# Would You Be Interested in a New Garden Railroading eNewsletter for FREE?



## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

_*Would You Be Interested in a New Garden Railroading eNewsletter for FREE?*_

In the wake of Garden Railways Magazine’s demise, there is currently a “Task Force” of about 27 people representing 13 Garden Railroad Clubs in five states that are putting together an eNewsletter for bi-monthly (every other month) distribution.

At this time the eNewsletter is to be oriented toward the various Garden Railroad Clubs across the U.S., but also includes Canada and Overseas clubs. To date, over 125 Clubs had been identified and as of last week most had been contacted as to joining the Group. At this time, several have “signed on.”

The eNewsletter is compiled from the best articles, builds, suggestions, etc. from the various newsletters of those Clubs within the Group. The eNewsletter is FREE to all Group Club members and can be downloaded or viewed on-line. The effort is to be funded through modest vendor ads, primarily geared toward the “Mom and Pop Shops” that our hobby needs so badly just to stay alive. These people really have no outlet to show their wares, and this provides them the opportunity to reach their target market with their products and services. Additionally, many of these vendors are actually members of the various Clubs across the U.S.

The first eNewsletter is now complete and has been sent to those Clubs identified. If you are a member of one of the identified Clubs, your Club representative has probably already received a copy for distribution to its membership. The current eNewsletter is 42 pages in length.

As noted, the “Task Force” is orienting this effort toward the various clubs, at least for now. I am of the mind that this leaves out a great number of people in the hobby, including some of the best talent and many people who had previously submitted articles to Garden Railways Magazine, who may not belong to any club for whatever reason (e.g., distance, social reasons, etc.). Personally, I would like to see these people included in the distribution, if they want to be included.

So, I have three questions of the Forum group:

*Do you belong to an established Garden Railroad Club (Y/N)?
*
If “No”,

*Would you be interested in receiving/downloading the eNewsletter compiled from the various Group Member Clubs’ newsletters (Y/N)?*

If “Yes” (to the above),

*Would you provide an email contact point-of-contact to receive/download the eNewsletter (Y/N)?*

Thanks guys.


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## bryan riley (Nov 30, 2009)

[email protected]


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

[email protected] for the SDGRS



Currently on the SDGRS web site, we offer downloads from about 7 other clubs to our members. We are members of the "alliance" that was set up by the person driving this current effort.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

bryan riley said:


> [email protected]


Does this mean N/N/Y?

Thanks,

Todd


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> [email protected] for the SDGRS
> 
> 
> 
> Currently on the SDGRS web site, we offer downloads from about 7 other clubs to our members. We are members of the "alliance" that was set up by the person driving this current effort.


Yes, SDGRS is already included in the Group and in fact has an article in the current eNewsletter from one of its members.

BTW, have you received your issue yet?

Thanks,

Todd


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Nope, checked all my emails since Bill Derville approached me with the idea on Aug 7.


I'm the webmaster, and do all the emailing for the club, so it should go to me, or it can go to our president, but better to me. I'm on the BOD also, so I am "properly authorized" to receive it, ha ha.



Greg


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> Nope, checked all my emails since Bill Derville approached me with the idea on Aug 7.
> 
> 
> I'm the webmaster, and do all the emailing for the club, so it should go to me, or it can go to our president, but better to me. I'm on the BOD also, so I am "properly authorized" to receive it, ha ha.
> ...



Gene Cook replaced Bob Treat on the Task Force. Maybe he is waiting for your newsletter to come out?

I simply attached it to our OCGRS newsletter as a link in my column and it will come out any day now. (Our newsletter goes out the first of the month.) Some groups have already reported receiving theirs.


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## smckently2020 (Sep 26, 2020)

Hi Todd,

I do not belong to an established Garden Railroad Club. I would definitely like to receive a newsletter. I was a longtime HO modeler and was introduced to G scale and garden railroading by Pete Eggink in Delaware in the early 2000's. I have just recently been putting a plan in a action to build a raised railroad. I have been attending the ECLSTS for years and did manage to build a G scale layout suspended around the walls of my man cave. Other attendees of the show in York, PA may remember the HighRails booth. I have been slowly acquiring a pretty good number of rolling stock and a few diesel locos over the years, hoping that they would someday actually run outside! I am a Reading Lines fan as my great grandfather was an engineer of camelbacks back in the early 20th century. I have been converting the locomotives to radio control using Revolution On-Board receivers, battery power, and Phoenix sound boards. I am in gratitude to several members of this forum for their generous and friendly advice and guidance. You have all helped me quietly achieve my hobby dreams! I'm looking forward to sharing my construction progress. 4x4 posts are getting installed in a couple of weeks.

