Snow on the ground, but not in the sky on this clear, crisp Colorado winter morning as we are greeted by Andy Towt and Bob Avery. President Tom Kramis arrives just in time to call the meeting to order at 7:00 a.m. Members enjoy breakfast burritos and fruit cups and hot coffee.  Greg Young reads the invocation and the pledge is recited. There are no guests this morning. (Photo by George Buzick)

 

Mark Metevia presents Creed poster to Samuels Elementary School  Principal Cesar Rivera (who is also a member of MSOC.) Posters were presented to all Super Citizen Schools. (Photo by Mark Metevia)

SPEAKER -GREG HURD

Our speaker today was someone we have "Hurd" from before, who thought we all could use a little more "training". A new presentation scheme was tried so that people attending via Zoom can have a clearer and in focus view of the photos and screen diagrams concurrently with the in-room screen presentations.  If this was a step in the right direction, please let Larry Pulaski know.
Greg provided an overview of how various different technologies influenced toy trains during the 1900’s.  All manufactures in the USA and Europe of toy trains leveraged paint, metal materials, plastics, electrical components and manufacturing technologies to effectively gain market share. Early plastics made possible more needed details on locomotives and rolling stock, lighter weight train cars for longer trains and lower cost train sets. Toy manufacturers were leaders in paint technology, miniaturization, use of common parts and engineering design that reduced product costs. Greg described how some of the operating accessories worked and used the technologies to increase play value and sales.  Ladies were an important part of toy train production.  Lionel in 1957 introduced a “girl’s train” that was painted in pastel colors. No black locomotives for the girls!
Next week Greg will present Part 2 of how technology influenced toy trains with a focus on motors, smoke units, whistles and sound, more on accessory items operation and digital model trains. There were many patent issues between the toy train manufacturers that will also be covered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today he’s talking about toy trains and technology. Most of the sales happen in November and December. The technology has evolved and changed things.  in the 1900s most of the engines were cast iron they were large and expensive then they went to tin and then diecast which had greater detail yet were heavier. Then came extruded aluminum which was still heavy and shiny and sold more. 1950s they came out with steel alloy. They had plastic after World War 2 but the problem with Plastics is they I distorted after six months. Because of this they went to cardboard and wood however the kids destroyed that. They returned to Plastics with Bakelite which was harder. They did improve the wires and the engines got stronger. Simple design makes it cheaper. All the earlier trains were made by ladies or women because they were better with repetition. Some of the main manufacturers are Lionel American flyer and Marklin.  As time evolves the paint became more improved because of the toy people. They sold more if they were brighter. Chrome plated plastics with vacuum plating came in to play. There were problems with cracking in the paint. during the war the Korean War there was no green paint, so it went to red Micro pigment came into the paint and made it much better. They tried using exact replicas of real railroads however they had to pay royalties and they were problems when the paint color didn’t match. In the 1950s they started girl colors but because of the poor paint quality it didn’t look well. Eventually they came up with some accessories which did well. They had a vibrating motor with cows that would march in an out of one of the train cars. They had a sawmill that moved logs. With time they developed some motorized cars that would launch rockets.

 

 

By just picking the Ace of Hearts you could win $30. Imagine that! In spite of the fact that Jake Baker had two chances to do so, the money is still there and grows by $10 next week... so don't miss your chance to win big money.  Show up and buy a ticket! Who knows?!

 

 

Below is an excerpt from the most recent AARP magazine from Michael Fox, who has battled Parkinson's disease for a number of years, in which he talks about getting through some of the darker times in his life: "I started to notice things I was grateful for, and the way other people would respond to difficulty with gratitude.  I concluded that gratitude makes optimism sustainable. And if you don't think you have anything to be grateful for, keep looking. Because you don't just receive optimism. You can't wait for things to be great then be grateful for that.  You've got to behave in a way that promotes that."