Date/Time
Date(s) - Saturday, June 9, 2018
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location
Philadelphia First Church of the Brethren
8707 W. Cheltenham Ave.
Wyndmoor, PA 19038
Categories
On Saturday June 9th, the Philadelphia Division will meet at a new location, the Philadelphia First Church of the Brethren at 8707 West Cheltenham Avenue, Wyndmoor, PA 19038. The time is 9:00am with doors opening at 8:30. Directions and a map can be found on page 6.
We begin the morning session with our Annual Business Meeting where officers’ and directors’ reports will be delivered and votes counted for our Board of Directors election. Due to time constraints it is requested that all ballots be submitted by 9:00am. If you will not be present, or believe that there is a good chance you may be late, it is advised that you mail in your ballot by June 1. If for any reason you did not receive the Election Section in the mail, it can be found beginning on page 3 of this issue, with a ballot that can be printed out on page 5.
Our clinics will begin with member Val Pistilli’s presentation of “Why Do Trains Derail?” Val goes into detail discussing all of the reasons model trains derail, how to solve the problems when they do, and how to prevent it in the first place.
Val’s credentials in model railroading could fill a book. To begin with, he is a life member of the NMRA, having served as a Division board member, its first webmaster, and its all-around, go-to tech guy. He’s also a professional photographer having graced our website and publications with his photos over the years, as well as having photographed our car projects. A long-time member of the GATSME club, he is noted for his beautiful trackwork, among other things, from which the new layout is benefitting, as well. And, of course, anywhere you go everyone knows him. If anyone can tell you why trains derail and how to prevent or fix it, Val can.
Our second clinic will be given by member Chip Stevens on the topic of National Model Contest Judging. This clinic was prepared by Bob Hamm, MMR, the NMRA Contest Chair, and applies to Achievement Program judging, as well. While this information has been covered in the past, this colorful and well-organized presentation will serve to reinforce previously learned concepts and bring new ones to light from a fresh per-spective for both judges and contestants.
Chip is a recent transplant from the HUB Division of the NER, where he was quite active in his division’s activities, and served as the secretary of the region and its ambassador to the 2015 MER convention. He currently does the videography at our meets and has volunteered to be the publicity chairman of the 2019 MER convention. No doubt you’ll be seeing a lot more of Chip in the future.
As usual we’ll have coffee, donuts, and Philly soft pretzels, the white elephant table, door prizes, and our 50/50 raffle. Show and Tell will be conditional; model displays are welcome, but discussion may not be possible unless time permits. A 2019 MER Convention meeting follows immediately after the conclusion of the meet.
The afternoon fare consists of open house layout tours. Hope to see you there!
