Local Meets - Ozark Division - Train Collectors Association

Greetings All,

Summer is coming to a close and your HOA Chapter officers and board of directors have been busy planning fall and early winter activities for our chapter and we feel that we have some outstanding events planned.  We want to give you an early "heads up" so you can get these dates on your calendars.  As usual, we will send an email two weeks to ten days before an activity with all of the pertinent details so please keep an eye on your in box for all HOA Chapter communications.

September 16:  HOA Chapter Ice Cream Social at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.  This event will be a Sunday afternoon family affair so bring your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, friends and train lovers.  The social will be held in the Train Garden portion of the arboretum and there will be trains running and lots of ice cream and other treats to enjoy. The social will be held from 2:00pm to 4:00pm but we recommend that you allow extra time to enjoy the wonderful gardens and exhibits of the arboretum.  We will have a detailed event email coming to you very soon.

October 6:  Visit and tour the old Alton railway station in Independence, Missouri.  This one is for all of you railroad history buffs and we will be providing more information shortly.

November 10:  HOA Chapter train tour.  The train tour is always one of our most popular events and we have toured some marvelous layouts. This tour will be no exception.  We will be visiting the Lionel Post War layout and collection of our President, Steve Dickerson and we have it paired with the modern, detailed layout and collection of Mike Lee. Steve's layout is new and this will be our first look at what will be one of the premier post war layouts in the midwest.  We have visited Mike's layout on a previous HOA train tour but Mike has made significant changes to his layout including the addition of a prototypical signalling operation.  More information coming shortly.

November 25:  The Mid America Train and Toy Show held at the KCI Expo Center from 9:00am to 2:00pm.  See their website for all information.

December 8:  HOA Chapter Annual Meeting.  We have completely revamped the chapter annual meeting and we are very excited about it. The venue has changed and there will now be a luncheon included with the meeting.  You will be hearing much more about this event in the future, so please save the date so that you can attend.  There will be plenty of good food, fun and fellowship.

December 15,16:  Great Train Show held at the Overland Park Convention Center.  Hours are 10:00am to 4:00pm and more information can be found on their website at greattrainshow.com.

December 29,30:  Don Miller's Train Open House.  Don is an HOA Chapter founding member and past president and will once again be hosting an open house and running trains from 1:30pm to 4:30pm each day.  More information coming.

As you can see we have a busy fall/early winter season planned for our HOA Chapter and we hope that you will make plans to attend as many chapter activities as possible.  Your board of directors is working hard to plan events that are fun, informative and multifaceted.  As always we want to hear from you with suggestions for future chapter activities.  We are always looking for layouts to tour and train related places to visit.  See you soon.   

TCA #09-63621

TCA HOA Chapter President

TCA HOA Email: tcahoa@tcahoa.org

Personal Email: Steve.Dickerson.B6QK@StateFarm.com

Keith Marquis

TCA #07-61860

TCA HOA Chapter Vice President

TCA HOA Email: tcahoa@tcahoa.org

Personal Email: mrtigger25@comcast.com

Mike Bartley

TCA #10-65582

TCA HOA Secretary/Treasurer

TCA HOA Email: tcahoa@tcahoa.org

Personal Email: mikebartley54@hotmail.com