The NASG Story: A History (Part 3)
by Bob Jackson
ERRATA:
Dave Jasper informed us that he is one of the unknowns who submitted an entry for the NASG logo.
The first article, which identified the finalists in the NASG logo contest (from coded entries), incorrectly attributed one of the final four to Bernard Thomas rather than Ed Schumacher.
Moreover, Schumacher did all of the artwork for the final entries as they were published in the the S Gauge Herald. Today's official NASG logo is his rendering of Frank Titman's idea.
PART TWO —— INCORPORATION
PROLOGUE: A RESURRECTION
In September 1970, when Ed Schumacher took over as NASG's General Director, he bravely said that the organization's "obituary was not in the offing." It is now clear that he made that prediction come true.
Ed was both frank and outspoken. There was never any doubt as to where he stood. His opinion that the NASG was weak and had to change was well known and bound to cause instant conflict. Ed must have known that the organization still had the same problems which had bedeviled his predecessor. He was a member of the Board of Trustees under Mobley and knew the organization well. He understood the dissension and lack of cohesive purpose within the NASG. By 1970 many felt that the NASG was mortally wounded. No doubt those things were on his mind when, in the Winter 1970 S Gauge Herald , he appealed for more cooperation than the membership had given to Russ Mobley.
Although some would call him a "benevolent dictator," Ed had really been quite hesitant to assume the role of General Director. His reasons are not entirely clear. Perhaps it was because he suspected that the organization might fail despite his best efforts. Perhaps it was because the inevitable conflict was distasteful to contemplate. As a major contributor to the S Gauge Herald burden of the NASG directorship could only detract from his work for the Herald.
Some of Ed's reluctance may .
Some of Ed's reluctance may have been because he was appointed -- rather than elected -- as General Director. However, there was no elective mechanism at the time, so the Board of Trustees unanimously approved his appointment per Mobley's recommendation, and he accepted. ("The entire board fingered me," recalls Ed.)
Ed Schumacher brought some special assets to the General Directorship. He had been in model railroading since 1935, including 14 years in S gauge. He was a professional illustrator for the Smithsonian Institution1 to S gauge. Ed was a staff member of the S Gauge Herald from late 1962 onward. He contributed much of its artwork and many articles describing conversion of American from late 1962 onward. He contributed much of its artwork and many articles describing conversion of American Flyer equipment.
In addition Ed was one of those people who may well have been most representative of the spirit and soul of S gauge in the 1970s: a hi-railer. The peculiar genius of the hi-railer lay in effectively disguising the tinplate nature of American Flyer equipment without fully converting to scale. Ed had few peers in that realm. Then as now, there was tension between the scalers and the tinplaters. A hi-railer, standing somewhere in the middle between the two camps, has some advantage in dealing with this problem, for he cannot realistically be regarded as specially favoring either side. This surely helped Schumacher reduce the "heat" surrounding the conduct of NASG business.
Ed was also tenacious. (He had demonstrated this in solving the universal space problem for his dream railroad. As described in an article in the Fall 1966. This trait must have been an asset to the Gen, Ed managed to build a fairly extensive railroad in a cramped attic.) This trait must have been an asset to the General Director of the NASG in the 1970s.
Finally, Ed was an early NASG member, a first-hand witness to the NASG's trials during the latter half of the 1960s. This provided him a perspective which none of his predecessors could have had. In terms of experience directly relevant to the NASG's problems, Schumacher may have been the best prepared General Director yet. Ed's thorough knowledge of the NASG's affairs most likely accounts for the dual thrust of his actions during the early period of his tenure.
The Road Back
A number of Schumacher's first moves were as much symbolic as substantive. For example, he completely redesigned the masthead of the NASG column in the S Gauge Herald talents. He changed his own title from General Director to National Director, and announced a reorganization of the NASG in the January 1971 Herald.
The reorganization symbolize.
The reorganization symbolized a strong intention to break from the past. However, it was also very pragmatic. The Board of Trustees (Wallace Collins, Frank Titman, John Sudimak, Gene Fletcher, and Ed himself) naturally remained. Reporting to the National Director as his immediate staff were Secretary-Treasurer Dave Laux and Administrative Assistant Dick Cataldi. Most important was the addition of an Advisory Council comprised of nine directors. Conceptually it appears that Schumacher believed that the National Director should be responsive not only to a council of directors but also to the membership. If this were to work well, a responsible and active membership was a must. Given the NASG's recent past, it took supreme faith in human nature to believe that it could work. But Ed did not rely on faith alone. He immediately began looking for good people to fill the Advisory Council positions. In order to stimulate their acceptance and involvement, he opened up "The Extra Board" to members of the Advisory Council. In theory, that could have meant to any member of the NASG. While this action was mostly symbolic, a number of directors did in fact write columns during the next several years. The first was Dick Cataldi, who, as Contest Director, documented the NASG contest rules in the Spring 1971 S Gauge Herald thi.
