The meeting for August 2007 was called to order August 4th by Club President Earl Blanchette at 10:34.

The minutes for July 2007 were presented. Two corrections were noted:

• Neal Locke has sent out EMs to the membership re: Train Show volunteer positions, not Noel Cowling
• Ed Neill said they typically give away 200 tickets to the Train Show, not 20

Trace Bowen made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected. Mike Ross seconded and the motion passed.

The Treasurer’s report for July 2007 was submitted and read. Kennedy Gauger made a motion to accept, Craig Lancaster seconded, and the report was accepted.

Old Business

• Train Show update

  Mike Cleveland sent an EM to the club membership on 7/28 re: Banquet RSVPs.  Neal Locke reviewed the train show volunteer schedule. Members were asked to review the schedule and initial acknowledgement of their assigned slots. Neal said he would send copies of the schedule by mail to the members without EM to review their assignments. Any changes to the schedule should be finalized by August Run Day.

  If someone is unable to fill their assigned slot, they should call the Train Show Chair or Co-Chair: Mike Cleveland or Jim Bush.

  Mike said that on Friday, September 14th there will be two teams to help with setup – The Vendor Setup Team and the Layout Setup Team. This concept worked very well last year.

• Raffle Layout Update.

  The layout is on display in the club. Bill Lancaster and Mike Ross have been working on scenery.

• Temple Mall Display.

  Bill Lancaster said everything is a GO for the mall display. The display will be located by Fuddruckers. Friday, August 24th, the HO (8’x16-24’) and O (6’x20’) modular layouts will setup. The Raffle Layout and a table for selling raffle tickets will complete the display. Members interested in participating should contact Bill or Earl Blanchette.

• Pre-Sale Tickets.

  Ed Neill said he had pre-sale tickets for $3 and raffle tickets available. Companies wanting a tax deductible contribution should make their checks payable to the Temple Parks Foundation.

• Train Show Publicity Report.

  Ed Neill said that everything is in place for coverage in the Temple Telegram. Channel 6 will run 35 spots the week before the show. Two ads were placed with the Cow Catcher and one has already run so far. Jerry Johnson has place an ad with a Waco Tribune special publication. Ed said he has also invited the media to Friday’s train show setup after 3:00 PM to help with pre-show publicity. Jim Bush said the show is listed in all the Kalmbach publications – Model Railroading, Classic Toy Trains, and Garden Railways.

• Train Show Clinic Update.

  Joe Pyland reported that Kennedy Gauger will be giving a clinic on Maintaining Rolling Stock. Wayne Snyder will be coming to help with Joes’s clninics. Clark Overman will be helping Ron Miller with his module clinics. Someone is still needed to run the Intro to Model Railroading video at 3:30 PM on Saturday.

• Train Show Banquet Update.

  Dan Ladd said they have 92 RSVPs so far. Special guests have until August 15th to RSVP. Mike Cleveland said he wanted to have the head count finalized by September 1st. Jim Bush said he had received a firm count of 35 attendees from his phone call in may to the layout exhibitors.

  Betty Neal has arranged for a plaque with engraved name plates to recognize past train show coordinators. Individuals will also receive a certificate being prepared by Laurie Cleveland at an award presentation to be held at the banquet. The banquet will end at 9:00 PM and the depot will be open to visitors until 10:00 PM.

• The award winning modules are still scheduled to be on display at the show.
• The RRHM will have a book signing on Saturday, August 11 from 2:00 – 4:00 PM. The club will be open on the second Saturday of the month from 1:00 – 4:00 PM. Any interested members should come on down to run trains and welcome visitors.
• Grant update.

  All of the required documents were sent to the ER Carpenter Foundation and they are just waiting for the funds to arrive.

• Saw replacement.

  Ed Neill made a motion to replace Buddy Burk’s saw for up to $200. Mike Ross seconded and the motion passed.

• The Temple Chamber of Commerce will host the ribbon cutting event on August 15th at 10:00 AM. Bill Lancaster has sent out VIP invitations. Bill made a motion to for the club to purchase refreshments for the event. Joe Pyland seconded and the motion passed. Members that come to attend the event should park to the North or West of the depot.
• Betty Neill reminded the membership that they need to clean up their layout areas and put stuff away under the layouts.

New Business

• Neal Locke made new name tags for Dick Copeland, Bill Jones, Keith Nonnemacher, Kyle Penn, Bradley Linda, Jeffrey Govin, Homer Martin, and Jeff Oliver. They are posted on the name tag board.
• Kennedy Gauger made a motion to move the September Business Meeting to September 8th so as to not interfere with the Mall display. Trace Bowen seconded and the motion passed. Mike Cleveland said that all the packets for the train show will also need to be assembled that day.
• Dan Ladd mentioned that Dave Krause, RRHM Director, is interested in joining CentraMod and had asked if the membership forms were on the website. The consensus of the membership was to put the CentraMod Application for Membership and How to Be a Good CentraMod Member forms on the website.

