The First NYCSHS “Mini” was a Great Success

This year the Society decided to hold a mini-convention in our Headquarters in Middleburg Heights, OH. For several years members have been asking that we hold some kind of smaller activity in various parts of the NYCS territory so that those who cannot attend the annual convention might be able to come to one of these. The idea was to minimize the cost of attendance and move the location around the territory. This year’s Mini was an answer to that request.

We decided to focus on modeling for the first “Mini” because that is where we are now getting most of our new members. Fewer new members are those who were once employees of the NYCS or even saw or rode the railroad. Of course we will continue to provide activities and publications for those fans and employees, but it appears that those who model the NYCS are and will continue to be in the majority.

So our first event in this series was a big success with almost forty people arriving at the Headquarters on Saturday, September 22. They were met there by some of the NYCSHS Board and their wives and welcomed to the Headquarters for a daylong event filled with activities focused on NYCS modeling.

The day began with a welcome from President Dave Mackay. It was followed by a presentation by Noel Widdifield, Business Manager/Treasurer, on “Results of the Modeler’s Survey 2018, Challenges Faced by Model Manufacturers, and NYCSHS Successes and Failures in Developing NYCS Models”.

Dave Mackay then returned to talk about “Modeling NYCS Heavyweight Coaches”.

Lunch and time for checking our the many modeling items for sale in the Collinwood Shop were next up and enjoyed by all who attended.

After we dragged the participants back into the room away from the Collinwood Shop offerings, Past President, Rich Stoving presented “My Last Layout” featuring great photos of his very accurate NYC layout.

Next up, Dave Nethery presented “Using the NYCSHS Archive to Improve Your NYCS Modeling”. This talk included a detailed tour of what the Archive has to offer and what the volunteers are doing to continue to expand the digital and hard copy holdings there.

Finally, Noel Widdifield, Dave Mackay, Dave Nethery, Mike Vescelus, and Bob Wasko moderated a roundtable NYCSHS discussion at which the attendees were encouraged to make suggestions on how to improve the NYCSHS modeling program.

Photos from Modelers’ Mini (Photos by Noel & Joe Kurilec)

Jeff Koncal’s wife, Cecilia, baked an enormous amount of desserts for the event. They were enjoyed by all, and many goodies were taken along for the drive back home.

This event was the first of many of these “Mini” meetings, and it was a great success. They only negative comment we heard was that the seats were too hard. We received a very large number of positive comments so we believe that this kind of events will be very popular with our members in the near future.

If you would be interested in leading such an event in your area, please contact us. We will provide lots of support to you. All you need to do is find a place to hold the event, obtain speakers on any NYCS subject, arrange for food, and led the event. We will provide you with all the support you need and will mentor you through your first event. We will set up the registration and collect the money, provide you with the means to pay for any expenses used to advertise the event for you, and mentor you through your first event.

If you would be interested in setting up a “Mini” in your area, contact us at NYCSHS@verizon.net and let us help you get started.

This is your chance to set up a NYCSHS “Mini” in your area so that

NYCSHS members can meet and learn about the NYCSHS locally.

We are here to help and support you in doing this.  These “Minis”

are designed to allow you to get to know members in your area who

share our love of the NYCS.