Folks...This chapter and the next will accumulate all my NASG memories
into one place. It will cover a span of perhaps 30 years or more and
will be in chronological order. Many other things happened in my S life
during this time, but non-NASG memories will be discussed in other
chapters. I think the mental orientation needs to stay focused here on
the organization and what it represented -- to me, at least. Ed L.
Chapter #4 -- NASG AND ME (pre-Prez years)
The mid-1970s NASG convention in Chicago was my first train-related
venture outside of California since I had moved to that great State. I
had collected a bunch of freight cars, some AF passenger car body
castings, some structures, joined a club, and had met some fellow
scale-guys like Jim Sweeney, Graham Henry, and others. I had devoured
the material in the S magazines. My feet were sort of wet with S scale
knowledge since I now knew what American Flyer was all about and how it
related to us scale guys. Simply stated: AF was a valuable source of
parts and bodies that could be put to better use. At least that is how
I looked at it. The AF guys were nice enough, but different. They
"collected", but did not "model", and that differentiation made us two
different species. Jerry Silvia openly stated, "Ownership is all the
joy I seek." He had no layout and did not care to have one. But he had
lots and lots of yellow and blue boxes. However, his AF collection
financed a college education for his kids. Jerry was no dummy. Some AF
guys, like Pat Altieri, had majestic AF layouts. But all the AF layouts
I ever saw just ran in circles. Somehow that simply was not quite what
I wanted for myself. So I was looking forward to the Chicago NASG
convention very much. It never dawned on me that I might actually meet
a whole lot of people just like myself. I expected to see products and
layouts -- not people.
One of the first things I remember is a scale layout (modular?) set up
at the convention hotel. The first train I saw was a long freight being
hauled by doubleheaded Docksiders. Huh...!!?? Yes, some guys were
double and triple heading the Docksiders to see how many cars they could
pull. I used to think that Californians were the nutty ones. Maybe
that concept needed some rethinking. Could there be something wrong
with the air in Chicago? Maybe the water?
I am sure there were many products, etc., but I honestly do not remember
much of any product or layout other than the one mentioned above. But I
sure do remember meeting a lot people. Folks like Claud Wade of SSLS,
and Ed Schumacher who was the NASG Prez, and of course Frank Titman, and
Don Hamburger (did I misspell that? Darn keyboard.), John Bortz, Lee
Johnson and others, etc. All of these folks were repeatedly mentioned
in the S GAUGE HERALD and were the S movers and shakers of the day. And
here they all were gathered in one place. It was really neat. What an
experience! Panel discussions, clinics, layout visits, trains, people,
and so forth. One of the panel discussions was "The Future of S" (or
something similar). Here we are 30 years later still having the same
discussion. Some things never change. At least there was a future for
S. At times, it appeared there was not going to be a future, but
somehow it all survived. S managed to avoid following OO and TT into
oblivion. In my view, the S GAUGE HERALD and the NASG were the key
factors that allowed S to survive and grow.
I was having a great time in Chicago and had no idea of the anger
brewing back in California over my $500 "gift" for attending this event.
Was I in for a surprise.....! Does S stand for "stupid"?
At some point, well after the convention was over, I was back home
minding my own business (for once) when the phone rang. It was Ed
Schumacher (NASG Prez) calling to speak with........ME! Holy smokes, I
thought, what did I do this time? As it turned out, the Pacific VP had
resigned/died/moved (or whatever) and NASG "needed" a guy to represent
the Pacific Area. Ed was telling me that I was his choice. He TOLD me
to take the job and there really was not a lot of discussion about it.
I asked if I had to attend meetings. Nope! Did I have to write
reports? Nope! Did I have to go to the conventions? Nope! Did I have
to spend my own money? Nope! Did I have to do anything at all? Nope!
How did he get my name? Heard about you at the NASG convention.
H-m-m-m...that could be good or bad -- depending. Anyway, since Ed did
not leave the door open to decline, I accepted his "request". Now I was
part of NASG -- and had no idea what that would lead to. I figured that
since I didn't have to do anything, I couldn't possibly get into
trouble. But that turned out not to be the case.
As time went on, Ed Schumacher was followed as Prez by Dick Cataldi who
was then followed by Rollie Mercier. Somehow, my name just kept
appearing on the Pacific VP ballot and I was repeatedly voted back into
my "do nothing" office. What the heck, it was sorta fun. No
campaigning or kissing babies or anything like that at all. I don't
ever remember asking to be re-elected, it just sort of happened. I must
have filled out a form or something. I don't recall any competition.
Somewhere along the way, the NASG annual convention at Syracuse, NY ran
into financial difficulties and lost a bunch of money. I think a BIG
bunch of money mostly because the guys didn't want to stay at the
Marriott (or similarly expensive place) convention hotel and stayed at
the MOTEL SIX (or similar el cheapo' joint) across the street for half
the price. As a result, the convention did not meet the contracted room
count and had to pay big bucks for the convention facilities. In
addition, to make matters worse, a whole bunch of specially painted
convention cars did not sell. It wasn't long before the Syracuse guys
came to NASG looking for financial assistance. After all, they
reasoned, if NASG wanted to split the profits, shouldn't it also split
the losses? On the other hand, there had never been a loss of this
magnitude before. To complicate things, the Syracuse guys had a planned
series of money-making projects (special cars, etc.) that, over the next
year or two, would earn enough profit to make up for the convention
losses. The NASG BOT was divided on the matter.
