Badgerland Elections Results, Club Enters

The New Millennium With Plans For A Website.

Sunday, Dec. 5,1999

Roy Meissner's

Merton, Wl

Attendance: G. Children, A. Doty, T. Garrett, S. Jones, D. Kloes, J. Lebovitz, L. Lechner, J. Madden, L. Marotz, R. Meissner, B. Nelson, K.. Pilon, C. Porter, A. Pratt, D. Sengenberger, R. Schlicht, D. Smukowski, J. Starosta, E. Stetzenbach, F. Vergenz,J. Young. (22)

Club Expenses as Follows:

a) Train Trade Show Rental $754.20

b) Trade Show Supplies $36.11

c) Journal Trade Show Ad

$47.92

d) This Week Ad Trade Show Ad $25.04

e) S-Fest Cars Primary Order

1689.75

f) Food For Families

$50.00

g) Salvation Army

$50.00

h) Toys For Tots

$35.00

Dick Klocs opened the meeting, which was our annual Christmas get together.

Gary Children gave a brief report on this past years Trainfest. The show is getting better every year. There were some great new layouts this year. Everyone that has attended the show as a participant, definitely wants to come back. In actuality, the Trainfest committee cannot accommodate all of the requests for displays and layouts. This newsletter goes out around the Midwest and beyond. For any of those who have never attended Trainfest, it may be the largest model railroad show in the entire country. All gauges are represented and it is an exposition focusing on train layouts and displays. This is not DuPage. This is all about the hobby. Our club received some positive feedback on the appearance of the layout. We have made some positive strides, but can't stop now. We must continually improve, after all we are the only S Gangers there.

The Election of Club Officers for the year 2000 took place. There was a small mistake, that has been on our ballot for a multitude of years. It did not state that you vote for "only one" of the nominees for director. On the couple ballots, more than one was marked , it was decided that we add all marked names to each nominees total. Fortunately, it turned out to make no difference in the election results. Hopefully your editor will remember to change this on future ballots. The only other part of protocol that was not upheld, was that a member, who was on the ballot should not help count the votes. I've helped count the ballots on other occasions, and yet have been unable to fix my own loss. I guess there's little one can do, when running against the ever popular "unopposed".

The results are as follows:

President

Dave Smukowski

Vice President

Jeff Madden

Treasurer

Jeff Young

Secretary/Editor

Ron Schlicht

Director

Mac McGrath

In addition Trumann Garrett has been appointed as a Director Emeritus.

Dick Kloes gave a report on the progress that our Train Trade Show is making. After an extensive search for an acceptable facility, we ended up at a place that costs nearly four times what we were previously paying. This in itself was a bit scary. The good news is that we are surviving. Every show seems to get a little better. This could end up to be bigger and better than ever. Hopefully all of our dealers are doing well, this will insure that we have a successful event. The attendance is picking up and club members are chipping in and helping out.

The Modular Layout was discussed again. The key to the continued success of the modular layout system is "new blood". There appears to be enough new interest to keep it going. If you want to know any thing about 1/64 scale cars or trucks, our club has some of the most well informed individuals, that you can find. Mac McGrath, Jeff Madden and Roy Meissner. Believe me you can't find better.

Club expenses are items that are usually discussed at meetings. Normally an issue is discussed and voted on at the meeting. To expedite matters they cannot always be placed in this newsletter and voted on by the total membership. But occasionally T will mention some items. We would like to start a Badgerland website. It will cost a one time, $120.00 charge. It will help us advertise the upcoming S- Fest, promote our club, the trade show and S Gauge. If you have any thoughts on how the club spends it's resources, contact a club officer. If you think you have a good idea, call. We always seem to hear objections after the fact. If you feel that every expense item should be in this newsletter, and voted on months later, you write this newsletter. In electing officers, we hope that you have faith in their decisions. If you look at what the cost of running the Train Trade Show (swap meet) is, and had to

wait for total member approval, we would not have a meet. Furthermore, we would not have a club layout, we would not make charitable donations and we would not be promoting S Gauge. We are actually trimming club inventory. Meetings are where everything hap- pens. The decisions made over the last 15 to 20 years have been made by the same, dozen or so, people over and over again. I will try to generalize topics in this newsletter and add a little humor. Quite frankly, there isn't a club officer, that isn't losing money on this organization. (I mean their own.)

Next Meeting:

Sunday, Jan. 23

1:30 pm

Location:

Gary Children's:

2135 South 95th

West Allis, WI

Phone: 327-1666

Down the Tracks

•lll•l••ll•••llllll•

Upcoming Meetings:

December - Roy Meissner

January - Gary Children

February - Steve Jones

March - Brad Nelson

April - Open

Main criteria for hosting a meeting Not on a swap meet Sunday, Weekdays permissible.

Area Meets:

Badgerland Train Trade Show

January 30

Madison Model Railroad Show February 19 & 20

(No Trade Show)

March 19

April 30

Lionel Swap Meets

February 20

March 19

Lionel R.R. Club Open House

April 8 & 9

April 16

September 17

October 15

November 19

Lionel R.R. Club Open House

November 25 & 26

December 17

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Tri-City Train Show

February 6

March 5

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Wise Division Meets

February 13

March 5

This meet will be held in conjunction with MSOE Train Time.

