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.
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THE TRANSFER TABLE
The
Wilmington Chapter NRHS Official Newsletter
Internet Edition
VOLUME 34 NUMBER 03 | JULY 2011 |
Back To Wilmington Chapter Web Site
NO MEETING IN JULY 2011
The monthly meeting of the Wilmington Chapter of the NRHS has been cancelled for July 2011.
! ! VOLUNTEERS NEEDED ! !
How about contributing a little time and effort to help out your Chapter and the NRHS? With all of your local knowledge, you could contribute to a positive experience for our out-of-town visitors! You could help with the many behind-the-scenes preparations that are necessary and/or the up-front activities of greeting and hosting.
We need Chapter Members to step up and help out with preparations before and to provide assistance during the National Director's meeting that we be hosting October 27-30, 2011 Please contact Dave Warner to sign up to help out at: 302-762-2389 or david.warner@comcast.net
We need people for:
Thursday 3-6 PM Greeting / Registration
Thursday 6-10 PM Greeting / Registration
Friday 10 AM-2 PM Greeting / Registration
Friday 2-6 PM Greeting / Registration
Friday 2-5 PM meeting assist
Friday 6-10 PM Greeting / Registration
Friday 12-7 PM bus hosts
Friday 7-11 PM meeting assist
Saturday 7-11 AM Greeting / Registration
Saturday 7 AM-3 PM bus hosts
Saturday 11 AM-4 PM Greeting / Registration
Saturday 3-5 PM meeting assist
Sunday 8 AM-1 PM meeting assist
JUNE 16, 2011 MEETING NOTES
President Mike Burkhart called the meeting to order at 7 PM - but in the Naamans Room (because the Darley Room is under construction). The minutes were read by Secretary Dan Frederick and approved as corrected. The Treasurer's Report was approved as read by Treasurer Dave Warner. There was no National Director's report. Dave Warner asked members to contact him to sign up as volunteers for various parts of the Director's Meeting. Dave also mentioned that the Chapter has no purchased a computer projector so that we can add the possibility of seeing millions of additional images to future presentations. Robert O'Connor reported that a TV crew has been filming at the Wilmington & Western. The W&W is hoping that the PBS TV coverage will boost ridership as it has done for other tourist lines in the past. Dan Frederick reported that the Railway Station Convention in Oklahoma City and on the Heartland Flyer (OK City to Ft Worth).
After a short break to set up the projector, the evening's program was by William Stees entitled "Wilmington to Wilmington via PRR." As promised, we started in Wilmington and also journeyed up the Port Road from Perryville, saw the Flying Scotsman and E44s in Newark, a fireless cooker in Holtwood, and even got inside the power station at Safe Harbor. We saw the rare Electromotive 1975 in Enola and even Metroliners at Leyman Place. There was also Paoli, Bryn Mahr, Berwyn, and even "Zoo" interlocking. We saw E33s and E44s, and even a "pouch" (AMTRAK P30CH) and a Baldwin-Lima-Westinghouse in the 1950s. Plus we saw all manner of paint schemes on GG-1s including PRR, PC, CR, AMTRAK, Savings Bonds and the Bicentennial unit. And finally, we were back at Wilmington Station (without high platforms!). What a show!
From The Editor
Warm weather is here (maybe even hot). So get up, get out, take photos, make up a program to show at a Chapter meeting or write an article for The Transfer Table!
NEWS BITS
There also was the recurring theme by the reviewers that the Amtrak plan would likely generate more ridership and revenue than projected in the plan given current market conditions and expected increases in travel demand. JR East said the Amtrak next-generation high-speed rail system may result in larger intercity travel market share than what is projected in the plan and another reviewer offered that the market share may be higher depending on station connectivity to existing networks.Many of the reviewers commented on the initial projected $117 billion cost of the plan. One long time developer and high-speed operator noted that the capital costs discussed in the report were somewhat higher than their experience and another high-speed operator wrote that the cost for the train equipment may be less than what is proposed if the procurement is similar to their own. Others suggested facilities and structures could be redesigned to reduce their footprint thereby reducing total land acquisition costs.