Thanks,
Scott McKently


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## James Kuhns (Jan 12, 2008)

1. yes
3. yes


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## Tom Bowdler (Jan 3, 2008)

No, Yes, Yes
I hope this comes to pass to share what others are doing. It's a great idea!


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## Mike Csr (May 4, 2020)

Yes - FGRS
Yes
Yes


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

N/y/y


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Todd, apparently out "representative" is indeed Gene Cook.


I need to go to the source of the distribution, so I will all Bill D, I know him pretty well.


We'll put these up on our site along with the other club newsletters we provide to our members.


By the way, I would like to get the back issues of your club, I only have some of 2019 and some of 2020. I'd also be happy to share the other club newsletters I have if you want them.


Greg


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> Todd, apparently out "representative" is indeed Gene Cook.
> 
> 
> I need to go to the source of the distribution, so I will all Bill D, I know him pretty well.
> ...


Sent it to your email with the cover letter -recipient. (Sorry was in my business account at the time.)

I don't know that our newletter editor keeps back issues. I know my wife does and has since I started writing the "View From the Cab" for the newsletter every month for the last 123 issues.

Interesting, let me know if the links don't work and if not, I'll get you a copy where they do.

If you post it beyond your club (i.e., to the web) where others can see it, you need to first run that through Gene Cook, and maybe the Task Force who have decided to keep it to the Clubs for now. Neither you nor I want to get in "Hot Water."


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> T
> 
> 
> We'll put these up on our site along with the other club newsletters we provide to our members.
> ...



BTW, your Club web site has "Walter Andersen" misspelled (with an "o").


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

No, everything like this requires members to log in, and clearly it's not "ours" to presume distribution outside our club.


Newsletters from outside our club are treated this way, as well as our member contact list.



Also, basically I do all this for the club, and don't really want to take more tasks on, it's enough just to support our club, but I am happy to comply of course anyway.


Thanks, Greg


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> No, everything like this requires members to log in, and clearly it's not "ours" to presume distribution outside our club.
> 
> 
> Newsletters from outside our club are treated this way, as well as our member contact list.
> ...


Excellent. Thanks.


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

I assume people in this forum also received the latest email from Garden Railways about their "Better online experience arriving soon" - a new online experience arriving in Fall 2020!


I assume they are looking for some $$$$ for that


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## BrentGroth (Dec 27, 2007)

Yes, I'd like to receive it.
[email protected]


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## Stoker (Sep 18, 2016)

N/Y/Y
Don't really want to post my email on a public forum, so a PM to me might be in order, 
Or let me know by posting here, if you wish me to PM you.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

By the way, I post my email address on all forums, and I have NEVER gotten spam from it... from my bank, home mortgage, credit cards, grocery store, etc. but never from the train forums. I also use my real name... been doing this for years.



Greg


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## thumper (Jan 31, 2009)

*Garden Railroad eNewsletter*

Todd, thanks. I would love to see the newsletter, and if OK, forward it to others till they can subscribe.

1. Yes

2. Yes

3. Yes

Will Lindley

[email protected]

Michigan Small Scale Live Steamers


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## colfox (Dec 19, 2015)

No. Yes. Yes.


Sounds good and I can distribute the newsletter around our informal group GRITH here in NSW Australia.


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## TrotFox (Feb 15, 2008)

[email protected]


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## barnmichael (Jan 2, 2008)

It is a great idea and a great newsletter by the sample I received. I'm just concerned by the delivery method. You have to belong to a "member club". They say they will only send to "member clubs" and leave it up to that club to distribute to their members some some kind of daisy-chain fashion. There are so many services out there that can manage customer email lists that are self-service. They allow people to subscribe and unsubscribe at will. Very little administrative overhead, user tracking, you can get stats on who opens, what ads are clicked on, etc. Great easy to use tools. You get a club secretary goes on vacation, nobody gets a newsletter. What about people who don't belong to a club? They won't receive it. Supposedly they can go find it on Facebook, but Facebook is actually a pretty lousy medium for content distribution. I'd love to see this fly. It's a great concept, but delivery really needs work.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

We made our case that if this is limited to just Clubs, a _large portion_ of the hobby will be omitted. This was in fact confirmed by Marc Horovitz, as well as four G-scale Facebook sites.

