25th Anniversary, S-Fest, Trainfest

Electionfest, Duesfest

Sunday, October. 15, 2000

Dick Kloes's,

Milwaukee, Wl

R. Cronin, S. Jones, D. Goeke, D. Goeke, D. Kloes, S. Lunde, J. Madden, M. McGrath, R. Meissner, B. Mosher, B. Nelson, R. Puls, D. Sengenberger, R-Schlicht, D.Smukowski J.Starosta, J. Young. (17)

a) Swap Meet Hall Rental
$673.90

b) Swap Meet Supplies
$37.90

c) Swap Meet Journal Ad
$50.86

d) S-Fest Expenses
$4574.78

e) Newsletter Printing
$27.46

f) Member Name Badges
$97.42

A breakdown of S-Fest Expenses will be given at general meetings. The final report, when completed, will not be published in the newsletters. For those members, who are interested in the completed figures, they will be made available, only at general meetings, upon request.

Jeff Young gave the treasures report. Outgoing expenses are noted in the newsletters. All otner figures are reported at the general meetings.

Mac McGrath lead the monthly discussion on the upcoming Fall S Fest. Everything from set up, to door prizes, to security, to open houses and to the banquet menu was discussed. I won't go into everything that was brought up, since most of the many, many, trivial details would only bore you. Boredom should be reserved for general meetings, not newsletters.

Mac thanked all of those, who were present, for all of the contributions that they have made over the last year, toward making S-Fest 2000 a success.

Trainfest 2000 was gone over in detail. It turns out that many of the rumors about this event turned out to be erroneous. Volunteers were recruited to help out with the layout. More details will follow in this newsletter.

Mad City Model Railroad
Show will be held February 17 & 18. The difference this year, from other years, is that setup will be permitted on Friday, February 16 From noon to 10:00 PM. Set up is usually handled by those who are bringing their modules for the layout. Not as much help is required For setup, as is required for the show, and for the final breakdown. Volunteers will be needed. Please contact Ron Schlicht if you plan on attending. This is the only way that I can get you a pass and I have to know well in advance. (The next meeting for example.) There is a parking fee of $4.00 a day or $7.00 For two days. If you come early enough in the morning, the parking is free. This show is a bit smaller than Trainfest, but none the less is a very fine show. The floor space is being increased for this years event. It is the second largest audience that our club gets each year, and it gives us additional state wide exposure.

Don Goeke brought along some new S gauge items for the club members to drool over. Don also is responsible for not only, sourcing some of the door prizes for S-Fest 2000 from various manufacturers, but also donating some items, from his own stock.

Officer Nominations for the year 2001 then took place. A ballot will be included in this newsletter. You can fill it out in advance and bring it with you, or send it to me as an absentee ballot.
I have to receive it by December 2, 2000.

It does not require a signature, a foreign postmark, more than two witnesses, or a supreme court justice seal of approval. If you have the ability to play eight BINGO cards, at one time, you may have trouble will our ballot. If you previously resided in the state of Florida, spare us your vote. You may mark your ballot, behind the nominees name with an X, an 0, a check mark, crayola scribbling, mascara, or what ever you choose. If you choose to punch out your ballot, in any fashion, please use a sharp instrument, go through the ballot, but don't hurt yourself. The Badgerland S Gangers do not accept responsibility for any physical or mental harm, which may occur during the filling out of our ballot. If you are one of the our many members from Illinois, please vote only "once".

As always, we use a hand count. No out of*state (Illinois) resident will be part of this process. Due to the recent vote counting problems, all members excluding those on the ballot, will assist in the counting of the ballots. In the event of a tie, we will declare Al Gore the winner. Since he will probably be unable to preside at our meetings, we will pass out new ballots and hold yet another general election. Overseas and absentee ballots will be disqualified, and only the votes of the members at the meeting, will count. If we are still unable to find a winner, we will appoint Roy Meissner as interim Vice President.
Ballots will be made available at the meeting.

