Milepost 212 Volume 5 Number 1 - Spring 2000                 Page 2

NCR Annual Meeting Summary
by Craig Bluschke, NCR President

The North Central Railcars, Ltd. annual meeting was held on Saturday, March 18th at the Middleton Community Bank building on Madison, Wisconsin's west side. 13 members and two other interested individuals were in attendance. Complete minutes of the meeting will be posted on the NCR web site and printed copies will be available from the Secretary for anyone who would like them, but here's a summary of the important points that were discussed:

Election Results

The first annual general election of officers was held at the March 18th Annual Meeting with unanimous results as follows:

PRESIDENT: Craig Bluschke
VICE-PRESIDENT: Tom Sharratt
SECRETARY: Ron Pataska
TREASURER: Pat Rock

This was the first time that all NCR members were eligible to vote for officers since prior to last year's meeting in Minneapolis, where the Associate class of membership was abolished, only board members were able to cast ballots. There were 13 members present and voting at this years meeting.

In a related move, the membership also voted to eliminate the office of Assistant Secretary from the NCR board. Terry Grace, who had held this position since last year, indicated he no longer wished to participate as a board member and it was felt that elimination of the office at this time would help streamline NCR's structure.

Many thanks to both of our outgoing officers, John Valek as vice-president and Terry Grace as Assistant Secretary. As two of NCR's "founding fathers" they were willing to commit both their time and personal funds to get the organization up and running to serve as a solid basis for the motorcar excursions we're now enjoying. Without their groundwork we wouldn't be where we are today - their efforts are appreciated!

NCR Membership Requirements

In response to a question from the floor, Craig Bluschke and Mike Paul pointed out that membership in NCR is obtained by registering for and actually operating a motorcar at an NCR-sponsored excursion. Since NCR was established to further the interests of motorcar operators in the upper Midwest, it was felt that this was a fair criteria for membership. It was also pointed out that for a $5 annual fee anyone can receive NCR's Milepost 212 newsletter, however this does not "buy" a membership in NCR.

Web Site Improvements

Continuing a discussion begun at the 1999 meeting, the question of whether we need to improve NCR's web site was again raised this year. Pat Rock and Craig Bluschke confirmed that last year for the first time the majority of registrations for our excursions originated from people learning about the trips from the web rather than the printed list in The Setoff, so having an attractive and up-to-date web presence is becoming increasingly important to NCR's livelihood. Last year the primary location for posting our excursion calendar online was the NARCOA web site, with NCR's own site providing just a bare-bones text listing of upcoming events, however NARCOA is now urging it's affiliate groups like NCR to use their own sites for excursion listings with NARCOA just providing links to those sites. Improving our own site would also allow us to post excursion information and updates more quickly and assure that more timely information is available to everyone.

After considerable discussion of options available to us, Jim Kalrath suggested a way that he could provide space for NCR's site at no cost by connecting it with another rail-oriented web site that he currently operates, and he volunteered to do this and run it for us. Jim is a professional in this field who also maintains excellent web sites for several commercial concerns, and it was decided to accept his generous offer to establish a new NCR site.

It was pointed out that using a web site to publish our meet schedule and provide other on-line materials such as Milepost 212 would not replace the need to mail hard copies to members since there are many people still not on the Internet. Because of the need to insure as much equal opportunity to all members as possible, it was also agreed that postings of upcoming events on the Internet should not be done for at least one day after hard copies have been mailed.

(Note: Subsequent to our Web Site discussion at the annual meeting, Jim Kalrath announced that the address of the new NCR site will be http://www.whrc-wi.org/ncr and although it's still under construction he invites everyone to check it out. Our new site will be linked from both the NARCOA site and, for a limited time, NCR's old location.)

New Milepost 212 Editor

It was announced at the meeting that Scott Janz, our newsletter editor, has had to withdraw from this position due to other pressing commitments, with Rob Schoneman volunteering to assume these duties. The Milepost 212 publication schedule was discussed and our minimum goal will be to produce issues during April, June, and late summer, which hopefully will allow us to present timely excursion information and updates as the season progresses. Additional issues may be published as needed throughout the year.