More detailed studies in specific areas to analyze and verify assumptions made in the Amtrak vision plan reports are already underway. The peer review comments will be addressed in these and future study phases that will refine engineering needs, develop a business and finance plan, and embark on a major corridor environmental review and alternatives analysis.Separately, due to numerous questions from potential bidders, Amtrak has extended the deadline to June 20 (from June 10) for its request for proposals for a fully implementable and robust business and financial plan for its proposed next-generation high-speed rail system. The in-depth plan will maximize private investment opportunities and address fundamental issues of risk, credit, debt and investment phasing among other criteria.
Furthermore, Amtrak is a partner in the 8th World Congress on High-Speed Rail that will be held in the United States in July 2012. As a partner with the International Union of Railways, the American Public Transportation Association and the American Association of Railroads, Amtrak will host the world congress in Philadelphia. The event is expected to attract some 2,000 attendees worldwide to exchange views on the development and achievements of high-speed rail. [Amtrak press release via Ed Mayover]
In 2010, the Birmingham Regional Intermodal Facility was selected to participate in the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITESª) Pilot Program. This national initiative, a partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the U.S. Botanical Garden, in conjunction with stakeholder organizations including the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), seeks to establish and encourage sustainable practices throughout each phase of a landscape's design, construction, operation, and maintenance periods. NS also will construct the main administrative building to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification standards.
The Crescent Corridor is a program of independent projects and improvements geared toward creating a high capacity 2,500 mile intermodal route spanning from New Jersey to Louisiana that touches 26 percent of the nation's population and 30 percent of the nation's manufacturing output. It provides the shortest intermodal double stack route between the South and the Northeast. When fully operational it will handle more rail freight traffic faster and more reliably, creating or benefiting more than 70,000 green jobs by 2030 and producing these estimated annual public benefits:
1.3 million long-haul trucks diverted from interstates
- $146 million in accident avoidance savings
- 1.9 million tons in CO2 reduction
- $575 million in congestion savings
- $92 million in highway maintenance savings
- 169 million gallons in fuel savings
The Crescent Corridor program of projects is estimated to cost $2.5 billion for full development. In addition to the McCalla facility, Crescent Corridor projects currently planned for development include new independent intermodal facilities at Charlotte, N.C., Greencastle, Pa., and Memphis, Tenn.; the expansion of the Harrisburg, Pa. intermodal terminal; and the addition of freight rail capacity in Virginia and Mississippi. In addition to facility investments, the program includes significant investments in rail route improvements consisting of additional passing tracks, double track projects, improved signaling systems and other track speed enhancements. [NS press release]
In 2008, NS permanently protected some of the most ecologically significant land in the world when it granted a conservation easement on 12,488 acres of its Brosnan Forest timber and wildlife preserve northwest of Charleston, S.C. The easement, one of the largest in the Southeast and the largest ever by a corporation in South Carolina, protects the dwindling longleaf pine ecosystem and endangered bird species, preserves forever the rural character of the area, and conserves the Four Holes Swamp ecosystem and Edisto River watershed. As another key element in its woodlands conservation initiatives, NS is supporting research by The Longleaf Alliance, which seeks to restore the tree's forest ecosystem. The longleaf pine once dominated the landscape of the South and to some extent even its culture, occupying 90 million acres in nine southeastern states. Over-exploitation has reduced that footprint to 3.5 million acres - a loss comparable to that experienced in tropical rain forests, redwoods, or America's wetlands. NS also supports the American Chestnut Foundation in its efforts to reintroduce that tree species to native forests. Before being decimated by blight, the American Chestnut was an integral part of the lumber economies of many eastern U.S. communities, and it was a key source of food for wildlife. [NS press release]
There are four more VRE locomotives on the way for storage at this site; arrival time is presently questionable. The other four on the way to Columbia are probably the remaining four of the ten GP39-2C units on the VRE roster, which would be numbers V09, V06, V03, and V02. All ten have 2300 HP each and all came from MPI between 1991 and 1992. This action means no more GP39-2C units remain on the roster. All will be put up for sale, since they are being replaced during 2011 with the arrival of new MP36PH-3C, 3600-HP units from MPI, numbered V51 - V68." [from High Green via Tim Moriarty]
Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad, Inc.
