Tag: meeting

The February SMD meeting will be hosted by Jane and Pete Clarke.

At the risk of being beaten by the Clarke’s, I know that the 11th is Superbowl Sunday but the meeting will be over and everyone will have time to get home before the game starts. So don’t let that keep you away.

Mini-Clinic

Not really a clinic in the strictest sense of the word, but I am sure that Jane and Pete will be more than happy to give us an update on the goings on at the 12 inch to the foot version of the EBT.

Directions & Parking

Park on the street or driveway, and enter through the front door. Unfortunately, the basement is not handicapped-accessible.

Ed. – Email southmountaindiv@gmail.com and we will provide the street address.

About Jane & Pete’s HOn3 EBT

 

We model the East Broad Top Railroad in 1926. The EBT was a narrow-gauge line that ran from coal mines in the Robertsdale area of the mountains to an iron furnace in Orbisonia/Rockhill Furnace and then up to Mount Union where there was a coal cleaning plant, refractory brick plants, and an interchange with the Pennsylvania Railroad. By 1926 the iron furnace was long gone, but on our version, it has been re-opened by the current owners, the Madeira Hill Co.The furnace consumes large amounts of coal (which needs to be coked first), limestone, and iron ore. Its output is pig iron which is then taken to Mt. Union. This has added a great deal of operational interest to the railroad. The fact that the iron furnace has reopened created a renewed need for iron ore and limestone. Both those had been mined along the Shade Gap branch of the EBT. So, the Shade Gap branch, which had fallen on hard times since the furnace closed in 1908, has been rebuilt. In Shade Gap this line serves limestone and iron ore mines. In Neelyton (the end of the Shade Gap branch) it serves the ganister mine for the refractory brick plants in Mt. Union and a lumber mill. Both towns also get miscellaneous freight and have coal dealers for home heating.

The layout is in a 20’ x 26’ basement and is fully scenicked. It’s early fall, so it’s still warm in the valley but cold on the mountain. Both of us work on models. Jane scratch built the Orbisonia station and roundhouse, Pete the company store and houses in Robertsdale. The excellent models of Ewings Mill and Neelyton station were built by Frank Benenati. Other structures are kits (many by White Ground) or kit-bashed. There are still models to be done, but there’s at least a stand-in for every structure so the layout looks complete.

All trains are powered by steam engines (by Hallmark and one Blackstone), all but two have sound. The gas-electric M-1 (with sound) handles a portion of the mail train run.

Trains run on TT/TO with a 4:1 fast clock. Control is Digitrax DCC (Simplex) using radio throttles. Car cards, timetable, instructions, and an operator’s guide let guest operators know how to run trains. The EBT is a heavy-duty, busy railroad. Only the Shade Gap branch runs with a more relaxed narrow gauge feel. All trains do their own switching, so all operators should expect plenty of work to do. While the passenger train does not have much switching of cars, that operator is required to record the sacks of mail picked up and dropped off in each town. There is one yard operator, we call that job the furnace shifter. Please let us know if you’d like to get on the crew call list.

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Reminder:
SMD membership meetings are always the 2nd Sunday of the month at 2PM. The only exceptions are for April, when the Mini-Con replaces our business meeting, and in May, which will take place one week later, on the 3rd Sunday. We have had some issues with finding hosts for meetings this year. Please consider hosting a meeting sometime during the 2024 – 2025 program year. If you would like to host, please let me know. We try to avoid back-to-back repeat visits so if you have never hosted, or it has been a year or so since you did, give it a thought.

SMD Meeting Schedule:
March 10 – Bob Johnson, Jefferson, MD
April 6 – Mini-Con, Blue Ridge Summit, PA
May 19 (3rd Sunday) – Jay Beckham, Berkley Springs, WV

After skipping the December meeting due to
the lack of a host we will be returning to our
regular meeting schedule for the rest of the
2023 – 2024 program year.

Believe it or not, it is already time to start thinking about the 2024 – 2025 program year. First up on planning for next year is the election of officers. Normally the slate of new officer candidates would be read at the March meeting and voted on during the April meeting. Since our annual mini-con meeting is always held in April we need to move that process up, read the slate during the February meeting and vote at the March meeting. Therefore, I am issuing a call for volunteers at this time to run for the positions of:

• Superintendent (president)
• Clerk (secretary)
• Paymaster (treasurer)

These are the only elected positions in the division. There are numerous other unofficial positions who voluntarily serve at the pleasure of the Superintendent.
Not listed is the position of Assistant Superintendent. I would like to re-establish this position as both a back-up for the Superintendent and to serve as a membership coordinator.
If you would like to run for an elected position or be considered for one of the volunteer positions, please let me know southmountaindiv@gmail.com before the February meeting.
Remember – this is your division, and your help is needed to make it work.

