Ron Morris – TCA volunteer

e*Train Issue: Jan 2020 | Posted in: TCA Adventures

By Jim Potts,64-1063 – TCA National President-elect Winter 2020

TCA is all about toy trains, but it is also very much about its members. All are valued, but we especially give notice to those who have extended their efforts to help the hobby, fellow members, and the organization. A number of these are recognized by plaques and notations in the National Toy Train Museum, and especially in the National Toy Train Library, which bears the responsibility for maintaining the archives and records of the Association, and where TCA’s heritage is of special focus.

Jim Potts also serves as Chair of the National Toy Train Library Committee.

Some of the recognitions of special members are seen at the end of this article. One very special member, who excelled in building the Library to its current worldwide status, who initiated the TTML, and who served as Library Chair and TCA Historian, is Ron Morris, TCA #70-3178.

If there ever was a truly passionate toy train aficionado it was Ron Morris. I doubt whether he ever met a toy train or a toy train accessory he didn’t like.

A couple of years ago at a TCA National Convention I came across Ron admiring a beautiful boxed Lionel villa/bungalow accessory set on a gentleman’s table in the trading pits. Ron, by then in his late 80’s was as excited as a little kid in a toy store a couple of days before Christmas morning, He just had to have this set for his collection however there was a problem. The set was tagged at around $500 and Ron didn’t have enough money with him to pay for the set.

As luck would have it a mutual friend of ours came along and offered to loan Ron the cash until we got back home. With the loan in-hand, Ron completed the purchase and became as happy as a little boy opening his presents on Christmas morning.

Ron’s love of toy trains enabled him to somehow manage to collect toy trains, build beautiful reproductions of Lionel landscape plots and investigate, research, catalog and write articles about all these objects of his admiration.

We have been blessed to have Ron join TCA and begin volunteering just at the time we were beginning to build our world class National Toy Train Library collections. Seen below are several special items in the Library.

Ron spearheaded the group of library volunteers over many years and put in an enormous number of volunteer hours himself. He is a fine example of the many giving TCA volunteers who continue to be the backbone of our association.

Among the Library’s Special Holdings on TCA History

Typewriter used by Lou Redman, “Mr. TCA,” to produce years of the TCA newsletters.

First TCA Board of Directors meeting at Ed Alexander’s barn in Yardley, PA. October 16, 1954.

Shop Amazon and Help TCA

TCA members who shop at Amazon.com can have each of their normal purchases generate a modest payment to TCA! And it won’t cost you anything!

The Train Collectors Association is now a participant with AmazonSmile, which is a special website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com.

The difference is that when customers shop at AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.

The process is simple. Just search for and select Train Collectors Association when you sign up and shop at smile.amazon.com.

You use your regular Amazon.com username and password, but when you log in to smile.amazon.com, you’ll see that you are supporting TCA with your purchases:

Note that if you just log in to the regular amazon.com, this benefit does not operate.

There are no costs to either you or TCA, but TCA benefits!

This is a great way for TCA to earn extra cash to offset costs, so sign up today to help support TCA.

* Note: TCA is not a party to any of your Amazon transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors.

Helping TCA with your ebay purchases when you use PayPal

If you’re an ebay user and have a PayPal account you use to make payments, you can designate a donation for TCA when you’re checking out — any amount, small or large.
If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can pre-designate a percentage of your sales to be donated automatically in your name to TCA as long as the purchaser pays with their PayPal account.

In both cases, you will receive a donation receipt from the PayPal Giving Fund, and enjoy applicable tax advantages.

How to do it:

Click on the image above, or use this link. This will take you to ebay, where you will see the following page (log in to ebay if you are not already):

This offers TCA as an option. Click on the “Add to My Charities” button where indicated with the red arrow. Thereafter, when you make a purchase, at checkout you will be offered the option to make a donation to TCA in any amount of your choosing. Small amounts add up, larger ones are great! It’s always up to you!

The option will appear at the lower part of your checkout page, something like this:

If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can allocate a portion of your sales proceeds to be donated to TCA. Look at the green arrow marked “Optional” above to see how to do it. Details on how ebay calculates the donation may be read here. This is a wonderful way to share the financial benefits of your hobby with the organization that promotes it!

An added benefit to TCA is that these donations are not subject to normal processing fees, so that makes your donation work harder!

* Note. TCA is not a party to any of your eBay transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors. PayPal issues the receipts to you for your donation, not TCA.

Ron Morris – TCA volunteer

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