NOTE: The Lite Version is our electronic version which is available for free from this web site.  It has limited content but gives you a taste of what is offered in our Full Version.

The Full Version is our printed newsletter which is mailed to you.  It contains everything in the Lite Version along with many other reprinted pages from other NRHS newsletters, railroad publications, and flyers that contain photographs, drawings, and maps.  The full version is just another benefit of joining our chapter. 

THE TRANSFER TABLE
The Wilmington Chapter NRHS Official Newsletter
Internet Edition

Back To Wilmington Chapter Web Site

DECEMBER 8, 2005 DIRECTOR MEETING NOTES

     At the Director's Meeting, it was decided that the special topic for this year's Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest will be: "Railroad Bridge With Railroad Equipment On It. "In lieu of the August 2006 Meeting, we are planning a Do-It-Yourself = Pay-As-You-Go Circle-Trip on SEPTA to Bryn Mawr. There is also a possibility of a May Trip to Danbury, Connecticut.

$$ DUES ARE DUE $$

If you have not already done so, please send your 2006 membership dues ( $34 total = $12 for local plus $22 National) to our Treasurer:
Ralph Stevens, Jr.
1432 Governor House Circle
Wilmington, DE 19809-2485

DECEMBER 11, 2005 MEETING NOTES

    At 5 PM, President Phil Snyder call the Annual Holiday Dinner to order. There were a few announcements including Karen Smith receiving her 25-Year pin. Free Passes for all Chapter sponsored trips were presented to Ed Thornton and Richard Hall for their many years of service and many contributions to the Chapter. After a wonderful buffet dinner (and seconds) and an appropriately decorated cake for desert, we were treated to a program of computer projected images by Steve Barry entitled "Ten Years of Railfanning. "We saw views of the Hudson River Valley and northern New Jersey. We also saw the Conrail Office Car Special (OCS), subways, towers, stations, and section houses. Views from far off locales included San Francisco, Los Angeles, and western Canada. There were PCC cars in California, Wisconsin, and Toronto. We got to see everything from main line to short line, light rail, and big steam. It was another wonderful program enjoyed by many members and guests.

IN CASE OF BAD WEATHER

    If our normal "THIRD THURSDAY" NRHS meeting is canceled due to inclement weather, it will be postponed and held on the FOURTH THURSDAY. If it must again be canceled, it will NOT be rescheduled. We will simply wait for the next month's normal "third Thursday" meeting. If the weather looks bad or is predicted to be bad, you may telephone the Claymont Community Center to see if it will be open that evening for our meeting.

FROM THE EDITOR

At the Holiday Dinner, the Editor presented a check to the Treasurer for over $100 in additional proceeds from Richard Hall's book bringing the total contribution to the Chapter to $120 for calendar year 2005 alone.

PUBLIC NOTICE

    Richard E. Hall of the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society has prepared a book of over 160 pages on Company Service Cars of the PW&B, PB&W, and PRR.

    The work presents a selection of car numbers and history with many drawings representing the work train, wreck train, cabin, and other company service equipment of the PW&B, PB&W, and PRR which were maintained at the Wilmington Shops and / or saw service in our general area, primarily on the PW&B, PB&W main line, Media Division (the old P&BC which later became the Octoraro Branch), Delaware Division, and the former Norfolk Division (NYP&N).

    Detailed lists include: Car Numbers, Tools For Maintenance Of Way Tool Cars, Supplies For Camp Trains, Materials to Equip a Pay Car, Tools & Supplies for Cabin Cars, & more. Drawings include: Pay Cars, Business Cars, Maintenance of Way Equipment, Dynamometer Cars, Cranes, Clearance Car, hand cars, & more.

    Proceeds support the Wilmington Chapter. Price only $ 16.00 Plus $3.95 Postage (for each copy) Please make checks payable to: G. Ajamian and send orders with your complete mailing address to: Wilmington Chapter NRHS, P.O. Box 1136, Hockessin, DE 19707-5136.

