On Saturday morning, September 9, 2017 the Philadelphia Division held its meet at a new venue, the West Whiteland Township Building in Exton, Pennsylvania. The following is the meet report from Clerk Mark Wallace:
The end of summer marks an uptick in model railroading activity that included our recent September Meet held at a new venue, the West Whiteland Township building in Exton, PA. Located just south of the route 100 & 30 intersection, the building fronts the street that followed the old roadbed of the Reading’s Chester Valley Branch.
Starting off the morning our outgoing Super, Joe Bergmaier introduced our new Superintendent, Charles Butsch. Joe made a few remarks to the group and we responded with a hardy applause for Joe’s time and effort on behalf of the Division.
Clinic #1 was given by Fred Willis who hails from our neighboring Jersey Division. He presented “Building from Photographs,” informing all of us on a number of techniques he used to construct his model Blacksmith Shop and Railroad Station.
Earl Paine on behalf of our Achievement Program Coordinator Dave Messer, MMR who could not join us, presented the Volunteer Certificate to Howard Kaplan. Howard not only serves a number of positions and a bevy of activities within the Division including Treasurer, Co-editor of the Division newsletter, The Dispatcher, Website Coordinator, but is also responsible for the signs, coordinating our shirts, managing the sound system, and manning the check-in table at each meet. Earl mentioned a number of other members working on their certificates and encouraged everyone present to focus their modeling efforts towards earning an AP certificate.
Division member Mike Dettinger presented our clinic #2 on “It Figures: Model Railroad Human Resourcing,” describing a number of methods for populating or adding figures of people to a model railroad scene. Mike showed us several methods of modifying, enhancing, or detailing figures for a variety of situations from adding human scale, as well as a little drama or humor.
Dennis Blank, who has now been a regular guest from the Susquehanna Division, presented a “show ‘n’ tell,” on his lo-comotive modeling using lights and sound decoders.
The morning featured our usual White Elephant Table, along with a couple of members’ items for sale. Our 50/50 Raffle winner was Charles Long who graciously donated his winnings back to the Division. There were many door prizes awarded to the lucky ticket holders.
Our afternoon layouts included Bob Zeolla’s Conrail-themed “Conemaugh Line,” in nearby West Goshen and Bob Dietrich’s HO scale traction railroad with a variety of trolley cars just to the west in Downingtown.
The Division thanks West Whiteland Township for allowing us the use of their community room as well as Bob Dietrich and Bob Zeolla who invited us to visit their layouts. We also thank our clinicians Mike Dettinger and Fred Willis, and fellow modeler Dennis Blank, as well as all of you who came out to spend some time with us and who helped with conducting another successful Philly Division Meet. We hope you networked, learned, and had a good time!
Our next Division Meet will be on Saturday morning, November 18, 2017, at the Brandywine Town Center in Wilmington, DE. See you then!