The practical outcome of this approach was that it began the process of spreading some of the burdens and concerns of the organization to other shoulders, thus providing a solution to one of the more difficult problems of the past. By spring 1972 Ed could announce the major positions on the Advisory Council were filled. These included Bob Campbell as Director of Standards, Chuck Porter as Contest Director, Tom Riddle as Director of Membership, Dick Schlott as NASG Sales Director, and Gale Hall as Director of Circuits. Most of these directors also had assistants. Thus, the number of people directly involved in conducting the NASG's business had increased substantially compared to the late `60s. Moreover, as we shall later see, this organizational approach provided the NASG with badly-needed stability and continuity of leadership.
Even as he was setting out on a new course Schumacher was careful to nurture the roots of the NASG. In the January 1971 issue of S Gauge Herald, he called attention to the rotating-visiting ("RV") clubs and the circuits characterizing them as the "operational bastions of S." He made a strong pitch for renewal of interest in the circuits, and lectured on their proper conduct. It is significant that the only members of the newly created Advisory Council appointed up to that time were Director of Circuits Bob Campbell and Assistant Director of Circuits Gale HalI plus Claude Wade, the originator of the circuits, who continued as Field Director of Castings².
Ed returned to the subject of RV clubs in the Summer 1971 S Gauge Herald wherein he outlined six major features which characterized the Potomac Valley S Gaugers Association, a highly successful RV club. He was boosting the formation of S gauge clubs in general, and pointed out that an RV club often made the most sense since local clusters of S gaugers were frequently a mixture of tinplaters, hirailers and scalers, making operation on a single layout difficult.
By fall 1971 Ed had set the NASG off in pursuit of a large number of projects and activities. Though some of these were new, many were ideas which had been tried earlier, particularly during Mobley's term. Schumacher evidently felt that the organization needed make a serious attempt at as many projects as possible. He felt that the NASG needed an opportunity to determine whether it was really prepared to put aside its differences and pull together to ensure its success.
Items which both symbolized the NASG and provided modest income were given special emphasis. Among these were an official NASG patch, an NASG logo dry-transfer suitable to S gauge rolling stock, and an NASG calendar. The patch and the dry-transfer were reasonably successful, but the calendar turned out to be a flop.
An S scale track and wheel gauge made up by C.D. Lasley was offered for sale. Schumacher took a number of these to the 1971 NESGA convention in Syracuse, N. Y., where they sold rapidly. Although small in scope, this project was quite successful. It was the forerunner of current practice in which the track and wheel gauge is a routine NASG offering.
A new photo contest, intended to become annual event, was announced in the Fall 1991 S Gauge Herald . Although reminiscent of the contest held several years earlier, it had some new wrinkles like subject categories which distinguished between scale and tinplate. The winners were to be announced at the national convention and their entries would be featured in the official calendar. However, like the earlier contest, response was poor and the contest failed. The calendar project died at the same time because its success depended on a good selection of contest photos.
The old notion of a newsletter resurfaced during this period. The idea reaches all the way back to "News, Notes and Flashes" instituted by Claude Wade. Although the need for a regular device for disseminating organizational news to the membership seemed obvious, the idea never took root. It arose once more toward the end of 1971, when Dick Schlott assigned to head the project. However, it was not to be. Given the success of the S Gauge Herald realization that considerable resources would have to be expended to publish the thing (Tell me about it!! -- Ed.) sealed its fate once more. A newsletter would have to await the passing of the S Gauge Herald almost eight years later.
almost eight years later.
Another early idea revived during this period was that of producing a history booklet. This was initially conceived as a promotional item to entice prospective NASG members. However in order to write a history it is necessary have enough history about which to write. The timing was obviously not right.
Yet another resurrected idea was a conversion manual. This publication would have drawn together all of the previously published articles covering conversion of AF items to scale and hi-rail usage. Furthermore, with updating it could continue to serve as a collection for future articles. It would have been a boon to those newly considering or entering S gauge. However, as with previous attempts, the idea died aborning.³
There were still more efforts to create services for S gaugers during this period. A negative and film library was begun by Bill Oertly. Bill Fraley started a copying service which would provide members with reprints of articles. And finally, a "clearing house," the forerunner of today's, was started by Dick Schlott.
