a brief biography of A.J. Cassatt who was president of the Pennsylvania RR. Since age 6, Rick Abramson had been fascinated with trains, both real and model. His dream of working for the railroad came true in February of 1968 when he was hired by the New Haven Railroad, holding a variety of positions over the years such as freight agent, station supervisor, locomotive engineer, train dispatcher and superintendent. Abramson recently retired as Superintendent of Operations for the Housatonic Railroad in Canaan, CT. The meeting will include a door prize, so be sure you get a raffle ticket for a chance to win a copy of the PBS, American Experience production of "The Rise and Fall of Penn Station". This video includes commentary by NYC historian and South Hadley resident, Daniel Czitrom, From the Treasurer All donations to the Amherst Railway Society may be tax deductible. As Amherst Railway Society Inc. is a 501 C(3) tax exempt organization, your donations (of either cash and/or property) may be deducted on your Schedule A, Form 1040 of your Federal income tax. Consider the Amherst Railway Society in your estate planning. Your gifts can be restricted or non-restricted (you can pre-determine how you want your donation used). Upon request, and proper documentation of course, the Treasurer will issue you a letter to be used as justification for your tax deductions Page 1 of 8
Board of Directors 2015-2016 President Bruce MacCullagh Pres Elect John Sacerdote Treasurer David Royce Secretary Bill Meier Jr. At Large (also on show committee) Kurt Jellinek - 2016 Rudy Versailles - 2017 Clark Huber - 2018. Show Committee Chair - Dick Joyce - 2017 Tom Laware Jr. - 2016 Brian O Leary - 2016 Tom Laware Sr. - 2018 3 at large members of BOD President Treasurer ex-officio -Show Director John Sacerdote Strategic Planning Committee (Develop Strategic Plan, 1 and 5 year goals) Co chairs Ken Harstine and Kurt Jellinek Tom Laware Sr. Dick Joyce John Randall Joe Albano John Sacerdote -exofficio David Royce exofficio Bill Meier Jr. exofficio Clark Huber - exofficio Membership (Marketing, Trip Committee, Member retention etc) Chair - John Sacerdote Joe LePage Joe Kurland Joe Albano Jr. Greg Maas Tom Laware Sr. Ted Curtin Prototype Meet David Owens Chair Amherst Railway Society Newsletter January 2016 Message from the President: It is that time again. The month of preparation for the biggest fundraiser of the year. Last year s weather affected our ability to award grants this year, but everyone s efforts on the swap meet made a major difference in allowing us to award several grants that we would not have been able to fund without the proceeds fromt the swap meet. If you have not filled out your volunteer form, or heard anything regarding your participation in this year s show, please be sure to fill out the volunteer form. As you know we will not meet in February. Our speakers in March and April are well known for their model railroading, and our speaker in June will be Harvey Allen, the first President of the Amherst Railway Society, and one of the speakers from our Oct 1963 meeting, the meeting that we recognize as the first meeting of the ARS. Thank you to everyone for their participation in our activities. 2016 will be a memorable year for the ARS, and we are glad to have you aboard. Bruce MacCullagh, President 2014-2016, From the Dry Hill Model Railroad Club Email address: dryhillmrrc@gmail.com The Dry Hill Model Railroad Club is in the finishing stages of getting ready for this year's Railroad Hobby Show in Springfield. The scenery work on two of our modules is rapidly nearing completion, and when completed, will not only bring a new rail scene to life, but will also allow our younger visitors to more easily see one of our special effects- the haunted tunnel. In addition, some members are working on bringing their rolling stock up to specifications, as some rolling stock will be making its' debut this year on our rails. Any piece of rolling stock which we put out has to meet club specifications before it gets put out- this is what helps us to not only put out trains of 100+ cars, but to keep them smoothly rolling during the show! We look forward to seeing all of you in a few weeks at the show! The Dry Hill Model Railroad Clubhome of the 100+ car modern trains every year at the show. CNE Spring Bus Tour 2016 This trip will take place on Sunday April 3 starting at Waryas Park in Poughkeepsie New York and will include the former railroad bridge ( now a Walkway) in Poughkeepsie, The line from Highland to Maybrook and Campbell Hall. After lunch one of the stops will be the restored Hopewell Junction Depot and Museum. and the newly built replica of the New Haven Switch Tower Lunch will be provided. The hope is that you will gain a better understanding of the part that the railroads played in the history and development of New York. As usual, everybody will get a copy of the 2016 CNE Tour guide book. There is a lot of ground to cover so we will have coffee and buses will roll at 9:00. Try to get there by 8:30 or earlier. The cost of this year's tour will be $55.00 per person and payment should be made out to:joseph Mato CNE 2016 62 Wood RD Redding, CT 06896 (home): 203 938-9992 e-mail: joemato@sbcglobal.net Be sure to include your E-Mail address so you can be contacted if needed. If you don't have E-Mail then include your phone number. Page 2 of 8
