Greetings from the Lakes Region Model Railroad Museum

 
To all of you, we wish you a very Merry Christmas (as much as social distancing will permit) and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

A very great thank you to all of you for your unconditional support, your enthusiasm, and your investment in the museum. The museum project finally broke ground early this summer. It has been a long and tortuous path to get to that point but the way ahead now looks clear and straight. We lifted the building, rebuilt the foundations, replaced the rotten sills, repaired all the structural timbers and lowered the building back down. It now has the near rectangular shape it had when it was first built. We even identified and preserved the original irregularities. The building is now winterized and nothing much will happen until next spring.

We have not encountered any significant problems and are within our budget. Next spring we will restore the two modified rafters, build the handicap ramp, replace the roof, finish the exterior and rebuild the loading dock. We do not anticipate any further delays or problems.

In parallel, we have been defining the museum and designing the internal layout for the phase 2 construction. Several of you have been actively involved with these discussions and we are moving towards a final definition. Our original goal is unchanged - to create a model railroad layout showing how the arrival of the railroads transformed these isolated villages into interconnected bustling manufacturing centers. We are exploring ways to deepen and expand the historical and educational experience for one-time visitors with layers of Augmented Reality and additional links to original material. We also are convinced that the key to enthusiastic adoption by the community is interactivity and, to that end, we are developing ways for anyone to operate trains, from simple run around in a limited area to full operation of the whole layout. With this ability, visitors can increase their ability to operate increasingly more complex situations thereby earning credits, merit badges, or graduating to become a docent.

We believe that this combination of a sophisticated and layered historical presentation together with interactive operation by all visitors will ensure the museum’s acceptance by the public, will result in multiple visits and enable it to generate sufficient revenue for break-even operation.

While Wolfeboro as a tourist destination will have many one-time visitors to the museum (providing a steady revenue stream), our larger goal is to encourage multiple visits by providing a rewarding and challenging operating experience. We should be able to extend this operating experience beyond the physical museum to the virtual realm, allowing remote interaction with the trains, remote monitoring of movements on the layout and remote linking with the historical presentations.
I hope that you all can see that we are reaching for a unique museum experience, one that, to our knowledge, has not been presented in New England, and which will be an attraction in and of itself. There will be many challenges ahead but we are hard at work to define these and develop realistic solutions.

Two of our challenges are the rapid evolution of social media and changes in the software tools to exploit virtual reality. Will everyone be taking selfies 10 years from now? Will today's teenagers still text each other instead of talking? Our success will correlate with our ability to understand these trends and cater to the visitor of the future.

Exciting and challenging times! And you are all part of this great project.

I hope you are as excited as I am about what we are working on. And I hope you all will continue your support of this amazing project.
Meanwhile, please stay healthy by taking wise precautions and staying away from strangers.

I wish to thank each and every one of you for your support, for the work you have contributed, and for your confidence in us.

If you, or anyone you know, might be able to help us with formulating this novel museum experience, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas.

John Simms.
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CHIP FAULTER FUND- CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

 CHIP FAULTER FUND- CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS by Peter McKenney

 

At the request of Chip Faulter’s family, the Seacoast Division NMRA has created a fund in Chip’s name for the purpose of assisting youngsters in enjoying the World’s Greatest Hobby.  President Erickson has asked me to form a committee of interested members to consider the various ways to accomplish this purpose and make a proposal to the Board of Directors for its consideration and approval.  I invite anyone who has an interest in participating in this organizing process, or knows of another person who should be recruited by the committee, to contact me by phone (207-776-2033) or by email (). 

 

Chip was a dear friend of mine and I am honored to be able to play a part in organizing this project to keep his memory alive.  Chip and many of us in the division often talked about the importance of attracting younger modelers into our hobby.  Only in a few instances did action ensue. For instance, Bill Gaver initiated a very popular BSA Railroading Merit Badge program in New Hampshire a few years ago. Now is our latest, greatest opportunity to make a difference. 

 

For those who worry that volunteering for this committee will automatically result in their being tasked with a long-term obligation, please rest assured that our task will be limited.   We will identify ways in which the Chip Faulter Fund can support youth enjoying the hobby.  For example, supporting the Boy Scouts’ Railroading merit badge program or the Youth in Model Railroad Organization may be practical avenues for part or all of the program.  Ideally, the program will involve cooperating with other existing organizations that serve youth.  Once the Board makes its final determination on how to proceed, however, it will be up to others to implement the program. 

 

I understand that substantial amounts of money have already been received by the division to fund this program.  I would like to start our deliberations by mid-January using a free conference calling service and hopefully conclude our work in time to issue our recommendations to the Board in advance of its meeting in April. Please join in this worthwhile endeavor in Chip’s memory as well as to enhance the future of our wonderful hobby.

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Help the Seacoast Division Grow by Lou Champagne

The Seacoast Division currently has 178 individual members and 5 Club members. Our membership is comprised of diverse and talented model railroad enthusiasts. The range of expertise represented by our members covers all areas of our multi-faceted hobby and this is always evident in our Quarterly Events. For all of us, that’s a real benefit … because, individually, we are all very good at some things, OK at other things and downright scared to try some things … but because of our talent pool, you can always find the support you need with whatever it is that you’re working on or would like to work on. That puts the Seacoast Division in a good position to fulfill its Mission: To promote model railroading throughout Maine & New Hampshire through education, promotion of model railroading activities, serving as local resources for individual model railroaders, and supporting local model railroad groups.

But … your help is needed to keep the Division strong and vibrant ! We are strong at 178 individual members, but would be much stronger and healthier if we had 200+ members. If you’ve not noticed, the average age of our group is not low …

Here’s how you can help the Division grow … when speaking with others in the hobby, whether they be friends, acquaintances or strangers, ask if they belong to the NMRA and ,if not, …

Talk to them about the benefits of membership in the NMRA and specifically, the Seacoast Division. For great talking points, see pages 38-39 in the current August issue of the NMRA Magazine.

  • Visit our website with them & also the NER & NMRA websites.
  • Show, give or let them borrow copies of The Switch Tower, The Coupler and the NMRA Magazine.
  • Show (or forward to) them the NMRA Turntable that comes via email.
  • Invite them to come with you as a guest to the next quarterly event, Derry Fun Night or other Seacoast function.
  • Invite them as a guest to a local operating session if available.
  • Have other current members talk to a potential new member.

Let them know that a big discount is available for the first 9 months of NMRA membership through the Rail Pass program (plus the Division will cover part of that cost). The initial 9 months ends up being only ten dollars.

If you need materials to work with, let me know & I will email or send them to you.    (  // 207-229-5475 )

Together, we can increase our membership … THANK YOU in advance for your help in recruiting new members to the Seacoast Division !!

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