The nominees are as follows:

President Gary Children Dave Smukowski

Vice President Don Goeke Jeff Madden

Treasurer Jeff Young Unopposed

Secretary/Editor Ron Schlicht Unopposed

Director Steve Jones Fred Vergenz

Special Note:
For Past Florida residents, unopposed "is not", I repeat, "is not" a candidate for a Badgerland officer. Please do not vote for unopposed. It isnotacandidate.— --- —

The meeting was adjourned. Normally I don't mention the adjournment of a meeting in the newsletter. However, this one is noteworthy of recognition. The meeting ended before the first side of a 90 minute tape was recorded. I don't believe that this is a record, but you can bet $100,000.00 to $1.00 that it is in the top three. Under forty-five breath taking minutes. Imagine that.

Sunday, Dec. 3, 2000
1:30 pm
Location:
Roy Meissner's
N6459 Highland Court
Merton, WI
Phone: (262) 538-4325

December - Roy Meissner
January - Gary Children
February - Steve Jones
March-
April - ???

Call Ron Schlicht, If you wish to host a General Meeting.

Main criteria for hosting a meeting Not on a swap meet Sunday,
Weekdays permissible.
Saturdays do not exist.

Our last meeting was hosted by Dick Kloes. Dick is making tremendous strides on his layout. If you enjoy seeing a "how to construct a layout seminar", this is the place. Since our last visit there has been trestle construction, like you have never seen before. Dick was also one of the members that was on the S-Fest 2000 layout tour. The response that I got on his layout was super. From the walk around controls, to the structures, the trees, the mountains, the rivers, the gorges, the bridges, tunnels and trestles, if you can't walk away with some additional knowledge, you're deaf, dumb and blind, not to mention a Florida voter. As always we had a great time at Dick's house.

Wow. We were very pleased with the way, almost, everything turned out. The next time we should make it even better. Input, input, we need your input. We are always open to your suggestions. Feel free to either send me your comments or send them to

Included in this newsletter will be an article on S-Fest 2000.

Trainfest 2000

Once again our club set up the Badgerland modular layout system at the 29th annual Trainfest, November 11 & 12th. The layout was one of the largest that we have ever had, 34 ft. x 26 ft. The Schlicht-Starosta 24 ft. were on one side. Art Pratt's 24 ft. on the other side, Dick Kloes's 16 ft. on one end, Jim Maslowski's 6 ft. and 10 ft. of club modules on the other end. This is probable as large as we will ever want to be. We had the headsets there, and they helped with communications. All in all, the layout ran very well over most of the weekend.

I would like to thank all of the members who helped out over the week end. Setup went fairly well with the help of Chuck Porter and others. We had plenty of people for the tear down. I would like to thank all of those who helped out. Dave Sengenberger, Joel Lebovitz, Steve Jones, Don & Danielle Goeke & Ray Puls stayed until we took off the chains, and released them. Don Hink once again acted as chief engineer throughout most of the weekend. I hate to mention names because I know that I'm going to forget someone. One of these years. I'm hoping that I get to see Trainfest.

Getting your badge is always going to be somewhat of a problem, if you are not there Friday. The badges were also used as parking passes this year. The only way for non-Friday people, is to pay for parking, and pick up an entrance pass at the exhibitors entrance in the south east corner of the north building.

This years Trainfest was once again held in both the north & south buildings. Once again, the floor plan was very well done, the wide aisles meant no gridlock. We were in the south hall this year and had a very nice location. The club corners, which in the past, were a bit on the ragged side, looked fabulous. Ron Schlicht worked on two of the corners and Dave Smukowski worked on the other two, plus a club four footer. Our layout has never looked better. To date, this was truly,

as Winston Churchill said "our finest hour". Dick Kloes's brother painted a new Badgerland S Gangers sign, Jim Starosta donated a fine walnut frame and yours truly, constructed a brand new easel. It looked great, real, first class, professional job. But now this is no time to rest on our laurels. There is still a lot of room for improvement. But this was the proudest, that I have been, since we started the modular layout system.

Again congratulations to the WISE Division for a job well done. Unofficially over 18,000 people came through the door. With the additional, nearly 2,000 people helping out, that's a lot of model railroaders. This show attracts people from all over the Midwest and has to be considered one of the finest model railroad shows in the country. Remember it's not York, it's not about selling, it's a model railroading exposition.

