THE ENGINE IS RUNNING!! |
Railfair '99 in Sacramento was crowded, hot and smokey, so I decided to take a stroll out to the old shop area behind the railroad museum. This area is not open to the public, but I decided to see just how far I could get with my Railfair exhibitor's pass.
The California State Railroad Museum has a sizeable collection of first-generation diesels, cars, and steam engines stored at this location, and very soon I found the object of my search. Sitting a stone’s-throw from the original Central Pacific Shops, was Santa Fe M.190, which author John McCall has called "The Ultimate Doodlebug."
M.190 was in a sad state compared to when I last saw her, some 15 years before in the Albuquerque roundhouse. At that time, she was being stored along with the diesels, steam engines, and other pieces of equipment for the possible establishment of a Santa Fe Railway Museum. At the time, M.190 was in near operational condition, as was most of the other equipment. A few years later, BNSF Assistant Director of Equipment and SCSRA Associate Patrick Egan received a late night telephone call instructing him to be in Albuquerque the following day. When he arrived, he found the entire collection of historic equipment assembled in a train, bound for Sacramento, and it was his job to ride in the business car on the rear and do what was necessary to see the train through to its destination. "All that historic equipment, and I didn't bring my camera," I remember Pat telling me at the time. There was a change of management at the Santa Fe, and one of the first things they did was get all the equipment in the roundhouse appraised and off the books. It was all very hush-hush. Pat didn't even know why he was being sent to Albuquerque.
The sad part is that since its arrival in Sacramento, the railfan jungle drums have told tales of the equipment being systematically stripped of copper and brass. I noted that not one of the diesel locomotives still had traction motor leads. I can't speak for the condition of the interiors, as I didn't try to enter any of the equipment (I was already pushing my luck just being there).
I can't explain how this fine equipment came to be in such condition at the hands of one of the world's preeminent railroad museums, although I must point out that the Travel Town collection for years suffered the same fate, and we are only now scratching the surface when it comes to repairing the damage.
The good news, according to CSRM official (and friend of SCSRA) Paul Hammond, is that the next big push is to get all of that equipment moved inside the two buildings that Union Pacific donated to CSRM, which will then form the nucleus of the Museum of Railroad Technology.
It is my hope that M.190 will be one of the stars of the show, as she, along with our own M.177 and the Age Of Steam Museum's M.160 are the only Santa Fe motorcars still in existence. Together, they represent a vital and energetic chapter in the early and highly progressive dieselization of one of the world’s great railroads. M.160 is operational, and soon, so too shall be M.177. Perhaps a future railfair will see the three sisters reunited.
Back on the home front, the Winton engine is fully assembled, but I have yet to get it to run. The large exhaust silencer or muffler was hoisted back onto the roof and bolted down. Greg Ramsey set up a temporary fuel tank in the form of a 55-gallon drum and temporary hose connections. Gordon Bachlund and Doug Stephens, with assistance from Dan Price and Jeff Barrow, moved the main electrical panel from the boxcar to the motorcar engine room and installed it. Doug then set about hooking up the ignition and fuel pump circuitry.
On May 29, the engine was filled with cooling water for the first time, and only a few leaks were encountered. By the annual Associate's Dinner on June 5, all was complete and in place, but as of this writing, the engine has only grudgingly yielded a few coughs and sputters. Since then, I haven't had a lot of time to spend on tinkering with the big engine, but hopefully, by the time this is in print it will be running smoothly (see box below left!).
Special Appeal — With the concentration of work on M.177's engine, there are two other important areas that have received scant attention for a good long time. These would be the interior and exterior of the carbody. I'm looking for two individuals who are willing to take on these important parts of the project. Ideally, they should be highly self-directed, and willing to see a task through to completion. They don't have to be experts in any particular areas, but should be able to find answers to technical questions on their own. I can't do it all, folks (well, actually I can, but I can only do one thing at a time). If you want to see the motorcar finished any time soon, we need to have more than one major process going on at one time. If you're interested, contact me, or any of the other officers or directors.
