Category: News

By Superintendent Ken Liesse

Just a reminder that the deadline for postmarking your 4D ballot is just a couple of days away. Ballots must be postmarked by May 10th for them to count in this year’s election.

Superintendent Ken Liesse

There will be a meeting of the 4D Board of Directors on Saturday, April 20th, 1:00 at Mitzel’s in Kent, WA. If you have any items you would like to have added to the agenda, please email either me or Jean Melvin before next Wednesday, April 17.

This is also the 4D’s annual budget meeting, so if you have any items you would like to have discussed for the budget, please let us know.

Note: this is a change from the originally planned date of April 27.

Note repaired email links. Doug.

Ken Liesse, Superintendent, 4D/PNR/NMRA

Just a reminder, all candidate statements from anyone who wants to nominate themselves for the 4D Board need to have such statements in to Nominations Chair, Ed Liesse (eeliesse@aol.com) by this Saturday, March 30. We hope to have the ballots in the mail by the end of next week.

As a reminder, there are three positions open: the Assistant Superintendent and two Directors. With the passing of the new bylaws and policy manual last year, we no longer vote for Directors in individual positions. The top two vote getters will be the winners.

Tom Draper, Support Services Director

Atlanta 2013 Convention Update

• Tours are selling briskly, so be sure to register now to avoid disappointment. Most prototype and general interest tours are limited to 50 people by venues.
• A team of PTE convention reps had an informative and entertaining tour of the American Maglev Technologies test track. If you’re interested in the future of transportation, don’t miss tours P352 or P457.
• Tour P355 to theCSXTrainingCenterwill include a visit to the Georgia Northeastern RR, where you’ll get an overview of operations, see locos, and visit their dispatch center and yards.
• The convention hotel, the Waverly Renaissance, is 40% booked at this time, so don’t hesitate in reserving your room.
• The clinic schedule has been updated on NMRA2013.org.
• A very active and entertaining general interest/non-rail program is available, so bring the family, sample some Southern hospitality, and see all thatAtlantahas to offer.

NMRA BOD appoints new At Large North American Director

The NMRA Board of Directors has appointed Mike Yurgec the new At Large North American Director, a position vacated by Miles Hale, MMR. Mike resides inSherman,ILand is a Director of North America Railroad Products for a large hydraulics company. He was recently elected Vice President of the Midwest Region, and prior to that was District 5 Trainmaster for the Illinois Valley Division. Mike also served as Chairman of the “Railsplitter 2012” Midwest Region Convention Committee.

NMRA BOD appoints new Vice President – Special Projects

The Board has also confirmed the appointment of Gerry Leone, MMR, Vice President-Special Projects. Gerry served as NMRA Communications Director for five years, and, prior to that, was Deputy Chair of the NMRA’s Member Services Department. He also served on the boards and edited the newsletters of the Thousand Lakes Region and Twin Cities Division. Gerry received the NMRA President’s Award in 2010, and the Meritorious Service award in 2012. Gerry replaces Bill Kaufman, who resigned in mid-February.

Email addresses for the NMRA eBulletin

If you did not receive the first issue of the NMRA eBulletin recently, either your spam filter is blocking it or your email address with NMRA Headquarters isn’t current. Please click here to update your email info. It may take a little while for the update to take effect, since it’s done manually by staff. The next issue of the NMRA eBulletin should be in early May.

New Email address for Division Business Car Column

Jim Zinser has announced a new email address for his Division Business Car Column: divbizcar@outlook.com.

NMRA Museum Gallery Exhibit Donation The WISE Division inWisconsin recently voted to donate $5,000 to the NMRA Museum Gallery Exhibit.

Ken Liesse

Nominations for three positions on the 4D Board are now open. There are two Directors spots and the Assistant Superintendent position open in this year’s election. Al Lowe and Stu Rogers are both seeking re-election, but the Asst. Superintendent is an open field. If you would like to self-nominate for any of these positions, please send a candidate statement to Ed Liesse (eeliesse@aol.com) no later than March 30. Ballots will be mailed to all eligible 4th Division members after Ed gets the ballot made up and sent to Mike Slease for publishing.

Mike Brestel

John Roberts passed away peacefully March 1, 2013, in Williamsburg, Virginia. John was NMRA President from 2004 to 2006 and Vice President from 2000 to 2004. He was also Eastern District Director, 2009-2013; MCR President and Trustee, 1989-1993; and held other offices throughout the NMRA. He was a well-known model railroad author and builder of several highly regarded layouts in HO and O scale.

John contracted Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare brain condition that causes a rapid decrease of mental function and movement and inevitable death. He first showed symptoms in early 2012. John is survived by his wife, Suzie, his children, John (Collette) and Whitney, and two granddaughters.

The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts be sent to the Diamond Club, National Model Railroad Association, Inc., 4121 Cromwell Rd., Chattanooga, TN 37421. Cards and letters may be sent to the family at 104 Heritage Pointe, Williamsburg, VA, 23188.

