HO MOD SIG MONTHLY MTG. MINUTES, Oct 10, 2009, Panera Bakery and Cafe, by Norm C, Chairman

COMMENTS:
1. Meeting Date: The next scheduled breakfast meeting is Nov 14, ’09. Site to be announced.  More on the site below (Item 11). Note that this is also the Boeing Swap Meet day, the last one in the foreseeable future.

PAST SHOWS:
2. Lynden, Oct. 3-4 ‘09, Pete: This was an excellent event, well coordinated. Everyone managed to show up on Friday, so setup went well and we were very ready by showtime. There was a short circuit on startup; one of the card edge connectors on a tortoise had slipped sideways. Be aware of this possibility if you use them. The new wye/yard went up uneventfully and worked extremely well and was fun to use. The new control system also worked extremely well and was fun to use. Look forward to your chance to use them. Rob went to Lynden on Friday to help with setup of the new wye/yard to make sure that everything went together as planned. Don V (the designer of the control system) also went to Lynden with us to make sure that everything worked and that it didn’t shut us down. This was very generous of Rob and Don. Don and his wife, Anne, were also a lot of fun and grilled some bratwurst for Friday night’s dinner for the group, another neat touch. At the dinner, he answered questions endlessly about the "net." On Saturday, the whole group went out to Jake’s Western Grill (or something like that) for a group dinner. These group dinners are unique to Lynden and add a special bonus to those managing to "go the distance."

NEXT SHOWS:
3. Maple Valley, Oct 17-18, Ravensdale, Ross: This is less than a week away. We have a 20 by 24" layout going to Maple Valley. Show times are 10 to 5 both Sat and Sunday.
4. WGH Show: Nov 21-22, Mike, The WGHS (World’s Greatest Hobby Show) is in early planning stages. We are confirmed. Apparently, Jim Scorce from NCE will be there to check out our NMRANet. Mike, the coordinator has put out show details and asked for participants. If you haven’t replied, please do so. Those at breakfast gave him their preferences.
5. MTF Show Dec 26 – early January, Mike, This show is confirmed. It will be slightly smaller and may include the kiddy layout. One side is against the wall and will utilize the Westin modules. They were originally designed for this purpose.
6. PSC Show: Jan 17-19, Norm, We have received an invitation letter. They again have building #4, so the usual space is available. You will be receiving a participation email soon.
7. UNW Show: Feb, 2010, Bob B, Bob has sent out an informational message. They expect greater participation, so the usual space will not likely be available. You will be receiving a participation email soon as they need our size late Nov or early Dec.
8. Trailer movements, Norm: At this time the trailer is at Rob’s for the Maple Valley, WGH, and MTF shows.

NEW BUSINESS:
9. Tacoma Layout Tours, Norm: The tours will be held Oct. 24. There is information in the Grab Iron. In addition I have some information from Gene S about individual layouts that you may find helpful. If you want the flyers about layouts, let me know and I’ll get one to you.
10. Bellingham Modular group: Norm, a few Bellingham people were interested in modules, and hoped that some of us would be willing to go to Bellingham to discus our building standards and so on. Bob and Allan are going to represent us.
11. Boeing Employees Model Railroad Club's 30th Annual Swap Meet, Norm Saturday, November 14, 2009, www.bemrrc.com

OLD BUSINESS:
12. Breakfast site, Norm: This month’s breakfast was at Panera Bakery and Cafe. They had a small meeting room where we ate, counter service with a pager, and we started breakfast at 8:45 as everyone was done eating and anxious for the meeting. The food was good and inexpensive, but relatively small quantities for those expecting typical huge plates. Within the meeting room, we closed the doors, circled the tables and had the best meeting environment we have ever had. Unfortunately, not all were satisfied with the site.
So once again this issue is still not settled. A perfect site would have the following characteristics: central location, close seating for communication (definitely not one long row of tables), quiet, quality food, and maybe a waiter and be on the route to Cherry Valley.
The issue this time was location. Being located in Redmond is not "centrally located" anymore. About a half dozen of our active members come from the South End, including Puyallup, Dupont, Federal Way, and Bonney Lake. Apparently the population center of the Puget Sound Region is more like Tukwila. That being noted, can we find a location centrally located, i.e. the Tukwila area? If not, then, many people were in favor of alternating locations from southern to northern locations. So now the search is on for a location farther down south. The problem is we have no members in the Tukwila area. Mike and maybe others closest to that are agreed to find a location.
We have met at a variety of locations, all of which have been "recommended," and/or "checked out," yet found unsatisfactory. In the future, we need to rigidly stick to our criteria. We may not have been successful in finding a site, but now we clearly know what we don’t want. We will not accept a noisy environment, long row of tables, bad food, and noncentral location (unless we alternate sites), so any sites with these features should be rejected right off.
Beyond our discussion at breakfast, Dan P suggested the following ideas; "The hi-rail group meets at members' homes, kind of round-robin style. Could there be a more reliable meeting location if food weren't an issue? Like a community center, public library meeting room, school classroom, church fellowship room, Elks lodge or VFW or whatever. East Side clinic used to meet at a bank branch conference room in Kenmore." We may need to open our options and look at these ideas.

13. Status: Yard improvements, Norm: We discussed at length the wye/yard the construction to see if there were any lessons to be learned. A lot of small tips were mentioned, too numerous to repeat here.
14. Status: NMRANet: Norm, Since only one person at the upcoming Maple Valley Show was at Lynden, I brought in the new control panel and tried to explain to those present how to use it. This coincidentally explained the whole control system.
15. Status: Configuration tool: Norm, Apparently Dave K is going to tackle this issue. He is highly qualified and interested.
16. Status: YouTube site, Nicholas: Our account is established. More details later.
17. Status: Leg Brackets: Milt, Did not bring up. This soon will become an issue.
18. Status report: Toolbox, Mike: No progress. Busy tracking the wye modules