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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

Dave Smukowski opened the general business meeting. Dave gave a brief commentary on some of the questions that have arisen regarding our annual treasurer’s report and finances. Dave also gave some of the details on the upcoming Green Bay Show. Dave can no longer accommodate all of the BSG equipment that he has maintained for the club in his vehicle or in his workshop. The options are Dave purchasing a new vehicle or put the BSG modular layout corners in his back yard exposing them to the elements. This is a no contest, we better find a volunteer for the corners. Refer to the Train Show Checklist in the last newsletter.

Dave has sent a letter to MTH regarding them manufacturing a Fall S Fest car for 2008. He has not received a response at this time.

Dick Kloes thanked all who helped out at this past year’s swap meets. Dick mentioned that he could use a little help around 6:15am assisting some of the dealer unloading and attending the door. (One early riser required.)

Dick also gave a brief report on the modular layout system. One of our power supplies shorted out and is in the process of being repaired. With the though of integrating a DCC system into the layout, some rewiring may be required. Dick has purchased terminal blocks and obtained some wire for this purpose. Dick has rewired his modules and one set of corners. The cost is around $6.00 per module. A motion was made and passed that the cost of materials and wire for all existing club modules and existing member module expenses will be paid for by BSG. Any subsequent new builds will require the new hardware to maintain compatibility. The club will make some bypass cables to accommodate visiting modules. A lengthy discussion followed on the modular layout.

Art Doty gave a report on some of the model railroading activities; train shows, county fairs and conventions taking place in the Midwest and around the country. Perhaps Art should produce a newsletter, which would give a schedule of all of the meets that are taking place. Art also passed around some calendars.

Jeff Madden gave a report on the passing on some S gauge pioneers and craftsman. He also gave a brief report on some of the activities and plans for the upcoming S Spree.

Don Goeke gave a report on the new S-Helper steam engine. He was checking out the delivery schedule. (As a postscript, the engine was received before the Green Bay show and it looked fantastic running on the small layout.) I will be feverishly waiting for someone to write a performance review on this product. I will not hold my breath for fear that I will die.

Rick Wade gave a brief report on the progress with our website. BSG current events are being posted on a regular basis. He also mentioned that we would have to delete some items, as the space is filling up.

Ron Schlicht gave a brief report on the Fall S Fest car sales. We have a very limited supply of the number one and two cars. Those cars will not be sold separately until the time that all of the numbered stock is balanced. They will be reserved for four car sets until that time.

Ron also gave a brief report on one of the eastern S gauge clubs. He passed around "The Waybill" which is the official newsletter of the South Jersey S-Gaugers. It contained pictures and an article on the club receiving a sweetheart deal on a 4,000 square foot unused store in a shopping mall. I won’t go into all of the details of the saga, but I will tell you that what they have done with this store is absolutely fantastic. There are three layouts in the store, tons of railroad memorabilia and displays, plus window displays. They bring some business to the mall and they get hundreds of visitors when open. Their agreement has them hold open houses for one weekend a month and extended hours during holiday seasons. I wish that you could all see the pictures.

This is just an unbelievable story and as SJSG put it "a fantastic opportunity to bring the World’s Greatest Hobby to the public".

This is every model railroad clubs ultimate dream. This also brings up an interesting scenario. What if someone dropped a nest egg like this on us? The thud would be heard around the world. There is a fat chance that we could get enough lead moving to actually open the doors. But congratulations to the South Jersey S-Gaugers on a job extremely well done.

I’ve heard that there are some other clubs around the country with similar arrangements.

After going through all of the scale equipment it was decided not to sell anything off at this time. Even though our members bring their personal equipment to run on the modular layout, we should maintain enough to make the layout presentable if no one brought anything to run. Perhaps at some future meeting we will bring the existing equipment to the meeting and the membership can make some decisions on what to keep, what to sell or present some ideas on what new equipment to purchase. Keep in mind that we are no longer able to spend money like drunken sailors as we have in the past.