Amherst Railway Society Newsletter January 2016 Message from the Show Director A Special ARS Railroad Hobby Show Edition What s New for the 2016 Railroad Hobby Show? Show me the ABC s: A. Pre-Show Clinics; A Hands-on Experience! Two days of clinics, prior to the Show (All day Thursday and Friday) anchored by our friends Miles and Fran Hale, John Lowrance and more MMRs and let s not forget the line-up of experts in the industry. Please check the list of the clinics offered this year and PLEASE if you have not yet signed up, do so as there are already 40 people registered! This 2-day program includes the following: - Breakfast and lunch both days - All the clinics you can get to (your choice, based on schedule, of course!) - A Two-Day Pass to the Railroad Hobby Show (a 25 dollar value) All for the package Price of $92.00 per person tickets must be purchased in advance (so we know how many meals to order) If you wish to order, go to www.railroadhobbyshow.com or call the Show Office at 413-267- 4555. All clinics will be held at the Sheraton, Springfield, where parking will be free to those attending the clinics. The schedule of clinics is as follows: 20 of this year s 40 clinics are hands on type clinics. Register now to hold your place in the hands on clinics. Each hands on clinic has 30 available seats for those wishing to build the project. Registrants above the first 30 will be limited to observing the clinic without doing the project. Note: The 2 airbrushing clinics on Friday can only accommodate 20 people per clinic. Register early to secure the hands on clinics you want! After your registration is received, you will receive tool lists for the hands on clinics plus additional information by e-mail. Each clinic is labeled either Beginner, Medium, or Advanced to help you determine what might be right for your skill level. However, these are only guides, please feel free to sign up for any clinic you want. Clinicians this year are: Miles Hale, MMR Fran Hale, MMR Larry Smith, MMR Kent Hurley
Joe Robertson, MMR Larry Alfred, MMR Barry Rosier Mike Dettinger THURSDAY, January 28, 2016 8:30-10:30 101--Scratchbuild a Paper Building--Hands On--Medium 102--Basic Wooden Craftsman Kit--Hands On Beginner Continue Friday, 3:30, clinic 219 103--Water, Water Everywhere--Hands On--Medium 104--Advanced Wooden Craftsman Kit--Hands On--Advanced 11:00-12:00 105--Decorating a Blank Wall Medium For hands on, go to the Thursday, 4:00, clinic 119. 106--3-D Printing--Shapeways--Advanced 107--Making a Mold--Hands On Beginner Continue Friday, 11:30, in clinic 209 108--Building Tunnels--Beginner 1:00-2:00 109--Soldering--Hands On--Beginner 110--3-D Printing--Sketch Up--Advanced 111--3 Short Topics (telephone poles, fences, gravel roads)--beginner 112--Rock Painting and Detailing--Hands On--Beginner 2:30-3:30 113--3-D Printing--Home Printer--Advanced 114--LED Lighting--Medium 115--Benchwork--Beginner 116--4 Types of Turnout Control--Medium 4:00-5:30 117--Basic Scenery--Hands On--Beginner 118--Eastern Logging Railroads--Beginner 119--Decorate a Blank Wall--Hands On--Medium 120--Backdrop Painting--Advanced FRIDAY, January 29, 2016 8:30-9:30
Amherst Railway Society Newsletter January 2016 201--Building an Old Kit--Advanced 202--Operations--Medium 203--Creating Land Forms--Hands On--Beginner 204--Making Signs--Computer, Decal, Dry Transfers--Hands On--Medium 10:00--11:00 205--Streets and Roads--Medium 206--2-D Software and CAD--Advanced 207--Making Trees--Hands On--Beginner 208--3-Rail Wiring--Beginner 11:30-12:00 209--Pouring a Casting--Hands On Beginner --Use the mold you made Thursday clinic 107 210--DCC Wiring--Medium 211--Rocks from Foam Chunks--Beginner 212--Coupler Heights, Gauge--Beginner 1:00-3:00 213--Scratchbuild a Bridge--Hands On--Advanced 214--Airbrushing--Hands On--Beginner 215--Pan Pastels--Hands On--Medium 216--JMRI--Medium 3:30-5:30 217--Pan Pastels--Hands On--Medium 218--Airbrushing--Hands On--Beginner 219--Decorating a Building Interior--Hands On Medium Use the shed you built in clinic 102. 220--Scratchbuilding with Styrene--Hands On--Medium B. Exhibitors and the Show Configuration. Each year we continue to do what we can to keep the Show fresh. Yet at the same time, we have come to expect our long-time exhibitors to return and know exactly where they are located. This remains an annual balancing act. Our answer to this is to constantly look for exhibitors that are state of the art and on top of what s new out there, not to mention some great surprises. Our hands on clinics are in the Mallary complex as they have been for a few years now (in what s known as the Bleacher Clinics ). Specialty clinics will be held in the Young Building Office area on the first floor.they will be clearly marked and easy to find and have become known as The Quiet Clinics (for the serious modeler). We ve kept our presentation stage in the same location this year in the Mallary Complex. That works out well as we have more and more folks that want to make railroad related presentations at
