Page 4 - March April 2000

President’s Car...
Michael E. Spray
It’s Spring already! Back to cutting the grass and gardening yet again.
The Winter Meet, held at my home town of Nailsea back on 5th February, was a great success. Over 200 people attended and helped make it a great day - fellow- ship at its best. My thanks to all who par- ticipated.
It seems I have to apologise to any of our friends I might have offended in the USA, following Presidents Car in the Septem- ber 1999 issue, where I incorrectly stated that Cyder Belt was the oldest in the world. This information comes from American trustee Jim Zinser, in his Re- gional Roundup, Bulletin January 2000. He goes on to say what a truly interna- tional organisation the NMRA is, and we should all be very proud of this fact. Following last year’s excellent Conven- tion at Peterborough, your Board of Di-
rectors has been considering using the surplus funds to subsidise the Year 2000 Convention registration fee and possibly the day visitor fee as well. I hope by the time this issue “hits the streets”, the mat- ter will have been rubber stamped. A new NMRA BR display stand is under consideration, and our valued ex-Presi- dent Tom Winlow is carrying out im- provements to the Region display modules.
At the time of writing there is still no news of a Convention bid for 2001.
As we closed for press, we were saddened to hear of the untimely death of Bill Eaglesham of M.G.Sharp Models. Always a friend of the Region, and a much admired “character”, Bill will be sorely missed. Our deepest condolences go out to his family.
Santa Fe on the Great Northern
First Prize in the Prototype Print Section in the 1999 Contest went to Jane Lee. Eastbound stack train at Java East, near Essex, Montana, headed by GE Dash 9-44CW #655. 19/3/99
4 ROUNDHOUSE
Modelling the...
The first part of Vin Callcut’s feature on modelling the Sacremento Railfair appeared in the December 1999 issue of Roundhouse.
Layout Expansion
If generous space is available, it would be possible to connect with some of the related Californian attractions. Old Sacramento is within easy walking distance of the standard gauge local light rail system that uses modern two-car articulated trams. An electrified system of this type frequently makes a splendid addition to an urban environment. While the modern cars all look the same, there is not far away the Western Railway Museum which has a superb collection of interurbans and streetcars. A minor stretch of the imagination would connect this system directly to the layout and make available a very varied and colourful historic selection of cars that can add significant interest with little extra space demanded.
At Jamestown there is the ‘Railtown 1897’ outstation of the State Museum based on the old Sierra Railroad still much loved by Hollywood. The roundhouse and many of the exhibits are operable. Besides weekend operation for visitors, they can still be hired out for movie making. The yard is littered with a selection of props so that alternative smokestacks, pilots, cabs or other features can suit the producers’ pleasure. Staging holdups and accidents is no