September 2020
Hello fellow O scale 2 railers!
I found it hard to believe that it was August last month and now here we are at September 2020!
I want to take a line or two and thank those of you who voted in our Hall of Fame election. Results are in, voting has closed, and the votes have been counted. I could, I guess, say something about the lack of voter fraud, ballot box stuffing, hanging chads, etc., but that wouldn’t be politically correct. So, let’s just report that the election and voting went off without a hitch, (thanks Dan Dawdy) and I’m pleased to be able to announce the results here. Typically, this would be done at one of our O Scale meets since the actual announcement would’ve been at the national convention. I received notices just today of three more train show cancellations (none are pure O scale 2 rail ), thus I’m going to take some liberty and just make the announcement here in my President’s message. And the winners are… Imagine a big drumroll … David Vaughn and Roland Ellis. Imagine a loud round of applause for these O scalers. Now with this virus deal, I’m not 100% certain I can report on how we will get the awards presented to these Hall of Famer’s. But it will happen.
Let’s get to a few updates:
Elections: An elections committee has been established and has begun the process of seeking nominations for officers and members of the Board of Directors. The positions of President and Secretary are open, and one Director. If you know of a good candidate, please contact Sam Shoemaker, past president of OSK and Elections Committee Chair, Sam Shumaker at j1d464@yahoo.com.
As noted last month: a consideration to change the number of Directors on the Board as set by the Constitution is being made. If the board approves this, we will put this on the ballot for approval by the general membership. I see this is a very positive thing! The O Scale Central, doing business as O scale 2 Railers is growing! There’s still plenty to do and more hands are needed. What are your thoughts? Send them to me, Bruce@OscaleCentral.org
Train shows: I’m sure most of us are still missing attending swap meets and shows, and round-robin get-togethers. I heard reports of an outdoor all scales swap meet happening in Pennsylvania a week or two ago, but have not heard reports on how it went and was unable to attend. As of August 30, 2020, both Strasburg on October 17th and Cleveland on November 7th are still a go. And again, safety first is the old slogan and one that still applies to us today. As of today, local law requires wearing facemask indoors at both locations. Gang, I still feel that if that’s what it takes to get back to a train show, I’m all in. And as a reminder, last month I announced that we’re going to have a contest promoted by the O Scale 2 Railers for the best train facemask at both of these shows. I’ll give you a hint, I’m going to instruct the judges to be looking for trains on the mask. Best facemask will be awarded a prize! If you or your company would like to sponsor this contest, please contact me at Bruce@OscaleCentral.org.
With respect to Cleveland, Sam Shoemaker asked me to pass the following on to the membership:
“We have no dinner this year for obvious reasons this time. We will have Friday afternoon early load in Friday Nov 6 12- 4 PM and 7-9AM Sat. We wish to emphasize the wearing of masks, washing of hands and social distancing of 6 feet. This goes with the loading and setup times. We have around 175 tables and space available if needed. We wish you all good health.”
Chicago 2021 Update: I hope everyone has seen the update that the Chicago show promoters have renegotiated the contract with the hotel and as of today the show is still on. The first block of rooms is over 80% sold and the remainder needs to be sold by January 15th I believe, 2021. And as a reminder again, if the Chicago show does not go on, and you can’t get your room reservation money back for whatever reason, the O scale Central are committed to having a general membership meeting and possibly rail-fanning, a layout tour or two, and just some good old meet and greets, even if we have to be wearing facemasks. My wife and I have booked our room and will be attending.
2021 OSN Denver: Nothing hard to update you on, but expect some things to be firmed up by the middle of September. The committee is working hard to firm up location, dates and costs. I will tell you that this is sounding BIG. Start saving your money, as soon as things are firmed up, the announcements and media campaign will begin. I know I’ve said this all before, but still, a little more patience is needed. A major convention like this one is needs a lot of work and effort, especially now what seems like a long way before the convention. The convention website is now active https://oscalenational.com/ . Check it out and keep an eye out for updates.
Modules: Rich and his committee are working hard and are producing some great concepts. I may be getting off on a siding here, but I will tell you that there may be a revolutionary change to modules. With the cancellation of the Indy show, we are looking for a Cleveland show rollout.
I have just received the rough draft 3-D prints of modular corner pieces. Yes, we are a long way from a production part, but these guys are really thinking out of the box. I’ll throw it out there, I think this is going to be a revolutionary change.
O Scale Central: A lot of continuation of work is going on and tremendous progress is being made on this program. I invite all of you to check out the up and running blog forum at:
https://tworailoscaleblog.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/getting-started-in-o-scale-pandemic-edition/
Watch for announcement of a rollout coming soon for several other parts of the program.
Odds and ends:
It’s not too early to start planning your model building for the National Convention in 2021. If you are in the Denver, area think seriously about opening your layout for a tour.
Venture Capital Cars are now all SOLD and PAID FOR! Wait for our next campaign.
We are still in need of a social media guru for help with the O Scale Central project and O Scale 2 railer projects. Please contact me at Bruce@OscaleCentral.org if you have a skill set you’re willing to share.
We are also looking for and have great need of a videographer with some equipment and editing skills for online clinic development. We will need several that can cover different regions of the country for what we have in mind. Gang, this is not changed since last month, so there is still a tremendous amount of skill in the many facets of O scale 2 rail modeling that needs to be shared. There are those looking to get into the hobby and those looking to move from other scales to O scale 2 rail. We need to be sharing the tremendous knowledge base that our membership has. Please figure out a way that you can help.
O Scale Central, O Scale 2 Railers, O Scale Central WANT YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, Bruce