P.O. Box 456
Stewartstown, PA 17363-0456
The railroad company has only 45 days to file a response to the application, so in the meantime the Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad, Inc. needs to raise some serious cash so we can preserve whatever we can if the abandonment application is approved. [via Ed Thornton]
The funding request for FY 2012 includes $1.285 billion for capital investments to maintain and improve tracks, equipment and other infrastructure particularly along the Amtrak- owned portions of the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor; $616 million to support the operation of more than 300 daily trains; and $271 million for debt service. (See attachment for details).This federal funding is vital to the continued operation of Amtrak, will support revenues received from ticket sales and other sources, and is consistent with funding levels authorized by Congress in the Passenger Railroad Investment and Improvement Act of 2008.
Amtrak is also seeking $50 million to start design and preliminary engineering work on the Gateway Project to build two new tunnels into Manhattan and expand capacity at New York Penn Station as the cornerstone of its vision for a 220 mph (341 kph) high-speed rail system capable of handling expected ridership growth for the next 100 years.Due to efficiency improvements and investments in infrastructure and other systems in recent years, Amtrak covers 85 percent of its operating costs with ticket sales and other revenues requiring 15 percent to be supported with federal funds. Also, America's Railroadsm set annual ridership records in seven of the last eight fiscal years, including more than 28.7 million passengers in FY 2010. Plus, Amtrak has worked strategically to successfully cut its debt in half and improve its on-time performance so that on average nearly 4 out of 5 trains system-wide arrive at their endpoints on-time.
Under the plan to purchase 40 additional coach cars for the Acela high-speed service, each of the existing 20 Acela train sets would receive two additional coaches, increasing seating capacity by 130 per train. This will lengthen the train set from a 1-6-1 configuration to 1-8-1 (power car - passenger cars - power car) and require modifications to high-speed rail maintenance facilities in Washington, New York and Boston. If the procurement process begins in FY 2012, the first of the new Acela coaches would begin to enter service in FY 2014.
Acela trains carried more than 3.2 million passengers and earned more than $440 million last fiscal year. On weekdays, Amtrak has seen an average of 80 percent of seats sold on the busiest segments with trains regularly selling out during peak hours. Acela, in combination with conventional rail service, has helped Amtrak achieve a 69 percent air-rail market share on the Washington-New York route and a 53 percent air-rail market share on the New York - Boston route. Thus, Amtrak carries more passengers than all the airlines that serve these key routes.
The federal government has invested a total of $36 billion in Amtrak in the forty years that it has served as the nation's intercity passenger rail provider. Between 1971 and 2008, by contrast, the federal government has invested more than $421 billion in aviation and at least a trillion dollars in the nation's highways.