Doug Stoll proposed some ideas on promoting our club and our swap meets. Again a brief discussion followed on different ideas, like a reduced rate season pass. This would be sold at the beginning of the season and be non-refundable if you did not show up for all of the meets. We have been passing out swap meet flyers like crazy. We have to look at reducing our expenditures and increasing our revenue. We have to get 200 attendees through the doors. (That is not an unreasonable goal.) In addition we have to sell out all of the tables or nearly all of the dealer tables. At present we are falling very short of this. Dealers and attendees go hand in hand, more dealers, more offerings, and more customers, more customers, more dealers. It’s just a swap meet merry-go-round. If anyone has any ideas to promote the meets, please, please, please, please, please contact a club officer or Dick Kloes.

Call Ron Schlicht, if you wish to host a General Meeting. There is no specific criterion for hosting a meeting. Weekday evenings, Saturdays or Sundays are acceptable. If you want to schedule for next year it’s not too early.

*We try to keep away from a BSG swap meet Sunday, but that might be unavoidable.

Programs are held at the Milwaukee School of Engineering Student Center, 1025 North Broadway, Milwaukee, WI.

We are into summer and it is getting to the time of the year when the monster awakes and you start getting these poison pen letters again. Oh the joys of being a Badgerland S Gauger. This newsletter will tell you what a Badgerland S Gauger is and thereby illustrating what one isn’t.

I hope that your summer is going along just fine. The weather has actually been great for summer activities, but not necessarily for my back yard. I watch the weather channel a lot hoping for some rain for my lawn. It rains in Port Washington, Grafton and Mequon. It pours in Kenosha and Racine. Now I almost expect the weathermen (and women) to call for scattered thunderstorms, but then flash on the screen N.B.R.S.H. that stands for "Not By Ron Schlicht’s House". It’s been drier than prohibition. Of course the one time that it did rain, I thought that it was the end of the world and took refuge in the basement under the train layout. High winds, thunder, lightning, trees coming down, hail, darkness, gutters overflowing, water in neighbors basements, I actually saw dark purple on the local radar tracking. Ron, you ask for rain, well how do you like this?

The April general meeting of the Badgerland S Gaugers was held at Ray Puls’s home. Ray has been putting some of the final touches on the "train room". It is in his basement but he has done a really nice job of making this more than a basement. There are a lot of train selves built into the walls that show off some really beautiful A.C. Gilbert American Flyer train sets. (I just drool over some of the sets that I would like to have but unfortunately never will.) Ray built two section onto the ends of his 24 feet of modules that he sets up at Trainfest and Mad-City. They create a loop for operation. Eventually he will be building a new layout and just use the modules for train shows. We all had a great time at Ray’s. Many thanks Mrs. Puls for the super buffet that we all partook of. This was the last general meeting of the year and it was a wonderful way to end the season.

So what was the huge recording error? While working on the club newsletter history with the stroke on the keyboard I realized that our newsletters have been recording the wrong year for a long time. The first mailing for the Badgerland S Gaugers was in October of 1975. That season ended in May of 1976. Grouping the newsletters years, with September being the start of a new year, we aged in a matter of keystrokes. We are and have been in our 31^st year of existence. This means that in our letterhead the text 31^st year will only appear in this newsletter. In September it will read 32^nd year, unless I forget to change it. Many people lie about their age; this is a very common trait of one of the genders. I won’t say which. (Stupid I look. Stupid I am not.) So aging that quickly could bring on a great state of depression. But our club being that old is good news. Nowadays it is hard to find any relationships that last that long. How long can wee go on? How long will I be a member? I can almost visualize it now:

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

Oh I didn’t want to forget to mention the absolutely under whelming response that I got from the Train Shows Checklist that I obviously wasted a page on in the last newsletter. I will keep the Youth layout going for as long as I can. For that project I ask no more help then what has been already volunteered. For the modular layout obviously subtly is not recognized. I looked up the word subtle in Webster’s to make sure that I was not misusing it. A two by four along side the head would not wake up any of our members, it would just kill them.

It was mentioned that Dave Smukowski would not run for reelection for the upcoming season. So what happened under his leadership? We have an additional BSG layout that is setup at all of our swap meets. He participates in "every" show that we go to. He has taken the layout to shows that we never went to before, with only the help of his wife Sandy. BSG has attended more model railroading events than we ever did in the past, which has broadened our exposure throughout the state. (In the past it was Trainfest and Madison, that’s all folks.) We now have family dues rates and spousal dues rates. We have had a 55% increase in membership. That is in part due to the many shows that Dave sets up at and passes out BSG literature. He has hosted many, many meetings and his home is always open to visitors. Dave first applied for membership in 1996.

