national model railroad association, midwest …flimzie page 5 fall 2009 flimzie – the nmra rock...

MODEL RAILROADERSNational Model Railroad Association, Midwest Region, Rock River Valley Division

MIDWEST REGION

F L I M Z I E

Volume 42 Number 1 Fall 2009

Superintendent’s Report

John MannI hope everyone is having a fantastic summer and has had some time to get out of the basement and chase some real trains. The September meet will be a good time to bring some pictures and show the rest of us what you have been up to.I am looking for some volun-teers. We need some people to continue some of the pro-grams and activities we do. First, I need an overall chair-person for the Show and Sale. Don Brindle has “volunteered” to register the vendors. He will be helped by Jim Studer who is the immediate past overall Chairman of the Show. Tom McCabe will continue as the floor layout person. I am sure Larry Cich and Ray Dyreson, both past Chairman will have sage advice. I need a Video Li-brary person to take charge of the video library and get it to

the meetings and keep track of the videos that are out.I need someone to assess the status of the modular layout, the Rockford Route and the timesaver switching layout. I would prefer having several in-dividuals for this. These peo-ple do not have to be mem-ber of the Board of Directors. These various layouts can be great “ads” for our hobbyA special projects coordinator would be helpful. Also an es-tate advisor.Lots of opportunities!!!!As far as the Board is con-cerned, if you have an interest in serving on it, give me a call. You do not need to be “elect-ed” and many hands make light work. On a sad note, longtime mem-ber Tom Williams passed away recently. Tom had been in fail-ing health recently. As many of you know, Tom was instru-mental in running the elec-tricity for the Show for many years along with Dick Caudle. We will miss him.

Your thoughts and sugges-tions are welcome and I can be reached at 815-332-2496.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

BOD RRVD

DECEMBER WILL BE HERE SOONER THAN YOU CAN

IMAGINE.Our annual garage sale is on the agenda for The 14th of De-cember. This is a great time to start getting ready to off load some of those items that you no longer want to display on your layout.You can also make decisions on whether or not you want to add something else to your pride and joy. The Editor

FLIMZIE Fall 2009

FLIMZIE – The NMRA Rock River Valley Division Newsletter

SuperintendentJohn Mann7303 Farmhome LnCherry Valley, IL [email protected]

Assistant Super.Tom McCabe844 Ramona TerraceMachesney Park, IL [email protected]@aol.com

Chief ClerkLes Zimmerman604 Oak Knolls Ave.Rockford, IL [email protected]

PaymasterRich Woock2490 Austin Pl.Beloit, WI [email protected]

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONNational Model Railroad Association, Inc.

4121 Cromwell RoadChattanooga, TN 37421

Enclosed Amount of Annual Dues

q Regular Membership $55.00q Family Member (Spouse or Minor Child of Member) $7.00q Students under 25 or any person 18 yrs or under $28.00qMembership without Scale Rails & NMRA Bulletin $36.00q Sustaining Member (Club/Business) $110.00q Midwest Region Waybill Subscription $6.00

(NOTE: Life Membership No Longer Available)

Name: ______________________________________________

Street Address: _______________________________________ City: ______________________ State: ___ZIP: _____________

RRVD Officers FLIMZIE StaffEditor / Mail RosterRon Anderson978 McKnight Cir. #2Rockford, IL [email protected]

END OF THE TRACKClarence Welte,

Membership Chairman.Tom Williams, NMRA member since 1982 passed away. Tom helped the division in many ways of the years serving on various committees. He as-sisted willingly to help make our annual show and sales the successes they have become.He chaired the modular com-mittee for a couple years, worked on converting a base-ment space in the relocated Brass Whistle Hobby shop at Rockford Plaza and assisted Eldon Raasch with building the Amberville Station which the Division donated to “KIDS AROUND THE WORLD” in Kis-simee, Florilda. The members of the RRVD will miss him and send our condolences to his family.We wish also to extend our con-dolences to Stan Guyer. Stan’s son passed away suddenly. Stan has been a member as-sociated with us since before the division was formed. He was a member of the Forest City Model Railroad Club in the 1950’s. He attends and exhib-its his fine O scale collection at our shows. We extend our heartfelt support to help him through this difficult time.