   NEWS BITS   

• After 26 months of meetings, surveys, sampling, testing, permits, and design, the Historic Red Clay Valley opened bids from contractors on Dec. 1, 2005 for the reconstruction of bridges 7A, 8A, 8B, 10A, 10C, and 12B plus the repair of bridge 6G. If all goes well, they hope to have a steam locomotive reach Hockessin by the summer of 2007. [from the HRCV's The Lantern Fall 2005]
• Norfolk Southern Corporation and New York Air Brake Corporation announced an agreement to begin deploying a locomotive computer system to improve the fuel efficiency and safe handling of trains in long-haul operations. The system, developed by New York Air Brake (NYAB) and known as LEADER¨ (Locomotive Engineer Assist Display and Event Recorder), provides locomotive engineers with real-time information about a train's operating conditions. It consists of an on-board computer that calculates and displays the optimum speed at which to operate the train, depending on the topography and curvature of the track to be encountered, the train's length and weight and other operating conditions. NS tested LEADER in a 2003 pilot project involving 15 locomotives running coal trains between Winston-Salem, N.C., and Roanoke, Va. The two-year pilot was a cooperative effort involving General Electric, New York Air Brake, Norfolk Southern and the Federal Railroad Administration. LEADER ultimately will be an integral part of the Optimized Train Control (OTC) system, a positive train control program announced earlier this year and currently in testing. OTC will combine data communications, positioning systems and onboard computers tied to a train's braking systems to enforce speed and operating limits automatically. [NS news release 12/05/2005]
• A Tradition Resumed: North America's Railroads Honor America's Heroes On Special "Liberty Limited" Train to Army Navy Game. North America's freight railroads have revived an almost-70 year old Army-Navy game day tradition, bringing more than 60 military personnel wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan aboard the "Liberty Limited" for a trip to the annual military classic. The "Liberty Limited" restored a tradition that goes back to 1936 when the former Pennsylvania Railroad operated the first special trains to the Army-Navy game from Washington's Union Station to Philadelphia. By the mid-1950s the railroad ran a whole series of special trains to the game, attracting more than 20,000 people annually. Among the passengers was President John F. Kennedy who rode the trains to the game in both 1961 and 1962. The special guests on this year's train were service personnel from all branches of the armed forces who were being treated at either Walter Reed Army Hospital or the Bethesda Naval Hospital after being wounded in either Iraq or Afghanistan. The 18 historic cars on the train are all privately-owned and were built between the 1920s and the 1950s. All have been luxuriously restored. On the trip up to Philadelphia, the military men and women were treated to continental breakfast, and on the way back they were served catered dinners in the dining rooms of the office cars. While at the game, they were seated together in a special section on the 50-yard line on the Army side of the field. The idea for the train came from Vivian and Bennett Levin of Newtown, Pa. Mr. Levin is a trustee of the Army War College Foundation, which served as coordinating agency for the special train. Through the Juniata Terminal Co., the Levins also own the two restored 1950s-era locomotives that powered the train as well as one of the donated private cars on the train. In addition to AAR the Army War College Foundation and the private car owners, other sponsors included Amtrak, Conrail, Railink, Gear for Sports, Nikon, American Pan Co, The Corner Bakery, Woolrich, Wal-Mart, Philadelphia Coke Cola, Trailer-Train, Simmons Boardman Publishers, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, as well as other private individuals and corporations. [from http://www.railfanclub.org/archives/newsletters/dec05/iraq.htm]
• 2005 Railroad Facts Available: Did you know that Class I U.S. railroads provided a record 1.66 trillion ton-miles of freight service in 2004? Or that they took almost 11 million trailers and containers --- a record --- off the nation's highways? Or that the average rail freight shipment moved more than 900 miles in 2004? This information and more can be found in the 2005 edition of Railroad Facts, which has just been published by the Association of American Railroads. This pocket-sized reference focuses mainly on Class I railroads and contains statistics and graphics for 2004 and selected prior years - in some cases as far back as 1929. Railroad Facts contains more than 80 pages of facts and statistics on finance, traffic, operations, plant and equipment, employment and compensation, fuel consumption and cost, and loss and damage. It also contains a profile of each Class I railroad, Amtrak, the two major Canadian railroads, and the two largest Mexican railways. Copies of Railroad Facts are available for non-AAR members for $15.00 for one copy; $12.00 per copy for two to ten copies; and $10.00 per copy for orders over 10 copies. To order copies, visit the AAR web site at www.aar.org and go to AAR store/publications. [from http://www.railfanclub.org/archives/newsletters]
• Norfolk Southern's "Best Friend" Visits Stock Exchange for Opening Bell Ceremony - A replica of the first American-built steam locomotive was on display outside the New York Stock Exchange December 12, 2005 as part of the opening bell festivities commemorating the 175th anniversary of Norfolk Southern Corporation . The locomotive symbolizes the beginning of what would become the nation's leading freight railroad. Today's Norfolk Southern has an unbroken 16-year record of industry leadership in safety and is FORTUNE magazine's 2005 most admired railroad. Norfolk Southern traces its beginning to Christmas Day 1830, when its earliest predecessor launched the nation's first regularly scheduled passenger service in Charleston, S.C., on six miles of track laid by the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company. Dubbed the Best Friend of Charleston, the train carried 140 passengers "on the wings of the wind at the speed of 15 to 25 miles an hour, annihilating time and space, leaving all the world behind," according to a participant. The original Best Friend was destroyed in a boiler explosion six months later. Yet that humble but hopeful beginning would set the stage for the rail network that 175 years later would span 21,300 miles across the eastern United States. In 1928, a working full-scale replica of the locomotive, its tender and two passenger cars were built from original plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company. The replica carried passengers on special occasions throughout the Southern Railway and, later, the Norfolk Southern system. The Best Friend replica was retired in 1993 and donated to the city of Charleston, now its permanent home. On loan from the city for the occasion, it was brought to New York as part of Norfolk Southern's 175th anniversary celebration. On its way back to Charleston, it will be displayed outside Norfolk Southern's headquarters in Norfolk, Va., on Dec. 15 and 16, in conjunction with the company's museum. Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates 21,300 route miles in 22 states, the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada, serving every major container port in the eastern United States and providing superior connections to western rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is North America's largest rail carrier of automotive parts and finished vehicles. [NS news release 12/05/2005]