Thanks for the Memories
By the time this is published, my term as President will be over, and a new associate will be leading the SCSRA. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. Please give the new President your full support. He or she will need it. Though I am stepping down from several of the administrative positions I have held for years, I am no way retiring from the organization. I simply want to return to getting my hands dirty on the equipment and maybe even spending some more time with my family.
Any time there is a leadership change in an organization, there is usually a recap of the accomplishments and failures. Listed below are some of the things that happened to the SCSRA or Travel Town that stick in my mind. Few of these events can I take credit for. Like any organization, others do most of the work. The President just gets to take the glory.
Probably the most notable achievement that I was involved in was the negotiations leading to the agreement on the initial alignment for the Crystal Springs and Cahuenga Railroad out of Travel Town proper and to and around the Los Angeles Live Steamers permitted property. This was an effort I was involved in long before I became President, starting with some informal meeting in the early 90s.
As a result of that agreement, we have moved a significant amount of dirt in the tail track area, received donated engineering services to precisely engineer the route across the picnic area, and saw the removal of the ancient drill rig and several trees that interfered with the track construction.
Our primary restoration project, the M.177, also saw a lot of progress, principally the return of the overhauled Winton engine in May of 1998. Since then, Bryan Reese has spearheaded its reassembly. The engine is now complete and though we have made several attempts, we have not yet got it to sustain running on gasoline. We are very close though, and with a little more investigation I am sure we will have it solved. Even more than a steam engine, we are reinventing the wheel here. No one has built an engine/carburetor system quite like this in over 60 years, and I suspect few have been run since the M.177 was retired.
Within the Park, we have moved a lot of dirt also. Most notable was the rebuilding of the west end of track 7 by Jeff Barrow as his Eagle Scout project in June 98. He mobilized close to 50 scouts, parents, and friends to accomplish this.
The City has not been sitting still either. The new entrance into Travel Town complete with a bridge over the miniature train ride was finished. In addition, they have opened a new museum gallery in what was the seating area of the snack bar. They have been good at rotating the displays so be sure to check it regularly.
We have also been quite successful with acquisitions. Bob Bennett located a RMC diesel hydraulic track liner, and arranged for its donation and transportation most of the way to the Park. Greg Gneier, with the help of Councilman Ferraro, arranged for the donation of a 4,000-pound capacity forklift.
Jeff Pippenger, however, located the biggest items. He found and facilitated the donation by Boeing Aircraft of a 40-ton capacity American Locomotive Crane and a 40-foot flatcar. The flatcar is now in residence off-track at the park along with the crane's boom. The crane itself has been relocated off Boeing property and placed in storage awaiting tail track construction and transportation. Read more about it elsewhere in the issue (see photo page 5).
The operating department has been hard at work, too. We have trained many new associates to be train crews, have expanded operations to two days a month (and never missed a day), and safely carried thousands of happy passengers.
Not all has been roses, though. We haven't been able to really capitalize on the tail track agreement and actually get some rail on the ground. Granted there is a lot of infrastructure that has to be built and building the track itself is the easy part, but it looks bad. We have also not been as successful with fundraising as I would like. The economy is good now and the money is out there, but we still need to raise over $50,000 to finish the Motorcar. Moreover, most distressing, has been the internal dissension that has marred the relationships among some associates. Our unique relationship with the City and that our activities take place within a City park places some special conditions on us. How we conduct ourselves with the City, with each other, and with the public should be a matter of common sense and common courtesy. Unfortunately, both of those tend to be all too uncommon these days. Therefore, we have had to establish a code of conduct which we published in the last issue and which you should soon all be receiving as part of your renewal packages. Let us all try to not just live within the word but within the spirit of it.
As always, I can be reached at home (805-984-0332), work (805-982-9720), or via the Internet.
Click on the thumbnail to see the full-size image.