From the Editor:In the last issue of the Flimzie, I indicated my interest in getting help from some of the master models in our organization to the less knowledgeable model hopefuls. At this publication, I find that no one has made any attempt to step up and assist new people(potential modelers and members of our great hobby). As we know, our pres-ent economical condition has kind of put a rather large bump in our road to a progressive organization.This does not mean I am giving up, I’m just leave all avenues of in-terest open. Maybe there will be some experienced ones out there that will volunteer their services.

FLIMZIE Fall 2009


As we look forward to another year of activities with the Rock River Valley Division of the NMRA I have planned the fol-lowing clinics for our meets.

September 15, 2009 : Show and TellPresentations of railroad re-lated activities from this sum-mer.

October 4, 2009 : Super Detailing a simple Flat Car by John Drozdak Modeling Peeled PaintBy Jim McQueeny

November 2, 2009 : Midway Village Train Show

December 14, 2009 : Division Garage Sale

January 3, 2010 : Steam and Diesel Loco-motive Operations By Dick Lindquist

February 7, 2010 : Railroads of Rockford By Dick Caudle Custom Control Panels By Jim Baker

March 14, 2010 : TBD

April 11, 2010 : Alaskan Rail-roads A condensed history of construction and operations. By Ken Olsen

Division Clinics Schedule 2009-2010

Jim McQueeny

Contest Schedule 2009-2010Jim McQueeny

Continuing my responsibilities as your Division Contest Chair-man. Here is the schedule for the modeling contests for the 2009-2010 season.There will not be regular meets with model contests in Sep-tember, November, Decem-ber or May because we have scheduled other events at that time.Your model may even qualify for Merit Judging points in the NMRA Achievement Program.

October 2009Open Loads – Kit build, Kit-bash or Scratchbuild a model of a railroad car that is carry-ing an open load., any size, any scale, any gauge. The car can be built of any material, wood, plastic, cardstock or whatever you prefer.

January 2010 Locomotive Service – Enter a model of a structure that is used to service a locomotive. Steam or diesel, any size or shape. It can be as simple as a small shovel fed coaling stop to a huge diesel shop with over-head crane interior detail.

February 2010 Off Line Structures – Off line structures are not served by a railroad siding to the build-ing. A small bakery, furniture store, and a large truck LTL dis-tribution warehouse are just a few examples of off line struc-tures.

March 2010Passenger Railroad Stations, Depots – Again, any size or scale, as large as the Union Station in Chicago to as small as a rural, seldom used, whis-tle stop on a branch line.

April 2010Passenger Cars – Any unit of rolling stock that carries pas-sengers. This could be a com-muter rail car, a trolley, a main-tenance of way bunk car, a drovers caboose, heavy weight or lightweight Pullmans and open platform coaches are a few examples.

Summer JunketJuly 11 2009

R to L: Ken Mosny, Gene Wheeler, Diane Hodson, John Hodson, Les Zimmerman, Dick Caudle, Clarence Welte

A Happy Group

FLIMZIE Fall 2009


FLIMZIE Fall 2009


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FLIMZIE Fall 2009


Another summer is just about behind us and time to start thinking about moving down to your basement or where ever to get back to the World’s Greatest hobby, Model Trains. How much rail fanning or jun-ket planning did you do this past summer? Get many ideas to add to your pike or whish list?

I ran across some good T-shirt slogans so I’d thought I’d pass some along at this time:

1) Here I am, what are your other (2) wishes?2) It’s people like you that make people like me take med-icine!

On a sad note, the RRVD lost a long time member this sum-mer, Tom Williams. Tom was on the BOD for a number of years and his “insights” to the board were always interesting. We miss you Tom!

See everyone In September.

CABOOSEDoug Loy

Join the ClubBy Tom Maladecki

If you do not have space to build a model railroad right now, think about joining a club. You can get-together with other railroad modelers and do some satisfying mod-eling activities. You will get to hone your skills while meeting some nice people.

The Northern Illinois Histori-cal Railway Association, Inc. is located at the Paulson Agri-cultural Museum, 6910 Belvi-dere Road in Argyle, IL. If you haven’t been there, you will be surprised that Argyle is just a very short drive from the northeast side of Rockford, Loves Park, or Machesney Park.