NASG's then Prez and I ended up on opposite sides of the issue. The
Prez made the decision his way (details omitted to protect the guilty).
I walked out the door and resigned. To my way of thinking, the matter
was handled improperly and I wanted no part of it. Not even a remote
association. This was the first of many S-related conflicts for me and
I didn't enjoy it one bit. I was much happier simply building kits and
dreaming about a train layout. So I returned to California, sniffed
some Ambroid glue and eventually got happy again. Ambroid works!
As the clock ticked onward, I heard more and more rumors about NASG and
how things were being run. Most of the rumors were complaints and I
think it would be best to not spread those rumors around here.
Especially with a memory as bad as mine and with so much time having
gone by. Let's just say that the rumor mill was working overtime. It
really doesn't matter what the specifics were.
Eventually, NASG elections approached and talk turned to who would be
running for office. The incumbent Prez had announced he would be
running for re-election. No one else had announced. I don't remember
if I volunteered or was asked or what exactly, but it all sort of
happened very quickly. Soon there was a campaign advisory committee
composed of three guys: Larry Sokol (west), Jim Kindraka (middle) and
Don Thompson (east). Without the help and support and encouragement of
these fine fellows, I would not have been able to take on "the
establishment" and run an effective campaign. The race was on......
The first step was to get endorsements from well-known S guys. That
effort was so successful that someone said I should get endorsements
from some not-so-well-known S guys as well. So that was done also.
What the heck, the more the merrier. In S, everybody knows somebody and
we were all connected through various networks of train buddies, local
clubs, circuit letters, flea markets, swap meets, and the like. But it
was all done via stamps on envelopes -- supplemented by occasional phone
calls. The internet had not yet been invented. Compared to today, it
was all in s--l--o--w m--o--t--i--o--n, but given enough time and
stamps, it all got done. Then came the mass mailing of letter(s) to
NASG members. Kinko's was getting rich on me -- except there was no
Kinko's back then. My employer never found out that I was running a
nationwide -- no, make that "world wide" -- political campaign from his
back room Xerox machine. It wasn't long before the incumbent decided to
withdraw from the race. He was "replaced" by the President of the
nation's largest S club. So now it was a new race with new issues and
new personalities. All this right in the middle of the campaign. A
modern day analogy would be to have John Kerry withdraw and be replaced
with Hillary about six months before George Bush wins it anyway.
The letters were flying. There was negative campaigning -- although I
(of course) would never stoop to anything so low. But my worthy
opponent accused me of secretly planning to change the name of NASG to
NASS (National Association of S Scalers). He also said I disliked AF
people and that scale would reign supreme and AF would be ignored if I
was elected. He also issued a list of endorsements, but at least one
person on his list had already endorsed me earlier. So a "correction"
had to be made to his list for that particular name. Embarrassing for
him to say the least. I thought maybe names were randomly picked for
his endorsement list, but that could never be proven and so I better not
say anything.
The ballots came out and the voting began. Dick Cataldi had Jamie
Bothwell's job back then -- Elections Committee Chair -- and ran the
election. So all the ballots got mailed back to Dick. Much to
everyone's surprise, it was soon discovered that folks could call Dick
up and receive a status report as to how the voting was progressing.
First I would be ahead. Then my worthy opponent would surge ahead.
Then it would swing back my way. Every week was a new surprise. I was
blown away by Dick's willingness to report voting results before the
polls closed. Eventually, Dick got tired of all the phone calls and
sort of wanted the whole thing to go away. So when the results were
exactly tied, Dick stopped providing information. I am sure his life
instantly became a lot easier. The final results would be announced at
the NASG convention in Sacramento later in the year. And that was the
end of that. Good ole Dick! Holds out the bait and then yanks it away.
That's S!
As I learned later, my worthy opponent had one more trick up his sleeve.
He had gotten his local club buddies together and got about 20 of them
to fill out the NASG membership application form, attach a dues check,
and fill out a Xerox-copied ballot. This neat little bundle of "votes"
was presented to the NASG Secretary (then Walt Danylak) as new members,
fully paid up and eligible to vote. Walt chewed on this for about two
minutes and then refused to accept the votes. He ruled that the only
folks who could vote were those who were already NASG members when the
ballots were mailed out. So there went 20 volts down the drain. I
assume Walt was smart enough to cash the dues checks anyway. Those guys
could vote in the next election, but not this one.
Walt's decision proved to be the critical pivoting point in the entire
election. As we all know by now, I won the election with a five-vote
margin. The part that really makes this most interesting is that Walt
was also a major Mover & Shaker behind the Syracuse convention that had
lost so much money. And I was the guy who argued against NASG
reimbursing the Syracuse club for their losses. Walt had every reason
to dislike me, but made a very reasoned and correct decision when the
time came. Walt did what was right for NASG.
The next day it was announced that Ed Loizeaux was NASG's next Prez.
That is when the fun really began.........
Stay tuned for Chapter #5 -- NASG AND ME (Prez years)
Coming soon to a computer near you.
Is anyone out there reading this drivel? Enjoying it?
Cheers...Ed L.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