The rumors about the facility have been erroneously reported. The State Fair Park is planning on building a new convention facility. But this will be to the east of the existing north and south halls. The existing halls will continue to be used until the new one is completed. The WISE Division already is signed up through 2002 or 03. So we can look forward to next year and subsequent years with renewed vigor.

Address:

Norm Rutkowski
8624 W. 90th Ave.
Overland Park KS 66212
Phone: (913) 381-2271

Hopefully subsequent membership rschlicht@ra.rockwell.com The above is my work address. I do not have a home address.

The club still needs the 15th Fall S-Fest patch to complete an archive set.

Ron Schlicht is still looking for a Plasticville Cape Cod house. Peach sides, brown windows and doors. Box not required. It could even be glued, as long as its not sloppy.

I only 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 individuals who may not have a complete S-Fest patch collection, we do have a supply of the 16th, 15th, 10th and never popular 7th year. We also have some car bodies from the 10th and 13th Fall S Fest.

Badgerland's older rolling stock of early American Models cars and some engines will be sold shortly. Most of the cars have solid scale couplers and scale trucks. Some may have some steps missing. They were run on our club layout, some at only one show. A list will be publish in a subsequent newsletter. Whatever is not sold to members will be offered for sale at the Badgerland Swaps. They will be very reasonably priced.

I recently purchased some more "little people". What a surprise! They were made by Rail King an M.T.H. product, (30-11016) a 12 piece figure set, labeled set #l. This leads me to believe that there will be subsequent sets. As Curly, of the Three Stooges would say "What's the significance". They were designed to fit into most of M.T.H. passenger cars. In order to accomplish this feat, they turned out to be "S" gauge. Yes S gauge. So there you have it, 12 painted figures, for ages 8 and up. This should include the majority of our membership. This also means that I will be using them as children,

in most cases. I might add they are priced reasonably.

Remember keep sending in all of those new product reports on your recent purchases. To date, since I have added this column, there has been a grand total of "zero". That's not Zorro, the handsome, young, masked, revolutionary, Spaniard. It's zero, as in none, less than one, nonexistent, member resistant.

1. The term of office for President, Vice-President/Program Coordinator, Secretary, and Treasurer shall be for a period of I calendar year, from January I to December 31.

2. The President and Vice-President Program Coordinator shall not serve more than 2 consecutive elected terms and cannot be reelected until I calendar year has past.

3. There is no limit on consecutive terms for the Secretary and Treasurer.

4. The Board of Directors shall serve 3 year terms. These terms shall rotate each year, with one new member being elected each year.

5. In the event that an officer is unable to complete their term of office, for whatever reason, the Executive Committee may appoint a replacement to finish out the term, until the next general election.

Included in this newsletter is your ballot for this years elections. If you come to the meeting, bring it with you. If you cannot attend the meeting, you can send it in, if you wish. Mail it to Ron Schlicht.

The next meeting is the one at which the elections of club officers will take place.

The earlier that your dues is paid, the earlier I can get a club membership roster completed and sent out. OK, OK last year was the latest that I ever got a new membership roster out

Article IV Dues, Income and Expenditures 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.

This year was the Silver Anniversary of the Fall S-Fest, plus the 25th year since the founding of The Badgerland S Gangers. From the conception of the first Annual Fall S-Fest, to the start of Badgerland S Gangers, many may have dreamed of it, but had no idea, that silver anniversaries would actually come to past. This event was celebrated by not only the 521 registrants, but with the inclusion of spouses and children, the total number of individuals in attendance was over 800. A total of 27 states, plus Canada, were represented in the total number of attendees. From East to West, North to South from the state of Washington to California, from Florida to New York, a true cross section of the United States was represented. This was by far, the highest total that has ever participated in a Fall S-Fest hosted by The Badgerland S Gangers.
'i
This years event, S-Fest 2000, was hosted by the Badgerland S Gangers in Waukesha WI, which is just west of Milwaukee, at the Waukesha County Expo Center. This 12,000 sq. foot circular arena with separate exposition rooms, kitchen and balconies provided BSG with was an choice facility, for this years event. An excellent food and beverage menu was provided at facility. This started with coffee and sweet rolls in the morning. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, bratwurst, barbecued beef, chicken strips, soups, French fries, nachos and more, along with the varied compliment of beverages were available throughout each day.