The members of the Argyle club are building a layout rep-resenting the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad’s “KD Line”. The track is laid and a lot of the scenery is in place for Argyle, Caledonia, Poplar Grove, Capron, and Chemung. Work is progressing on the two end points of the layout, Rockford and Harvard. And, we recently had our first op-erating session.

Work sessions are scheduled for every Saturday morning. However, members can be found working on the railroad throughout the week.

Best news of all - - member-ship is only $30 per year!Contact Clarence Welte at 4320 Forest View Ave., Rock-ford IL 61108, or 815-398-4733.

FLIMZIE Fall 2009


TRAINFEST 2009 BUS TRIP REGISTRATION FORMName: __________________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________________

City:______________ State: ____ ZIP:______ Phone No.:(___) ___ _______ E-mail: ______________________

Check here ___ for Beloit Depart/Return Mail to:No. of Tickets ___ X $25.00* ea. = $________ Ray DyresonNo. of Tickets ___ X $15.00* ea (14 & under) = $________ P.O. Box 307Total Amount Enclosed $ _________ Winnebago, IL 61088

( CUT ON DOTTED LINE )

On Saturday, November 14th, RRVD is again chartering a bus to Trainfest in Milwaukee. Trainfest is the biggest train show in the Midwest, if not the country. If you’ve never been to Trainfest and are interested in model trains, you need to go. If you went to previous Trainfests but didn’t go in the last few years, you need to go again. Come with us on the RRVD bus. There will be fun, prizes, and friendship.

So join us for a fascinating day of model railroad fun. And, it sure is relaxing to ride back home after a long day of walking through Trainfest, sharing your new treasures, watching new videos, or just napping.

Cost for bus trip and TRAINFEST admission will be $25 for those 15 or older and $15 for those under 15. With fuel prices, parking, and the admission charges, $25 is a really great price!

Our bus will leave the Clock Tower’s lot promptly at 7:30 AM so plan to be at the bus by 7:15 AM. If there is any interest, we will again make a brief stop at around 8:00 AM in the Beloit Menard’s south parking lot, along Milwaukee Road (return about 4:00 PM) Plan to be there by 7:45 AM because the bus will depart Beloit immediately.We should arrive at Trainfest about 9:00 AM, just

as Trainfest opens. We will depart Trainfest at 3:00 PM, in order to arrive back in Beloit about 4:00 PM and at the Clock Tower in Rockford at about 4:30 PM.For those early risers who want to gather for breakfast

beforehand, you may join us at 6:00 AM at Denny’s Restaurant on East State Street (west of the Clock Tower, just west of The Machine Shed, and east of The Texas Roadhouse. We should be done in time to meet the bus at 7:15 AM.

Of course you will have to endure the now infamous Trainfest Trivia Test during our ride to Milwaukee, but this is a trip you should not miss. Only 56 seats are available. Once folks figure out what it would cost to do the trip alone (what with the price of gas, admission, the parking fee, and the drudgery of driving) and I’m sure the seats will sell out fast!

Please fill in the registration form and send it soon. Don’t forget, seating is limited to the first 56 people to register. Note that the moneys collected will include both the round trip bus fare and your admission ticket to Trainfest.

If you have any questions about the trip, contact Ray Dyreson at: 815-335-7046 or [email protected]

ALL ABORD FOR TRAINFEST 2009Co-ordinator Ray Dryeson

DeadlinesFall issue ················ Aug 10thWinter issue ············ Nov 10thSpring issue ·············Feb 10thSummer issue ··········May 10th

RRVD Meets - Location & Time

Unless otherwise stated. RRVD Meets are held in the Lakeview Room at the Midway Village Museum Center. Midway Village is located at 6799 Guilford Road in Rockford, just west of

Perryville Road. The doors open about 12:30 pm and the Meet gets started about 1:00pm

Midway Village &Museum Center

Guilford Road

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State Street / Business US 20

F L I M Z I ERon Anderson978 McKnight Cir. #2Rockford, IL 61107POSTMASTER: Forwarding Address Requested

ANNUAL SHOW & DISPLAY

NOVEMBER 7th & 8 th

MIDWAY VILLAGEMUSEUM CENTER

national model railroad association, midwest …flimzie page 5 fall 2009 flimzie – the nmra rock...

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