I have been doing this newsletter for many, many, many years. I changed to an envelope for delivery to actually reduce cost (one less half page) and to insure that people get their newsletter undamaged. I email some newsletters out. I have email and hard copy newsletters to some individuals; some still have not received their newsletters. Check with your postman or look in between your Farm & Fleet sale paper. I’ve found important mail tucked in with junk mail at my house. I will not hand deliver the BSG newsletter. Please let me know if you have any problems downloading the (Microsoft Word) document.

There have been some questions regarding the financial reports that have been given over the past few years. Our reports have always been made at the December meeting; they have been verbal reports for as long as I can remember.

The best way for a member to find out what is transpiring in this club is to attend meetings. BSG has done a lot of things to promote S gauge. This all costs money. In the past, there have been many items voted on that I have not necessarily agreed with. Nonetheless, all of the decisions were made by the membership in good faith and hopefully for the betterment of the club, whether they were good or bad judgments.

How many of you know that there were years that we gave out more money to charitable groups than we took in with our dues? How many of you, who don’t thoroughly read the newsletters, know that we pay over $500.00 for liability insurance? How many know that at some S Fests we nearly lost money? How many of you know just what it costs to send you this crappy newsletter? Most of you don’t know what it actually costs "some of us members" to belong to this club annually.

There will be reports that I am compiling not because I have to, but because I enjoy doing it and keeping records. BSG will be publishing an annual report. When completed they will be read at a general meeting. Copies will be made available at the meetings. They will be only given to BSG club members and BSG does not wish to have these reports just thrown to the wind. Our financial standing, dealings, income, etcetera are the business of BSG and its’ membership.

If you are unable make our meetings, I will send copies of the reports to you. Future newsletters will notify members when the reports are available. The annual reports will cover the time period from September 1^st to August 31^st. This covers the months that we are most active.

Henceforth any questions or objections regarding BSG’s financial dealings should be brought up at a general meeting and discussed logically, based on the financial report. This will eliminate any unfounded allegations regarding BSG accounts.

There are spreadsheets that I have made on our swap meets, newsletters costs and one on all expenditures (monies in and out of the organization). Copies of these sheets have been passed around for review at our general meetings. These are not part of a general distribution. If anyone wishes copies to be provided to them, they will have to send a self addressed stamped envelope plus a handling charge of $1.00 to the Secretary of BSG. The $1.00 will be placed into the BSG bank account.

This was the second year in a row that we attended the train show in Green Bay. The attendance was a little less than expected but was still over 4,800 for the two-day event. There was a lot of competition for the public attention. Right next door in the coliseum was a large dog show. (Dogs as in bow-wows, canines or those yippee little things that filled up the parking lot, barked a lot and in general left nasty little deposits on the asphalt.) If that wasn’t enough, there were over 20,000 rabid Packers across the street at Lambeau Field that just had to be present when the Packers added some new millionaires to the ranks of the general population. There were also some other events going on in Green Bay on that weekend.

Dave and Sandy Smukowski hauled the small layout to the show. Ron Schlicht added an 8-foot table extension foot the AF operating accessories. We ended up with more than enough help for the weekend. As a matter of fact we set up not one, but two rows of chairs for our members to make themselves comfortable. It looked like the Badgerland bleacher bum section, all dressed in their BSG shirts and caps. At one point Malynnda Goeke started the wave in the section. I might point that what we now call the Badgerland S Gaugers "North Division"; all members were present and accounted for. Jim Brown (past BSG, man of many offices), Chic Hartert, Ron Fadale and Jim Lamalfa make up this group.

The layout received a lot of attention, as did the accessory extension, which was made to look more like a small layout by Ron. All in all it was a really nice show and we will continue to setup at future Titletown train shows.

