Tks for your thoughts Paul. In no particular order: regardless of
where/when you model the Q (unless strictly doing a terminal like the
Zephyr Pit & even there you would find foreign power), IF you wish to
be accurate, one needs to know what interchange was done along the
way, what foreign & private marks showed up most often in trains,
etc. In my case, E. Dbq to LaCrosse, the Q took delivery of bananas
from the I.C. in E. Dbq (there even was a little shack NE of the
depot for banana messenger use), taking them to LaX & Twin Cities.
The Q used IC trackage rights (& CGW used the Q south of E. Dbq) and
Milw trains came unto the Q & vice-a-versa depending on derailments
or high water further north. Thus as much a dyed-in-the-wool Q fan
as I am (after all I founded the whole thing as CB&Q His. Soc. summer
of "76), I need to know about other RR's to model the Q correctly,
not to mention GN/NP passenger trains! You may recall my postings
last Dec and earlier where I summarized consists of frt trains on the
Q thru Ottumwa and E. Dbq so that modelers could better match the
prototype (& a note here: I COMPLETELY respect anyone's method of how
they model the Q. If a Q fan likes those "50's red Athearn Q
passenger cars interchanging with Maine Central, more power to them!)
I totally agree with your frustration at NOT finding ALL the Q stuff
you might like @ a Meet. I for one can never understand commercial
dealers coming to a Q meet with mostly SP or Santa Fe models (or
taking Q to a UP meet) BUT dealers tell me they sell all sorts of
stuff in the most unlikely places. As for our own members, unless
they have a large quantity of models or Q collectibles to sell they
do NOT take a table & thus that GP-20 you want is not available. My
solution, with Rich Gortowski's encouragement, was to have a silent
auction @ the St. Paul meet where you could sell as few items as you
liked for a very modest fee. This will be repeated @ Dubuque! So
clean out the train room and bring that Blackbird Athearn GP or "63
Aurora Div TT you no longer want & sell it @ the silent auction. And
there are members who do sell Q exclusively or nearly so: Dave Lotz
(Q Connection), me (all my Q "paper"), etc. Patronize them! (& I am
unaware if any BRHS mbr, seeking a table in a timely manner, who has
not gotten one in favor of non-mbrs. That said, at most meets, take
away the non-mbrs' tables and you have far less to pick thru.
CLINICS: These can be a real challenge. With 1600 members if even
as few as 5% offered to do a Clinic on Q models, memorablilia,
photos, etc. that would be 80 mbrs. Unfortunately there are FAR
fewer who offer to put on 30-60 minutes of Q insights. So meet organ-
izers need to make do with whomever they can get at times. Ditto for
publications: take away a 1/2 dozen "authors" and there goes most of
our content. So write up whatever you have & send to Hol or Jim;
they can add other bits & pieces & bingo! An article!! One page or
20 - whatever, all are appreciated by Q fans!
Lastly, speak up @ Business meetings. Until the St. Paul meet I have
never held office (except 3 yrs as Editor back in CB&Q H.S. days). To
find mbrs to serve in any capacity can be very trying. Bulletins,
Zephyrs, meets, etc take a lot of behind the scenes effort. If Gene
Tacey as Pres got a nickle an hour for all his time (not to mention
phone calls), he would be rich! Also, the Bd of Dir's have only one
vote each & I can tell you they do not vote as a bloc. The Society
is what you, me and everyone makes of it (and yes, those who can only
pay dues & not get involved, you're needed too because meets, printed
paper, etc all cost $$$. So let's all commit to helping at a meet in
some capacity, repping BRHS @ train shows, doing a little article
and/or recruiting a new mbr. Gerald
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