Tom Draper

NMRA Organizational Changes

• Eastern District Director John Roberts is unable to continue serving on the BOD due to health reasons. Joe Gelmini has been designated as John’s replacement to serve out the remaining years of John’s term as Eastern District Director. We all wish John well. The family requests that you not contact John at this time.
• Gerry Leone has resigned as Communications Director for personal reasons including some unfortunate personal snipes from other officials and the organization’s slow pace of modernization.
• At Large Worldwide Director, Tony Koester is retiring from the BOD due to term limits. Tony has served as a Director for the past six years. This position will be filled via the upcoming elections.
• Atlantic District Director, Nobby Clarke is retiring from the BOD due to term limits. Nobby has served as Director for the past six years. This position will be filled via the upcoming elections.
• As a result of a disciplinary action the BOD declared the At Large North America Director position vacant. As a result, Miles Hale is no longer the ALNAD. A replacement will be named according to NMRA policy and procedures. Reference the NMRA web page for additional information.
• Bill Kaufman, Vice President for Special Projects has resigned for personal reasons.
• Tom Draper has been appointed Director of Support Services to fill any vacancies until a replacement can be found starting initially with the publication of the InfoNet News.
• Rick Coble was confirmed by the BOD as Assistant National Secretary supporting National Secretary John Stevens.
• Most of the functions of the Member Services and Map Departments have been folded into the Marketing Department. Those functions that were not moved to the Marketing Department were assigned to other existing departments.
• PresidentCharlieGetz hastens to add there is no village coup in all of these changes but rather a combination of events that has led to a dynamic turnover. The NMRA is is good shape!

2016 National Convention Bid

An excellent presentation was made by the host committee for the 2016 National Convention inIndianapolis,IN(“Highball toIndianapolis”). The BOD approved the bid. The convention will be July 3-10, 2016 in downtownIndianapolisat the Westin hotel andIndianaConvention Center. The National Train Show will also be in the Center, directly across from the hotel.

Future National Convention Dates

The BOD approved a motion to allow more flexibility in scheduling the dates and areas of the country for our conventions starting with the 2017 convention.

Donations to the NMRA

The BOD approved a motion to provide NMRA members a first opportunity to purchase items donated to theNMRAMuseumor Library or which were undesignated but were deemed surplus. Any unsold items may be offered for sale to the general public.

Data Sheets and Calendar

…are now the responsibility of the Publications Department.

NMRAMuseum

The NMRAMuseumhas reached over $300,000 in pledges for the California State Railroad Museum Gallery Exhibit (“The Magic if Scale Model Railroading”). This pledge amount has triggered a matching pledge amount of an additional $250,000 which puts the Museum closer to its goal of reaching $750,000. Fundraising will still be needed as we are not to our ultimate goal yet. The Museum is now in a position to ask for construction bids. It is estimated the gallery exhibit will probably be completed within 14 months of awarding a construction contract. TheCaliforniaStateRailwayMuseum is visited by over 600,000 attendees each year.

The BOD offered its sincere appreciation for the recent donations to the fund raising program of $10,000 by Model Railroader Magazine and $50,000 by The World’s Greatest Hobby. There were also four pledges of $25,000 or more and 12 pledges of $10,000 or more.

Financial Reporting

It was reported that the Summary of Financials for 2012 and the 2011 Auditors report will be published on the NMRA web site.

Both the 2012 NMRA Convention and the 2012 National Train Show made a profit from their operations.

HASEA Agreement Extended Indefinitely

The BOD approved extending indefinitely the one-year working agreement with HASEA, an association of 100,000 Chinese Model Railroaders and railfans, to share the NMRA’s standards and organizational knowledge. This agreement can be cancelled for no cause upon a 30 day written notice by either party.

Marketing Plan

Marketing Director Page Martin reported on a new ambitious marketing plan for the NMRA including in-package membership inserts with Walthers products as well as on-line and hard building hobby establishments, museums, special attractions and national and regional model railroad shows and conventions. An active program is being created for November which is National Model Railroad Month.

The Constant Contact email system has been set up and is ready for use by Regions and Divisions.

Awards

PresidentCharlieGetz presented the President’s Award to outgoing At Large Worldwide Director Tony Koester and outgoing Atlantic District Director Nobby Clarke for their years of service to the NMRA.

The BOD adjourned in Honor of John Roberts, HLM, MMR (MER), former President and Eastern District Director and in memory of Lt. Cdr. John M. Baker (USN) (MER), John Baker (AR), and Jim Long (PCR).

Ken Liesse

The next 4D Board of Directors’ meeting will be Saturday, Feb 23, at 1:00 P.M. at Mitzel’s, on Central Ave. (84^th), just off the Valley Freeway in Kent. Any 4D member may attend the meeting.

If you have anything for the agenda, please get it to Superintendent Ken Liesse by Wednesday, Feb. 20.