Page 1 of 8

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 EST Tuesday, November 17, 2015, 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

“The Evolution of the Craftsman Kit”

by Art Fahie and Jack Ellis Art Fahie and Jack Ellis from Bar Mills Scale Model Works will discuss the evolving art of craftsman model

kits. Art is the founder and owner of Bar Mills. Jack is the company’s technical advisor and chief clinician.

Together, Art and Jack will talk about manufacturing technology, marketing strategies, and the things that turn

a good layout into a great layout. Bar Mills has set the standard for craftsman kits in N, HO, S, and O scales.

Art tried his hand at carpentry and welding and

then, while that was healing ,

he tried his other hand at model

building. In the hospital

recovery room he met Jim

Mooney and decided to start

his own kit making company.

All these years later Art's still losing X-Acto knives

and gluing his fingers together on a regular basis

just illustrating that when you're around him even

model railroading can be a hazardous hobby.

Jack has the down home wisdom of Will Rogers,

the rural charm of Garrison

Keillor, and about 18 times as

much handyman inventiveness

as the entire cast of Home

Improvement.

Despite owning an entire house

it's been said that Jack spends

so much time building models in his basement that

he hasn't seen his own living room in years. This

makes his wife, Carolyn, happy.

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

Page 2 of 8

Message from the President:

Thank you to everyone that helped with our Oct 20 special

event. It takes a large number of committed people for us to be able

to do all of the activities of the ARS during the year, and your efforts

all year long are appreciated.

We are still actively working towards securing a home for

the ARS that would allow us to make more the library available to

members and centralize our activities. The Board of Directors is in

the middle of the annual Grants process, and the Strategic Planning

Committee is already working on next year’s grant application

process.

This year’s show is looking to be even better than ever.

Please consider joining us for the Show setup and breakdown. If you

haven’t sent in a volunteer form, please do, we need your help.

Board of Director’s meetings

Wed Nov 18, 2015 – grants (6:30 pm South Hadley PD)

Wed March 23, 2016 = election of nominating committee

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

Wed May 18, 2016 - budget meeting

From the Dry Hill Model Railroad Club…

Email address: dryhillmrrc@gmail.com

As of this writing, the members of the Dry Hill Model Railroad

Club are hard at work getting ready for the 2016 ARS show! Work

continues on tuning up locomotives and rolling stock, and members have

been getting together for weekly work bees. The continuing good weather

has cooperated with us by allowing us to work on modules outdoors. When

the weather turns, into the shop we go to work on more scenery! Anyone

interested in learning how we set up our DCC, or looking for the chance to

see how we put together our scenery, as well as a hands on opportunity to

try it yourself, is asked to contact club president Joe Albano Jr to set up a

time for this.

Only 12 more weekends until the show- looking forward to seeing

you there!

The Dry Hill Model Railroad Club-

home of the 100+ car modern trains every year at the show.

From the AMHERST BELT LINES…

Email address: amherstbeltlines@amherstrail.org

We have one event that ABEL is planning on

participating in for the remainder of this year:

Dec 5,6 HUB Model Train Expo Marlborough,

MA http://hubdiv.org/fallshow

If anyone wants to be more involved with the Amherst Belt Lines, please reach out to us via an email to

amherstbeltlines@amherstrail.org

Remember... Any form of Railroading is Fun!!!

Amherst Belt Lines Modular Coordinators:Clark Huber, Jim Fenner and Robby Cabrera

MEMBERSHIP DUES:

Check your mailing label, or membership card to see if the year says “2015” 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. Renewals received after Dec 8, 2015 may not be processed in time to receive a pass to the 2016

show. If you renew online at http://www.amherstrail-store.org please be sure to fill out the online membership form.

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)

Chair - John Sacerdote

Joe LePage

Joe Kurland

Joe Albano Jr.

Greg Maas

Tom Laware Sr.

Ted Curtin

Prototype Meet

David Owens – Chair

Page 3 of 8

Message from the Show Director:

What’s Up Folks!