The meeting adjourned at 11:45.

The meeting for July 2007 was called to order July 7th by Club President Earl Blanchette at 10:30.

The minutes for June 2007 were presented; a motion was made by Ron Miller and seconded by Ed Neill to accept the minutes as read. The motion passed.

The Treasurer’s report for June 2007 was submitted, read, and accepted. One Train Show vendor’s table was refunded that had registered last year.

Old Business

Train Show update.

• Mike Cleveland said the Train Show Committee has decided to give vendors two commemorative CentraMod coffee mugs. The committee will also make any decisions as it relates to how mugs will be distributed. Clark Overman said the mugs have already been paid for. Kennedy Gauger did the artwork for the mugs and the vendor accepted the artwork.
• Mike said that 38 banquet RSVP letters were mailed out to vendors and layout representatives. Betty Neill said that 22 people had responded so far and the deadline for responses was July 10th. This number was lower than expected. Mike handed out RSVP letters after the meeting to club members. The deadline for membership submitting their RSVP letter is July Run Day.
• Noel Cowling sent out EMs to the club membership re: Train Show volunteer positions and mailed nine letters to those members without EM. He wants to know if people have any particular preferences or conflicts with scheduling on the show weekend. Members are asked to work two (2) one-hour slots during the show. Mike Cleveland said he would like to see a draft schedule by the August business meeting.
• Jim Bush mentioned that the club would need a crew to help tear down at the end of the show because the convention center will be charging extra for hours after the show closes down. Some vendors will need help packing up at the end of the show. Betty Neill showed the color-coded floor plan that Jim developed for layout and vendor table placement.
• Ed Neill provided a report on pre-sale tickets. Pre-sale tickets are $3. He said they typically give away around 20 tickets. Some companies also sponsor groups of tickets. Ed is looking for a company to sponsor 30 tickets at $3 each. They will print a minimum of 500 pre-sale tickets by next week. They will be available at the next business meeting. Some of the groups sponsored in the past have been the Youth Club, Ronald McDonald House, and the VA Hospital. Ed also mentioned that they are looking for a corporate sponsor in the $500-750 range for the traveling layouts. Ed would like the membership to do some footwork and find sponsors for the Train Show.
• Joe Pyland said Dr. Bob will be unable to give his scheduled make-and-take clinic on trees. Joe needs volunteers to fill three (3) one-hour clinic slots. There will be eight clinics on Saturday and three on Sunday.
• Mike Ross might do a clinic on making mountains. Mike Cleveland said Kennedy Gauger might be interested in doing a clinic or two.

Raffle Layout update.

• Bill Lancaster, Ed Neill, and Mike Ross have been working on the layout scenery. Ed Neill said that individual members used to sell raffle tickets. Since the club has displayed at the mall prior to the show in the past, the raffle tickets have been sold there.
• Bill Lancaster said that the Mall has space available to show the raffle layout down by JC Penny on Aug 24, 25, 26 and Sep 1, 2, and 3. Bill isn’t sure how big the space is. Earl Blanchette will get with Bill to also see about space for setting up modular N and HO scale layouts.

HO module construction is progressing. Earl Blanchette said they might be ready to setup at the Mall.

Bill Lancaster said the Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the depot renovation on Wednesday, August 15th at 10:00 AM. The chamber will arrange for press coverage. Earl Blanchette said he would get with Bill on refreshments for the event.

The RRHM will have a book signing on August 11 from 2:00 – 4:00 PM. Earl Blanchette said he told the museum the club would be open on the second Saturday of the month from 1:00 – 4:00 PM. Any interested members should come on down to run trains and welcome visitors.

New Business

Dick Copeland donated new signs to the club that show the hours open to the public and the club website.

Betty Neill mentioned that she will be placing another order for shirts and hats at the August business meeting. The shirts will cost $1 more than past orders.

Ed and Martha Underwood are moving back to his home town in North Carolina. They will be moved by the end of August. Best of luck to Ed and Martha.

The club officers have been issued keys to the file cabinet and A/V room. The Trainmaster also has a key to the A/V room.

Ed Neill and Mike Ross built the shelving for the HO modules with Buddy Burk’s table saw. In the course of construction, the saw burned up and it was discussed at the time that the club would replace the saw. Earl Blanchette said this issue would be tabled to the next business meeting.

Clark Overman said the club website now has a forum area in the Member’s Only section. Mike Cleveland wondered how the membership roster is updated. Clark explained that updated rosters are available in the Member’s Only area and show the “as revised” date.