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Photos by Greg Ramsey
[70K] Photo by Steve DeVorkin
[49K] Photo by Charles Forsher
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Photos by Charles Forsher
[73K] At left, Dan Price and Brad Slosar get the hand car ready to roll...
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“Hey, we’re ready to eat!” Especially that young man in front...
[37K] Steve DeVorkin introduces Bryan Reese for an update on the motorcar
[30K] Linda praised the SCSRA for all the accomplishments made over the past year, as Greg prepared to give out awards
| The two Clarence Ridenour award recipients, Brian Moore (top) and Yvonne Ramsey (bottom), receive their plaques from Greg Ramsey |
Dinner Photos by Charles Forsher
I grew up in El Dorado, Kansas, and graduated from high school in 1946. In about 1944 the Santa Fe Railroad inaugurated service, with a motorcar they called the Little Ranger, between Emporia and Winfield, Kansas, with an intermediate stop in El Dorado. It met the big Ranger in Emporia and connected with the Ranger in Winfield, I believe.
Two friends and I rode the Little Ranger one Sunday down to Winfield. It spent about two hours there and returned the same route. When the Little Ranger came from Emporia it had to back into El Dorado and had a whistle that it sounded as it crossed about four streets traveling to the station. The big Ranger was often late which made the Little Ranger late and I would hear it as it came through as I only lived two blocks from the spur.
As I remember, the engineer would shut its motor off when stopped at the station and used air pressure to start it again. There was a hiss when it started. The motor didn't take up much room in the front cab and the generator was only 18 inches in diameter and a couple of feet long as I remember 55 years ago or so.
I e-mailed the El Dorado Times to see if they had some stories about the Little Ranger and they have given all their microfilm and reader to a local museum; however, the woman that answered my e-mail said that her grandmother had done several stories about the Little Ranger when it was operating and one story was published in a Kansas History magazine and she would forward my e-mail to her to see if she could help.
If you would like more information on the Little Ranger, I will be glad to pursue the subject in El Dorado and pass it along.
Really enjoyed your website. It brings back a lot of memories. I will be glad to make a donation, if you will tell me where to send it.
Best regards,
Dick Loomis
Welcome aboard to all of our new friends who have signed up this past quarter:
| SCSRA No. | Name |
|---|---|
| 293 | Jerry Price |
| 294 | Simon Kovara |
| 295 | Charles Blodgett |
| 296 | Harry Krigsman |
| 297 | Roger Seward |
Jerry Price has already jumped in with two feet, as he is our new General Superintendent! You others be sure to drop by and introduce yourself the next time you are near Travel Town!
Diesel Shop - Back in March, Greg Ramsey replaced one sticking injector on Charley. Subsequently, Greg noted that the engine idle speed "hunting" was due to problems with the remaining injectors, which he cleaned and adjusted, so that Charley is again running smoothly.
Also, back in March, the coupling link on the handbrake chain of the Baldwin RS-12 broke. Having no coupling links in stock, we ordered several which arrived at the end of May, and the link was replaced on June 11.
From the World of Steam — Due to the activities of the lead abatement contractor, and the providential offer by City crews to repaint and re-letter all abated equipment in the public areas of the Museum, we have avoided any thought of lubricating the last remaining loco to be serviced, the SP 3025.
Motor Pool - The Ford pickup truck continues to lie fallow. Who will nurse it back to life? Cabeese - During our May 2/3 operations we observed electrical problems in the AT&SF 999110 which were immediately traced to the batteries. On May 22 Dan Price and Jeff Barrow serviced all rail equipment batteries, adding a total of 34 gallons of distilled water to both cabeese, both locomotives and the M.177. (They did the two sets of signal batteries several weeks earlier.)
Batteries require continuous monitoring and care for optimum performance. When was the last time you checked your car's battery?
Buildings, Equipment, and Grounds - On April 17 Andy Evans and Dan Price applied herbicide to about half the area inside the Restoration Yard. The following Saturday these efforts were rewarded by the treated areas' weeds turning a decidedly autumn color. Another application of herbicide was made on May 8 and, by mid May the previously green and flourishing weeds were a sickly yellow color and quite dead.
