NER Members:
The Palmer NER Convention, September 11 to 14, is less than six weeks away. If you haven’t yet registered please do so soon. Any activities that do not meet the minimum registration requirements will have to be cancelled. The discounted early registration period ends August 20th. If you have already registered, Thank You!
Please visit the www.nediamonds2014.org website for all the latest convention information, some of these changes are summarized in this email. (Please Note: If you have visited the website before, please refresh your browser (usually F5) on each page to see the updated version of the page.)
Lodging:
In case you missed it, we have arranged discounted rooms at a nearby hotel:
Day's Inn
450 Memorial Drive, Chicopee, MA 02020.
Reduced rates for the convention are:
$92.21 per night for one night
$84.34 per night for two or more nights
A full continental breakfast is included.
Call (413) 739-7311 to make your reservation. Remember to specify "Palmer NER Convention" when booking in order to get the reduced rates.
Banquet:
The Steaming tender can only accommodate about 125 diners in the main dining room, so please get your registration in to enjoy the evening in Palmers’ historic railroad station. The Banquet menu and Awards Breakfast menus are now available on the convention website. The restaurant will also be offering a speedy lunch menu for convention attendees on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Prototype Tours:
The PVRR tours now also include a 45-60 minute ride in their dining car over a 3-mile branch line that runs through an industrial park. Please remember that we are visiting working railroads and safety is of utmost importance. Proper dress and footwear is required for the tours, no open toes shoes, sandals or shorts.
The Keystone Arch Bridge tour has updated the requirements for attending the tour, including items for your safety. Please see the website.
Operating Sessions:
Home and club layout operating sessions are assigned based on the order of convention registration. The lower your registration number, the higher your priority will be when choosing your sessions. If you want to improve your chances of getting into a session of your choice, please send your convention registration to the Registrar by this Tuesday, August 5. (You may want to mail your application and notify the registrar via. email)
Clinics:
Pdfs of all clinic descriptions and the clinic schedule have been posted on the website. You can use them to assist in your activity planning. Also, on Friday evening, Tony Koester will be presenting his clinic on “Multi-Deck Railroad Design and Construction.”
Please note that the Bolinger participation clinic is no longer being offered. Please select from the other participation clinics. If you’re already signed up for Bolinger’s clinic, when you check in at the registration desk, you’ll be able to sign up for a different clinic or receive a refund.
Non-Rail:
Please note that the Old Sturbridge Village Tour requires 15 attendees to go ahead at the discounted tour price of $15.00. By comparison, regular admission is $24.00.
The Thursday evening “Modeling with Cosmetics” session has been canceled and replaced by a non-participation clinic. The “Modeling with Cosmetics” will still be offered on Saturday.
Contests:
Updated forms and guidelines for the Photo Contest are available on the NER website. A link to this website is available on the convention website. Please note that submissions to the Model and Photo Contest will only be accepted Friday evening between 5PM and 9PM. Judging will take place on Saturday.
Thanks again from the Palmer Convention Committee! We will send another email update soon, including more info on layout tours.