SHMRRC Minutes for the Monthly Meeting
Date: January 28, 2025 

The meeting was held at Mt. Lebanon United Lutheran Church, President Jeff Graybill presiding.

 

Attendees:
           Jeff Graybill, President
           Warren Ashbrook, Vice President
           Dave Bodnar, Treasurer
           Rich Aubel, Secretary 
           Dave Murphy
           Dave Maynard
           David Damp 
           John Kolonay
           Lane Wiley 

 
Presidents Report:
The annual business meeting was held at the start of the evening.  It was moved and seconded to retain the officers from the previous year and was unanimously passed.  A discussion was held to determine if the annual dues should remain at $30 or revised.  After some discussion, which included the facts that the treasury is healthy and there are no foreseeable expenditures, the annual dues were lowered to $10.  Dues were collected at the meeting. 

The Mt. Lebanon Uptown Holiday Market show was really good.  The crowds were steady and the trains ran well.  Due to the cold weather the various performances were moved into the Municipal Building lobby.  We needed to close the doors to the room because the train sounds could be heard during the performances. 

The Science Center show went very well also.  The Science Center reported that there were over six thousand admissions and the Locomotion Weekend room was full most of the two days.  Our layout was very popular and we were able to keep at least two trains running during the whole show.  Visitors seemed to make their way to the train room earlier than previous years as the crowd started to show up shortly after 10:00 each day. 

Our next show is at the Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall in Carnegie.  Setup will start at 4:00 pm on Thursday, April 3rd and we should try to be finished by 7:00 as that is closing time.  Show times are 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Friday, April 4th and Saturday April 5th.  Teardown will start at approximately 5:00 pm on Saturday.  The address of the library is 300 Beechwood Avenue, Carnegie, PA 15106. 

We have not yet applied for the Greenberg Show at the Monroeville Convention Center for either July or August and further discussion will be held at the next meeting. 

We contacted the leader of the DARE Model Railroad Club and informed him that some of our members would like to visit their layout in the future.  He was very open to the proposal and we will decide when we want to go and coordinate with him.  The address of the club is Venetia Community Center, 800 Venetia Road, Venetia, PA 15367.  The visit would be on a Saturday morning between 9:00 am and 12:00 noon

A visitor at the Science Center Locomotion Weekend asked if the club would consider a presentation for children at the Bethel Park Library in the future.  The clinic would introduce basic model railroading skills for beginners at an understandable level for the age group.  The members agreed that it might be something that we’d like to do so further discussion will occur at a future meeting. 


 
Treasurers Report:
Total funds in the treasure are $5,942.25 with $5.125.25 in checking, $710.00 cash on hand and $80.00 in newly collected dues.

 
Program:
Dave Bodnar continued with his presentation on LED’s and their use.  He passed around a CL2N3 current limiter which can be used to control the amount of current applied to an LED in place of a resistor. Dave also displayed bright LED’s and strip lights with addressable LED’s.  He also said he would email the membership with details of the items displayed and recommended YouTube videos by Mark Rober for information. 

 
Next Meeting:
The next SHMRRC meeting will be at the Mt. Lebanon United Lutheran Church at 7:00 pm on February 25, 2025.