Today was my first in Cleveland and Charlie Getz and wife Margaret always take the international Directors on a hobby shop crawl.
Mike Bartlett, Aussie Director, and me in the car:
It was great fun and we went to some excellent shops.
This one was in someone’s house with a model shop on it:
I did buy a few sci fi kits. Sacrilege!
This shop was Lionel and they had loads and loads of old Lionel on 3 stories including the basement:
Charlie demonstrated digital control of Brio:
I did succumb to a few items! Hope they all fit in my suitcase otherwise I’ll be wearing two sweatshirts and two pairs of shoes on the trip home.
We went to a dim sum restaurant for lunch which was really great food.
Cleveland has loads of trains and some excellent industrial architecture:
Spent the rest of the afternoon chatting away with the rest if the BOD and officers who had arrived. We went to the tilted kilt for an early supper before a 3.5 hour Directors’ caucus.
For those that don’t know what that is, basically, the NMRA is a $2m corporate charity (they call it a non-profit) that needs a full set of corporate governance to comply with the US IRS and law. The Directors are charged with setting the strategic policy of the corporation. The caucus is a chance for the Directors to meet up and discuss issues in person before the main BOD meeting.
By law, there must also be an annual meeting of members which will take place on Wednesday.