THE TRANSFER TABLE
The Wilmington Chapter NRHS Official Newsletter
Internet Edition

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MEETING NOTES - Part 1 -

The March 18 Chapter meeting had started before this reporter could arrive.  There were discussions of the sale of the Delaware Valley Railroad and the miscellaneous equipment that was or needed to be removed from the line's storage sidings, the current state of the K-4 restoration in Scranton (which needs more money), and a possible, mid-May, do-it-yourself Chapter Trip to New York City, Grand Central Station, maybe 125th St. Station, and maybe Croton-on-Hudson.  John Iwasyk told of the Wilmington & Western's plans to build a B&O Size #1 tool house like the one that used to be at Kiamasi Road, the refurbishing of #98, and that #58 had run that day. After the break, National Director and the evening's presenter, Ed Thornton gave us Part 2 of his "On The Job" program [Part 1 was January 19, 1995].  We saw some unique views of Perryville and the opening of the Susquehanna Bridge, the first Amtrak catenary car, the X-2000 and ICE trains on the Corridor, and Aberdeen Proving Ground.  There was the Bush River Bridge, an undercutter in action, and the arrival of new AMTRAK equipment in Dundalk.  We also saw the tunnels in Baltimore, Patapsco Bridge, the Speno Rail Grinder, and Odenton.  And, among the views of Washington Terminal and Tower K, there was a truss rod flat car with archbar trucks labeled WT 114.  We all thanked Ed for another great show!

A LOOK BACK:   April 1975
by Historian Ron Cleaves

The April 17, 1975 meeting was attended by 13 members.  It was announced at this meeting that the June meeting would be held on the West Chester local, as the old red cars - (MP54's) would soon be gone.  This was the Chapter's annual Photo Contest Night.  Among the winners of the contest that evening were: 
Best of Show = Russ Fox
Best B & W Print = Al Seibel
Best Color Print = Pete Cramer
Best Slide = Russ Fox
Other winners included Jack Samonsky, Walt Robbins, Otto 'Reds' Stees, Jack Rathburn, Joe Hammond, and Tim Cronin.  Prizes ranged from $2 for Best of Show to 25¢ (that's right, twenty five cents) for second prize in other categories. Special category that evening was "Thru the car window - or any window for that matter".  Prints and slides had to show rail subjects taken from a window.  (Rumor had it that area hardware stores had a run on step ladders when this, the first time the Chapter had a special category for the photo contest, was announced at the March meeting).  The special category became a regular part of the photo contest night in the mid-80's when it was revived after not being included for several years after 1975.

The National Railway Historical Society's Wilmington Chapter's
* Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest *
will be held at the regular Chapter meeting on Thursday, May 20th.

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, 1983.  This category was added last year, and by desire of the membership, as voted on at the January 1998 meeting, the timeframe was changed from "more than 25 years old" to "more than 15 years old".

•  For SPECIAL CATEGORY #7 ONLY, designed to get people out there to take new pictures, photos must have been taken in the LAST TWO (2) YEARS; that is, between May 1, 1997 and May 20, 1999 and must include A FLANGED-WHEEL ENTITY SHOT FROM ABOVE THE UNIT in the image.

•  CATEGORIES  •

1)  STEAM - Photos with a steam locomotive as the primary subject.

2)  DIESEL - Photos with a diesel locomotive as the primary subject.  This category also includes gas-electrics, Doodlebugs, RDCs,   and FL9s north of Harmon, and the like.

3)  HEAVY ELECTRIC - Electric power on big railroads. This category includes AEM7s, X2000, Silverliners, FL9s south of Harmon, and the like.

4)  TRACTION - Trolleys and light rail including streetcars, PATCO, Metro, all subways, etc.

5)  GENERAL - Any photo that does NOT include one of the above as the primary subject.  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 1999 = OVERHEAD VIEW OF FLANGED-WHEEL VEHICLE Photos must have been taken within the last 2 years.

NEWS BITS

•   IT PAYS TO READ YOUR NEWSLETTER !!!  Having studied his Transfer Table, one of our Chapter Members headed down to his favorite railfanning spot (we cannot disclose the secret location for fear of future crowds!) because he read that the Ringling Brothers Circus train should be through on March 7,1999.   Your Editor received a call at 11:12 PM informing him that indeed, CSX #8586 had just led a sting of coaches and flats with RBBX reporting marks eastbound toward Philadelphia.  [from Dave Watterson]

•   The Acela Express, which is due to bring high-speed service to AMTRAK's Northeast Corridor later this year was written up in the local newspaper.  The real purpose for the tilt-train design is to negotiate the many curves between New York City and Boston at a much higher speed than today's trains.   This was NOT stressed in the local article.  The local focus was stressed in the table of "New times from Wilmington".  The "time saved" to Philadelphia was shown as "0:01", Baltimore =0:04, Washington= 0:07, New York= 0:08 (which would justify the higher fares expected!?).  The real savings to New Haven 1:20, Providence=1:52, and Boston= 2:16 was hardly mentioned in the article. [fromThe News Journal]

•    GM's newest engines are BIG.   After Canadian Pacific assembled their first SD90MAC in Ogden, they had a little problem.  When completed it would not fit through the doorway of the erecting shop.   The doors had to be raised and widened before the engines could leave!    [from Central Coast Chapter's The Ferroequinologist via Gulf Coast Chapter's Gulf Coast Railroading]

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. National touring exhibit of O. Winston Link prints (70-75 B&W and 10 color) April 13 - June 13, 1999   Cincinnati Ohio Art Museum - CALL TO CONFIRM DATES !!

