Seacoast Division NMRA Zoom On-line Event
Saturday, April 17, 2021, 10:00am-12:00pm
On-line Zoom Event

All NMRA members and people interested in becoming NMRA members are invited to the Spring On-Line Zoom Event of the Seacoast Division NMRA.

A New Kind of Event – On-Line with Zoom
Since Covid-19 continues to be a major health risk, especially to older people, the Seacoast Division Board of Directors has made the decision to cancel “in person” events for the foreseeable future. The BOD has also decided to help fill the void by holding on–line Zoom meetings. Many of you are already familiar with Zoom since other organizations are already starting to use it.

Zoom is one of several video conferencing applications available for use on your computer that is connected to the internet. For several years, lap top computers have been equipped with a camera that faces the user, a microphone, and speakers. The computer with the camera/microphone /speaker combination lets the user take advantage of the full capability of Zoom. If you don’t have a computer with the camera/microphone /speaker you can still use your computer to view the event and you can communicate with everyone using a phone. Finally, a smart-phone can also be used to participate in a Zoom video conference.

New users will have to go to zoom.us and then download “Zoom Client for Meetings” if you use a computer, or download the Zoom Mobile apps for IPhone or Android from the APP store. You will not have to register for an account. The host of the Zoom Meeting, in our case Seacoast President Tage Erickson, will send out an email with a meeting invitation which includes a link to the meeting. The non-host attendees will click on the link a few minutes prior to the meeting to get connected to the Zoom meeting. The host will then accept you into the meeting and you will be able to see all the attendees that have cameras and you will be able to hear all the attendees that have microphones or have called in on the telephone.

President’s Welcome by Tage Erickson
Tage will address the members of the Seacoast Division.

Presentations
Creating Strong Rigid Scenery by Joe Linquata
Joe will demonstrate how he creates strong rigid scenery using spray foam and screen material.

Designing and Laying Out Scratchbuilt Structures by Dave Emery
A great way to scratchbuild structures to fit a specific location is to start with a drawing of that structure, and adjust the drawing as necessary until the structure fits its location.  The tools to do this are readily available. Dave will demonstrate how he uses PowerPoint to design structures, including using the computer to efficiently lay out sets of windows and doors, and using ‘construction lines’ to ensure the openings are set at the correct location on the structure.  Additionally, Dave will briefly review the “Nehrich Scribe and Snap” approach, describing how to use the drawing to lay out subwalls.

 

Video Layout Tours
Since we can’t tour member’s layouts in person, we’ll be doing the next best thing – seeing layouts on video. Seacoast members Bob Kotsonis and John Newick recorded a video tour of John’s layout.

Central Maine and Aroostook by John Newick
John Newick’s Central Maine & Aroostook is a multi-level N Scale model railroad that is well known in the New Hampshire Seacoast and Southern Maine area.  It depicts Maine railroading in the mid 60”s to mid 70’s running from the B&M at Rigby yard going north into well-known lines and interchange points on the Maine Central and Bangor & Aroostook.  He has a great focus on rail operations and his operating sessions closely resemble the actual schedules and routes used by the B&M, MEC and BAR.  Operations are supplemented by a unique method for managing car moves and the use of Railroad & Company software for computer aided dispatching and train routing.  While his interest in operations is known, John has put long hours into the scenery and buildings that occupy the layout to keep the feeling of Maine Railroading alive and well.

What’s On Your Workbench?
We invite members to show a few photos, PowerPoint slides, or even a short video of what you are working on or a layout tour etc. Send me an email to sign up and describe what you will be presenting. Please limit your presentation to about 5 minutes in length. If you have a longer presentation, let me know and I can schedule it in a future Zoom meeting.

Open Forum
Let’s discuss what members would like to see in future Zoom Events.


Next Event: Summer Event, July 17, 2021
 Mark your calendar and save the date!!

www.seacoastnmra.org

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Early Spring President's Message 2021

 

Seacoast Division President’s Message
March 30, 2021

 

 

Hello Model Railroaders,

With the Winter of 2021 officially behind us, it appears as though warmer weather has finally started to reach all of us, here in Northern New England. I hope that this has been a productive winter for each of you, as you work on various layout or modeling projects. My helix is actually starting to take shape as I begin to lay roadbed and track on the approach from the lower level of my layout into the helix. If you have a specific project that you have been working on, I would like to ask each of you to consider sharing a few pictures along with some words with us, on our Division web site, regarding your efforts.

It is certainly great news that the Covid19 vaccination efforts have swung into high gear. By now, I am thinking that most of you have been fully vaccinated or have secured appointments to have that done. If you haven’t done so, I would highly encourage you to get vaccinated.

Board of Directors Meeting

On April 6, 2021, the Seacoast Division Board of Directors will hold our next virtual meeting. As a reminder, Seacoast Division Board of Directors meetings are open to all Seacoast Division members. If you have an issue or item where you feel the need to address the Board of Directors, or if you just want to listen in to one of the BOD meetings, please contact me and I will send you the meeting information.

One of the items the Board will be discussing is when we can safely return to holding “in-person” Quarterly Events. If you have any thoughts or opinions about this subject, please contact me prior to the BOD meetings and I will be happy to share your opinions with the Board members.

NERx Convention

As most of you are aware by now, the NER will be hosting another NERx Virtual Convention. The convention will take place on April 10 & 11, 2021, from 2 to 6 pm and 7 to 11 pm eastern time on both days. There are some great clinics and layout tours that you can experience. The schedule of events is posted on our Division web site or you can go this direct link [http://www.nerx.org/index.html#events] to get the information. Please consider attending the NERx convention.

Seacoast Division Virtual Spring Event

The Seacoast Division Virtual Spring Event will take place on Saturday, April 17, 2021. Similar to our past virtual events, we will start at 10:00 am and hopefully finish by 12:00 pm. We have 2 great clinics to present to you, one from Joe Linquata on “Creating Rigid Foam Scenery”, and the other from Dave Emery on “Designing and Laying Out Scratch Built Structures.” There will also be a video tour of John Newick’s Central Maine and Aroostook N scale layout. Additionally, we will have a “What’s On Your Workbench” session where some of you will be showing us your recent modeling efforts.

I will send out the Zoom meeting information on the day before the Event. I will also plan a “practice” Zoom session meeting for either Wednesday or Thursday evening the week prior to the Event. These practice sessions are a great way to become familiar with the Zoom log-in procedures and also are a chance to see and catch up on the latest goings-on with your train buddies that you haven’t seen for a while. We have a lot of fun at these practice sessions! Please think about joining us!

Request

I sent this out to you in my previous President’s Message and I wanted to give this one more chance before I pull it. I received this email from a fellow model railroader:

I found your email address on the Seacoast Division NMRA website. I am based in Bedford, NH and have a large collection of model train magazines. It contains a few decades of Model Railroader and others. Do you know of anyone who might be interested in such a collection? Thank you.

If there is anyone interested in this gentleman’s magazine collection, please let me know and I will provide his email address to you. Thanks for your consideration.

Division Staff Openings

Our Division Webmaster would like to step down from his duties. If you are the type of person that is very tech savvy and would be interested in running and maintaining our Division website, if you have those skills, please contact me. Thank you!

I am very happy to report that Seacoast Division member Ken Moller has volunteered to join the Faulter Fund Committee. Thank you, Ken!


That’s all I have for you at this time. Please consider writing an article for our “Switch Tower” newsletter. All of our members would love to hear from any of you regarding your model railroading efforts or adventures. Please join us at the upcoming NERx Virtual Convention and our Spring Seacoast Division Zoom Event.

Best regards,

Tage Erickson
Seacoast Division President

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