Hello and Welcome!
My name is Bruce B. Blackwood, I have been elected president of the O Scale Central and
thus we are under new management. Please go to “about us” then “board” on our website for
a bio of the Board members. Don’t worry, we did not get rid of all the good folks who had
been working hard in the past for the O Scale Central. For this month’s Presidents Message, I
want to let you know of some of the plans that have been made and are being made and
executed.
Our membership numbers have dropped to possibly an all-time low, so goal number one is a
membership drive for both renewals and especially new members. One of the first things I
did after being elected president was to look at our membership roster. For the end of 2018
we had 104 dues paying members. As a side note, 52 of you voted in the last election cycle.
Yours truly ran unopposed. The secretary reported to me that one of the contests was won by
one vote! I don’t have any hard records, but understand from past leadership that all time
membership may have hit 800 or so individuals. So, as I said membership is goal number
one.
So how do we get there? When I looked at the membership roster for my home state of
Maryland, I saw that we had five paid members. Of the five I knew myself and one other. I
look forward to meeting the other three. However, out of all my friends and acquaintances in
Maryland, only one other was a due paying member. So, at our first board meeting I asked
each one to reach out to friends and set a goal of tripling membership by June 1st.
For our general membership, I am asking each of you to reach out to 1 new or 1 member
renewal each quarter. So, if each of the 90 (102 – 12 board) members recruit 4 people during
the year, we will be over 500 members by the end of 2019. So, I am asking each of you to
reach out and find a renewal or new member for each quarter of this year. Besides personal
outreach, there are many other things that we can do. My personal goal for the OSK’s is 1000
members by 2020.
Which brings me to our display booth. I’m not sure if we all know that we have a professional
display booth for use at trade shows and conventions etc. This booth packs into a small
shipping crate which also acts as a podium. Weight is about 62 pounds and is available to
ship. Return shipping by call tag. The key to the booth is to have somebody manning the
booth to talk up O scale 2 rail in all of its different facets. I am looking for a member that will
step up and volunteer to maintain a list of trade shows and conventions that we want to send
the booth to and a list of those who will donate their time and efforts at these shows and
conventions to man the booth.
Another item that I want to bring to your attention is the new “what’s on your workbench”
area on the website. Please take a look at it and send the webmaster a brief article, maybe a
picture or two of what’s on your workbench! Please understand that you don’t have to be a
Master Model Railroader to write up an article. Be sure to include any tips you may have
found along the way. These articles can be something as simple as coupler insulation to fine
tuning your DCC decoder. What I hope to have happen here is a bunch of ideas traded about.
About the website, to make a long story short, the board has decided to take up Dan Dawdy’s
offer to redo the website and change the hosting over to his company. I suspect we will have
a new rollout mid-February. In the meantime, Jim is doing a great job of keeping the current
website up to date and is pleading for input from our membership. So, until the new rollout,
please keep sending your articles and show information to Jim.
One of my goals is to have wise stewardship of the treasury. This is one of the reasons I
pushed to make a change in hosting and development of the website (at no charge to the
Central) a big thank you Dan and his crew. And speaking of being wise stewards of the
treasury please send your suggestions and comments to me directly if you think there’s a way
that we could save money. And along those lines we want you to know that we are trying a
new conference call provider that will be a free service to us, so we do not incur costs.
Speaking of the treasury, as you guys all know everything costs money. In order to promote
to O scale 2 rail, realize we are going to incur some expenses. Things such as printing flyers,
applications etc. shipping to the booth to and from, even sending out ballots. Please help in
our membership drive and if you feel especially flush, and want to make a donation, please
send it to our treasurer.
And did I mention we are having a special on membership dues? $10 a year. What a bargain!
Join or renew now!! –this won’t last forever.
I am often asked what a member gets for membership in the O SCALE KINGS? But, I’d like
to answer that with the question, “What would you like to get for your dues?” Again, please
send your comments directly to me.
Thanks,
Bruce Blackwood
President