Even with limited funding, Amtrak has become an ever more desirable and opted for travel choice in many regions of the country, offering travelers a frequent, fast, reliable, efficient and environmentally sound alternative to airports and congested highways. [AMTRAK News Release via Ed Mayover]
Amtrak Fleet and Infrastructure Needs
The fleet that supports Amtrak's services is stressed and badly in need of recapitalization. Amtrak's equipment is run very hard, and our cars routinely average more than twice the annual mileage of any other domestic passenger car fleet. Moreover, the average age of Amtrak's fleet reached an all-time high in 2010, and the car fleet (which still includes a few cars built in the 1940s) is now, on average, older than it was when Amtrak was formed. To address these issues, Amtrak developed a fleet procurement plan, and the company's first orders under that plan for new electric locomotives and new single level long- distance cars are designed to address Amtrak's most urgent fleet replacement needs. Amtrak has awarded contracts to Siemens of Sacramento, California, to build 70 electric locomotives for our Northeast Corridor services and to CAF, USA of Elmira, New York, to build 130 single-level passenger cars.In FY 2012, Amtrak plans to begin procurement of 40 additional Acela cars to meet growing ridership demand. Each of the twenty existing Acela train sets will receive two additional coaches, increasing ridership capacity by 130 seats per train set. Increasing train set length will require infrastructure changes in coming years, including enlarging the Acela maintenance facilities in Washington, New York, and Boston. The costs and expected revenue increases for this program will be incorporated in Amtrak's next Five Year Financial Plan. A detailed business case for this additional capacity shows an internal rate of return of over 40 percent through a ten-year period.
Vital as fleet recapitalization is, the track and infrastructure that support our trains are no less important. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor hosts half of Amtrak's daily trains, and it carries an even greater volume of commuter traffic - about 2,200 daily trains, with a total annual ridership of more than 245 million people. Much of this traffic operates on aging infrastructure. New York's Penn Station, for example, brings Amtrak passengers and commuters from New Jersey and Long Island into Manhattan through six tunnels under the Hudson and East Rivers; these were completed just over a century ago, in 1910. Today, they carry more than 1,200 train movements on a typical day, with trains spaced 150 seconds apart during service peaks. Federal investment has allowed Amtrak to undertake a vital modernization program to install modern firefighting, ventilation and evacuation systems in these tunnels. Amtrak has pursued other vital investment programs in recent years, and has also made major improvements in track, roadbed, and signaling equipment. While these have improved the situation, the age and condition of our infrastructure continues to be a major concern and an impediment to growth in this vital region of the country.
Currently, there is a backlog of more than $5 billion in deferred maintenance on the NEC. This includes more than 224 bridges that are now beyond their design life, and the three 140 year old tunnels in Baltimore which continue to carry a heavy daily traffic. These structures are now well past the end of their designed life and replacement will be a multiyear process. There are major challenges, and we will need to balance the requirement to replace aging infrastructure against the need for economy and the challenges imposed by an uncertain year-to-year funding cycle.
Amtrak is also making significant investments in information technology to meet the corporation's strategic needs - an area that has long been neglected - to fulfill the mandates of the reauthorization and ensure the technology infrastructure and applications are in a state of good repair. The focus in FY2012 will be implementation of improved tools for Enterprise Resource Planning and Financial Transparency, Employee Information Management, Asset Management, eTicketing, IT Infrastructure and Management Information needs. These investments are governed by an Enterprise Architecture that was established in 2009 and is being updated to respond to the corporation's needs. The total investment in Information Technology dependent projects will be $195 million in 2012.Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC)
The NEC is the centerpiece of the Amtrak system - a high-speed railroad developed over the course of a multi-year partnership between Amtrak, the Federal government, the commuter railroads, and states. Hosting some 153 of the more than 300 daily trains that Amtrak runs, its daily operation is a triumph of vision, creativity, and careful investment. In spite of the fact that portions of the right-of-way follow alignments that date to the 1830s, Amtrak, the US DOT and the commuter railroads have created a network that supports an intense daily schedule of more than 2,200 trains (Amtrak, commuter and freight), and provides hourly high-speed service, with a top speed (on the Boston-New York leg) of 150 mph. On each of its major legs (New York-Washington and New York-Boston), Amtrak now carries more passengers than all of the airlines serving these routes, and Amtrak's share of the air-rail market from the endpoints to intermediate cities such as Philadelphia is even larger. The NEC is a product of several programs of incremental capital investment that have transformed the system, built ridership, and made the corridor into a unique national asset.The time has come for us to contemplate the next round of investment, and to this end, Amtrak is advancing a pair of plans that envision major investments in the corridor to address key infrastructure, capacity, and security issues. The first, the West Baltimore Tunnel Realignment Project, will involve a 12 year, $1.25 billion effort to replace the three Civil War-era tunnels in Baltimore, which continue to present significant operational challenges. Track capacity is limited and speeds are restricted to 30 mph, making them a problematic chokepoint; the ability to perform major work without disrupting traffic is nonexistent. Construction of a new tunnel on a better alignment will allow for rehabilitation of the existing structures, and significant permanent improvements to the resilience, flexibility, and security of the rail system through Baltimore. To undertake this project, Amtrak is working with the Maryland Department of Transportation regarding funding this activity through their High Speed Rail (HSR) grant.
