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What’s happening now in the 4th Division
Wain Miller ended up having a quadruple by-pass and was in surgery for nearly 6 hours. He came out of it very well and will be in ICU for at least 24 hours. He reports a sore throat but is able to speak and the doctors are very pleased with how things have gone. The family wishes to thank the railroad community for its kind words, thoughts and prayers.
One of the 4th Division’s best friends and most active members, Wain Miller is facing at least triple by-pass surgery Monday morning at Swedish. Many of us have friends and family who’ve gone through this and know the road ahead. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family at this time. I will update you on his progress.
Rumors have swirled recently that the long-time publisher of Railroad Model Craftsman was in financial difficulties and would cease operations. Good news! Carsten Publications announced that they have been purchased by White River Productions, which will honor all current subscriptions.
Complete details are on their website.
Eugene (Gene) R. Methven, 92, passed away early in the morning of August 10, 2014. He lived in Maple Valley and attended the Tacoma Clinic often and occasionally the Eastside Get-Together. He rode with Henry Holowedel and, after Henry’s passing, stopped attending because of not driving at night.
There will be a celebration of Gene’s life on Sunday, September 7 from 1:00–3:30 p.m. at the Wilderness Villa Clubhouse, 24100 221st Place, Maple Valley, WA 98038.
See Gene’s complete Seattle Times Obituary here.
Long time active 4th Division member Alfred S. Robinson, 88, passed away from a heart attack on July 30th (as reported to me this week by his wife Doreen). Al often used the term “Pal” as a term of endearment and because of that I always referred to him as “my Pal Al.” He was one of my favorites and a mentor.
Al was perhaps best known for his many years of managing the Seattle Clinic Mart, back during the days of our Beacon Hill meetings, which is where I first met him about 30 years ago. Since the Seattle-North Clinic moved to the current meeting location, he has been unlocking the church doors, preparing the room for the clinic, and participating in the clinic events. Doreen, in the spirit of continuing volunteerism has offered to continue to unlock the building for the Seattle-North Clinic if we will call and remind her! Al was the founder of the 4D G-scale module program, and he was largely responsible for those modules morphing to become what is today’s Puget Sound Garden Railway Society. He and my (then 12-year-old) daughter Ashley were featured on Spokane TV news stories during the 1991 Railfest Northwest PNR Convention with those G modules.
He had been fighting diabetes, liver failure and cancer the past couple of years, and once said to me (while discussing his diagnosis) that he’d had a wonderful life. This was quite evident when I met with his supportive family over the weekend.
The family is planning services to be held at the Ronald United Methodist Church (same location as the Seattle North Clinic) on Saturday, August 30th at 2 pm. The church is located on the west side of Hwy 99/Aurora Ave N, just North of 175th, between the Cadillac dealer and the Deseret Thrift Store (where Al shopped before every clinic!).
Al had spent much of the past couple of years selling a large part of his train collection, but was still buying up to the day he passed. A true model railroader! The family and Railfun are currently working on an in-house estate sale of his collections of G, On30, HO and other train related items, as well as his extensive military collection of tanks, uniforms, and other items. This may occur near the end of September. Another notice will be sent out when the date is chosen.
When we created the Digital Grab Iron a few years ago, we made it “opt-in,” which meant that you must actively request inclusion. Now the 4D Board of Directors believes every 4D member should be notified of all the Division’s news. Starting today, you will receive a short notification whenever any new article is posted.
Just click the link in the email to read the full article or, if you’re not interested, delete the email. It’s as simple as that. But now, all members will know what’s going on in our active Division.
Of course, if you absolutely never want to know anything, we understand. <grin> Send an email to Cliff Green at cliffg@codewrangler.net and he’ll remove you. But you’re going to miss some of the best of what your NMRA dues cover: what’s happening locally.
Ask not what the Annual NMRA Pacific Science Center Show can do for you, but ask what you can do for our Annual NMRA Pacific Science Center Show! For 40 years this model railroad show has been the primary source of 4th Division funding of member services and projects such as the clinics, module program, and video library (to name but a few of our member services). We have been able to do this because of the volunteer efforts of the committee and those displaying their hobby work, and the staff of the Pacific Science Center.
Each year we have magazines to give away at the NMRA-PNR-4D Membership table. These magazine “gifts” have always been well received by the kids and adults (and even a few members too!). A couple of years ago “Railfun Model Railroad Estate Services” began storing and then donating the magazines from the estates we had under contract for the show. We have not run out of magazines to give away during the show.
This year we have a new problem because we have over 15 estates in contract, another 3-4 pending, plus we no longer have one estate storage locker that was used for both trains and magazines. We are buried in model trains and related items and have run out of space to store the magazines for the PSC Show donation.
We need someone to step up and agree to store about 20 cardboard boxes of Trains, Model Railroader, MRC, etc the next 5 months until the January 2015 show. We could even store them in more than one place if one person does not have room for all 20 (or so) boxes. Currently they are stacked on my front porch and the Truly Unpleasant Mrs Berger has indicated her dissatisfaction with this arrangement! These are all clean non smelly magazines and all they need is a dry place to sit until the show. We can deliver even if need be.
So how about it, are you ready to step up and participate in the best model railroad show in the Northwest and possible the entire country? You even get to read them yourself!
Call PSC Show Board Member Bobj at 206-948-0862 or email at camelrenter@yahoo.com and begin your volunteering for your hobby. Thanks for your consideration, and keep on model railroading.
Bill HupeArmand Gerald Cyr, 64, of Port Orchard, unexpectedly passed away peacefully in his sleep Thursday morning, July 24, 2014. Armand was born in Madawaska, Maine, on November 25, 1949 to the late Leonide and Albertine Cyr. He graduated from Bassick High School in Bridgeport, CT in 1968. Armand is a U.S. veteran who served proudly in the Air Force for four years and served over twenty years in the civil service.
