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The mission of the Amherst Railway Society is education regarding and the promotion of hobbies related to

Railroading.

Amherst Railway Society

P. O. Box 2351

Amherst, MA 01004-2351

www.AmherstRail.org

The next meeting of the Amherst Railway Society will be 7:30 pm EDT Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at the

Amherst Regional Middle School Auditorium.

Meetings are canceled if Amherst Regional Schools are canceled, if meetings are canceled, the notice will be

posted at www.cbs3springfield.com and at www.nbcConnecticut.com

“Turning Photographs into Model Railroad

Backdrops” by Dave Burgess Dave Burgess needed backdrops for his HO scale Whip

City Railroad. What he found in the retail market was

either poor quality, or priced too high. So he decided to

make his own. When friends saw Dave’s backdrops, they

asked for backdrops for their own railroads - and in 2011

a new business came to life.

Today, Backdrop Junction has three large format printers

and 300 images that can be sized and scaled to fit most

model railroads. There is also a line of graphics

specifically for modular modelers. On March 15, Dave

will demonstrate how to generate a backdrop from the

initial photo all the way through to the stitching process.

He will also show how multiple scenes can be blended

into one.

Dave and is family live in Westfield, MA, He is a full time airline pilot, and an HO scale modeler. .His Whip

City Railroad is based loosely on the Pioneer Valley Railroad..

From the Treasurer

All donations to the Amherst Railway Society may be tax deductible. As Amherst Railway Society

Inc. is a 501 C(3) tax exempt organization, your donations (of either cash and/or property) may be deducted on

your Schedule A, Form 1040 of your Federal income tax. Consider the Amherst Railway Society in your

estate planning. Your gifts can be restricted or non-restricted (you can pre-determine how you want your

donation used). Upon request, and proper documentation of course, the Treasurer will issue you a letter to be

used as justification for your tax deductions

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Message from the President:

Thank you to everyone that worked so hard to make this

year’s show such a success. With a ticketed attendance of nearly

20,000 people, the total attendance for the show was over the 20,000

mark. While the anniversary of last year’s show had weather that

was similar to last year, we had beautiful weather, and many

vendors reporting record sales.

We had already had the first meeting to discuss plans for

next year’s show, so we are already in process.

This spring’s Board of Director’s meetings include the

discussions of budgets. Chairs of Budget departments need to have

their budgets to David Royce, Treasurer, in April to give him time to

review the requests and compare the numbers with the expected

income.

Also this spring we will be announcing the plan for this

year’s version of what has been the Silent Auction/Swap Meet.

Nothing is firm at this time, so “Stay Tuned”. Last year’s Swap

Meet was a major reason that we did not have to make deeper cuts

into the 2016 grants.

Later this month the Board of Directors will appoint the

2016 Nominating Committee. At the May meeting, the Committee

will present their nominations for Secretary, and one At-Large

member of the Board of Directors. Because of the changes to the

By-Laws that passed last year, the other officers and directors are

mid-term.

You may notice that there isn’t a Show Director’s message

in this newsletter. Our Show Director is taking some needed down

time. I’m sure there will be additional information, regarding details

of this year’s show, in his next message. In the meantime, if you

have any suggestions for improvements to the show, please be sure

to let John know, or you can contact any of the officers (see the list

on the left) with your ideas.

Bruce MacCullagh, President 2014-2016

Board of Director’s meetings

Wed March 23, 2016 = election of nominating committee

Wed April 27, 2016 – proposed business for annual mtg.

Wed May 18, 2016 - budget meeting meeting Dates Speaker - Topic Newsletter Deadline

April 19, 2015 Tony Koester,- multi-deck layout design and construction, layout lighting, kit-bashing

vs. scratch-building structures, modeling Granger country, as well as timetable and train-

order operation.

April 1. 2016

May 17, 2015 Randy Leclair – Restoration Manager Seashore Trolley Museum May 1, 2016

June 21, 2015 Harvey Allen – student member of the railroad group that became the Amherst Railway

Society. In addition to speaking at the Oct 1963 meeting of the ARS, in June 1964 he

was elected as the first President of the Amherst Railway Society

June 3, 2016

Board of Directors 2015-2016

President – Bruce MacCullagh

Pres Elect – John Sacerdote

Treasurer – David Royce

Secretary – Bill Meier Jr.

At Large (also on show committee)

Kurt Jellinek - 2016

Rudy Versailles - 2017

Clark Huber - 2018.

Show Committee

Chair - Dick Joyce - 2017

Tom Laware Jr. - 2016

Brian O’Leary - 2016

Tom Laware Sr. - 2018

3 at large members of BOD

President

Treasurer

ex-officio -Show Director – John Sacerdote

Strategic Planning Committee

(Develop Strategic Plan, 1 and 5 year goals)

Co chairs Ken Harstine and Kurt Jellinek

Tom Laware Sr.

Dick Joyce

John Randall

Joe Albano

John Sacerdote -exofficio

David Royce – exofficio

Bill Meier Jr. exofficio

Clark Huber - exofficio

Membership

(Marketing, Trip Committee,

Member retention etc)

Joe LePage

Joe Kurland

Joe Albano Jr.

Greg Maas

Tom Laware Sr.

Ted Curtin

Bill Meier Jr.

Prototype Meet

David Owens – Chair

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Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Modeling Clinics – January 26-27, 2016

Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show – West Springfield, MA January 28-29, 2016

MEMBERSHIP DUES:

Check your mailing label, or membership card to see if the year says “2016” If it does, your

membership expired at the end of this past June. Memberships expire on June 30 of the year

listed. Student memberships require an update of year and expected

graduation. Regular adult memberships are $28 for one year, $70 for

three years, or $112 for five years. The five year membership renewal

is equal to one free year.

A Railroader’s Story The Rev. Arvie Maynard is a retired Presbyterian minister, who worked for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad

when he was in high school. He continued working for the railroad in various positions until he started

seminary. In 1995, he wrote a series of emails, about his railroading career. He has given permission for

them to be reprinted here. (Previous chapters: Apprentice Machinist, Freight House Trucker)

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Amherst Railway Society Newsletter March 2016

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Amherst Railway Society Newsletter March 2016

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Next time: Division Engineer – Pittsburgh PA