The second project is known as the Northeast Corridor Gateway. It is intended to provide additional passenger rail capacity on the existing NEC route into and through Manhattan, and is needed to support Amtrak's proposed Next Generation High Speed Rail program. This comprehensive program will reconstruct the railroad between Newark and Penn Station, expand the right of way from two to four tracks, build two new tunnels under the Hudson River, and develop Amtrak's planned Moynihan Station on the site of the existing post office.This planned program will cost some $13.5 billion, with $50 million of that required to begin design work and some preliminary engineering work in FY 2012. When complete, the NEC Gateway will vastly increase capacity at the Manhattan terminals for both Amtrak and commuter providers. By adding tunnel capacity, it will provide security and resilience benefits to New York's transportation system and allow quicker, more comprehensive, and less costly improvement and repair programs in the existing tunnels, which are currently too busy to permit more than brief service outages. The plan will generate tens of thousands of jobs and tens of billions of dollars in economic outputs, and will provide the terminal facilities New York needs to support a century of planned growth.As we begin design and preliminary engineering for the Gateway project elements we will also be planning to continue two new high speed tracks south of Newark to toward Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. These new high-speed tracks will form the first minimum operating segment (MOS) of the Next Generation High Speed Rail Vision. The capital cost for this first segment is being further defined and currently estimated at $7 billion. So with an investment of $20 billion over the next decade the goal of opening the first segment of the Next Generation High Speed line will be achievable. While reducing trip time between New and Philadelphia to 50 minutes, the opening of this MOS will substantially increase capacity and service south of New York, thereby generating revenue to help fund additional expansion.
If funded, the development of both these projects would be closely coordinated with the recently established Northeast Corridor Operations and Infrastructure Advisory Commission.
Railfanning Wilmington, Delaware
Part II
We started off giving you a quick overview of railroads in the Wilmington area and locations worth seeing. Before we get into some details about each spot, I'm going to give you a few internet links I've found so you can do some of your own research. These websites cover more than the Wilmington area and will allow you to plan to see more around the area if you have the time.
Internet Links
- Railroad.net http://www.railroadradio.net/content/view/35/154/ - Covers information on Wilmington area. Providing radio frequencies, train numbers and descriptions, and railroad locations.
- Wilmington and Western Railroad - http://www.wwrr.com/default.aspx
- American-Rails.com http://www.american-rails.com/delaware-railroads.html - Covers a brief history of railroads in Delaware.
- http://www.abandonedrails.com/Delaware - Abandoned Railroads of Delaware - Name is self explanatory.
- Forgotten Delaware, Urban Exploration and Forgotten Places. - http://www.forgottendelaware.com/index.html - Has a section on Railroads and Trolleys.
- http://www.trainweb.org/peninsularailfan/ - Delmarva Railfan Guide
- http://kc.pennsyrr.com/guide/delmarva.php - Hobo's Guide to The Pennsy: The Delmarva Branch - History of the Delmarva Branch.
- http://www.frograil.com/tours/csx/PhillyBaltimore.htm - CSX Philadelphia to Baltimore tour. Covers the portion of CSX in Delaware.