SCHEDULE NOTES

Notices, announcements, schedules, etc. are provided here as a service to the members. The Chapter has no affiliation with any commercial operation, museum, or tourist line.

Now thru Monday, April 10, 2006 EXHIBIT -- CATASTROPHE ON THE RAILS: TRAIN WRECKS OF THE NORTHEAST UNITED STATES The face of railroading changed in 1853, when President-elect Franklin Pierce lost his son in a train derailment, a tragedy that generated international publicity and shocked the nation. This exhibit will explore why wrecks occurred, display photographs of some of the most infamous disasters and include artifacts related to accidents. Also featured will be examples of important safety equipment and government regulations introduced as a result, making railroads today one of the safest modes of travel. Included in regular Museum admission.

Saturday & Sunday, January 28-29, 2006 BIG 2006 RAILROAD HOBBY SHOW Sat. 9 -5, Sun 10-5. Eastern States Exposition Grounds, West Springfield, MA. Adults $8.00.

February 4, 2006 - Wilmington Chapter NRHS Streetcar Trips - Super Saturday Streetcar Special XIII - A Wilmington Chapter tradition! Join us for our 13th pre-Super Bowl trip on Saturday, February 4th. Ride a newly rebuilt PCC-2 over the recently re-opened Route 15 line on Girard Avenue. Plenty of photo stops will be held during the five-hour excursion. Trip departs Callowhill Depot (directions sent with order) at 10:00 a.m. with an additional passenger stop at 53rd & Malvern (better parking) at 10:10. Seating Strictly Limited to 40 Passengers -- A Second Streetcar Will NOT be added!!! Fare $35.00. Fare $35 from Wilmington Chapter NRHS, c/o Steve Barry, 117 High Street, Newton, NJ 07860; MC/VISA accepted at www.daylightimages.com/streetcar; Can't order via Internet? Make checks payable to Wilmington Chapter NRHS and mail your order to: Wilmington Chapter NRHS Trips, c/o Steve Barry, 117 High Street Newton, NJ 07860.