Let me start by giving you an idea of the Show timelines:

- In March and April, we begin to categorize all donations given to us leading up to the Show (Silent

Auction goodies!).

- In May, we begin to formulate who will be returning to the Show.

- In June, we finalize that list, taking into consideration all requests to date for additional space,

referrals for new exhibitors, etc. Another huge part of our duties is to begin the 2-day clinic program.

Also, we contact the surrounding hotels for the new Show rates for the new Show season – about 2

dozen hotels!

- In July, we create the contracts for the next year’s Show, including all new addendums which

include rates, changes, etc.

- In August, approximately 500 contracts are out the door and we prep for the greatest silent auction

ever, a chance to raise money for the grant program, have some fun and allow members and friends

to have access to railroad stuff at severe discounts…everyone wins at this event, which is a great

“summer break!”

- In September, the building configuration is evaluated, changed and modified via CAD (computer

aided design) dependent upon who we think will be at the Show. Clinic programs are finalized and

we begin to post this clinic schedule to the web site for early registration. We begin to contract with

various folks for advertising for the upcoming Show.

- In October, as contracts begin to return, we now actually have a great idea as to whom is returning

(also, exhibiting for the first time) such that we can begin to assign space to our exhibitors. October

is also the “Great Chase” month where we will contact approximately 150 exhibitors who have

forgotten about the late October deadline.

- In November, we finalize the buildings, the programs, the 2-day clinic program, the

Saturday/Sunday clinic program and more details – everything from the tents connecting the

buildings to making sure all of the ATM machines are full for the Show (so many details, so little

time!!).

- In December, the building maps and exhibitor’s lists are published to the web site on the first

weekend in December.

- In January, we make all last minute changes, meet with the folks at the ESE to make sure all

logistics are in place and any other details we can think of or have to react to….we also arrive

several days early (from the Show dates) to insulate the buildings that need to be insulated…..(yes,

we do this ourselves!).

- The Show takes place at the end of the month. We track weather reports from the day the Farmer’s

Almanac is available (A lot of good that does as the weather is the weather…..but we watch with

baited breath none-the-less!)

- In February, we sleep….

Above is a very high level overview of what we do. While it may sound intimidating, please do not thing for

one second that this is not a labor of love, it truly is…! This year, things to watch for are the new

configurations in the BLC as well as the Mallary Building, where the entire large area of the Mallary Building

has been reconfigured to the point where we have taken almost all of the space to accommodate our new guests

and existing friends with expansion requests. It will be quite interesting to say the least….check it out as soon

as you can….only one hint: the Amherst Railway Society will be hosting one of the largest Free-Mo layouts

ever put together…..over 200 feet long (that’s one entire side of the Mallary Complex!)

My regular appeal: Please volunteer! The one constant that we have is the fact that our Show is only as good

as the number of volunteers that we have to run it. With this year’s new configuration, we need more

volunteers than ever. Even if you can only put in 2 hours, please let us know! If you can help, fill out this

year’s volunteer form. Duties include simple tasks like door man, unfolding tables, to hanging number signs on

posts, to checking badges to distributing flyers to escorting exhibitors to their area. If you are not sure, just

come on down and we will get you an assignment. Please contact the Show Office if you are interested.

Finally, we have a bit more news with regard to our “Thursday and Friday Clinics Day.” There are 40 clinics

this year, 20 of which are hands-on clinics (you get to take your projects with you). To date there are 30 people

already registered! This is the largest venue that we have ever had, so please check it out and sign up if you are

interested. Please go to the railroadhobbyshow.com web site to learn more! The clinics will be at the Sheraton

in downtown Springfield, break and lunch included as well as a 2-day pass to the Show! BTW, the Sheraton

has a killer rate of $97.00 a night and that includes free parking!

John Sacerdote, Show Director

Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Modeling Clinics – January 28-29, 2016

Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show – West Springfield, MA January 30-31, 2016

From the New England/Northeast Prototype Modelers Meet:

The Amherst Railway Society and the New England/Northeast Prototype Modelers Meet have joined together

to move the annual showcase of great modeling to a new level and location.

