From the Desk of the Superintendent

The monthly meeting of the South Mountain Division (SMD) will be held on Sunday, December 11th at the home of Division member Jeff Grove.   This will be the third in-person meeting home meeting of the division for this year (2022 – 2023).  Obviously, if you have symptoms of Covid or have recently been exposed, we would ask you not to attend.  Otherwise, everyone is welcome.

The meeting location is in the Hagerstown, MD area. Please email the Superintendent at southmountaindiv@gmail.com for the street address.  As per normal (whatever that is) activities are scheduled to start at 2:00 PM but reasonably early arrivals are welcome.  Jeff’s home is a side by side duplex with dual driveways.  Jeff’s drive is the one on the right and he requests that you do not block any of the driveways in the area when parking (park on street).  When you walk up Jeff’s driveway turn to the right and enter the basement using the outside basement door.

Jeff’s previous layout was the victim of several moves so what we will be seeing on the 11th is a totally new and features many craftsman kits.

Following the business meeting we will have a rather unusual clinic presented by Jeff.  Many of you are probably aware that Jeff is the proprietor of Carolina Craftsmen Kits.  Jeff will be making a presentation on the process he uses to identify new kit concept, design and produce them.  Many of his ideas and processes can be useful to all of us when it comes to selecting and building structures for our layouts even if you don’t use craftsman kits yourself.

The turnout for the first two fact to face meetings of this year (and the live May 2022 meeting) has been very good.  Let’s keep up the trend and have an even better turnout on the 11th.

 

Bob Johnson
2022-2023 SMD Superintendent

Please find the November draft meeting minutes at this link <https://portal.smdnmra.org/2022/12/06/smd-draft-meeting-minutes-13-november/>.

SMD Draft Meeting Minutes – 13 November

Division members met in-person at the home of Paul Mahoney near Frederick, MD.  18 or so were present. After viewing the layout and socializing, the Superintendant welcomed everyone and called the business meeting to order at 2:45 p.m.  It was noted that this is just the 3rd in-person meeting since the pandemic started.

22.111Paymaster’s Report:  Paymaster Ray Price reported the SMD bank balance was $3,457.91 (the same as last month).

22.11-2Clerk’s Report (Meeting Minutes): The attendees dispensed with the reading/summary of the minutes (previously distributed by e-mail), and per Roberts Rules of Order, the draft minutes, as submitted, were approved by acclamation.

22-11.3The SMD welcomed a possible new member named Leo.

Old Business:  

22.33Meeting Reminders: There was a brief discussion of email meeting reminders. It seems that, while reports of the first mailing not getting to all members had been made, only one of those present actually experienced the issue. All received the 2nd notice.

22-10.5Mini-Con 2023:   The Mini-Con date is set for the first Saturday in April April 1, 2023 the week before Easter.

New Business:  

22-11.4A Summer Trip in 2023: Two destinations were discussed:  1) the Western Maryland Scenic RR in Cumberland and 2) the EBT in Orbisonia. No official vote was taken but many voices spoke in favor of the EBT. The Clarkes pointed out that FEBT would be willing to open the Robertsdale Museum for the SMD.

22-11.5Upcoming train shows were discussed, but there were too many to get all the details. There was a suggestion that the newsletter list them.

22-11.6 Host Paul Mahoney briefly spoke of his, “It’s just fun” philosophy of model railroading.

Adjournment:  The Superintendant accepted a motion to adjourn.  The next meeting on Sunday,December 11, 2022 will be held at 2:00 p.m. at Jeff Grove’s home near Maugansville, MD.  It will be an in-person, face-to-face meeting.  Members will be reminded by e-mail.

Notes for the Minutes taken by Pete Clarke and formatted by Clerk Harvey Heyser

Following the meeting, host Paul Mahoney presented a clinic on 3-D printing.