Saturday & Sunday, Feb. 4 & 5, 2006 SCALE TRAIN SHOW, TIMONIUM, MD9 am to 4 pm Sat., 10 am to 4 pm Sun. DOUBLE SHOW Great Scale Model Train Show & All-American Hi-Rail & Collectors Train Show, Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium MD http://www.gsmts.com

Thursday, May 18th, 2006 - Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest

Here are the guidelines for entering images in this year's contest:

• As usual, there will be two separate contests; one for prints and one for slides. Each contest will have the same SEVEN categories. Prizes will be awarded for winners in each category (that is fourteen winners in all), plus additional awards for the best print and the best slide in the show.
• Each member can have up to three entries per category (that's 42 total photos if you are really ambitious: up to 21 total slides and 21 total prints!).
• Photos for the five normal, standard, REGULAR CATEGORIES #1-#5, as always in the past, must have been taken within the LAST FIVE (5) YEARS (anywhere on this planet).
• For the VINTAGE CATEGORY #6 ONLY, the photos can be of any railroad related subject but must have been taken 15 OR MORE YEARS AGO, that is before May 1, 1991. As voted on at the January 1998 meeting, the time frame was changed from "more than 25 years old" to "more than 15 years old".
• For SPECIAL CATEGORY #7 ONLY, designed to get people out to take new pictures; photos must have been taken in the LAST TWO (2) YEARS; that is, between May 1, 2004 and May 18, 2006 and must be a photo of "Railroad Bridge With Railroad Equipment On It".

CATEGORIES: [note timeframes]

1. STEAM - Photos with a steam locomotive as the primary subject within the last 5 years.
2. DIESEL - Photos with a diesel locomotive as the primary subject within the last 5 years. This category also includes gas-electrics, Doodlebugs, RDCs, and FL9s north of Harmon, and the like.
3. HEAVY ELECTRIC - Electric power on big railroads within the last 5 years.
4. TRACTION - Trolleys & light rail including streetcars, all subways, etc. within the last 5 years.
5. GENERAL - Any photo that does NOT include one of the above as the primary subject within the last 5 years. Passenger and freight cars, stations, signals, railfans, and the like go here.
6. VINTAGE - Any railroad-related subject photographed 15 or more years ago.
7. SPECIAL CATEGORY for 2006 = RR Bridge w/RR Equip and taken within the last two (2) years.

July 2-9, 2006 Independence Junction 2006 Philadelphia, PA NMRA Convention The convention will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in center city Philadelphia. An entrance to the center is the beautiful Headhouse of the ex Reading Railroads' Center City Passenger Terminal.

July 18-23, 2006 Buckeye Rails New Philadelphia, Ohio 2006 NRHS Convention - The convention will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in center city Philadelphia. An entrance to the center is the beautiful Headhouse of the ex Reading Railroads' Center City Passenger Terminal.

CHAPTER EVENTS  

Thursday Jan. 19, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Allan Patterson entitled "A Year of Steam Photo Charters"

Thursday Feb. 16, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Greg Ajamian the remaining half of "Central PA Summer" and "some interesting miscellaneous"

Thursday Mar. 16, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Frank Ferguson entitled "2005 Review"

Thursday Apr. 20, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Mike Burkhart

Thursday May 18, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest, 2006 special category: RR Bridge w/RR Equipment

Thursday June 15, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Dan Frederick

Thursday July 20, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Dave Warner

Thursday Aug. 17, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Trip in lieu of normal meeting. Probably SEPTA Trip to Bryn Mawr

The Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) meets at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month [except August & December] in the Darley Room at the Claymont Community Center on Green Street in Claymont, Delaware.  Visitors are always welcome. Admission to regular meetings is free. Check out our Website, thanks to Russ Fox at:   http://www.WilmingtonNRHS.com

    The Transfer Table is published six to ten times per year as the newsletter of the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.  Items in this publication do not represent the official position of either Officers or Members of the Wilmington Chapter or the Editor of this publication.

    Permission to reprint articles and news items appearing herein is granted to NRHS Chapters and other newsletters provided appropriate credit is given.   Contributions are always welcome and should be sent to the editor at SD40GMA@aol.com or send to: P.O. Box 1136, Hockessin, DE 19707-5136. Deadline for entries is the 25th of the month.

Chapter Officers
President: Phil Snyder
Vice President & Historian: Ron Cleaves
Treasurer: Ralph Stevens, Jr.
Secretary: Dan Frederick
National Director: Tom Posatko 
Editor: Greg Ajamian
Education Fund: Ed Thornton
Public Relations: Frank Ferguson, Jr.
Trip Director: Ralph Stevens, Jr.
Event Photographer:  Ron Cleaves
Web Master: Russ Fox

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