On May 29 the Burbank High School Key Club returned for another major work day. Preparations for their arrival were made by Nancy Gneier who sent out a call for volunteer supervisors and a listing of tasks so that "tiger teams" could be assigned. A majority of the kids helped on M/W tasks, assisting Dan Price with the crossover switch project and Joe Barilari with the tail track drain project. Dan and Joe were ably assisted by supervisors Nancy Gneier, Jeff Barrow, Greg Gneier, Charles Forsher, and the writer. A small team worked in the M.177 cleaning and sorting parts, and another small team performed yard cleanup.
Many thanks to Nancy for her organizational expertise and to all who helped. It was a wonderful and productive day!
Thanks to Burbank HS Key Club — The Burbank High School Key Club has again provided a large team of volunteers to assist SCSRA and ASRA in the areas of major project completion and clean-up of the restoration yard as noted elsewhere in this issue. We are all grateful to the Key Club, but how many of us know what the "Key Club" is? Key Club is the largest high school volunteer service organization in the country and is the high school version of the Kiwanis Club, a community service organization made up of business men and women. Key Club emphasizes leadership, responsibility and teamwork. Its motto is "Caring...Our Way of Life."
Thanks, Key Club, for caring for the Travel Town Museum!
Corporate Officer Election Results — At its meeting of July 16 the Board voted to amend the bylaws to stagger the election years of the Corporate Officers (President, CFO, and Secretary), and to extend the term limits to three years. This leaves incumbent CFO Tom Graham in office until July 2000, and incumbent Secretary Greg Smith in office until July 2001. Next, the Board elected the corporation's new President, Sue Kientz, who will serve until July 2002. Congratulations, Madame President. We look forward to three years of continued progress with you in the cab.
Also, we thank outgoing President Greg Ramsey for his dedication and hard work.
Rail Heritage Southwest (RHS) News — The SCSRA has begun to negotiate an agreement with ASRA to jointly support the RHS organization and charter it to interact with the visiting public through a Volunteer Center to direct prospective new volunteers to the organization best related to their specific interests, and to expand the docent program. Future goals of the RHS include joint fund raising, joint public relations efforts and more.
The RHS needs people like you to lead and staff its various activities. If you'd like to get in on the ground floor, please phone Nancy Gneier at (818) 243-5019. Do it today!
Railfair '99 News — By now you've either attended or heard about CSRM's epic Railfair '99. But, what you may not have heard is what it took in personnel resources to make it happen:
These massive resources educated and entertained about 180,000 guests over the 10-day event.
Way to go, CSRM Foundation!
Track — February 1997. What's so special about that date? It was when work first began on what would become a major track reconstruction project by Our Gang. On Saturday July 17, 1998, the first train, CS&CV #1 (The Charley Atkins), was operated over the completely rebuilt West End of Track 7, bringing the project to a successful close. For those of you not familiar with this project it was the rebuilding of the entire display track on the West End of Track 7 as well as the rebuilding of the two switches and connecting track for the crossover to Track 6. This has provided us with track that can be safely operated on for the switching and storing of equipment during Train Shed construction.
Much of the final work on this project was completed over the past few weeks during weekday evenings. Working in the evenings proved not only to be cooler, but also allowed us to more efficiently move and dump ballast without inconveniencing the public. This innovative work schedule was suggested by Jim Fontenot, who also obtained the permission and support of Linda Barth for this project.
I would like to extend many thanks to all of the Travel Town volunteers who helped out over the past two years. Additionally I would like to thank two volunteer groups whose invaluable assistance made this project possible. The first is the Burbank High School Key Club, which returned for a second time in the past year this quarter to help finish spiking and ballasting the last segment of track. The other group is Boy Scout Troop 204, who in June 1998 completely rebuilt a major segment of track for us. It is the dedication of volunteers, both from Travel Town and outside groups, that have helped make Travel Town what it is today and will be tomorrow.