Railroad Locations
There are three locations that are within a few blocks of the conference hotel. This would be the Wilmington Amtrak Station, the ex-B&O station, and the Jackson and Sharp Passenger car shop. The Amtrak Station is located at 100 South French Street. The Ex-B&O station is located at Water and South Market Street (2 blocks west of the Amtrak station). Later we will cover the Jackson and Sharp Passenger car shop.
The Wilmington Amtrak Station has received quite a bit of coverage in the last few months as its renovation was just completed and it was renamed the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station. I will not go into much detail, as you can find its coverage in recent Railfan and Railroad Magazine, Railpace Magazine, or NRHS News. It was built in 1908 by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Inside the station is a permanent history display by the non-profit Friends of the Furness Railroad District that should be seen.
The Wilmington Amtrak Station is a good location to watch Amtrak and Septa trains. It is located in an east/west alignment and photographs are good for the morning or afternoon. If you are asked to leave the location, two other good locations to watch the trains are two parking decks next to the tracks. One is at South King Street (one block west of Amtrak station) and the other is at South West Street (five blocks west of Amtrak Station. Both are adjacent to the tracks.
The Baltimore and Ohio station was built in 1887. It is privately owned and ING now occupies the building. It has been beautifully restored though it is missing its awnings and platform area. There are no longer tracks at the station as these were removed when the area was renovated though the elevated Amtrak Northeast Corridor is only a stones throw away.
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.
January 15, 2011 - October 31, 2011
Philadelphia & Reading Railroad & the Civil War
Reading Railroad Heritage Museum, 500 S. Third St. in Hamburg, PA. New
temporary exhibit Any Saturday (10-4PM) and Sunday (Noon-4PM) for the
regular admission charge of $5 adults and $4 Seniors
Saturday, April 16 thru Saturday, December 31, 2011 Railroad Communications & Signaling @ RR Museum of PA. From solitary signals to centralized traffic control centers, learn about the history of railroad technical operations and try to run a simulated railroad. Photographs, artifacts and video from the Museum's collections will round out the story of rail communication.
April 15, 2011-May 30, 2015 Civil War 150th Anniversary: The War Came By Train@ B&O RR Museum in Baltimore. Monday - Saturday (10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.), Sunday (11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.) Between April 19, 1861 (The Baltimore Riot of 1861) and April 21, 1865 (Lincoln's funeral train leaving Baltimore for Illinois), the B&O stood witness and participant in the greatest conflict the U.S. has ever faced and changed the course of American history. The War Came By Train serves as the B&O Railroad Museum's primary attraction for the five year commemoration of the War's sesquicentennial. The National Landmark Roundhouse will exhibit the largest assemblage of Civil War railroad equipment in the world featuring locomotives and rail cars that served during the war, significant military and personal artifacts that will change annually to portray each year of the war (some artifacts never before on public display), and a narrated train ride to the original site of Camp Carroll, the largest Union encampment in Baltimore.
June - September Williams Grove Railroad Complete Train Schedule for 2011
Saturday June 4th: Steam Locomotive Engineer Training noon until 5 PM
Sunday June 5th: Run the steam train for passengers 9 AM until??
Saturday June 18th: Steam Locomotive Engineer Training noon until 5 PM
Sunday June 19th: Run the steam train for passengers 9 AM until??
Saturday July 2nd. Steam Locomotive Engineer Training noon until 5 PM
Sunday July 3rd. Run the steam train for passengers 9 AM until??
Toys and Trains Show, Saturday and Sunday July 16th and 17th Run the steam train for passengers 9 AM until??
Saturday July 30th. Steam Locomotive Engineer Training noon until 5 PM
Sunday July 31st. Run the steam train for passengers 9 AM until??
Saturday August 13th. Steam Locomotive Engineer Training noon until 5 PM
Sunday August 14th. Run the steam train for passengers 9 AM until??