It was agreed that this would be made available to all and we are in the process of working out a method of delivery, probably through Facebook at least for now. There are those requesting email delivery, and this may happen at some point in the future. It should be available to all very soon and I will keep everyone posted.

Unfortunately, at this time articles will be taken from the various Club newsletters, primarily because they are "ready to go." At some time in the future, there may also be the mechanism for individuals to submit "camera ready" articles. I know that there is a lot of talent here and would hate to see it go to waste.

You are all to be thanked!

Todd


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## jlyans (Jan 2, 2008)

I am the newsletter editor for the Gold Coast Garden Railway Society, GCGRS, Ventura/Santa Barbara.
I have distributed the initial/sample newsletter to our club members and the response has been very positive.
I think that Groups.io would be a much better way to distribute the newsletter rather than Facebook.
John Lyans


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

I don't quite understand why email delivery of the newsletter is a problem - that was one of my jobs at the club before I moved and let my membership lapse.


The distribution was only to about 300 members - biggest issue was emails bouncing because members changed their email address and didn't notify the club.
But that was manageable.


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## jlyans (Jan 2, 2008)

I think that maintaining and updating an email list consisting of thousands of names and addresses could be a major headache. This is currently a volunteer operation and it was a pretty time consuming thing for Carla Brietner, (who did the sample newsletter), to go through club newsletters, pick out certain ones, compile it into the national newsletter and get it mailed out to the hundred or so clubs that the organizing group has identified. I hope that this will fly but it will be a lot of work.


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Does anyone have a feel how big the distribution list would be for people who are not members of a club?

I was thinking of breaking that distribution up into logical groups of a manageable size, say 500 or less.
So to cover 20,000 individuals who are not club members, the newsletter would be sent to 40 distribution points (say me being one for Ontario) and I would maintain the distribution list for that group and forward the newsletter.
I assume the newsletter would be published perhaps once a month.


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## bmwr71 (Jan 30, 2010)

1. No
2. yup
3. yup

For years I looked forward to getting GR. Always excited to see it in the mailbox and had to flip through it as soon as it was in my hands. Like a good friend wasted away over a few months and died.

Doug


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## gizmorama (Jul 13, 2020)

*Would You Be Interested...*

No
Yes
Yes

I wish there were a club here in NW AZ
-Wes


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## Sgtmacfie (Jan 2, 2017)

No
Yes
Yes, please.


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## kajohnson9 (Feb 11, 2020)

*Response to Newsletter Query*

Yes
Yes
Yes
The club I belong to is a general model railroading club of all scales, not jut G scale. Does that count?
Keith Johnson


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

kajohnson9 said:


> Yes
> Yes
> Yes
> The club I belong to is a general model railroading club of all scales, not jut G scale. Does that count?
> Keith Johnson


Probably not because the Club is not on the "radar."

The intent here is that if you already belong to a "G-scale" Club, you would receive it through your Club representative.

I want it to be inclusive of all because much of the Hobby would be left out, and this has been a point of contention because it makes things harder to do. Whereas a Club may reach 100+ members, these would be individual accounts to deal with and many just want to get things rolling at this point in time.


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## Lake Valley #1 (Dec 31, 2012)

No
Yes
Yes
I'm 'hungry' for news since the magazine is now defunct. I'm bummed.


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

Rather than Facebook or an email "push" perhaps it could be posted in the "cloud" as public, i.e. Google Cloud, MS OneDrive, etc. Then it would be the reader's responsibility to view/download it and there would be no need to manage email addresses.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Current decision seems to be unrestricted access to the newsletters.


We have a link to it on our club site:  *www.sdgrs.com* (click on the bold letters) At the beginning of the page is a note and a link. This is to the "sample" newsletter vol 1, number 1



Greg


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> Current decision seems to be unrestricted access to the newsletters.
> 
> 
> We have a link to it on our club site:  *www.sdgrs.com* (click on the bold letters) At the beginning of the page is a note and a link. This is to the "sample" newsletter vol 1, number 1
> ...