our Show. We will once again be making presentations of grant awards, including our Founders Award, a $10,000 dollar grant awarded to a deserving non-profit organization as well as all of our grants, a grand total of approximately 20 thousand dollars! The Show is once again full. Check out the listing of exhibitors on the web site. You will notice that those who are new labeled with a Status of NEW while those that have a Status of YES have been relocated from the previous year. For a complete list, do not hesitate to visit www.railroadhobbyshow.com. New exhibitor highlights include 26 new participants, including almost a dozen new layouts! Headlining the list is the New England Free-Mo group trying to set a record for the largest free-mo layout ever assembled.this one will be over 200 feet long, making it one of the largest at the Show. Watch for a ton of new product releases as well from so many of our manufacturers. Please check out the web site for the complete list of new exhibitors. For our exhibitors, the exhibitor s lounge is back as is the Saturday evening dinner that we now host for an average of 200 people. Remember, any registered volunteer is a guest of the ARS and can attend. If you are a volunteer at the Show, please join us for a great dinner. And, if you wish to volunteer for this year s Show, please do not hesitate to contact the Show Office. We continue with our affiliation with the Baystate Children s Hospital and Baystate Health Foundation. Once again, we are holding a special raffle to raise money for the Children s Hospital. The Amherst Railway Society has constructed a round display layout for our raffle layout. Please stop by section 47 of the BLC to watch this layout in operation. Thanks go out to our friends at Model Rectifer Corporation (MRC) for supplying all of the scenery details, buildings and track for the layout. We will be proud to present all of our proceeds from this raffle to the folks at the Baystate Health Foundation. C. Maggie, The Railroad Clown How can the Amherst Railway Society have a Show related newsletter without mentioning our favorite railroad clown. Yes, Maggie is back, and by popular demand so much so that we have had to expand the size of our stage! Those of you that have seen Maggie s presentation at one of our meetings, already know that Maggie is a graduate if the Ringling Brothers clown school and actually lived on the Ringling Brothers Circus Train for three years while she performed with them. Maggie (and her entire entourage which has grown to accommodate the demand and the number of children) will be performing throughout the day on the new Amherst Railway Society Presentation Stage. Maggie will be looking for children of all ages to help her with her act, so stop by for the fun and surprises! I look forward to seeing you at this year s Railroad Hobby Show! John Sacerdote, Show Director
to Volunteer for the Amherst Railway Society 2016 Railroad Hobby Show We need volunteers who are serious about helping with the Largest Show in North America! Please sign up using the form below: Please complete this form and return to us ASAP (see reverse for contact info) NAME STREET EMAIL ADDRESS (IF APPLICABLE) CITY, STATE, ZIP PHONE NUMBER ALTERNATE PHONE Check and list all that you are interested in: READ THE BACK OF THIS FORM TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JOBS AVAILABLE!!! Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday THE COMMITTEE WILL MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ASSIGN YOU TO TASKS REQUESTED; YOU MAY BE ASKED TO FILL IN WHERE NEEDED
All Volunteers are eligible for FREE PARKING!! Available Jobs Include: THURSDAY JOBS AVAILABLE (Show Set-up) - Signs, including table numbers (mostly in the am) - Tables and chair set-up and placement (all day long; coordinate with Boy Scouts in evening) - door monitor/traffic control (all day long, but in shifts) - Stanchions in Parking lot for bus and ARS Parking only; add appropriate signs to stanchions FRIDAY JOBS AVAILABLE (Vendors Arrive) - door monitor/traffic control (all day long, but in shifts) - barrier providers/set-up (all day long, but in shifts) - hands on volunteers - test tracks (if applicable) - time savers (if applicable) - reception center set up SATURDAY/SUNDAY (SHOW TIME) JOBS AVAILABLE - reception center (greetings) - reception center raffle ticket sales - door monitor/traffic control (extras on doors 3,5,7 in BLC) CLOSE JOBS AVAILABLE (Sunday afternoon) - door monitor/traffic control/door guard (no vehicles until notice; in shifts) - break down of reception center (late afternoon) - collection of signs, numbers, easels, homasote boards, AV equipment (late afternoon) - Boy Scouts assistance and coordination of table and chair breakdown (late afternoon) For more information or to return this form, contact: Show Office at ShowOffice@AmherstRail.org or call 413-267-4555 or send your form to: Amherst Railway Society P.O. Box 247 Monson, MA 01057-0247 or just bring your completed form to the Next Meeting!!!