Once again my wife found a keen interest in a "dammed" train show. This interest seems to coincide with the fact that there is the Oneida gaming casino in Green Bay. This meant that since she has no sense of direction, I had to accompany her to the casino. She also felt that with the work that I do at the show I might be too tired to drive home Sunday night, so being extremely considerate we stayed an extra day. Of course with the train show being over there was absolutely nothing more to do but spend some more time in a smoke filled, bell ringing, money pit. However there was one real fortunate event at the train show, BSG sold two more Milwaukee Road reefers. I call this fortunate because it enabled me to by gasoline for my car in order for us to drive back home. (Don’t worry a check for the cars was sent to BSG the next day.)

During the weekend of June 9,10, &11th Sandy & I set up the traveling layout at a train show in Oconto as part of their three day Copper Fest Celebration. We set up in what I think was the nicest place that we ever set up, in what appeared to be a new elementary school gym. Upon arriving we were met by one of our hosts, Chic Hartert and later joined by Ron Fadale, both BSG members from that area of the State. There were 5 layouts in the show.
Our members from up NORT have built a fabulous modular layout. The size of the modules is 4 foot by 8 foot. When assembled, it is 40 feet long by 16
feet on one end and 8 feet on the other. Trains run from one level to another and it is almost fully landscaped. I had extra BSG club signs along and they were displayed on the traveling layout as well as the layout from "UP NORTH". The other layouts were HO and N gauge. Shortly after our arrival, Gary Children and Cal Krasonya came in. Cal had sales tables and Gary was helping him. They also helped Sandy & I as well as Chic and Ron with theirs. Chic and Ron were going to run their trains on DCC. They were having problems but thanks to Cal, who is very knowledgeable in DCC, Cal got them up and running and advised them how to fix the problems they were having. On Friday after the set up, Gary, Cal Sandy & I went to a local tavern for a fish fry, which was recommended by Chic. It was great! Saturday we arrived at the school about 8:00am we ran trains as the public came in. Later in the morning Don Westby came in and helped us run trains. On Saturday evening we had dinner at a restaurant that I would drive back to
just to eat there again. After dinner we were invited to Chic"s home to see his on3 layout. This is a" must see" layout. The scenery is gorgeous. Chic is also an award winning structure modeler. The sawmill is complete inside and out. Pressing a button below the scene and you will hear actual sounds of an operating sawmill during three work shifts. After viewing the layout and some of Chic's collection, the fireworks started. We could see them right from Chic’s front yard. Chic and his wife were great hosts and we sincerely thank them for a Great three-day weekend. The train show opened at 9:00am on Sunday. Attendance was pretty slow. Sunday morning we were join by the Goeke family who drove up to help with the show and help take down and pack up and load the truck. This was very much appreciated by us as we probably got home an hour and a half sooner. All things considered, we will attend next year if they have the show again.

This year the Badgerland S Gaugers recorded the highest number of members in the history of our club. We reached 90 total. That total includes full memberships, associate memberships, spousal memberships and juniors under the age of 18 included in our family membership package. I suppose our next goal would have to be over 100 members, but that will be easier said than done. Nonetheless we have been on a steady growth rate over the past four years.

Just how many events did our club have one or more of our layouts at? The small layout appeared at seven BSG swap meets, two Serb Hall meets, at one Cedarburg meet; the Waukesha Winter show, the Green Bay show and the Oconto show for a total of thirteen events. The youth layout appeared at Trainfest, Mad-City and the MSOE show for a total of three events. The modular layout was setup at Trainfest and the Mad-City show. The accessory extension was at Cedarburg and the Green Bay show. The BSG information booth was set up at Trainfest and the Mad-City show. Dick Kloes also took his four modules and two sets of corners to a WISE Division meet.

Over the past couple of years I have written many times about the various events that the Badgerland S Gaugers have attended along with other model railroading activities. We have many members who are unable to attend those events. You read about the modular layout, the youth layout and the small layout, etcetera. Just what are these layouts?

This is our clubs largest layout it is made up of four corners consisting of two modules per corner. The layout is geared for the scale enthusiast. It features American Models Code 148 track and most detailing is 1/64" scale. The emphasis is on true scale with proto-typical style structures and scenery. Its power source is DC. Most of the straight sections are privately owned 4-foot modules, which are at a 42-inch height. They are built to club standards in order that any member may be adjacently hooked up to any other member’s module or modules. The size of the layout over the past few years has been 18 feet wide by 34 feet long excluding the stanchions. The length is limitless, if members wished to build or add existing modules to the layout. The smallest the layout would be is 10 feet wide by 18 feet in length and would consist of only club owed modules. The intent of the modular layout is to give members an opportunity to participate in a layout even if they don’t have enough room for a large layout of their own.