Fall Show August 28th through September 5th.
Sunday August 28th. Run the steam train for passengers 9 AM until??
Wednesday August 31st. Engineer Training noon until 3:30PM then passengers until??
Thursday September 1st. Engineer Training noon until 2:30PM then passengers until??
Friday September 2nd. Engineer Training noon until 2PM then passengers until??
Saturday September 3rd. Run the steam train for passengers 10 AM until??
Sunday September 4th. Run the steam train for passengers 10 AM until??
Monday September 5th. Run the steam train for passengers 10 AM until??
We reserve the right to substitute a diesel for the steam locomotive on passenger trains.
June - December Open Houses @ Stewartstown Railroad
Sunday, June 19, 2011, 1-5 p.m.: Open house at the station in Stewartstown.
Sunday, June 26, 2011, 1:30-5 p.m.: Stewartstown Railroad display at the Old Line Museum on Main Street in Delta, PA
(in conjunction with the Old Line Museum's annual "Ma & Pa" exhibit).
Sunday, July 10, 2011, 1-5 p.m.: Open house at the station in Stewartstown.
Sunday, July 31, 2011, 1-5 p.m.: Open house at the station in Stewartstown.
Sunday, August 21, 2011, 1-5 p.m.: Open house at the station in Stewartstown.
Sunday, September 18, 2011, 1-5 p.m.: Open house at the station in Stewartstown.
Sunday, October 23, 2011, 1-5 p.m.: Open house at the station in Stewartstown.
Sunday, December 11, 2011, 1-5 p.m.: Christmas at the station in Stewartstown.
Sunday, December 18, 2011, 1-5 p.m.: Christmas at the station in Stewartstown.
AMTRAK's 40th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBIT TRAIN Schedule
JULY
9 - 10 - Springfield Amtrak Station
16 - 17 - New Haven Union Station
23 - 24 - New London Union Station
30 - 31 - Providence Amtrak Station
AUGUST
6 - 7 Boston South Station, Boston
13 - 14 Depot Avenue, Freeport, Maine
20 - 21 Main Street Landing, Burlington, Vt.
27 - 28 Albany Amtrak Station, Rensselaer, N.Y.
SEPTEMBER
3 - 4 Steamtown National Historic Site*, Scranton, Pa.
10 - 11 Gateway Station, St. Louis
17 - 18 TBD
24 - 25 Galesburg Amtrak Station, Galesburg, Ill.
OCTOBER
1 - 2 Chicago Union Station, Chicago
8 - 9 Jackson Amtrak Station, Jackson, Mich.
15 - 16 TBD
22 - 23 King Street Station, Seattle
29 - 30 Portland Amtrak Station, Portland, Ore.
July 16-17, 2011 Toy & Model Train Flea Market, Williams Grove, PA Sat. 9-4, Sun 9-1, Rt. 15 to Rt. 74N, Rt. 74N 1.2 miles to Williams Grove Rd. (at Shillito's Oil), 0.8 miles to Williams Grove Steam Engine Show Grounds, entrance on left. info see http://wghsea.org
July 21-24, 2011 Train Festival 2011 America's Largest Celebration of Railroading Comes to Rock Island, IL link: http://www.trainfestival2011.com/
August 7, 2011 Train Meet - Ramada Inn
Essington, PA
8:00 AM until 1 PM at Ramada Inn on Rt 291 (I-95 Exit 9) Essington, PA
September 2-3, 2011 Railfest 2011 Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Steamtown, the 40th anniversary of Amtrak, & the 125th anniversary of Scranton's electric trolley system. Locomotive Shop Demonstrations = Removing wheels from axles using Steamtown's newly restored 300-ton wheel press, Replacing tire on locomotive drive wheel using 'ring of fire', Wheel lathe demonstrations to resurface & profile railroad wheels, vertical boring mill demonstration. Visiting Equipment = Amtrak 40th Anniversary Train, Canadian Pacific, CSX , Norfolk Southern, NYS&W. Excursions & Train Rides = Caboose rides, Live Steamers, Trolley Rides, Scranton Limited Short Train Ride , Moscow Excursions Special Exhibits & Programs = Track demonstration, Big Boy Cab tours, Big Band Music, Special Ranger Guided tours
September 11-12, 2011 The Great Lehigh Valley
Train Meet
Sat. 10 am - 4 pm, Z, N, On3, HO, Brass & all train related items,
Sun. 10 am - 3 pm, S, O-27, O, Standard & G including repair parts, Both
days Railroadiania, pictures, die-cast, scenery, etc. Merchants Square
Mall, 1901 South 12th Street, Allentown PA 18103
Saturday, September 24, 2011 Members Day @ RR
Museum of PA
Museum members enjoy special members-only presentations and other great
railroad and Museum-related activities.
