Tag: meet

SMD Membership Promotion

 

On 14 December your Division will be conducting an all-day event to encourage model railroaders to join the NMRA at HobbyTown – Frederick, located at 454 Prospect Blvd, Frederick, MD 21701-6400; (301) 694-7395; htufrederickmd@gmail.com.

This event is scheduled to run from 10:00 AM till 4:00 PM. In addition to an information table promoting the benefits of NMRA membership we will have several table clinics (similar to the Mini-Con) with demonstrations of technology in model railroading (DCC, 3-D printing, computers, etc.) We will also be highlighting model railroading as a form of gaming. This approach is targeted to appeal to the younger modelers in the community.

In conjunction with this event, we have updated our Division brochure and purchased a pull-up promotional banner. These items will also be of value to us at the April Mini-Con.

Thanks to all of you who have volunteered to participate in this activity. The available space is just about filled up but if any of you would like to stop by we would welcome you and maybe even put you to work for an hour or so to give the volunteers a break. HobbyTown – Frederck is operated by Division member Richard Benjamin. We thank Richard for making the space available.

https://www.hobbytown.com/frederick-md/l27

From the Desk of the Superintendent

Robert “Bob” Johnson, Superintendent (2022-24)

First, I want to remind everyone that there will not be a business meeting in December. The Division will be conducting an NMRA membership recruiting event at HobbyTown – Frederick on Saturday, 14 December. It was agreed that this event would take the place of the regular meeting. The next business meeting will be held on 12 January 2025, at the home of Steve King in Pond Bank, PA.

 

On to other thoughts…

At the risk of being accused of beating a dead horse, I am again asking you to consider taking a more active role in the management and operation of the Division. It is hard to believe that we need to have candidates for the positions of Superintendent, Clerk, and Paymaster identified by the end of February so that we can follow the prescribed process for nomination and election of officers in time to notify the NMRA as to who our officers will be during the 2025/2026 program year. As of this writing Ray Price has agreed to continue as Paymaster and we have one potential candidate for Superintendent. We are still looking for volunteers to serve as Clerk. If we don’t get one we may have a “work around” but I would prefer that we had a volunteer who is qualified under MER guidelines.

In addition, we need a number of volunteers to serve in appointed positions. A listing of the primary positions, along with a description of the associated duties, can be found here. My thanks to Alex Polimeni for developing this information.

 

Piedmont Junction 2024 – Registration Now Open

Registration is now open for Piedmont Junction, the 2024 Mid-Eastern Region Convention, in Durham, North Carolina at the Marriott Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle Park the weekend of October 17-20, 2024, with four full days of model railroading activities.

  • 43 clinics
  • 25 layout open houses
  • 13 operations sessions on 10 different layouts
  • 3 prototype tours
  • Carolina BBQ Banquet (vegetarian & gluten free options)
  • Banquet speaker Carl Hollowell, President Aberdeen & Rockfish Railroad Co.
  • Contest evaluations, T-TRAK layout at hotel, and much more!Register Now at the Convention Website: https://piedmontjunction.cpd13.org/
    from the home page, click on the registration tab

    Early Registration rate of $60.00 for NMRA members
    through 8/31/2024

    Hotel reservations available at our special rate of $79.00 usd
    Marriott at Research Triangle Park
    4700 Guardian Drive, Durham, NC 27703

    Hotel Registration Link: https://mer-nmra.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ff9c9b60a3019d08c05fb8e92&id=fd75eab596&e=8d5e4e9309
    Book your group rate for Mid Eastern Region of the National Model Railroad Association
    Or telephone 919-941-6200 to get the special rate

    See You in October!

    Jack Dziadul, Co-Chairman
    Kevin O’Connor, Co-Chairman

SMD Mini Con; 06 April 2024

South Mountain Division (SMD) Mini Con, Clinics Day is 06 April 2024. Doors open at 9:00 AM at the Blue Ridge Summit Fire Hall. The event is FREE! Plenty of parking along side the fire hall. Food truck on-site. On going presentations throughout the morning are informal. Sit and chat with clinicians. Learn something new. Meet new friends. Bring the family. Make a day of it. More details to come.

Please support our sponsor, Mainline Hobby Supply. Their store will open at 9:00 AM also on this day.

Potomac Division Clinic Invitation

WHAT:  POTOMAC DIVISION IN-PERSON TECHNICAL CLINIC

CLINICIAN’S: GEORGE MEYRICK AND ERNIE LITTLE, MMR

TOPIC: Using JMRI DecoderPro to program decoders

WHEN: SATURDAY, December 9, 2023

TIME: Start at 9 AM and go until conclusion

WHERE: Jerry’s Hobby Barn – 11552 Hereford Court, Hume, VA 22639. (You may need to use Markam, VA for GPS)

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED BY Emailing Ernie Little the information requested below at: super@potomac-nmra.org.

This is a technical clinic and due to the its nature, only 8 attendees will be accepted to participate. This clinic will provide the attendees with the knowledge of how to program locomotives using DecoderPro and have questions they have about the program answered.

Attendees should bring an individual locomotive they wish to program, or locomotives they wish to speed match to the session. It is requested that the attendee provide the following information about their locomotive(s) when they register:

1. Locomotive Manufacturer – (Atheran, Prototype 2000, etc.)

2. Type of locomotive (steam or diesel) and Name of locomotive (F3, DL-109, AC4400, etc.)

3. Decoder manufacturer and type of decoder installed. (Digitraxx, DH163, etc.)

4. Other information on the locomotive’s properties. (Assigned functions, etc.)

5. What you want to do with the decoder. (Reset address, change CV values, etc.)

6. Any questions you would like to answered or discuss.

9:00 AM -The session will begin with a one-hour briefing, using power point and live demonstration, to present the DecoderPro application’s abilities which include:

1. Creating a roster of locomotive decoder settings.

2. Reading and writing all locomotive properties such as long and short address, lighting setup, and CV values.

3. Change decoder function mapping.

4. Change or reassign decoder addresses.

5. Speed match multiple locomotives.

6. Make changes to decoder settings such as startup voltage, sound, sound level, and other specific changes.

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM – After the conclusion of the briefing attendees will individually use DecoderPro to program a locomotive on a provided HO and N scale programming and test tracks with the assistance of George Meyrick or Ernie Little, MMR.

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – LUNCH on site (There will be a $20.00 fee for this clinic to pay for lunch)

1:00 PM – Conclusion (no later than 4 PM) – Continuation of programming efforts.