Thank you Greg.

OK, you've all read it above. The first edition of the eNewsetter can be downloaded from the San Diego Garden Railway Society's web site at Greg's link.

I hope everyone enjoys it as you helped make this happen. If you have positive thoughts, don't hesitate to post them.


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## jody (Jan 3, 2016)

N Y Y [email protected]


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## Dave1915 (Sep 28, 2020)

No, yes, yes. I was unable to read the "preview" edition, but that could be attributed to technology inadequacy on my part.


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## Randall (Feb 2, 2019)

No-Yes-Yes Don't do Facebook


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Randall said:


> No-Yes-Yes Don't do Facebook


Randall (and anyone else), go to the SDGRS link below then to "Garden Railroad eNews Newsletters" and select CLICK HERE to download the document. There is no need for Facebook.

http://www.sdgrs.com/


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

colfox said:


> No. Yes. Yes.
> 
> 
> Sounds good and I can distribute the newsletter around our informal group GRITH here in NSW Australia.


I assume that you saw that you can now download it for free from the SDGRS website.

Tell Tony Walsham to support the effort and take out an ad.


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

I downloaded the issue 1 sample and took a quick look through it.

Very nicely done and more elaborate than I expected.

There were two categories in GR that I always looked at in detail and that perhaps should be considered for the newsletter:
1. A New Products category
2. A Product Review category


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Good suggestions, but open to problems.


In the effort to keep it's advertisers happy, the GR product reviews, in my opinion, went from objective to just "glowing" and overlooked common and prevalent issues with the product.


This is one of the major reasons I stopped my GR subscription. I remember the MR product reviews, which I started reading in 1963, where the review was honest, comprehensive and accurate with detailed information on current draw, pulling power, adherence to scale and gauge.


In my opinion, that went out the window in GR. I understand the motiviation not to anger your advertisers, the big ones like Aristo and Bachmann, but I cannot agree to kowtow to the demands that reviews have nothing negative in them. The mag became worthless to me.


So new products, great, product reviews, dangerous territory, since this newsletter will also want paying advertisers.


This is not negative, just realistic.



Greg


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Can't argue with your points re product reviews and advertisers possibly getting their nose out of joint.


But does the newsletter really depend on advertising revenue?
I didn't think this was intended to be a commercial product like GR.


I assume people who write articles, put the whole thing together and distribute it are volunteers who are in the hobby.
If someone wants to advertise their product - fine, charge them a nominal amount, but I don't think the newsletter should depend on advertising revenue.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

krs said:


> I downloaded the issue 1 sample and took a quick look through it.
> 
> Very nicely done and more elaborate than I expected.
> 
> ...


The Newsletter is to be put together from the various Club Newsletters. There is nobody "on staff" to conduct product reviews.

If a new product is put out by a vendor and included in their ad, great! And if someone in one of the contributing Clubs does a product review worthy of publication, that could also happen.

At some time in the future there may be provisions for articles outside of Club newsletters to be added to the content, but not at this time.

Baby steps.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

krs said:


> But does the newsletter really depend on advertising revenue?
> I didn't think this was intended to be a commercial product like GR.
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, it will depend on advertising revenue to operate. The Task Force has determined that Carla will get a small salary, and of course there are operating expenses, such as a planned website.

At this point, everything has been a volunteer effort, but nobody expects Carla to go through what could be over 100 newsletters every other month for eternity on her own time.

As it grows, there could be a few other positions of modest salary (e.g., webmaster, secretary, associate editor), especially if/when "outside articles" are being published that would need someone to go through, select, format, and edit before they can see publication. But not now.


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

toddalin said:


> Yes, it will depend on advertising revenue to operate.


Thanks - good to know.

That eliminates the "New Product" and "Product Review" categories.


