STAYING ON TRACK

The Newsletter of the Lubbock Model Railroad Association

FEBRUARY 2003

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RULES OF THE AUCTION

The owner of the item to be auctioned will bring the item to the auctioneer with the auction form. The owner will fill in the following items on the auction form:

a. The 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 will be included in the February issue of the newsletter. Be sure to bring that sheet of paper with you. It is your bidding number and your seller's number. You will need it to participate in the auction.

The auction will be conducted in the 'classical' format with the auctioneer attempting to sell the item at the highest price possible. He will first read the item description to the club 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 their sheet of paper with their bidder/seller number on it which they received with their February 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 notes the amount of $1.00 (10%) going to the club. The seller receives $9.00 from the seller's table ($10.00 - $1.00 = $9.00). The club keeps the dollar.

The club member may 'check out' anytime. 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.

NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Congratulations to all the new executive committee members. They are as follows:

President Randel Bittick

Vice Pres. Terry Chancellor

Treasurer David Lamberts

Secretary Garon Cagle

Librarian Jack Seay

E-MAIL

Herein an e-mail sent to Ron Kutch.
The train show in Roswell, NM is set for May 30 - June 1. Set up will be on the 30 of May. Your club members are welcome to come and set up with us if they would like and all are welcome to come and run with us. Please let me know if you would like to set up with us so that we can inform the club in Roswell of how big the show will be.

Thank you, Greg Jennings

VP Clovis Train Club

jennings@plateautel.net

DUES IS DUE

You will note that I have not been nagging anyone in the newsletter regarding dues. Well - consider this a nag. Only about 1/2 of the membership have paid their 2003 dues and it is now February. Paying dues is incredibly easy. You can mail me a check (see bottom of page) or give it to me at the meeting. We take cash, check, or money order. No credit cards. Single membership is STILL $12 and family membership $18 per year. A great deal. Pay now, and it makes my bookkeeping so much easier.

FINANCIAL REPORT

As is my custom, being both LMRA treasurer and editor of the newsletter, I designate February as financial statement month. Page three is our spread sheet analysis for the income and expenditures for all of 2002. Unlike 2001, where we lost a little money at years' end, this year we actually showed a profit of $163.50.

HUMOR?

You know you're a railfan when your wife tells you her water bursts, and your first reaction is, 'Oh No, her boiler will be ruined.'

You know you're a railfan when you get a shopping cart with a bad wheel, you tag it and set aside for the shops to repair, or park it in an aisle and put up a blue flag in front and behind.

The refund of $668.90 in February may need a word of explanation. I advance the auction cash to use as change from my own pocket. It rests at the seller's table and is used to pay off the sellers so they may leave prior to the end of the auction. After all the buyers money has been collected (listed as income on the 'auction' line in February) then I take back the change I loaned to the club. So, if you want to calculate the profit from the auction, subtract my advance from the gross proceeds and you get $76.60

VESTS

We still have a good inventory of club vests. They are $20 each. We have different sizes available. Buy one, decorated it.

CLINICS

The February clinic will be the annual auction. The March clinic will be given by Patrick Pritchett. He will be discussing and showing pictures of gondolas. In April we are going to start a series of 'work sessions' on touching up the wear and tear on the modules to get them ready for the LSR convention in June. They don't really need any major reconstruction work, thanks primarily to the foresight and modeling skills of the original constructors. But, they are a little the worse for wear and tear.

The major fix-up will be the scenery and ground cover. If people would volunteer to bring some basic supplies such as foam, ground cover, ballast, trees, bushes, spikes, track gauges, or detail items, we will try and do about three sections a meeting. Hopefully this will get them all done by June.

Staying on Track is published monthly by the LMRA - David Lamberts, editor.

Visit us on the Internet at railserve.com/lmra

E-mail me at DWL1944@cs.com

Our mailing address is PO Box 53674, Lubbock, TX 79453

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