This is a Hi-Rail tin plate layout using A.C. Gilbert American Flyer Track, Plasticville structures and many operating accessories. Its power source is AC. It has more of a toy train appearance. The size of the layout is 8 feet wide by 16 feet long. The engines and rolling stock are all club owned Hi-Rail, Flyer compatible equipment. This layout is privately owned by Ron Schlicht and Jim Starosta but uses an AF Oil Drum Loader, Log Loader and Sawmill that are the property of BSG. It has always appeared at shows as the Badgerland S Gaugers Youth layout.

This layout is set up on four – 30 inch wide by 8-foot long office tables, making the layout 8 feet wide by 10 feet long at a 30-inch height. (BSG owns the four tables that are set up at the swap meets. The tables are stored at the facility. We pay table fees at some other shows) its power source is DC. The track is Code 148 S-Helper snap track with plastic roadbed and has four turnout switch tracks along with SHS bumpers. It is set up on green outdoor carpeting with Masonite roads. Most of the structures are Plasticville and the configuration changes at every showing. (The reason for that is because we can never remember how we set it up the last time.) This also lends itself to never looking the same for public viewing. This layout appears at all of our swap meets. The club owns all of the equipment including the structures and the 1/64-scale vehicles. The engines and rolling stock are all club owned Hi-Rail, Flyer compatible equipment. Dave Smukowski stores all of the layout equipment and brings it to each event.

Ron Schlicht has put together an extension, which fits, adjacent to the small layout. It features American Flyer operating accessories, which are always a big hit with the children. It fits on a 30 inch wide by 8-foot long table and uses the same base material as the small layout. It utilizes some of the clubs’ operating accessories and some of Ron’s own equipment. Ron has personally financed this endeavor.

This is an area in which BSG sets up a backdrop, tables, VCR, DVD player and TV’s to show model railroad informational videos. It usually covers approximately a 10-foot square area. BSG supplies an array of S gauge literature available to the public for the taking. There is also a car display showing a boxcar from Z to G scale. There are pictures and posters of various club members’ layouts. The intent is to use it as an educational tool for model railroaders of all scales. Gary Children acts as the coordinator of the "question & answer" center and various members help out at the booth fielding any and all questions.

Whenever BSG is present at Trainfest and Mad-City, the modular layout, youth layout and BSG information center are all set up. This is when we require the most help. I want to thank all of those who help out at the shows that we attend and those members who make up the modular layout (all five of them). Gary Children is at almost every show plus helps out at all swap meets. We have a handful of other members that who readily volunteer. But we need more. I have had "new" members already volunteer for Mad-City.

I’m sure that I have forgotten something else that we do in a year’s time and I’m sure that it will be mentioned to me more than once. As long as I have been a member of this organization (3^rd meeting of existence), BSG has never been as active as we are at the present "promoting model railroading

The Fall S Fest-2006 is scheduled from November 2nd (Thursday) thru November 5th (Sunday), and will be hosted by the CASG club in the South-Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, Illinois.

OK you missed the July 1^st pre-registration date and don’t get the free patch and reduced rate. Well keep on stalling and it will cost you even more. Help out CASG and get that registration in. Early registration helps pay the bills required to get this event running. Having been on the BSG S Fest committee I know all about the upfront money that is required.

There is nothing to report for this newsletter as I said before I am running out of ideas. Thank you all for your input into this column.

Some of these are corrections to the new roster that you received in the last newsletter.

Glenn Eisenbrandt
435 W. Starin Rd. Apt 210E
Whitewater, WI 53190
geisenbrandt@gmail.com
Phone 262-473-5322
Cell 920-723-1125

If any of our members 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.

The car numbers 29291, & 29292 may only be purchased in a four-car set, 29291 thru 29294. The price for the set is $160.00 to non-members and $130.00 to BSG members.

Other individual years also available, for those prices and car availability contact:

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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Phone: (262) 675-2664 Phone: (262) 968-3729 Phone: (262) 250-0618 Phone: (414) 421-8512

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

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