Officers attending: Vice-president Steve Grenot, Treasurer Bill Little, Secretary Chip Borona

Members: Jerry DuPont, Banks Edwards, Sean O’Brien, Kerry Sullivan

There were no visitors in attendance.

I. The Minutes of the previous meeting of December 3, 2013 were read by President Reed Ostrander.

    1. The minutes were accepted as written.

II. The Treasurer’s report was presented by Bill Little.

    1. Banks moved acceptance and was seconded by Jerry.

      a) The Treasurers report was accepted.

books and present their findings at the next meeting.

III. Announcements

  January 21, 2014. Bring a train to test or run. Please let Steve know if you are going so he can get

  the appropriate amount of Pizza.

  Power Cabinet upgrades with a new DC base unit that Bill purchased and installation of the PM-42,

  modify the corner module supports that allow the corner mods to nest and to install the new trailer

  locks.

    1. The combination of the new locks are: REED (Changed with new locks Daby)

IV. Old Business

    1. With Bill Little working for the next 7 months on Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s and

    Thursday’s, the question of Bill continuing as Treasurer was discussed. The concern was if

      a) Sean moved acceptance and was seconded by Jerry.

        (1) Banks was appointed to the new position of Deputy Treasurer.

    1. The Marines were unable to pick-up the train sets this year due to a lack of manpower, so

      the train sets had to dropped off at a TFT depot. Many thanks go to Charles Tucker for

      volunteering to drop off the train sets.

    1. The Club received a nice thank-you note from event organizer Patricia Madison for our

    two day participation at the Show held in the same location and building for the Pensacola

    Interstate Fair.

    2. Thanks go out to all club members who helped set-up, participate and take-down,

      a) A special thanks to Dave Ramirez for his help with the Show.

    1. This show was problematic with low member participation and having to locate the

    trailer in an inconvenient which did not permit ready access to equipment when needed.

    2. A special thank-you goes to Reed who ended up shouldering the bulk of the work in

    order to make our attendance a success.

      a) In the future, it will be understood that members who vote YES for the club to

      participate at an event, means that they commit to work and participate.

    1. Banks led the discussion with a handout from NCE on recommended snubber use.

    1. Reed had notice over-voltages with the unit. It appears that a bad voltage regulator is the

    problem and the unit was sent back to Digitrax for repairs.

   1. Reed raised the question if members were still interested in building a new Roundhouse

    Module. This had been placed on the back burner for some time and it was the consensus that

    yes the Club wanted to pursue the idea.

      a) Steve moved acceptance and was seconded by Sean.

        (1) The building of a Club Roundhouse Engine Service Module was accepted.

      b) Chip volunteered to head the committee and Steve would serve as Deputy.

      c) Steve proposed that work on the module could be conducted at Marie’s in the old

      proposed clubhouse.

V. New Business

      a) This event is sponsored by SWARM and will replace the old Fairhope Train Show.

      b) Reed will contact Glenn Samuels (205) 914-0693 for more information on our

      participation.

    2. Tallahassee FL in June

    3. Mobile Train Show in September

    4. Dothan AL in September

    5. Flomaton AL next weekend after Dothan

    6. Pensacola Interstate Fair in October

    7. Campfire Kids in December.

      a) It is too early to tell if there will be another show.

    8. NAS Christmas Train Show

      a) It is too early to tell if there will be another show.

    1. The merits of club members making time to participating in events was discussed. It is

    more fun when many members can be at run sessions and attend shows. These events are

    known well in advance for members to make the time to join in.

    1. Reed brought to the Club’s attention that we had the opportunity to create a Club Promo

    for BLAB TV. The air time cost would be $1,000 for a 15 minute spot.

      a) The Club unanimously showed no interest in investing our limited resources on such a venture.

      b) It would be better to spend the money on a yearly Pensacola Train Show.

    1. The idea of adding signaling to the mods was discussed. This would be an additional live

      action function such as the road crossing to add more animation and interest for spectators.

        a) No member offered a motion to the idea.

    2. The idea of adding signage to the Club Trailer was next discussed. At issue was the

    content of the images and design layout.

      a) No member offered a motion to the idea.

VI. The meeting was adjourned at 8:10PM

Respectfully Submitted by

Stephen “Chip” Borona

Secretary PMRC HO Division