During the early planning stages of this years Fall S-Fest, the Badgerland committee adopted a general theme, "let's make it affordable guys". This was only the second time in it's history, that the Fall S-Fest convention was not held in the same facility as the resident hotel. The dichotomy and economic makeup of the Milwaukee area would have taken away from the original affordability theme, had this venue not been used. Along with the balcony lounge area, this provided the registrants and dealers, an R & R area from which you could overlook the main floor. This birdseye view of the sellers and manufacturers area, gave you an opportunity to eat , relax, look over your purchases, and plan your next buying strategy.

This year the Badgerland S Gangers offered a Milwaukee Road wood-sided reefer produced by Crown Models as the 25th Annual Fall S Fest car. With very subtle markings on the ends of the cars commemorating the double silver anniversaries, the car had appeal for both the collectors of S Fest cars, and the prototypical model railroaders. A total of 530 of the limited run cars were purchased Due to the unexpected response, and the manufacturer unable to procure more of these cars, those who did not respond early were unable to purchase a car. The total number of Fall S Fest cars manufactured, and sold, by the Badgerland S Gangers, established a new record for the club.

Let the gala begin. Friday started with the arrival of the dealers and manufactures. The usual flurry of activity took place. In some cases, after many hours of a long journey, the hustle and bustle of unpacking and set up began. The 206, eight foot tables filled up with almost everything that children, young and old, collectors and operators, would love to see under their Christmas trees. The early arrivals were treated to complementary coffee & donuts provided by BSG. Along with the early birds, were the six model railroad layouts that were setup in various areas of the facility. Many individuals took advantage of the tour provided by Kaimbach Publishing, producers of Model Railroader, Classic Toy Trains and a multitude of other publications. Before you knew it the usual feeding frenzy began with sales being made in rapid fire succession. The activities went on throughout the evening. There were clinics taking place in some of the adjoining rooms and they were extremely well attended. An excellent "Milwaukee Style" Fish Fry was added to the food entrees. The evening ended plenty of happy individuals, from both sides of the tables.

On Saturday at 8:00 am the cash registers were ringing again. As a sign of the times, now a days, calculators click, registers don't ring. Some of the traditional haggling and horse trading took place. This year there were a lot more walk-ins at the registration table, than in the past, a good sign that S Gauge is growing. For those weary from the trading pits, a tour was offered of the historic Pabst Mansion and Mitchell Park horticultural domes. The tour was very well attended. Throughout the day many other activities took place. Just as the night before, the clinics were a popular attraction. In many cases this left Badgerland members scrambling to find extra seating for all of those in attendance. This year, we had a record number of entries in the model contests. The train races and load pull included some of the usual suspects, this is always a happening, that is a can't miss event for many of the attendees. The sales were brisk throughout the day along with the ever popular "scratch & dent " sale held by John Heck. Then came the scramble to repack (in all case not as much as previously unpacked), and breakdown the layouts and displays. It was time to ready for the final event of the evening, the banquet and auction.

Another record was established for the Badgerland S Gangers, as 231 were in attendance at the banquet. An outstanding three course menu was provided. In addition a pizza party was provided for the younger S gangers. If you went away hungry, you would have had to lost all of your senses (sensory and common). An opportunity for second, third, fourth, etc. helpings of the entrees, were there for your culinary enjoyment. It might be noted, many took advantage of this opportunity, and obviously required the need for an antacid in the morning.

Tradition, tradition, what banquet would not be complete without Andy Jugle showing us the Joe Dokes classic movie on model railroading insanity. Strike the last remark, passion is more appropriate. The keynote speaker for S-Fest 2000 was publisher, pioneer and crusader for S gauge, Don Heimburger. Don started with giving us the history of the Fall S-Fest saga, from it's inception, on through the years, to the present. He provided us with his incite and captured the true meaning of why we all gather together at this time of the year. S Gaugian is the longest running S Gauge periodical to date. We learned about it's modest beginnings to where it stands today. Don also spoke on the evolution of S Gauge, from when A.C. Gilbert was the major supplier of 3/16" trains, to the multitude of suppliers currently on the market. From department store layouts, Boy's Life magazine. Popular Mechanic's to the Internet, S Gauge has grown to it's highest level. Quality and selection of products are certainly at an all time high. Don also chronologically spoke of the leaders throughout the years, who are responsible for keeping "our" gauge alive. Many of those he spoke of are no longer with us. Many thanks to Don for his excellent presentation.