Saturday & Sunday, April 10-11, 1999    BR&W train to Three Bridges Black River & Western Railroad will run trains, hopefully steam to Three Bridges instead of Ringoes

On April 12, 1999  the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Red Unit CircusTrain is due to pass through New Jersey enroute to Philadelphia.  On April 26, it will depart Philadelphia for Rhode Island.

Saturday & Sunday, April 17-18, 1999    BR&W train to Three Bridges Black River & Western Railroad will run trains, hopefully steam to Three Bridges instead of Ringoes

Saturday & Sunday, April 17-18, 1999    Great Scale Model Train Show 9-4  Saturday, 10-4  Sunday, Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, MD.

Sunday, April 18, 1999    Nordel's Spring Train Show 10 AM - 3 PM, Cranston Heights Fire Co., Kirkwood Highway, Prices Corner, DE, info 302-234-6901

Saturday & Sunday, April 24-25, 1999    All Aboard Days: Live Steam Weekend at B&O Museum B&O #25 (1856 classic Civil War type) recently used in The Wild Wild West movie, plus The Wanderer, Tom Thumb, and The Lafayette will run under live steam.  Chesapeake & Allegheny Live Steamers will also be offering rides, for info call 410-752-2388

Sunday, May 2, 1999  Great Winslow Junct. Scale Train & Railroadiana Meet 10 AM - 3 PM, Winslow NJ Fire Hall, Hall & Hay Sts.

Friday, May 14, 1998   Cass Photo Special using Western Maryland branch through Spruce (now called the West Virginia Central), Call Carl Franz evenings at 301-942-6197

Sunday, May 16, 1998   Model Train Show 9 AM - 2 PM, Historic Strasburg Inn, Strasburg, PA, $3 admission, info 717-392-5515

Saturday, June 12, 1999   Wilmington & Western Photo Freight Special departs 8 AM, limited to 70 passengers, power=0-6-0 #58, adults $55, night $15 info = 410-277-4443

June 18-27, 1999 Central Coast Chapter's Railfair '99 w/ California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento

Saturday & Sunday, June 19-20, 1999    Great Scale Model Train Show 9-4  Saturday, 10-4  Sunday, Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, MD.

June 21-26, 1999 NRHS National Convention   >>> INFO LINE = 408-278-5100 hosted by the Central Coast Chapter and the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society in Sacramento, CA

Wednesday - Sunday, July 21-25, 1999   Day Out With Thomas™ at B&O Museum Thomas the Tank Engine and Sir Topham Hat will be at the Museum for five days

Saturday & Sunday, August 7-8, 1999  Great Scale Model Train Show,Eisenhower Tower,Gettysburg,PA

Sunday, September 12, 1999 Great Winslow Junct. Scale Train & Railroadiana Meet 10 AM - 3 PM, Winslow NJ Fire Hall, Hall & Hay Sts.

Saturday & Sunday, September 25-26, 1999    All Aboard Days: Fall Open House at B&O Museum Museum Hours 10 Am - 5 PM    [ >>> all month of September = Seniors get in for $2.50 !! <<< ]

Saturday & Sunday, October 2-3, 1999 Railfest '99 (Altoona) Altoona Railroader's Memorial Museum, Altoona, PA  info = 814-946-0834

Saturday & Sunday, October 2-3, 1999    Great Scale Model Train Show 9-4  Saturday, 10-4  Sunday, Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, MD.

Friday - Monday, October 15-18, 1999  Railfest 1999 (Cumberland) 9 AM rail excursions on CSX to festival in Oakland, Western Maryland Station, return 3 PM

July 12-16, 2000 NRHS National Convention to be hosted by Western Connecticut Chapter [it had been scheduled for Pittsburgh PA hosted by Lancaster Chapter]

June 18-23, 2001 NRHS National Convention to be hosted by St. Louis Chapter

* CHAPTER EVENTS *

Thursday April 15, 1999 7 PM Chapter Meeting Program by Bill Russell

Thursday May 20, 1999 7 PM Chapter Meeting Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest

Saturday? May 15 or 22, 1999  ? AM Chapter Trip? Do-It-Yourself to NYC & Croton, NY?

Thursday June 17, 1999 7 PM Chapter Meeting program not know at this time

Thursday July 15, 1999 7 PM Chapter Meeting Do- It- Yourself Program

Thursday August 19, 1999 7 PM Chapter Meeting Do- It- Yourself Program

Thursday Sept. 16, 1999 7 PM Chapter Meeting program not know at this time

Saturday Sept. ?? , 1999 10 AM Chapter Picnic in conjunction with NRHS Days Pennsylvania Railroad Museum, Strasburg, PA

Saturday Sept. 25, 1999 ? AM Chapter Event in conjunction with Transportation Day Wilmington, DE Amtrak Station

The Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) meets at 7:00 PM on the  third Thursday of each month [except 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.foxcity.com/nrhs/wilm/wilm.htm

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 P.O. Box 1136, Hockessin, DE 19707-5136. or send to:         SD40GMA@aol.com

Deadline for entries is the 25th of the month.

Chapter Officers
President Phil Snider
Vice President & Historian Ron Cleaves
Treasurer Ralph Stevens, Jr.
Secretary Walt Robbins
National Director Ed Thornton
Editor Greg Ajamian
Public Relations Dave Watterson
Event Photographer Bruce Barry

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