THE TRANSFER TABLE
The Wilmington Chapter NRHS Official Newsletter
Internet Edition
| VOLUME 21 NO. 5 | JULY 1999 |
Back To Wilmington Chapter Web Site
MAY MEETING NOTES
-
The minutes as read by Secretary Walt Robbins and the
Treasurer's report as read by Ralph Stevens were approved at the May Chapter
meeting. National Director Ed Thornton reported on the Chicago Director's
Meeting including a ride on the Illinois Central Electric Line, the new regional
Vice President Ed Swigert, the addition of the Texas Eagle Chapter in Bryan, TX,
and that Rail Camp '99 will have two sessions. There was a motion to set
up a fund to send a teen to Rail Camp in the future. For this year, an
anonymous donor has put up the funds to sponsor Ryan Robinson. Although NO
Chapter funds are involved for this year, Ryan will be listed as sponsored by
the Wilmington Chapter, thanks to that anonymous donor, and Ryan will come to a
Chapter meeting after the camp to report to us at a regular monthly meeting.
John Iwasyk said that the Wilmington & Western would know in June if they were going to get funding for the B&O Tool Shed. Trip Director Bruce Barry said that the next do-it-yourself trip would leave 30th St. Station in Philadelphia at 7:15 AM and get back around 7 PM after Penn Station, Grand Central, subway to 125th St. and the Amtrak facilities in Croton/Harmon. President Phil Snyder reported that Boston and New York Amtrak folks are coming to Wilmington for training. Vice President Ron Cleaves thanked the Chapter for the card and wishes he received after his father passed away.
The Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest followed after refreshments. Contest results appear later in this newsletter. A run-off between two prints was required for the Diesel print category. The Heavy Electric category in prints was a unanimous vote for Bill Russell's Trolley Motor. The Heavy Electric category in slides took three votes to decide the winner; first ballot went 8-4-8, the first run-off tied at 8-8, and the second run-off tallied 10-11. All vote counts were confirmed, rechecked, announced vocally, and rechecked if there was any doubt. And, remember, it is never too early to start taking and/or selecting photographs for next year's contest!
JUNE MEETING NOTES
Likewise, the minutes as read by Secretary Walt Robbins and
the Treasurer's report as read by Ralph Stevens were approved at the June
Chapter meeting. National Director Ed Thornton reported that Tom Posatko
will represent our Chapter in Lieu of Ed at the next Director's meeting and that
Ryan Robinson would be attending the second session [7/25-31] of Rail Camp '99
sponsored by (an anonymous donor on behalf of) our Chapter. It was also
reported that the Wilmington & Western is now having regular monthly
meetings in the new station at Greenbank. President Phil Snyder reported
on the recent Chapter Trip to NYC.
After refreshments, the Do-It-Yourself program was highlighted by Acela slides from Ed Thornton and a wonderful assortment from Frank Ferguson.
A LOOK BACK:
July 1986 by Historian Ron Cleaves
On the evening of July 17, 1986, 15 Chapter members met at Media
Station to ride the Airport High Speed Line. The ride on the Airport Line
itself was short - about 20 minutes - and only briefly was there any actual
"high speed" running. As a side trip this evening, a commuter
train to the Gallery at Market East Mall was rode. Enroute to the Gallery,
a bit of excitement was experienced when the commuter car being rode came to an
unexplained stop followed by wisps of smoke filtering through the car.
Source of the smoke apparently was caused by an overheated traction motor and
presented a small delay in continuing on to the Gallery and did not make the
11:00 o'clock news that evening.
NEWS BITS
. The Maryland & Delaware Railroad has acquired Black River
& Western's CF-7 #42 in order to replace their wrecked CF-7 #2630. The
locomotive was to be shipped to the road's Frankford-Snow Hill line from its
lease at the Port Jersey Railroad. The RS3m is out of service at
Federalsburg, MD with "mechanical Problems". In order to connect
its four currently disconnected rail lines, it has been granted trackage rights
over the Norfolk Southern's Delmarva Secondary and Indian River Secondary lines.
[from Delaware Valley Chapter]
. According to an April 30, 1999 memorandum, railroad operations at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds will be discontinued. "Currently, the necessary annual expenditures associated with maintenance of our deteriorated rail infrastructure and overage rolling stock have become too cost prohibited to continue. Therefore, effective 1 Oct. 99 the Garrison will discontinue its support of all railroad services located within APG...all related equipment and rolling stock in support of the railroad operation will be disposed of through appropriate government channels." [from Dept. of the Army, U.S. Army Garrison, Aberdeen Proving Ground]
. On January 29, 1999, the Railroad Museum of Long Island took possession of the last steam locomotive to operate in New York City - ex-Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal Railroad No. 16. The engine, donated by New York Regional Rail (Cross Harbor Railroad), was transported down a maze of streets through Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties before reaching its final destination of Riverhead, where it now resides next to the museum's new Riverhead facility.
This engine has been certainly involved in quite a controversy over the past year and a half as to where it would wind up. The Locomotive 35 Restoration Committee had expressed an interest in it, as did the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey. In fact TRAINS magazine even reported that the URHS had taken title to the engine and was moved to New Jersey.
Upon this, the museum inquired to the railroad as to the status of the engine. The Cross Harbor expressed their frustrations of the other groups in moving the engine, as they wanted to use the space for expansion, and of the growing liability concerns of trespassers coming to see the engine. The Railroad Museum of Long Island was finally selected by the New York Regional Rail's Board of Directors to receive the engine, provided that they remove her within a reasonable amount of time.
Within the span of three months, museum members made many trips between Eastern Long Island and Brooklyn to prepare the 16 for the move. The initial option of moving her via rail was thwarted when it was realized that the engine did not meet third rail clearances, and could not be transported by the New York & Atlantic Railway. Option two was to lift the engine using a crane onto a flatbed truck, driving her to Riverhead, and placing her back on the rails using a second crane. This option had to be modified when the cost of a crane in Brooklyn would amount to $25,000, much more than the museum could afford.
So the final option was that museum members would work around the clock, jacking the engine up an inch at a time onto cribbing, and sliding the truck underneath her. The task was long and tedious, and volunteer crews worked throughout the night, but the job was accomplished. The assistance of two 80-ton cranes were used at Riverhead, however, cutting the total time of the move considerably.
The engine will initially be used as
a static display, and becomes the first piece in the museum's growing collection
to be placed on our new facility. Currently resting on I-beams and
cribbing, the wheels will be placed under her at a later time, once maintenance
to the underframe and the wheels is complete. Time and money permitting,
the engine may one day be restored and steamed up again.
[from: http://www.bitnik.com/RMLI/hot.htm]
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.
Saturday & Sunday, July 3-4, 1999 Reading Railroad Days at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania 11 AM - 5 PM, special tours, model railroad, oral history, and exhibits, info 717-687-8628
Wednesday - Sunday, July 21-25, 1999 Day Out With Thomas T 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
Thursday-Sunday, August 19-22, 1999 Railroad Circus Days at Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania 9-5,9-7,9-7,11-5; scale replicas of circus equipment and performances, info - 717-687-8628
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
Saturday, December 11, 1999 Home for Holidays at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania 1 - 4 PM, 100 years of holiday rail travel 1850's to 1950's, info 717-687-8628
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 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
Thursday Oct. 21, 1999 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Frank Ferguson, Jr. entitled "The Last of Big Blue"
Thursday Nov. 18, 1999 7 PM Chapter Meeting program not know at this time
Sunday Dec. ??, 1999 5 PM Holiday Dinner in lieu of normal monthly meeting Program by Steve Barry
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