Friends
of Southern Nevada Railway, Inc.
Membership
Meeting
3 March
2011
According to Article V,
Section 1, of the By-Laws a quorum was present to conduct FNSR business.
Motion to approve the minutes of the February meeting was made by Bonnie Himka and seconded by Bill Cottrell; unanimously approved.
Treasurer report:
In Bob Freedman’s absence, Chuck Brandt announced that our bank balance as of 1 February was $14811.46 plus a CD account from the dissolution of So. NV chapter of NRHS. February income was $1901.45 and expenses were $100.29 for a net income for the month of $1801.16. Ending bank balance was $16,612.62.
Standing Committee reports
Training – Tony Bond announced that review and editing of the revised Rulebook by Training Committee members is complete and the new 2011 Rulebook will be printed this month for distribution to volunteer members as necessary.
Tony also announced that another Brakeman training session is planned for those who did not receive the training during the January training weekend and any others who did not get enough hands on training time with the large group during those days.
Tony also mentioned that anyone who would like one on one training with Bob Freedman and Rusty Elliot during the week are welcome to call a day ahead of time to check their availability and schedule personal training with either of them.
The video recorded by Roger West is being reviewed and the first part containing the Introduction and new Rulebook, Car Attendants, and Emergency Procedures training sections will be available on DVD within the month for viewing as needed by new volunteers and those that could not attend the sessions.
Restoration – Greg Corbin discussed a possible restoration project on the 3505 caboose by the American Restoration program on the History Channel. Due to the scope of the project, work on the caboose may be postponed until their next broadcast season. However, they are still interested in performing on smaller projects which could be completed during the current season of programs.
John Orth has completed installation of windows and frames in the #35 locomotive and is currently working on windows for the Davenport Dinky.
Greg Corbin has purchased a locomotive bell and cradle for the #35 and it will be installed upon arrival at the museum. A similar bell and cradle is planned for the 6264 locomotive in the display pavilion.
Membership – Roger Himka announced we have 172 public memberships for a total of 326 people and 30 individual volunteer members and 8 family volunteer members.
Old Business
Calendar Project
Chuck Brandt announced that the calendar sales are now in the black by about $331 as all printing and sales costs have been covered. Since all future sales will contribute totally to our profit, starting with the first March weekend, the sales price in the gift shop and on the trains will be further reduced to $3.00 to aid in reducing our remaining inventory.
New Business
2012 Calendar Project
Roger West discussed the early stage of planning and layout for the 2012 calendars. Photos are currently being culled and sorted from contributions from his own photos and a few volunteers. Roger requested that anyone who has photos for submission please get them to him as early as possible this month. Photos will need to be edited and the final page layouts completed during May. Roger will be on travel during most of April and Chuck Brandt will help with editing and layout tasks during his absence. If all photos are available during early March, much of the editing can be accomplished prior to Roger’s absence.
Day Out With Thomas
Discussions resumed regarding the possibility of staging a Thomas the Tank event in spring 2012. Tony Bond and Chuck Brandt presented a proposed organization chart of how the project would be structured. There would be approximately 7 departments, each requiring a department head who would assume the responsibility for the next year to accomplish the requirements of that department. This is a major commitment and needs to be understood by any who volunteer for these positions before the event planning can continue. Approximately 3-4 department head positions are currently being assigned, leaving at least 3 to be filled.
The event would run over two weekends in either late April or early May for best weather. There would be 12 runs each day of 25 minutes each per Thomas organization requirements. Several ancillary attractions would be operating on site to keep people entertained while the trains are out on the runs. All these attractions would need to be staffed for the duration of each day’s event.
The Board approved a motion requiring all department heads to be in place before a final vote can be made at next month’s Board meeting to continue formal planning for the event.
Grant Requests
Chuck Brandt announced that UP denied our grant request for funding to make improvements to the dining car which would improve the car’s appearance and functionality for use in future party rentals and/or possible dinner train use in the future.
Chuck will investigate other grant funding possibilities for the dining car work through the NRHS grant program.
Greg Corbin
Comments
Santa Train 2011 will be the 10th anniversary of the running of the Santa Train event. Because of the increasing popularity of the event, planning for a third weekend of runs is currently underway. The event would run from 10am to 3pm both days (a decrease of one run each day from previous years) of the first 3 weekends of December. This will add capacity to meet the increase passenger volume, but requires more commitment from volunteers to staff the event an extra weekend.
The volunteer Santa Clauses have agreed to staff the increased schedule as have the TTOS people for the toy train demonstrations in the shop. New merchandise specific to the Santa Trains will be available in the gift shop.
A motion by Tony Bond and seconded by Rusty Elliot was approved unanimously for the Friends organization to support the 3 weekend event for 2011.
Open Discussion
New member Frank Carroll introduced himself. He is the photographer we have been seeing alongside the tracks in recent weeks. He has several new ideas about photography during special event weekends. Welcome aboard, Frank.
There being no further discussions, the meeting was adjourned at 10:40 AM.
The next meeting will be April 7, 2011 at 10:00 AM.