During the past quarter, work also continued on the Tail Track including the removal of trees, installation of the first segments of drainage pipe, and continued grading. In the upcoming weeks work will begin on the retaining wall and drainage pipe from the parking lot. We will also be starting a rehabilitation of the current passenger station track following the August operations, as the current track is slowly deteriorating into an unsafe condition.
Signal — On Saturday during the June operation, the crossing gate failed to properly rise requiring it to be chained up and the crossing manually flagged. However by the July operations the gate had been repaired and both power units serviced thanks to our newest signal maintainers, Andy Evans and Jim Fontenot.
Equipment — Maintenance continues on the engine of the Track Liner. Work has been slowed by a problem in initially acquiring parts, but it should be in operating condition by the time you read this thanks to the work of Bob Bennett and Jim Fontenot. Our previous city loader was replaced during the last quarter and the current loader, which has suffered several major breakdowns, is currently being repaired by the city.
Again many thanks to everyone who helped during the past quarter, including Joe Barilari (MofW Superintendent), Gordon Bachlund, Jeff Barrow, Bob Bennett, Steve DeVorkin, Andy Evans, Jim Fontenot, Charles Forsher, Nancy Gneier, Greg Gneier, Bruce Henrie, Charity Lawrence, Jerry Price, Greg Ramsey, Mike Ramsey, Chris Rippy, Darlene Sexton, Jim Sexton, and anyone who's name was accidentally omitted.
The Maintenance of Way Department works every non-operation Saturday year-round as well as some weekday evenings through the end of summer. Each of our upcoming projects will require all the help we can get, so feel free to come out and volunteer. No experience is necessary; we are willing to train. If you would like to help or would like more information on workdays and times, please leave a message at (323) 667-1423.
First, my apologies for the lack of report for the first quarter of this year. A combination of my work schedule and a computer crash did me in, so I’ll try to catch up now.
The BIG change in our operations began this year with the doubling of operating days. We now operate on the first full weekend of each month. We have been helped in our efforts by the addition of the Rail Heritage Southwest docent program, of which more later.
What we are, unfortunately, lacking is qualified crew members. An increasing number of people are not showing up for monthly operations, and this sometimes leaves us with the undesired situation of operating with only one pair of eyes on the rear platform. Considering the not insubstantial time, effort, and money (for materials) we have invested in the training program, we should have more participation than this. WHERE ARE YOU?
Speaking of instructions, Tom Graham has been increasingly unable to conduct rules classes and examinations due to his grueling work and school schedule, so Alan Weeks has graciously agreed to become our second Rules Examiner. Either Tom or Alan will be available on the third Saturday of each month to instruct new students on the Rules and give the exam. Thanks, Alan!
In addition to the regular rules-class dates, we have decided to make the second and fourth Saturdays of each month available for skills instruction (Brakemen, Hostlers, and Engineers). Just show up on one of these days and we will make every effort to provide instruction.
As previously mentioned, we now have the services of docents provided by Rail Heritage Southwest. This organization, spearheaded by Nancy Gneier and Gordon Bachlund, has developed a training program for museum docents. Hopefully, once the program has gone into full swing, it will provide volunteers for passenger car tours, caboose attendents, and station agents. If you are the kind of person who likes to talk to people, and you think this activity would be “right up your alley,” why not give Nancy a call at (213) 668-0104 and get involved? Many of our operating crew members who don’t like to attend cabeese would thank you profusely!
Our public operations were held as noted below. On March 6, Women in Theater was presenting a play in the Exhibit Building; we suspended operations during the performances.
Operating Days: 124 And now for this half’s Honor Roll. Those with recorded times included the following:
Docents — Jeff Barrow, Alan Bethanis, William Dale, Nancy Gneier, Ned Jones, Harry Krigsman, Charity Lawrence, Patty Miles, Dan Price, and Edward Temm.
Instruction and Pilots — Gordon Bachlund, Jeff Barrow, Andy Evans, Jim Fontenot, Brian Moore, Dan Price, Greg and Yvonne Ransey, Darlene Sexton, and Doug Stephens.
