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Badgerland S Gaugers News

"…. A social club for the promotion of model railroading—
especially S gauge including American Flyer, hi-rail, scale
and other facets...

Badgerland S Gaugers Charter

Attendance:
G. Children, .A. Doty, R. Jacobek, D. Kloes, S. Lunde, J. Madden, E. Mennecke R. Meissner, K. Pilon, C. Porter, R. Puls, R. Schlicht,
D. Smukowski, S. Smukowski, D. Stoll, F. Vergenz, R. Wade, D. Westby, J. Young, K. Young & 1-Guest (21)
Treasurer’s Report

Dave Smukowski opened the general business meeting. Dave thanked those who have helped out at the Serb Hall Swap meet. Dave also gave a brief report on the meet. The attendance was better but there are few or no children attending these meets. There will be three shows in 2006. See the BSG calendar. At all of the recent shows that we have attended, we have had a lot of individuals who appear to be interested in joining our club. We have given out more applications in the last couple years than in the past. Our membership has been on a continual increase. Let’s hope that that trend continues. Let’s all get this years dues in.

Jeff Young gave the Treasurer’s report it included expenditures and income from over the last couple of months. BSG also received some thank you letters form the charities to whom we made donations.

Elections were held for the Director position which term was up this year. Art Doty was elected to fill the post.

Steve Lunde, the chairman for the BSG 2008 Fall S Fest thanked all of our members that attend the State-Line Fall S Fest and the banquet. He apologized for note being able to attend all of the functions at this years meet. It is very important that we support all of the other three sponsoring clubs of the annual get-together. Our support of them translates into their support of BSG.

There was also a brief discussion on the other Fall S Fests, which are hosted by State-Line, Chicago and St. Louis. An S Fest board meeting took place Friday evening at this years meet. The idea of this is to make sure that the clubs follow a generally accepted criteria when hosting a Fall S Fest. It is of the utmost importance that we share information on each event. Things like how many attendees, how many pre-registrations, how many cars, patches and banquet tickets were sold. Every facet should be documented and shared. By doing this it only makes the job easier for the next club to establish budgets and run an event. Planning is always one of the most difficult tasks. Without a history of past proceedings it only means that task is more difficult and mistakes will be made and perhaps money thrown away. I have volunteered to compile some of the information. I am hoping that I receive the necessary input.

Dick Kloes gave a brief report on the swap meet. After having a rather slow start this year things are beginning to pick up. The date conflicts with the Lionel Club might be a contributing factor but not a major one. It is important that we get more dealers. It is also important that we get the word out on the streets.

Chuck Porter and other members have been getting flyers out. If you need some contact Jeff Young. Whether it is at your credit union, local hardware store or super market post them. Chuck mention that it seems that if you put a pile of them out they will seem to stay there. If you post only a handful they seem to disappear. It was also mentioned that we change the flyer by indicating on the front that there "is" a map on the back. This appears to be something that even some of our members didn’t know. We have to check with the police department as to how many signs that we can put on streets and sidewalks. We also have to find members willing to put them out and pick them up after each meet.

Gary Children will be updating the Badgerland model railroading car display adding a Z scale Railbox car. This will result in completing the display showing the same road name from Z to G. Gary also stressed the importance of our members interacting with the public at the shows that we attend each year. Our primary goal is to promote S gauge but our overall goal is to promote all model railroading by educating the public on all facets of the hobby. That is the first thing mentioned in every newsletter that we publish. It is truly amazing how many train sets that are in attics and basements that have not been touched in years. There will be a national NMRA convention in our area in the next couple years. Gary asked for volunteers for open house layout tours.

Rick Wade gave a report on the progress with our website. Some of the major software issues have been resolved, but there are still a few little glitches. But if you check out the site some of our information has been updated. This is not an easy task support Rick in any way that you can. I have visited a number other model railroading sites myself and have noticed that many of them take months for updates to be made.

During some of our meetings a lot of small interesting topics and information flow into our discussions. Not every item is reported in our newsletters. Nonetheless it is just some of the things that you miss out on by not attending.

Ron Schlicht led a brief discussion on late or tardy dues payments, some of which have come in as late as July. This is being addressed later in this newsletter.