Turnaround
Many of these projects were only marginally successful and eventually were abandoned. Yet by the end of 1972 a betting man would have wagered that the NASG was going to survive. The primary reason was that the organization had begun to think like one. Though consensus on major issues was still lacking, a sense of commitment to the NASG was emerging. Much of this was due to the staff which Schumacher had drawn around him. But it was also due to an emergent feeling among the general membership that the NASG could not survive if it kept chewing on itself as it had in the late 1960s. Moreover, perhaps feeling a bit chastened by the experience of those years, the members were beginning to accept the fact that the ultimate burden of the success or failure of the NASG fell on themselves rather than on one or two people at the top. The era of the one-man show, so costly to the three previous G.D.s, had pretty much drawn to a close by the end of 1972.
Revenue — that Chronic Problem
Given the new mood, Schumacher felt that it was time to address what was probably the most serious problem confronting the NASG -- the matter of sustained revenue. From the beginning of his tenure, Ed had maintained that the lifetime membership was a mistake and that annual dues were a necessity if the NASG were to remain a viable organization. Increasingly he saw the lifetime membership as an albatross which the NASG had to drag around, and determined to ask the Board of Trustees to do away with it at the annual NASG convention in Kansas City. However, the NASG was not yet ready to face up to the problem, and the resolution was defeated by the Board.
Nevertheless, the Board of Trustees recognized that something had to be done and established a dual dues structure. They increased the lifetime membership to $5.00 for new members and established a second "participating membership" category with dues of $3.00 per year. Participating membership was voluntary and was paid in addition to the lifetime membership. The new memberships took effect on April 1, 1973, and they did offer a small amount of relief to the funding problem. However, the number of PMs never quite reached 100, and the poorly conceived scheme proved to be an unreliable source of income.
Burying the Torch
Meanwhile, the persistent problem of the relationship between the NASG and the NMRA had begun to abate. Though it remained a point of contention for many in the NASG, never again did the debate reach the level of rancor which caused such problems for Russ Mobley.
There appear to have been at least two reasons for this. First, both Thomas and Mobley believed that close association of the NASG with the NMRA was essential for the survival and well-being of the NASG. While this belief was solidly supported by many NASG members, there was an even stronger separatist view. Thus, as noted earlier, there was a crucial mismatch of goals between the NASG leadership and most of the general membership. Schumacher, by contrast, was regarded by many as strongly biased against the NMRA. In fact, Schumacher was a member of the NMRA, but during the 1960s and `70s he had come to feel that some of the NMRA's positions on S gauge standards were un-informed and misguided. In any case, whatever the depth of Schumacher's feelings about the NMRA, the fact that he did not continue to push for close association with the NMRA defused the problem.
Second, the failure of the NMRA to activate its S standards committee and to appoint an S gauger to it for a number of years despite repeated requests to do so created a clear impression in the minds of many that the NMRA had a low regard for the NASG and for S gauge in general. Although some argued that the reason that the office was vacant for so long was because there were no qualified S gaugers to fill it, an increasing number felt that the inaction was a deliberate affront by the NMRA. Thus it was difficult for the pro-NMRA forces to muster much support. The issue, though destined to resurface in new forms in the future, receded into the background. This perceived NMRA failing provided the impetus for the NASG to become totally serious about establishing independent S gauge standards. With its own sanctioned standards, the NASG became the organization which spoke with unquestionable authority for S gauge.
Growth!
Meanwhile, the general success of the revitalized NASG was reflected in its growing membership. During 1971 a rather quiet but effective campaign to increase enrollment was underway. Large ads (bearing the unmistakable stamp of Schumacher's artwork) began appearing in the S Gauge Herald which had always existed for the NASG member. In any case, whatever was being done seemed to work. In the Summer 1971 S Gauge Herald, Secretary/Treasurer Dave Laux reported a membership of 450. By January 1973, 18 months later, the enrollment had , Secretary/Treasurer Dave Laux reported a membership of 450. By January 1973, 18 months later, the enrollment had risen above 650 and by the end of that year exceeded 700 members. Clearly, a resurrection had occurred.
1It is a historical curiosity that Ed became the Director of Visual Productions and Scientific Art at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum in September 1970 and retired from that position in October 1977 after 31 years of service to the Smithsonian. His tenure at the helm of the NASG also began in September 1970 and ended with his resignation in April 1977, a span of time only six months less than that of his service at the Smithsonian.
2This role appears to have evolved to a strictly honorary status in recognition of Wade's pioneering effort at developing S scale castings. Recall that Claude had taken the castings project out of the NASG by this time and turned it into a commercial venture Thus, the position served no evident purpose after 1965. Indeed, Claude has no recollection of ever actually performing any duties in this role.
3 from the old S Gauge Herald and has hopes of bringing out a version of a manual in what he laughingly calls his "spare time." Also, Rollain Mercier sprinkles old Herald conversion articles in between new features in his reborn S Gauge Herald.
[ End of Part 3 ]