Throughout the evening many fine door prizes were bestowed to those in attendance at the banquet. Besides the awards for the train races, there were other awards of note. Each of the four sponsoring clubs received a plaque, as a benefactor award. Along with the Badgerland S Gaugers, the Chicagoland Association of S Gaugers, the State-Line S Gaugers and the American Flyer S Gaugers of the St. Louis Area model railroad clubs, all have contributed to not only keeping Fall S Fest successful, but have made an impact with their efforts, promoting S Gauge. Pete Jugle (post humous), Andy Jugle and John Wickland received architects awards. Those three individuals truly founded, modeled, crafted and built the Fall S Fest to what it is today. The final commendation of the evening was the "Founders" award, which was bestowed on Charles "Chuck" Porter, the father of the Badgerland S Gaugers. Had it not been for Chuck, we would not have been celebrating this 25th Anniversary event, in Wisconsin, on this great October evening.

John Wickland once again used his expertise and salesmanship skills in conducting the traditional auction. This is more of a contribution, than meets the eye. At times, the proceeds from this event have made the difference on whether or not, the hosting club breaks even financially, when they sponsor a Fall S Fest. John's contributions, to not only this years Badgerland, Fall S Fest, but his leadership at past events have been invaluable.

On the Sunday, following the main event, six S gaugers participated in the open house layout tour. Included was Roy Meissner's layout with scale at it's best. Brad Nelson's reconstructed fabulous tinplate layout, Dick Kloes's "under construction", multilevel, mountains, gorges and trestles venue, Ron Schlicht's CTT, over 1500 "little people " city. Dave Smukowski's American Flyer Hi-Rail layout and outdoor, G Gauge, garden railway and Terry Dyer's American Flyer, nationally documented, tinplate layout All of the participants recorded record turnouts, with numbers exceeding 120 at one of the homes. The Badgerland S Gaugers thank the Fall S Fest attendees who visited the layouts, and we are sure that they enjoyed their experience.

Special thanks goes out to the registrants, dealers, Badgerland members and the three other participating clubs who helped out, not only their physical presence but their advise and technical assistance. Also, to the manufactures and those who brought their layouts and displays, the Badgerland S Gaugers are truly grateful.

It's important that we pass the Annual Fall S-Fest experience on to our youth. It is in their hands to proliferate S gauge. "Please pass the medication" should not be one of the main entrees at the banquets. The main purpose of Fall S Fest is to promote the gauge. Secondly, it promotes friendships that last a lifetime, and perhaps, that is most important aspect. Conceivably someday the 50th Fall S Fest will come, some of us may no longer be here to celebrate it. Perchance some of us will be remembered, as those who were legends of the gauge. Let's keep this annual event going and support it at next years, 26th anniversary, held in Rockford IL, and hosted by the State Line S Gaugers.

Badgerland S Gangers

President

Gary Children ______

Dave Smukowski ______

Write-in _______________________________

Vice President

Jeff Madden ______

Don Goeke ______

Write-in _______________________________

Treasurer

Jeff Young ______

Write-in _______________________________

Secretary

Ron Schlicht ______

Write-in _______________________________

Director

Steve Jones ______

Fred Vergenz ______

Write-in _______________________________

REGARDING ANY WRITE-IN CANDIDATES. IF YOU WISH TO RUN MAKE YOUR WISH KNOWN. IF YOU WISH TO WRITE IN AN INDIVIDUAL, BE ABSOLUTELY SURE HE OR SHE IS DEFINITELY INTERESTED IN RUNNING FOR OFFICE

Officer's Listing:

Directors: Fred Vergenz (00) - Chuck Porter (01) - Mac McGrath (02) - Trumann Garrett
Modular Layout Committee: Ron Schlicht - Chairman
Dick Kloes, Art Pratt, Jim Starosta, Jeff Young.