April 16

Annual Bus Trip May 7

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DuPage/Wheaton

February 13

March 12

April 9

May 7

June 4

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"Editors Comments"

$@ #*%!&?:

Our last meeting was hosted by Roy Meissner. This was the first time in many, many years that we were someplace other than Jim Brown's. We had a great time at Roy's. Many thanks to Roy and his significant other. His wife did a fantastic job on the food. Also thanks to the club members who brought additional treats. Roy's layout is progressing rather well, he is starting to scenic a few areas, and they are turning out really great.

Every American Flyer fan remembers the "Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy. But we never saw an Oh Boy, engine like Roy was running. He has purchased a River Raisin Allegheny, 2-6-6-6, C & 0 steamer. All I can say is WOW The engine does have a couple of drawbacks. One, it didn't fit in my briefcase

Number Two, if it did, it probably would knock over my bell danger signal which is on a curve. Just how many wheels would I have to take off to get it through my Flyer switches and Flyer curves. The other huge concern would be convincing my wife that it was only $39.95, plus it had a rebate coupon. For those of you who cannot make meetings, not only do you miss a good time but learn about the history of trains and model railroading. If Roy doesn't have a great slide show. Chuck Porter does. From trips to layouts, the shows are always highly entertaining. Whether it's seeing things like Roy's milk bottle collection, or hearing about the history of some of the dairies, there is always a flood of information. Our club not only has a library of knowledge, but some very interesting personalities (excluding the editor).

Changes

If your area code changed please let me know. Don't just tell me, give it to me on a piece of paper, scribe it on a rock, paint it on a board, or something, otherwise I'll forget. Two people have contacted me so far.

New Member:

Gary Otto

N31W23808 Rough Hill Rd.

Peewaukee, WI 53072-5705

Phone: (262) 691-3778

Wanted:

662 - American Flyer Vista Dome passenger car, chrome-finished, plastic shell, decent shape, not mint, original box not required, hopefully not converted to knuckle coupler (if converted I'll have to change it back), no repaints please I'm trying to match it with some other cars, hopefully within the price guide range. Contact - Ron Schlicht.

I onlv list items under "Wanted" for two or three newsletters.

Please contact me if you want a listing continued or it will be dropped. The same goes for the "For Sale" column. Interested in swapping, mention it. (Train Related Items Only)

For Sale:

Nothing to report.

Food for thought:

a) THINK SILVER.

b) Contact S-Fest committee members about helping out.

c) Modular layout end restoration.

d) New member modules.

e) Reminder if you are a new member and do not have a club patch contact Ron Schlicht. If you do not have a badge Art Doty has to receive your name.

Ron's New Product Report

I received a couple very nice Christmas gifts. They were just what I wanted. A Crown Models reefer, done in the Schlitz brewery paint scheme. It looks just great next to our S-Fest Milwaukee Road reefer. I also received an S-Helper Bay window caboose. Since I'm partial to Milwaukee based "Stuff", I'm thrilled with it. The hand rails going to the catwalk were a bit on the fragile side but I reglued them. The caboose, although prototypical, is a bit of a plane Jane. I would like to know if any of the railings were painted anything other than black. If you have any information regarding this, contact me. A little color would do wonders for the caboose. Don't get me wrong I still love it. I'm sure glad that Santa's elves got the right information.

Send me your ideas, or tips, on items that they have purchased recently.

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Your 2000 Dues Is Overdue!

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The earlier that your does is paid, the earlier I can get a club membership roster completed and sent out.

Article IV Dues, Income and Ex- penditures Section I A.

Dues Schedule

1. All dues are due January 1.

2. Any member who fails to pay their dues within 30 days shall be notified by mail and any member not paid by March I shall be dropped from membership.

B .Dues Rates

1. Participating members - $20.00 per year.

2. Participating members under the age of 18- $5.00 per year.

3. Associate members, newsletter only with no voting rights - $10.00 per year.

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Send your checks to club treasurer Jeff Young.

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The views and opinions expressed in the Badgerland S Gangers newsletter are those Badgerland S Gangers newsletter are those of the editor, unless otherwise credited, and do not necessarily represent that of the club, it's officers, directors, or the membership. The Badgerland S Gangers do not offer any warranties, guarantees, nor assume any liability from the information contained in I this publication.

There was great weather for the opening of Trainfest '99 - sunny and a record 69 degrees. Great, that is, for outdoor activities but not necessarily a model railroad show in November.

With the addition of the East Hall (Dairy Building), Trainfest '99 was around 130,000 square feet - the largest ever. But paid attendance was only 16,473, which was down from the pre- vious year.

John H. Tews, Trainfest director, had the following report on Trainfest '99: Thank you for making our 28th Annual Trainfest a success. While the

attendance (16,473) did not set a record, or even match the previous several years, Trainfest 1999 was bigger and better than ever before. With over three acres of show area, we were able to include several special new items.

The 1/87 scale, detailed model of the C&0 car ferry, SS Badger, was very popular. Captain Skip Riley promised to return in the future to share this highly detailed exhibit with us. The C&0 car ferries operated from Milwaukee, Manitowoc, and Keewanee, Wis. to their Lake Michigan docks at Ludington.

Trainfest '99

Award Winners

Best of Show - Display:

JL Innovative Design from Avon, MN

1st Place - Display:

Hiawatha Display by Ted and Sue Jensen

Best of Show - Layout:

Independent Hi-Railers - Midwest Division from Chicago, Ill (O)

1st Place Layout:

Milwaukee Area NTrack (N)

Best of Show - Module:

Ore Dock on Ma'N'Trak by Eric Meyer (N)

1st Place - Module:

Module on Madison O Scale by Hank Brown (O)