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OPEN RAILROADS 2024

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In the December T&T, we shared that open Railroads would be scheduled in a new way this year, following a successful trial of the new way last fall. This topic will be cov-ered at the Annual Meeting but here is some advance info

Open railroads will no longer be scheduled by district on a single day in a single month. This gave railroad owners only one date to be open and gave members wish-ing to visit railroad limited options. To enable more railroads to be open every month, and to give members more opportunities to visit open railroads, our new approach is:

1. We will share 2 weekends a month when railroads could be open.

2. Members all across BAGRS will be invited to tell us on what weekends they could be open (and encouraged to provide multiple dates).

3. We will then identity sets of railroads not too far from each other that can open on the same weekends.

4. The open railroad schedule will be set and published.

We will do this twice a year. The first time will be for May, June & July and dates in those months will be shared at the Annual Meeting and via email after the meeting. The second time will be done later in the year for August, September and October.

This new approach will give railroad owners more flexibility about when to be open which we hope will result in – More open railroads – More opportunities for railroad owners to show off their railroads – More opportunities for members to visit open rail-roads.

We realize that there will be teething problems as we transition to this new ap-proach. We are also aware that change is not always welcome.

However, the trial last fall was successful and the goals are worth striving for because open railroads are one of the ‘crown jewels- of BAGRS.

NEW BAGRS AREAS

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We are on a mission to increase opportunities for BAGRS members to get together.

BAGRS is a social club for people interested in garden railroading. Opportunities to get together were waning before the pandemic, then disappeared during the pandemic.

Getting together is fun. We compare, even debate, techniques for successful garden railroading. We get to welcome new members, and, of course, give them the benefit of our advice. We enjoy meeting old friends and making new ones. Just ask our ‘Live Steamers’ who continue to get together a lot.

We have configured 7 Areas which we hope will have 2 or 3 ‘events’ each year which bring area members together. ‘Events like:

A BBQ at a RR under construction where we can all offer sage advice! A BBQ at a RR which is relatively new. A BBQ preceded by a clinic or two/A field trip to a local RR point of interest. A work day to help a RR owner resuscitate/expand a RR (with food & beverages of course)

There are many possibilities and each Area will have its own ideas. A day at the G&O in the East Bay? Trains on the beach in Santa Cruz? Cruising Marin & Sonoma for evi-dence of the North Pacific Railroad?

Where possible, Areas were configured to include enough members that even a 33% turnout for an Area ‘event’ would be OK. City boundaries, natural barriers and traffic corridors were considered, and the number of garden railroads. See the map on the next page to see the configuration of Areas that we arrived at.

Refinements may well be necessary and there will be a process for suggesting boundary changes and requesting individual member changes.

We are now on the hunt for one or two members in each Area that would enjoy orchestrating 2 or 3 Area Events a year!

That could be the hard part!