The meeting adjourned at 11:45.

The meeting for April 2007 was called to order April 7th by Club Vice President Mike Cleveland at 10:40.

The minutes for March 2007 were presented; a motion was made by Neal Locke and seconded by Mike Ross to accept the minutes as read. The motion passed.

The Treasurer’s report for March 2007 was submitted. Neal Locke made a motion to eliminate the reading of report and open it for questions from the floor. Howard Bell seconded and the motion passed. Member purchases listed in the report as income and expenses were related to the purchase of club shirts.

Betty Neill reviewed the membership roster by scale breakdown. These numbers were accurately reflected in the March minutes.

Old Business

Betty mentioned the utility bill and a fuel credit. Ed Neill explained that the club is classified as a commercial customer.

The club offered its condolences to the Orcutt family. Kent Orcutt passed away and a $50 memorial was made to the Memorial Baptist Church of Temple, Texas.

Club member Frank Harlan’s son also passed away and a sympathy card was sent.

Joe Teakell is still working on a draft policy for publishing content to the web site.

The Board of Directors appointed a committee to review the club bylaws and constitution. The committee consists of Dan Ladd, Ed Neill, and Wiley Starnes with Bill Lancaster serving as Chairman.

New Business

Ed Neill introduced a new club member, Bill Jones. Bill is the mayor of Temple and models in S Scale. Earl Blanchette and Wylie Starnes will mentor. Welcome aboard!

Mike Cleveland asked Dan Ladd and Neil Locke to form a train show celebration committee. They met after the last meeting to discuss options and agreed to pursue two possibilities for the 25th anniversary celebration.

The first idea was to refurbish the club’s two award-winning modules, put them together as a layout, and display them at the Train Show. They asked for Ed Neill’s help and he was able to identify one of the modules but not the other. He said he would check at the Katy depot in case it was inadvertently stored there.

The second idea was to have a “banquet” at the Moody depot the Saturday night of the train show instead of the usual reception. There could be as many as 150 attendees including all members, vendors, and any special guests. It would need to be a buffet banquet and some people would probably have to eat standing up because of a shortage of space. If the weather is good, there should be no problems with overcrowding. Mike and Dan had spoken about several possible caterers and will look into it. Dan spoke to Susan Fawcett (the Christmas party caterer) and she assured him that she could serve a group of that size.

Club members were asked to think about how vendors and supporters might be recognized. Some of those that might be recognized are: those who have been at every show (if any?); the most tables purchased; Extraco bank for supporting the raffle layout; Amtrak for donating tickets; the city of Temple for depot lease, roof, and $2000 advertising. If you have any thoughts, let Dan know.

There is some concern if there will be a carnival in the depot parking lot the Saturday night of the train show. Mike Cleveland said he had been contacted by a hotel to see if the club needed any banquet space.

Joe Pyland made a motion for Dan to pursue a banquet and the ideas presented. JC Fischer seconded and the motion passed.

21 vendors have pre-registered for 112 tables. 53 letters will be going out this week to those vendors in the database.

Letters have gone out to the proposed layout participants. Every layout participant was visited last month at the WGH Show in Fort Worth. They were also given questionnaires about their layouts. Seven layouts will display at this year’s show.

Jim Bush sent notices to magazines to get the show listed in their calendars.

Betty Neill had a change to make to the train show chair listing. There are eleven people who have been train show chairs. Mike Cleveland proposed that we recognize these people at the banquet with a plaque. Betty had investigated plaque pricing and said plaques with the club logo were $9-11 each. Joe Pyland made a motion for Mike and Betty to pursue some kind of recognition for past train show chairs. Bill Jones seconded and the motion passed.

Bill Lancaster has put up new shelving for the Library’s Periodical Collection.

April 14th and 15th is the Blooming Temple Festival. Several members had volunteered to open for the festival. It was mentioned that several items were stolen when the club was open for last year’s festival. Kennedy Gauger make a motion to not open for the festival this year. Keith Nonnemacher seconded and the motion passed.

Kennedy Gauger had club shirts for those that had purchased them and showed a ball cap with the club logo on it. These are available for $12 if anyone is interested. Thanks again to Kennedy for all of his work to get this done.

Dan Ladd said more volunteers are needed to help with hand cars. Dan will provide the dates for when hand cars need to be run so it can be added to the club calendar on the website.

Two weeks ago, visitors from a company came to visit. They would like the club to open for them when they have a function at the Santa Fe station from 6-7 PM on April 24th. Ed Neill also mentioned that a supper club might be interested in visiting for a brown bag lunch event.

Betty and Ed Neill visited the depot last week and found the kiddie layout still turned on. Please be sure that everything is turned off when you leave the depot.

The meeting adjourned at 11:44.