and he notes -
Well that answerers one question. Things haven't changed much about
scale vs. Hi-Rail though. And that reminds me of an encounter many years ago:
When I assumed the duties as NASG President, I received a long
diatribe from the late John Porter not asking, but DEMANDING (in full
capitalized paragraphs) that we change the name of the organization
to The National Association of S 'Scalers'. I showed the letter to
Ed Schumacher to get his opinion since he was a Hi-Railer and he
pulled out a packet of letters he'd received from John on the same
subject even though he was no longer President! Anyway I followed his
advice and ignored him. That didn't work. In a few weeks I received
another demanding that Flyer guys be barred from selling at
conventions. Ignored that one too. Two more letters aimed at
restricting membership to scale only and I had enough. I responded
suggesting that if we did what he asked, he and the dozen or so scale
enthusiasts remaining would have a very small convention and a
membership list that would fit on a post card!
Needless to say it didn't stop him for long as the letters kept
coming about every two or three months - all aimed at excluding
Hi-Rail and Flyer from one function or another. I finally met him at
one of the conventions and was surprised. I fully expected a
six-footer built like a Sumo wrestler who could tear me to ribbons,
but he was short and a little overweight (so t' speak) and rather
timid (at least with me) although he did try to get Randy Sappo to
change the contest to scale only.I remember Randy making short work
of him and I believe he left before the convention was over.
There were a couple of other members who felt as John did, albeit not
as adamant. But as I read the posts about Scalers or Hi-Railers and
who or what keeps NASG going I think of John and how parochial he was
about exact scale. No wonder, he built a wood sided gondola once that
had details down to the orientation of the square bolt heads that
held it together. Sadly he died at an early age and one could assume
that his 'taut as a harp string' personality (no pun intended) had
something to do with it.
It's not surprising that NASG is essentially supported by Hi-Rail and
Flyer guys. I think the figures were lower back in the 'old days' but
then we didn't have AM and SHS back then.
Raleigh in still snowy Maine
At 03:21 PM 12/3/2007, Richard Karnes wrote:
>As for the assertion that all the NASG officers are Flyer guys,
>here's the real scoop: Prior to last summer's elections, six of the
>seven officers were scale modelers. The seventh was a hirailer. The
>current make-up is five scale, two hirail.
>
>My own opinion is that the officers should reflect the demographics
>of the entire organization, which is about 80 percent hirail. That
>would mean only one or two scalers on the BOT. But the organization
>can only vote for (or against) those who step forward to run for office.
>
>Dick Karnes
>NASG Exex. VP, 2003-2007.
>
>[Non-text portions of this message hav
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/