Switching — Gordon Bachlund, Andy Evans, and Alan Weeks.
Revenue — Gordon Bachlund, Jeff Barrow, Bob Bennett, Dale Brown, Andy Evans, Mike "Oatmeal" Flaharty, Jim Fontenot, Charles Forsher, Jim Hoffmann, Ted "Microsoft" McConville, Brian Moore, Joe Powell, Jerry Price, Dan Price, Yvonne and Greg Ramsey, Chris Rippy, Darlene Sexton, Will Sundquist, Jim Vicars, and Alan Weeks.
Thank you for your support!
In the good old days, I was at the Travel Town Museum every weekend. But three years ago, I retired from government service and moved home to Olympia, Washington. Travel Town has always been a special place for me and I make every effort to come for a visit a couple of times each year. So far the annual SCSRA dinner has always been one of those times. Here are my thoughts after being gone for eight months.
I got to Travel Town on Saturday morning after operations had already started. It was quite clear that lead paint abatement and new paint on the equipment was in progress. I wanted to take the camera, walk around the park to see what was new, and make some photos. However Gordon was sitting in the hogger's seat in Charley and he stopped me. "Have you got your locomotive engineer license with you?"
We were short of operating crews and would be all day long. I had expected to engineer some on the trip but it had been eight months and I complained about not knowing what to do with all the knobs. Actually, you don't forget what they do, but you do get rusty as far as using them is concerned. Fortunately, Brian Moore was in the cab with me and he kept me on track. But pretty soon I overcharged the brake pipe pressure to 110 psi and the cobwebs in brain prevented me from remembering how to clear it. Gordon reminded me… bighole. By the end of the first shift, I had my procedures back and then it was just refining things.
Gordon was able to find people to staff the third shift so I could be off to examine the park and make my photos. Bryan was trying to figure out why the Winton engine wouldn't fire about this time. After considerable thinking and book reading, he came to the conclusion that perhaps the timing was way out of whack. He was in the process of changing it when I had to go back for the fourth shift.
I was supposed to be brakeman but crew availability put me back in the engineer's seat. I felt that I had my skills back by now but I was still running the train a lot slower than I did in the "good old days." The sight of that #2 on the Heisler tender still scares the hell out of me when I'm approaching the platform with any speed on the train.
At one point in the shift I could see that the Winton was running, sort of. I knew it was running because I could see flames' belching out the exhaust stacks 18 inches in the air. We are close to done with that part of the project.
Pretty soon it was time to set the train out on a skate and shut down for the evening. It seemed strange not to pull the motorcar on this particular evening but it wasn't practical this year. There were trucks and other equipment in the way so we ran the handcart for fun and games.
The dinner was wonderful again thanks to Yvonne and Greg and all the others who helped out. They moved it inside for the first time to avoid the cold and in my opinion, have found the ideal location. Yvonne and Greg have asked me to say a special thanks to Mary Ramsey, Tom Pyle, Todd Magrid, Mary Jo Hurdle, and Carol Bennett for food preparation, transportation, cooking, ticket administration, and clean up for the dinner. It was a great job all, thank you.
And also thanks to Steve DeVorkin, who as Master of Ceremonies kept us all in side splitting laughter the entire evening.
Greg Ramsey presented several well-deserved awards: Two people shared the Clarence Ridenour award, for the first time. Both Brian Moore and Yvonne Ramsey are this year's recipients. Linda Barth presented a 1000-hour service award to John Daum, and Greg presented 300-hour service awards to Bryan Reese, Margaret Daum, and Chris Rippy (personally I was shocked to see Bryan Reese in this group. I would think he easily has 1,000 hours but guess he is just so busy getting things done in the M.177 that he forgets to fill out a time card.)
I know that the door prizes are NOT rigged, but it sure seems like some people have more than their share of luck year after year. I sure wish some of that luck would rub off on me. Congratulations to all who won something.
CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE
by Gordon Bachlund
OUR GANG
By Dan Price, Maintenance of Way Foreman, Track
OPERATIONS REPORT
By James G. Hoffmann, Operations Superintendent
Passengers Donations Saturday, January 2 607 $ 420.00 Sunday, January 3 553 394.94 Saturday, February 6 416 330.00 Sunday, February 7 658 504.50 Saturday, March 6 367 288.00 Sunday, March 7 614 458.00 Saturday, April 3 418 362.00 Sunday, April 4 591 466.79 Saturday, May 1 647 546.00 Sunday, May 2 611 426.60 Saturday, June 5 425 371.00 Sunday, June 6 689 485.00 Total: 6,596 $5,052.83 Total to date: 81,573 $36,957.16 ANNUAL DINNER NOTES
Dale Brown
| Prize | Donated By | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Pen | Bob Bennett | Gordon Bachlund |
| Pen | Bob Bennett | Gordon Bachlund |
| Keychain | Bob Bennett | Mary Ramsey |
| Keychain | Bob Bennett | Lyubchic Nickerson |
| OSH Calendar | Bob Bennett | Bryan Reese |
| OSH Calendar | Bob Bennett | Steve DeVorkin |
| License Frame | Bob Bennett | Jim Sexton |
| Cookies | Yvonne Ramsey | William Combs |
| Movie Tickets | Tim Dulin | Dave Smith |
| Microsoft S/ware | Ted McConville | John Coughlan |
| Movie Tickets | Tim Dulin | William Combs |
| Microsoft S/ware | Ted McConville | Greg Ramsey |
| Microsoft S/ware | Ted McConville | Tod Magrid |
| Video: SoCal Rail | Pentrex | Tod Magrid |
| Train Book | Price Family | Doug Stephens |
| 2000 Dinner Certificate | Roundhouse Catering | Tod Magrid |
| Train Shack Certificate | Price Family | Jeff Barrow |
| Video: Steam... | Pentrex | Mary Jo Hurdle |
I had a hotel room in the local area so that I didn't have a late night drive back to Oxnard only to get up early and drive back for operations the next morning. This year Yvonne got me a wonderful room on the 18th floor with a glass wall facing Travel Town. What a wonderful view, thank you, Yvonne.
I remember standing in the lobby of this hotel where everybody was dressed rather formal with coat and tie, etc. Here I was in my stripes, red bandana, boots, etc. An employee was looking at me oddly and seemed about to ask if I was lost or something. I couldn't help myself. "I'm an actor and this is a costume." "Excuse me sir. I didn't know." I was having fun but there is a point to be made here. We are indeed all actors and actresses. We play to the children, large and small, who visit the Travel Town Museum. I'm not just talking to the operating crews; this applies to all associates no matter what job you are performing. We are all demonstrating what the railroads were like when our equipment was in revenue service.
It was a really nice visit and as usual, way too short. I enjoyed seeing the progress made in the 8 months that I was gone. The new entrance is impressive. There is progress on the tail track. The new paint on the cars and locomotives is very nice. And finally the Winton engine is about ready to be complete. Now we need to concentrate on getting funding to rebuild the generator.
I enjoyed seeing all of you and look forward to my next visit in October.
Gordon Reese, Brian Reese’s father, recently passed away. Services were held July 21 at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, 800 N. Cambridge St., Orange, CA 92867. The family asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to either the American Cancer Society or to the Gordon Reese Memorial Fund c/o Our Saviour's Lutheran Church.
Among other things, the SCSRA gratefully remembers that Bryan’s dad constructed the vestibule doors for the M.177.
Mike Ramsey and his wife Lori are now proud parents of a baby girl, Emily Catherine, born April 6.
A California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation, Incorporated January 4, 1984
IRS Tax Exemption No. 95-3947766
Any article or feature published in The Headlight may be reprinted in whole or in part provided that proper credit is given the source.
Questions and comments to Sue Kientz, SCSRA Publications Manager