Art Doty passed out some Union Illinois Train Museum calendars.********************************

I thought it would be interesting to share my thoughts on " S Fest 2005 " from the eyes of an S Fest virgin. To make my first S Fest even more interesting, I decided to take a shot and get a vendors table to sell my display cabinets. So my experience went something like this….

Twas the night before S Fest and visions of 0-8-0s and Bakers Chocolate tank cars were dancing in my head. Anxious to get there, I was hoping to see AF trains I had never seen before or maybe only in pictures. I had visions of selling 100s of cabinets and people would be standing in line just to see the cabinets everyone was talking about.

Well, at least that’s how it played out in my head. When I did arrive, I was pleasantly surprised to see the hall was bigger and nicer than expected. (I am anxious to hear how other people would compare this year’s facility to prior S Fests) After locating the people coordinating the event, a small glitch turned up in my table assignment, but was quickly resolved and table setup went well. Once settled in, I found I was like a kid in a candy store! So many trains to choose from and so little money! I did see some items I hadn’t seen before, but there were a couple that still weren’t there. Not that I could afford them, but I would’ve loved to have seen a Celanese Chemical car or a Penn Salt car.

All of the vendors I talked with were very friendly and knowledgeable and I was amazed how they were from all parts of the country. The attendees were interesting and fun to talk with as well. Some were there in search of one particular item while others were there, well, just because trains happen. It sure was great to see so many people from BSG, and I met a lot of new people I am sure Ill see again. (I especially liked the ones that showed interest in my cabinets!) The hotel staff was friendly and helpful; the security guards were fun too. One of the guards was even walking around telling people about my cabinets and I promised him a commission if he helped to sell one. And then the hotel room well lets just say you get what you pay for. The long wait in line for dinner at the hotels restaurant was unfortunate. I’m surprised the restaurant couldn’t better accommodate the size crowd that was there. Oh well, sitting down finally sure was relief!

Prior plans Saturday afternoon meant I couldn’t stay for any of the events planned, or the banquet. I’m sure I missed out on a lot of good stories and commiserating on the money blown on trains yet again.

All in all, I enjoyed my first S Fest and I am looking forward to S Fest 2006. Hopefully next time I'll be able to participate in some of the events and the banquet. Everyone involved in this hobby seems to extend a friendly hand in sharing their ideas, expertise, and concern for others. One more thing I learned from a fellow attendee, collecting AF trains is not a hobby, it’s a disease!

Another Fall S Fest has gone by and everyone and their uncle will have an opinion on it. Well here’s mine. I’ve been there and done that but this one was a bit different. What a fine job done this year by the State-Line S Gaugers. All of the events seemed to run pretty smoothly. An apparent prerequisite for becoming a State-Line S Gauger is that you must be friendly, courteous, cheerful, and helpful and whatever the rest of the Boy Scout’s motto is. Then again maybe they just drink a lot and are always in a good mood. I must admit that I haven’t been able to make all of the Fall S Fests so I probably missed some of the "great" ones. This one has to rank up there with the best ones. The banquet was thoroughly enjoyable. It was done in a very professional manner. The table centerpieces were spectacular. I should have cheated and looked under all of the chairs to find the blue dot. We will host the Fall S Fest in 2008. If we just come close to the fine job done by the State-Line S Gaugers it will be considered a success. "Everyone" that I have talked to that attended S Fest 2005 had nothing but good comments. But then again I haven’t talked to some of those individuals who have never been happy with anything.

The train races at Fall S Fest are beginning to look like the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers during the Lombardi years.

Donald Goeke III has captured first place 2002 thru 2005 in the diesel incline and was overall winner in 2002,2003 & 2005.

This gives Donald a four-year incline-winning streak and he has won the overall three of the last four years. Who did he loose to the in the last four years, his little sister Malynnda.

Malynda Goeke has captured first place 2003 thru 2005 in the steam engine incline and was overall winner in 2004.

The attendance for Trainfest 2005 was 16,479. This number was up from last year. Once again we were privileged to be part of the manufacturers show, which is held on Friday. Over the years that we have attended Trainfest, the Trainfest chairman John Tews has treated our club very well. It is extremely important that we always project an image that warrants that treatment.