2000 Excursion Schedule

NCR presently has three excursions scheduled during 2000:

REGISTRATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED BEGINNING JUNE 1ST. To register for these excursions, send name, full address, and telephone number to: Craig Bluschke 10916 Spring Creek Road Blue Mounds, WI 53517-9633.

Pat Rock confirmed that there will be no rides on the Wisconsin Central this year. The Escanaba and Lake Superior also declined a ride request for this year; however both lines have left the door open for 2001. He also feels that there will be no more rides on the Algoma Central since owner Wisconsin Central is refocusing on their freight customers and as a result has shown no interest in hosting future motor car events over this route.

Pat also stated that there will be several opportunities to operate at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay this summer. Although there will be no charge to run and insurance will be provided by the museum operators will be required to offer rides to the general public. Dates and additional information will be posted on the NCR web site and published in Milepost 212 as soon as they are confirmed.

Refund and Cancellation Policy

Up until this point NCR has had no uniform published policy regarding registration cancellations and refunds of excursion fees. Last year a number of draft provisions pertaining to these topics were presented to the board for consideration and potential inclusion in the NCR Policy Book. Everyone attending this years meeting was provided with a copy of the draft proposals which prompted much lively discussion and resulted in a number of changes being made to the proposals. The modified Refund and Cancellation Policy was then approved by unanimous vote of the members present at the meeting. Future registration materials sent to each person signing up for one of our excursions will include a copy of the new policy and it will also be posted on our web site so everyone is clear on what the revised rules are. Since many of our members may not have a recent copy of NCR's Policy Book it was also decided that the updated version (including the new Refund and Cancellation Policy) should be distributed with the next issue of Milepost 212.

Member Survey

One topic that generated considerable discussion at this year's meeting was the increasing cost of our excursions. Details of this important subject are covered in depth in a separate article elsewhere in this issue, but it was also decided to survey the membership to find out how people feel on the issue of excursion fees. Knowing this is valuable to NCR's officers and may allow us to add extra spaces on future trips if we know whether or not members are willing to pay higher fees. Please take a few minutes to complete and return the survey included in this issue.

WHY ARE OUR TRIPS SO EXPENSIVE?
(or why have fees gone up over the past year??)
By Tom Sharratt, NCR Vice-President

At the recent NCR Annual Meeting, President Craig Bluschke - who also is the primary coordinator for excursions on the Wisconsin and Southern - discussed the increasing cost of trips on WSOR. Based on his discussion and a number of comments made by members in attendance it was recommended that an article explaining this information be included in this issue of Milepost 212.

As Craig explained, excursion fees for WSOR trips this year have increased from $75 to $95 due to a couple of reasons. First, the railroad substantially increased their fee to us and also restructured how the fee is charged, with our cost now based on how many cars attend. Formerly we paid a flat amount per trip regardless of how many cars attended. Second, the State of Wisconsin this year increased their passenger excursion permit fee to the railroad, and this increase gets passed along to us as the excursion operator.

Much of WSOR's track is owned by Wisconsin who in turn charges the railroad for any passenger excursions (including motor cars) that are operated over state-owned track. Wisconsin has also established requirements for detailed safety inspections on all track used for passenger excursions, and these inspections are the responsibility of the railroad. The net result is that all of this costs the railroad money and these costs get passed on to us and must be covered by increases in the excursion fees we charge our members.

Craig added that he has reduced the car limit on this year's WSOR trips because he felt that $95 was the highest he felt comfortable charging and that adding additional cars simply resulted in more money passing through to WSOR without increased financial benefit to NCR.

Several members pointed out that railroads have caught on that motor car trips can be a source of profit, and that such trips do incur costs to the railroads. While some railroads are willing to absorb some or all of these costs for the good will they generate among the public, railroads are after all in business to make a profit. We are lucky to be able to ride as many lines as we do nation-wide, and while some railroads charge very little if anything, others charge quite a bit. These members expressed willingness to pay higher fees if required - "if it's a choice of no trips or higher fees, there is no choice" was the common sentiment, with Don Mayo pointed out that a number of trips being sponsored by other affiliates are already well in excess of $100.

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