On Friday January 28th thru Sunday January 30th, 2022 the Bristol Club's train layout was on display at the Amherst Model Train show. Friday setup went well as we had 5 Bristol members - Dale, Tommy, Tom Fuller, Helen, Don Haiges and were joined by by Dennis Carouso-CC, Paul Krause-Connecticut Club(CC), Gene Maas (Pioneer Club), Jim Daniels-(Pioneer Club) and Dick Kramer (Bristol and CC member). Help from these two other S-Gauge clubs was greatly appreciated. It made set up and teardown a lot lighter; sharing the work across all these people.
The Blizzard of 2022 arrived late Friday and all day Saturday. It largely affected the eastern part of the state were most of our club members live. We had a skeleton crew of 4 Bristol members on Saturday - Tom Fuller, Helen Robichaud, Don Haiges and Tommy Robichaud and support from Paul Krause and Jim Daniels.
Dick Kramer came back on Sunday to man the NASG table all day. Bristol members Bill Chase, John Korajczyk, Dale and Don Hazensahl and new member Leo Liias assisted the aforementioned skelton crew along with support from Jim Daniels (PVC), Paul Krause (CC), Robert Jordan (CC), Gene Maas (Pioneer) and John Robertson (CC) for Sunday. This large group also helped teardown and pack the layout. These members from the two other S-Gauge clubs were careful in packing and very good at taking guidance from Bristol members about our packing process. In a little under 2 hours we had the modules on the rack shelves with just the boxes and other materials to process on their respective racks.
We estimated about 30% of vendors did not appear at the show. The Amherst show reported low Saturday attendance of 1200 attendees which as a huge difference from past years where we saw about 10,000 attendees each day. On Sunday Amherst reported 4725 attendees. Photos from the event can be seen by selecting the Media tab, Photos and choosing Amherst 2022 Show folder.
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Our Bristol Club Picnic was hosted by Dale Hazenhasal and Dawn Silva on June 26, 2021. It was a great time catching up with everyone we haven't seen for so long due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Our Club President, Tommy, with his orange reflector vest on; guided everyone to parking on the lawn as requested by our hosts. Then he expertly handled all the grilling, amidst a bit of smoke!
There were lots of great picnic choices, from ribs to pulled pork, hamburgers and hotdogs as well as variety of side dishes and several dessert choices. One special dessert choice was a Wedding Anniversary Cake for John and Pat Ciarleglio that had a colorful train decoration. Also since Tom and Jan Fuller's Wedding Anniversary was the next day; they were asked to cut a section of the cake as well.
Thanks very much to our hosts for this wonderful event. To see photos of the day, please click here or go to the Media selection and choose Photos.
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A Sad Note. On January 20, 2021 Bill Clark, a valued and well respected member of our club, passed away due to pancreatic cancer.
Bill had been a part of the Bristol club since 1996. His wealth of technical knowledge, his eagerness to try new methods, positive attitude, enthusiasm and interest in so many aspects of the hobby made it fun for everyone around him.
Soon after he joined the club, he became a pioneer in helping the club utilize DCC technology and assisted club members with DCC locomotive installations and repairs. He became our go-to technical expert and worked with many club members on their home layouts. His help on our last three NASG Conventions and committees was exceptional. He also became our Club Webmaster. Bill was a regular supporter at nearly all of our club train shows. We will fondly remember him sitting in his “director’s chair” inside the corner of our Club Layout during train shows as he made sure that things were running smoothly!
Bill was one of those club members who was really at the very heart of the club. His warm personality generated a positive attitude in every person he met. Bill encouraged people to join our club to learn and share various aspects of S-Gauge railroading.
Bill will never be apart from us; his fellow members of the Bristol S-Gauge Railroaders Club. We will all miss him greatly.