We probably got the most attention that we will ever receive when the Childrens layout appeared on the local early morning television show. Gus Gnorski (a Milwaukee icon) introduced yours truly as a member of the Badgerland S Gaugers. A brief interview took place on model railroading and American Flyer Trains. The segment lasted nearly three minutes and our club name really got out there.

Once again we had a great time. We had the large modular layout, the Childrens layout and the BSG information booth. All three received a lot of attention. We passed out a lot of swap meet flyers, a bunch of S gauge literature, a few membership applications and even signed up a couple new members. We were also extremely fortunate to receive the 2005 Trainfest Chairman’s Award. This is a plaque given to those that excel in promoting and epitomize just what model railroading is all about. For us this was a great honor. Could this year’s Trainfest have been any better?

Many thanks to all of those who helped out ant this years show. Rich Eveleth and Rick Wade really spent a lot of time with the Childrens layout and Ray Puls made sure all of the our equipment kept running properly. As usual Dick Kloes, Dave & Sandy Smukowski were present for the entire show. Along with Ray Puls, Don Goeke, Joel Lebovitz, Wil Holt and the Steve Lunde geezer-gate the modular layout was 18’ by 34’ in size. Jim Sanborn brought the info booth, which was stationed at the geezer-gate end; this saves Trainfest one electrical outlet charge. Few of you know just how much the WISE Division pays for just one plug in. All together we had 24 members help out at this years event, some for the first time and then there are the ones that we can always count on.

One of our members mentioned that in some of the past years there were more of the "how to" people with displays showing how to make scenery, structures and other items pertaining to model railroading. It is not easy to find individuals who might be willing, or able, to put on those types of presentations. Woodland Scenics did some of this at this years Trainfest. Most of the manufactures were eager to help out with Q & A’s. I’m already preparing for next year. The layout will have something new and improved. Many of those that attend Trainfest come year after year and they don’t want to see the same thing, year after year, decade after decade. On the Childrens layout change isn’t desirable it is inevitable.

The 39^th annual Mad-City will be February 18-19 in Madison WI. It is held at the Alliant Energy Center, Saturday and Sunday from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Admission is $8.00 (12 and above), $7.00 seniors (65 and above), Children $2.00 (age 5-11), Kids under 5 are free. Those of you who contacted me will have passes. This is always a really nice show. Even if you aren’t able to help out at the layouts, it’s a fine show just to attend, lots of beautiful layouts and lots of vendors.

If you plan on going to this event in the future, you have to get your reservations in almost immediately after the previous shows end in order to get rooms at some of the preferred hotels. Being recognized by the state of WI as a non-profit group there are some establishments that will offer a discount on the rooms. This needs to be checked out with the individual managers at each establishment.

The third general meeting of the 2005/06 Badgerland S Gaugers meeting was held at Dick Kloes’s home. For those of you who haven’t seen Dick’s layout in a while, I’m sure that it was a real eye opener. For those of you who were unable to attend the meeting and haven’t had the time to visit the layout, you can wait until it appears in Classic Toy Trains sometime in the future. If you don’t receive CTT, come to the meetings or visit Dick………..I don’t know what to say. Actually I do know what to say but most of it would be unprintable. The turnout for the meeting was one of the larger ones of the year. Actually it was normal for our Christmas meeting. Just mention a lot of food and BSG (Big Stomach Group) will be sure to attend a meeting.

After the meeting Chuck Porter treated us to a slide show of some of his latest travels, which always include a lot of rail fanning.

"Some of our members are beginning to feel "burn out" and we definitely are in need of new blood. Do you have some ideas for recruiting and keeping new members?"

So what is this nonsense about a dues increase? Did you ever notice that we never get the new club roster until about the last newsletter of the year? Did you ever wonder what in blazes took me that long to publish it? Did you ever notice that when you get your SBC phone bill there is an amount that is different if paid after a certain date? Did you ever get any type of bill with a late charge? Did you ever forget to pay on one of those 0% interest credit cards and then get a huge charge? Do you ever pay our bills on time? Did you ever encounter or wonder about the questions that I have just listed? Why do all of these organizations do that?

Well perhaps the Badgerland S Gaugers can get their budget planned for the year if we know how many paying members we are going to have. And not only that, but I can get out a roster earlier. We have stated that the dues are due By January 31 of the New Year. For example they are due by January 31^st of 2006.