The meet is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, June 3-4, 2016 at Holiday Inn of Enfield, which is just off

exit 49 of I-91, just across the Connecticut-Massachusetts line.

If you are not familiar with the meet, let me tell you a little about it. Our first 13 meets took place at the Canton

Community Center in Collinsville, Conn. The meet features more than two dozen clinics and a large model

display that regularly attracts more than 500 models of locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, structures,

vehicles and other railroad related objects.

Our goal has always been, and continues to be, to bring like-minded people together to share their knowledge

and skills to help everyone become a better modeler. We also have some great vendors. More information is

available at our website, www.neprototypemeet.com. The Sunday after the meet we have layout open houses.

We are always looking for people willing to present clinics and willing to open their layouts to those who attend

the meet. If you are interested in either, or have any other question, please contact me at

neprotomeet@gmail.com.

-Dave Owens

to Volunteer for the

Amherst Railway Society

2016 Railroad Hobby Show

We need volunteers who are serious about helping with the Largest Show in

North America! Please sign up using the form below: Please complete this form and return to us ASAP (see reverse for contact info)

_____________________________ ____________________________ NAME STREET

_____________________________ ____________________________ EMAIL ADDRESS (IF APPLICABLE) CITY, STATE, ZIP

_____________________________ ____________________________ PHONE NUMBER ALTERNATE PHONE

Check and list all that you are interested in: READ THE BACK OF THIS FORM TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JOBS AVAILABLE!!!

_______ Thursday __________________________________________________________________________________ list jobs that you are interested in and TIMES that you are available

__________________________________________________________________________________ list jobs that you are interested in and TIMES that you are available

_______ Friday __________________________________________________________________________________ list jobs that you are interested in and TIMES that you are available

__________________________________________________________________________________ list jobs that you are interested in and TIMES that you are available

_______ Saturday __________________________________________________________________________________ list jobs that you are interested in and TIMES that you are available

__________________________________________________________________________________ list jobs that you are interested in and TIMES that you are available

_______ Sunday __________________________________________________________________________________ list jobs that you are interested in and TIMES that you are available

__________________________________________________________________________________ list jobs that you are interested in and TIMES that you are available

THE COMMITTEE WILL MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ASSIGN YOU TO TASKS REQUESTED; YOU MAY BE ASKED TO FILL IN WHERE NEEDED

All Volunteers are eligible for FREE PARKING!!

Available Jobs Include:

THURSDAY JOBS AVAILABLE (Show Set-up)

- Signs, including table numbers (mostly in the am)

- Tables and chair set-up and placement (all day long; coordinate with Boy Scouts in evening)

- door monitor/traffic control (all day long, but in shifts)

- Stanchions in Parking lot for bus and ARS Parking only; add appropriate signs to stanchions

FRIDAY JOBS AVAILABLE (Vendors Arrive)

- door monitor/traffic control (all day long, but in shifts)

- barrier providers/set-up (all day long, but in shifts)

- hands on volunteers

- test tracks (if applicable)

- time savers (if applicable)

- reception center set up

SATURDAY/SUNDAY (SHOW TIME) JOBS AVAILABLE

- reception center (greetings)

- reception center raffle ticket sales

- door monitor/traffic control (extras on doors 3,5,7 in BLC)

CLOSE JOBS AVAILABLE (Sunday afternoon)

- door monitor/traffic control/door guard (no vehicles until notice; in shifts)

- break down of reception center (late afternoon)

- collection of signs, numbers, easels, homasote boards, AV equipment (late afternoon)

- Boy Scouts assistance and coordination of table and chair breakdown (late afternoon)

For more information or to return this form, contact:

Show Office at ShowOffice@AmherstRail.org

or call 413-267-4555

or send your form to: Amherst Railway Society

P.O. Box 247

Monson, MA 01057-0247

or just bring your completed form to the Next Meeting!!!