He married Karen (Yahnel) Cyr in Vacaville, California on February 19, 1972. Armand was a beloved member of the community and Crossroads church.
Armand was an avid model railroader. He frequently could be found building buildings, working on his railroad, helping build layouts, and participating in the local Pacific Coast and Pacific Northwest Regions of the National Model Railroad Association. Armand belonged to a Kitsap County model railroad roundtable, helping build and operate model railroads throughout the county.
Armand is survived by his wife Karen and two children, Armand Albert Cyr (Melanie) and Aaron Cyr (Rebekah), and by five grandchildren: Cameron, Shaun, Adrian, Zechariah and Adrianna. Armand is also survived by his eight siblings, Mona Cyr, Jeannette Sebastian, Robert Cyr, Rachel St. Onge, Roger Cyr, Jackie Gatchell, and Paul Cyr. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Ronald Cyr.
A private family viewing will be held on Wednesday, July 30. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held at Crossroads Church on Friday, August 1, at 6:00 p.m.
In lieu of flowers or gifts, a donation fund to support his surviving family has been set up at http://www.gofundme.com/c3uec.
The Fourth Division has added yet another monthly clinic to better serve local NMRA members and other model railroaders. The Mount Vernon Clinic will have its first meeting on September 23, 2014, at the Mount Vernon Senior Center, starting at 7:00 pm. (Editor’s Note – the original clinic name was Skagit Clinic, but has been changed to prevent confusion. The date of the first meeting has also been updated and is correct in this blog post.) The Senior Center is at 1401 S. Cleveland Street, easily accessible from I-5 via the Kincaid Street exit.
A number of Skagit and Snohomish County folks were making the monthly trek to Oak Harbor for the Whidbey/Skagit monthly clinic and several of us decided to start a newer clinic closer to home. Our goal is to work closely with our fellow friends over in Oak Harbor to possibly share clinic agendas and clinicians, which seems like a win-win situation. We also hope to serve more NMRA members (and other model rails) in the Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom County areas.
As of this writing, Ted Becker has agreed to step up and be the first clinician and he has proposed several ideas. As we get closer to September 23, we will make a more detailed announcement in the Grab Iron. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions or suggestions, or wants to volunteer to be a clinician, feel free to contact me at tabooma@msn.com or 360-399-1226. If you wish to be added to an email list for a clinic newsletter, just let me know.
This month I’ll discuss the Assets and Liabilities aspects of the NMRA financial world. Assets are things with a positive cash value that contribute to our value. Liabilities are obligations we have that decrease our value. The difference between the two is the net value of the corporation. (Remember, I am trying to keep this simple.)
ASSETS – We organize our assets into six categories: cash, receivables, capital assets, investments, inventory, and pre-paid expenses. Cash is the sum of the deposits in our various bank accounts and the cash in our investment account. Receivables are those sums owed to NMRA by others, i.e., invoices we made that are not paid by someone else. The biggest items in this area are the unpaid HDM pledges. Capital Assets are the depreciated book value (we depreciate capital assets above threshold values and life expectancy) for our equipment. There was a major change when we sold the HQ building as we converted a physical asset into a “cash” asset (it actually mostly went to investments). Investments are the current market value of the various investments – stocks, bonds, money market – that are held by the NMRA. I’ll cover this in a future column. Inventory is the value of the various items remaining in our company store – books, gauges, apparel, etc. Pre-paid expenses are those deposits and bills we have paid that provide services in a future fiscal year.
For 2013, here is a summary of our Assets at the end of the year:
Cash $ 502,01
Receivables 28,166
Receivables (HQ Sale) 896,360
Capital Assets 16,752
Investments 834,634
Inventory 33,880
Pre-paid Expense 64,463
—————
Total Assets $2,376,266
LIABILITIES – The other side of the ledger is more complex in some ways as the NMRA has a large number of commitments that fall into broad classifications according to common accounting principles. The major elements are unearned revenue, taxes payable, fund balances, and equity. Unearned revenue is anything that has been paid in advance and is to be used in a future year to cover an obligation. This includes part of the Life Fund, member payments for future memberships or conventions, and a portion of the current year payments for dues and subscriptions which are reserved for next fiscal year. Unearned funds are moved into current income in the year in which they are to be used. Taxes payable are those taxes due to governmental groups that have been set aside for later payment – think of it as a kind of escrow. Fund balances are the various committed set-asides where the money is reserved for a specific purpose, either by the donor or the BOD. I’ll cover these in more detail in the future, but it includes the Diamond Club, the Howell Day Museum Fund, the Heart of America Fund, and several other commitments.
At the end of 2013, NMRA Liabilities were:
Accounts Payable $ 8,895
Accrued Vacation Liability 12,000
Unearned Revenue 798,717
Taxable Payable 175
Unrestricted designated Assets* 323,209
Unrestricted, non-designated Assets** 910,997
Temporarily Restricted Assets*** 322,273
—————
Total Liabilities and Equity $2,376,266
*Life Service Obligation, Dean Freytag Memorial Fund
**Approximately 2.5 months operating expenses and BOD reserve fund
***Heart of America, HowellDayMuseum, Diamond Club
At the end of every fiscal year, the NMRA hires an independent accounting firm to audit our finances and prepare a report for the BOD and to prepare our tax filings. The firm reviews all our records and spends about a week at HQ to examine the documentation and to ask questions of the staff. We passed the 2013 audit with no issues or weaknesses. The results will be posted on the new website after the audit is accepted by the BOD.
Next time, I’ll review the various funds we use to keep track of specific commitments that will require cash at some point in the future…and we need to be sure to set it aside.