Our membership and dues schedules will remain the same for 2006 and hopefully many subsequent years. However, and I repeat however, that is if they are paid by January 31^st. If paid after that date, the dues will be as follows:

Right now some of you are thinking why are they doing this? One answer is because other clubs, businesses and corporations are doing the same thing. No we are not a business or a corporation, but we are just getting tired of people who procrastinate and make our jobs more difficult. In the event that you don’t think this is a bit of a job, try running for some of our BSG club offices. One model railroad club in the area applied this concept. (Their dollar increase was a lot higher). The results were phenomenal. They had 100% dues paid at the earliest time in the history of their organization. Five bucks, five bucks, five bucks, no it’s not the Pizza Hut plan but it’s your money. Normally 70 to 80 % of our club members have paid their dues paid by January 31^st anyway, most are paid in December. I might add that other clubs have earlier cutoff dates.

Note: This does not apply to new memberships. We never know at what point in time that we will be getting a new member.

Another question was asked of me. Why did we add the $10.00 fee to the first year membership. It was for the following reasons. The BSG blue membership pin, with mailing, costs us nearly $11.00. The BSG patch costs around $3.50. Our newsletters cost, per year, per member, is around $4.00. Members get into the swap meets for free, normal admission is $3.00. Some members that have helped out at shows like Trainfest, Mad-City and Green Bay received free admission. (That alone is more than our dues.)

Now let’s get to the point, over the years we have had, what I call "one year wonders" who join up for a year and for whatever the reason, never renew. Add it up yourself; we end up taking a pretty good loss on those.

The bottom line is that your dues are not being increased, unless you want them to be, the choice is yours. As Paul Harvey would say "……and now you’ve know the rest of the story".

*Must be accompanied or sponsored by a Full Participating Member. Junior members do not have voting rights.

*Family rate regardless of number of immediate family members. Immediate family member definition is: spouse and children under the age of 18.

All family members will receive a club membership card, which entitles them to full member privileges.

No operating night and playtime sessions planned at this time. Ron Schlicht is planning on one in the near future with the date T,B.D.

I’ve been too busy with activities, other than model railroading lately, so I have nothing to report on the subject of tips. Now if you are interested in remodeling your home tips, my first bit of advice or tip would be to try to leave your wife out of the planning. If you are unable to do that I can guarantee you that it will cost you twice the amount that you thought that it would.

Chimney smoke = Aquarium floss filter material hit with aerosol can black paint.

Car pipe loads = Plastic straws painted silver with rust color added. Very light and no cost with a McD’s super sized drink.

I haven’t purchased anything lately, so I have nothing to report. I received the club’s Lionel, AF Docksider and I wrote a report in the last newsletter. The engine has some pitfalls. There may be some suggestions to enhance its performance. I would appreciate "any" other comments on this product "please". You know were to mail them or just call or email or smoke signals or beat out a message on drums or tell Art Doty about it.

I’m increasing the font size and style on the next paragraph because since I started this column members might have missed it.

Nothing to report. Thank God. As soon as our dues comes in I will send out a new roster with listings of our new members.

If you would like to receive the newsletter via email please contact Ron Schlicht via email.

If you are interested in using the For Sale column give me a call. I would like to limit the amount of different items to a maximum four per member.

I will 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 applies

to the "For Sale" column. If you sell an item contact me so that I can remove it from subsequent newsletters.

Additional Lionel American Flyer B & O and NYC passenger cars (either from the basic sets or the separate 2- car pack. Contact Mac McGrath on his cell phone: (815) 355-2645.

Plasticville parts. I’m looking for a few parts for various buildings. If you have some broken or incomplete items and wish to trade or sell some of them please let me know. I have a lot of Plasticville parts. We might be able to exchange parts or work out a deal. If you need it, I might have it. I also have a lot of parts for kit bashing.

The views and opinions expressed in the Badgerland S Gaugers newsletters 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 Gaugers do not offer any warranties, guarantees, nor assume any liability from information contained in this publication.

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Directors: Steve Lunde (06) – Dick Kloes (07) – Art Doty (08) – Trumann Garrett

Modular Layout Committee: Ron Schlicht – Chairman, Dick Kloes, Ray Puls, and Dave Smukowski.

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