Draft Meeting Minutes – October 8th 2023

Division members met in-person at the home of Larry Daily near Shepherdstown WV. Approximately 12 were present.  After admiring Larry’s layout and socializing, the Superintendent welcomed everyone and called the business meeting to order around 3:00 p.m.

• Paymaster’s Report:  Alex Polimeni reported on Ray Price’s behalf that the SMD bank balance remained unchanged at $3,669.71.
• Clerk’s Report (Meeting Minutes): The September meeting minutes were never distributed and thus could not be approved by motion or acclimation.
• Superintendent Bob Johnson thanked Larry Daily for hosting.

Old Business:

• Superintendent Bob Johnson congratulated Larry Daily on a superb layout and supporting website, specifically recognizing his faithful replication of a prototype railroad. Larry is new to the Division and opted to host his second ever meeting.
• Bob Johnson raised the issue that the Division is still paying for a ZOOM subscription with no plans to resume using it; suggest he may call a board meeting to decide what to do with the account.
• Bob Johnson stated that we still do not have hosts for November, December or January meetings without returning to a host we visited last year. Suggestion was made to reach out to Paul Mahoney to host.
• Concern was also raised that we have not typically had clinics after meetings, either. Grant Berry commented that it’s great practice for the Mini-Con.

New Business:

• Bob again asked for volunteers as he’s looking for a membership coordinator to join the advisory committee. Their role would be to reach out to new members and those whose membership is about to expire.
• Bob also asked for meeting host volunteers as November, December and January’s meetings do not have hosts.
• Bob addressed the need to begin planning the Mini-Con. Grant Berry raised the concern that with Division member Brian Greenawalt’s passing, the Mini-Con will need a new volunteer to handle the Make and Take clinic.
• A question was raised about a projector; Bob clarified that we have a projector screen but not a projector, as the Division’s projector disappeared with former Superintendent Jerry Skeim’s passing. Discussion about purchasing a replacement was shelved as Bob volunteered his projector and other members said they can provide a projector if needed.

Adjournment:

The Superintendent accepted a motion to adjourn around 4:00pm. The next meeting will be at Steve King’s home near Waynesboro, PA.

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Draft Meeting Minutes – November 12th, 2023

Division members met in-person at the home of Steve King near Waynesboro, PA.  Approximately 11 were present.  After admiring Steve’s layout and socializing, the Superintendent welcomed everyone and called the business meeting to order around 2:50 p.m.

• Paymaster’s Report:  Paymaster Ray Price reported the SMD bank balance is now $3,910.71 after a deposit of $241.00 by the Superintendent. (?)
• Clerk’s Report (Meeting Minutes): The October meeting minutes were never distributed and thus could not be approved by motion or acclimation.
• Superintendent Bob Johnson thanked Steve King for hosting.

Old Business:

• Superintendent Bob Johnson updated the attendees that he’s found and contacted a printer for the SMD brochures and will have a price by the next meeting.
• Bob updated attendees that we still do not have a December meeting host, but all other meetings have been accounted for. Bob called again for volunteers and stated that if we cannot find a host for the December meeting, it may be cancelled.
• The idea was presented that SMD has organized a membership Christmas dinner at a restaurant in years past. Discussion followed with Hagerstown presented as a central location for the Division.
• Alex Polimeni acknowledged failure to distribute the previous Minutes.
• Bob Johnson again appealed for a volunteer to join the Division advisory committee as membership coordinator.

New Business:

• Superintendent Bob Johnson informed attendees that he received an email from SMD member Gary Snook that Gary has a decal printer capable of printing white, and is happy to work with Division members who could make use of it.
• Bob also heard from long time Division member Reginald Bowman who is giving away a 50 year archive of model railroading magazines. Members are asked to follow up with Bob if interested; these will be trashed if not re-homed.
• Bob informed attendees that currently elected SMD clerk Harvey Heyser has informed the Advisory Committee that he has no plans to attend meetings through the ’23-’24 year. Bob would like to ask for volunteers for Clerk, either to complete the remainder of the ’23-’24 year or to run for office in the ’24-’25 year.

Adjournment:

The Superintendent accepted a motion to adjourn around 4pm, and asked host Steve King to speak about his railroad, who elaborated on how this was the fifth iteration of the Virginia Midland, and the first to be built free-standing. Steve has been adding more scenery to the layout and hosting regular operating sessions, and invited attendees and SMD members at large to participate in.

This was followed by a wonderful presentation about traction railroading of all sizes by new(ish) SMD member Grant.

There is no host for the December meeting at the time of these minutes, but the January meeting will be hosted by Dave Thalman near Winchester, VA.