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## barnmichael (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm going to try to help out here and hope I don't get shot down. There is a discussion group at [email protected] that is open to anyone to join. It is not affiliated with any club or organization. It is a place for casual garden railroading (or pretty much anything railroad related) comments, discussions, and questions. I have already placed the sample introductory e-Newsletter in the files section. As new information is sent out, I will try to post it on the discussion group. All subscribers will be notified when new files are uploaded. You do not have to be a member of any club to subscribe. Although PNW is in the name, anyone from anywhere is welcome. (PNW stands for Pacific North West.) To join, just send an email to [email protected]. There is no cost or obligation, no salesman will call. As an aside, if you have a club newsletter you would like to share, we would be happy to have it on this page. This should be a lot easier and more reliable than the hit-or-miss of catching something on Facebook.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

barnmichael said:


> I'm going to try to help out here and hope I don't get shot down. There is a discussion group at [email protected] that is open to anyone to join. It is not affiliated with any club or organization. It is a place for casual garden railroading (or pretty much anything railroad related) comments, discussions, and questions. I have already placed the sample introductory e-Newsletter in the files section. As new information is sent out, I will try to post it on the discussion group. All subscribers will be notified when new files are uploaded. You do not have to be a member of any club to subscribe. Although PNW is in the name, anyone from anywhere is welcome. (PNW stands for Pacific North West.) To join, just send an email to [email protected]. There is no cost or obligation, no salesman will call. As an aside, if you have a club newsletter you would like to share, we would be happy to have it on this page. This should be a lot easier and more reliable than the hit-or-miss of catching something on Facebook.


Thank you. I will pass this on.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I think the management of the new newsletter would want to have ownership of the group if it was to be the official vehicle/distribution.


Adding more places to distribute, which is how I took this suggestion, seems to be welcome.


Greg


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## capjr (Dec 27, 2007)

*owner*

I do not belong to a large scale group, as there are none in my area. I would love to get a newsletter, 

allen


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

capjr said:


> I do not belong to a large scale group, as there are none in my area. I would love to get a newsletter,
> 
> allen


Hi Allen.

Thanks for your interest. If you just go back a few posts there is now a link to download it through the SDGRS website for free. There are no memberships required.

Take care.

Todd


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Hi Todd, A suggestion, I'm not a member of anything either but if you can remind us all on this forum when the newsletter is out each time and a club link to view it that would be good. That's a good way to get many eyes on it from overseas and without multiple emails and lists at your end. it should work well. My memory isn't as good as it used to be so a reminder every time it's out is helpful.
Russell


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## jaody490 (Aug 30, 2015)

Hello n y y. I would love to get a newsletter. There is no club close to me. Please sign me up at [email protected] thank you


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## George (Dec 27, 2007)

Yes on newsletter. Garden railways shutting down opens up possibilities.
How do I join?


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Bump for the new people that did not read through the entire thread. Also, you do not need to join anything.


Greg Elmassian said:


> Current decision seems to be unrestricted access to the newsletters.
> 
> We have a link to it on our club site:  *www.sdgrs.com* (click on the bold letters) At the beginning of the page is a note and a link. This is to the "sample" newsletter vol 1, number 1
> 
> Greg


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

_*Would You Be Interested in a New Garden Railroading eNewsletter for FREE?*_

*Do you belong to an established Garden Railroad Club (Y/N)?*

Yes but down to 4 members

*Would you be interested in receiving/downloading the eNewsletter compiled from the various Group Member Clubs’ newsletters (Y/N)?*

Yes

*Would you provide an email contact point-of-contact to receive/download the eNewsletter (Y/N)?*

Yes but forgot how to send a PM


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Jerry McColgan said:


> Yes but forgot how to send a PM


Hi Jerry, welcome back to the new, shrunken MLS. PM's are called "conversations" on this new format website. There's an 'Account Details' link top right and that leads you to the conversation page.
The newsletter is already in distribution. Check out
GARDEN RAILROAD NEWS


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## Scott (Jan 29, 2008)

Greg, I'm interested. N/Y/Y. Inbox me for my email. Us Aussies need to get our models out to the world since GR was axed.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Actually Scott, I think your reply is to Todd, the OP.

He sort of offered an email list in the beginning, but I don't believe that is his intent.

The link to access this newsletter is on our club's home page: www.sdgrs.com the San Diego Garden Railway Society.

We do send emails to our members when a new edition comes out. Our members also enjoy an archive of 7 different newsletters from our web site, which includes the SDGRS newsletter.

Greg


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