Sunday, September 25, 2011 FAREWELL TO THE FAITHFUL SILVERLINERS excursion on SEPTASponsored by Philadelphia Chapter, NRHS. Special train leaves Suburban Station, 16th St. & JFK Blvd. in center city Philadelphia at 10 AM, picking up passengers at 30th Street Station at 10:05 AM. Fare: $50.00 per person. Both former PRR and Reading lines will be covered with numerous photo stops and lunch stop scheduled. Train will return to Suburban Station and 30th Street about 5 PM. Event will mark the upcoming retirement of SEPTA's 1963 Budd Silverliner II's and 1967 St. Louis Silverliner III's (among America's oldest commuter cars still in regular service). Order tickets from: Philadelphia Chapter, NRHS, P.O. Box 7302, Philadelphia, PA 19101-7302, enclosing SSAE. For further information, visit website www.phillynrhs.com, email ayrestower@comcast.net or telephone (215) 947-5769. [The routing of the trip has not been completely finalized because of a major track work project around "Arsenal" interlocking in Philadelphia, but we do have some good photo locations already picked out. Train service from Wilmington, Airport, and Elwyn will be disrupted by the above-mentioned track work project, it is believed at this date that Wilmington/Marcus Hook service will operate into 30th Street Station (lower level) and terminate there......this project covers some four weekends.]
October 13-15, 2011 Train Collectors Association, Fall York Train Meet, York, Pa. Thursday-Saturday, Info: http://www.tcamembers.org/newsandevents/york.htm
October 27-30, 2011 Wilmington Chapter will host the NRHS's Fall National Director's Meeting
October 29-30, 2011 Great Scale Model Train Show, Timonium Fairgrounds, Timonium, MDState Fairgrounds Sat. 9-4, Sun. 10-4, Admission $9, under 15 free, family $18, tickets good for both days.
November 6, 2011 Train Meet - Ramada Inn Essington, PA 8:00 AM until 1 PM at Ramada Inn on Rt 291 (I-95 Exit 9) Essington, PA
CHAPTER EVENTS
Thursday July 21, 2011 NO Chapter Meeting ANNULLED = NO MEETING in July
Thursday Aug. 18, 2011 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Phil Snyder
Thursday Sept. 15, 2011 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Dave Warner
Thursday Oct. 20, 2011 7 PM Chapter Meeting (short) program by Dan Frederick
October 27-30, 2011 Wilmington Chapter will host NRHS's Fall National Director's Meeting
Thursday Nov. 17, 2011 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Frank Ferguson
Sunday Dec. 4, 2011 5 PM Holiday Dinner in lieu of normal monthly meeting
Thursday Jan. 19, 2012 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Dave Watterson
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:
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: Mike Burkhart
Vice President: Dave Watterson
Treasurer: Dave Warner
Secretary: Dan Frederick
National Director & Trip Director: Steve Barry
Editor: Greg Ajamian
Web Master: Russ Fox