Staying on Track is published monthly by the LMRA - David Lamberts, editor.
Visit us on the Internet at http://www.railserve.com/lmra
E-mail me at DWL1944@cs.com
Our mailing address is PO Box 53674, Lubbock, TX 79453
This February is the annual LMRA auction. There are two inserts in this month's newsletter. One is your bidder/seller number. Be sure to bring it with you to the auction. The second is the Auction Form. You must fill out one of these forms for each item you wish to auction. Fill in the item description (and scale), your seller's number (enclosed), the minimum bid (if any) and the percent you will donate to the club. The club takes 10% minimum. Make as many copies of this form as you need. We have had a lot of fun with these in past years. Come and enjoy!
The owner of the item to be auctioned will bring the item to the auctioneer together with the auction form. The owner will fill in the following items on the auction form:
a. Item description including scale.
b. The seller's (owner's) number from the February newsletter.
c. The minimum bid (if any).
d. The "percent to club" that the seller will donate to the club. The club will take 10% as a minimum.
The auctioneer will fill in the item number.
The club member's bidder/seller number is included in this newsletter. Be sure to bring that numbered sheet with you. You will need it to participate in the auction. It is your bidding number and also your seller's number.
The auction will be conducted in the "classical" format; the auctioneer attempting to sell the item at the highest price possible. He will first read the item description and note the minimum bid, if any. He will hold up the item for the group to see. The item will be passed around to the group if requested.
The bidders will all have a sheet of paper with their number on it which they received with this February's issue of the newsletter. They will use this sheet to bid. If interested in an item, the bidder must hold the sheet high in the air so the auctioneer can see the number. KEEP IT IN THE AIR UNTIL YOU WISH TO STOP BIDDING. Do NOT raise and lower your sheet, just keep it up until the price exceeds your comfort zone.
The winner is the last bidder with his number in the air.
The auctioneer will note the winning bidder's (buyer) number on the auction form and the amount of the winning bid. He will subtract the percent of the hold for the club and calculate the remaining amount due the seller. The winner then claims his or her item, pays the price to the buyer's table, and the seller gets that amount less the percentage that goes to the club.
For example: the seller places a boxcar with a minimum bid of $5.00 and the minimum 10% going to the club with the auctioneer. The boxcar eventually sells for $10.00. The auctioneer notes the winning amount of $10.00 on the auction form and also notes the amount of $1.00 (10%) going to the club. The buyer brings his $10.00 to the buyer's table. The seller receives $9.00 from the seller's table ($10.00 - $1.00 = $9.00). The LMRA keeps the dollar.
The club member may "check out" at any time. It is NOT necessary to wait until the end of the auction. The seller's table will have enough cash at the start of the auction to pay off any seller (less the percentage going to the club). Likewise, buyers may bring their money to the buyer's table any time at their convenience.
Page three is the financial summary for the LMRA for the year 2001. This is the first time in recent memory the club has actually lost money (-$189.28). Most of this loss was from our storage bill (new for 2001) and the purchase of some vests. If we are able to sell the rest of our vests this year, 2002 should be in the black. I will bring the books with me to the meeting for anyone who wants to examine them in detail.
(submitted by Ron Kutch)WASHINGTON (AP) --A federal oversight panel for financially troubled Amtrak voted Friday to recommend opening the Nation's intercity rail system to competition.
Amtrak, for three decades the Nation's monopoly provider of long-distance trains, would be competing with private companies to operate trains. But Amtrak's tracks and stations, as well as its authority to make rail policy, would be distributed among state, federal and private entities.
The plan, approved 8-1 by the Amtrak
Reform Council, is only a recommendation. Congress will decide Amtrak's future after it receives a final version of the council plan February 7.
Established by Congress in 1997, the panel has drawn praise from critics of Amtrak who contend mismanagement is responsible for its perpetual financial problems. Amtrak supporters retort that the problem is a paucity of federal financing for an overlooked mode of transportation. "What we're trying to do is produce a new national rail passenger system that works and is modern and meets the needs of this country and this century," Gil Carmichael, the council's chairman, said before the vote.
The council voted in November that Amtrak could not meet a December 2, 2002, congressional deadline to begin operating without federal subsidies. Under the 1997 law that created the council, that finding authorized it to come up with a plan for a restructured national rail system. Ironically, the council's plan envisions a continuation of government subsidies to intercity trains. But the council endorsed an idea by member John Norquist, the mayor of Milwaukee, that higher subsidies should go to routes that are doing well, rather than those doing poorly.
The plan also would have Amtrak transfer ownership of tracks, bridges, tunnels and stations, possibly to states or cities.
Two alternative plans also were on the table at Friday's meeting. One would have maintained national or regional rail monopolies but shifted authority for route and service decisions to a government agency.
The other would have opened up competition for long-haul trains only.