Beginning January, 2011, we will discontinue the paper printing of our monthly newsletter, The PennyRail. The publication will be available in Portable Document Format (pdf, Adobe Reader) via email and on the chapter’s website (as presently available there). Adobe Reader is available as a free download to any computer. The chapter is striving to be a good steward of our resources thus the decision made in the July meeting.
As editor of this work, I do not wish this to be a hardship on any of our members who do not have internet/email access. If you do not have access to the internet or email, we will make arrangements for you to receive a paper copy in black and white print. Just let us know. All we ask is that members not take advantage of this offer and use the electronic medium if possible. If you do not have a computer, many free public libraries offer computers with internet access as part of their services.
I will need all chapter members to update your email addresses with me so that you receive your email with the newsletter pdf file attached. You may also want to check with your internet service provider (ISP) to make sure attachments are not filtered and you are set up to receive emails sent out in distribution lists.
I am glad to offer any suggestions, help, etc. if you need it, but remember, most internet/email issues are best handled directly with your ISP.
You can email me at bill@fbcmadisonville.com, call 270-825-4623 (home), call or text me at 270-339-9482 (cell), or look me up on Facebook.
For those of you who do not have a computer at home, let me encourage you to secure one if possible. You may have a relative or friend with a gently used machine that could be used for internet browsing, email, and light word processing. There are many rail-related sites with information, videos, discussion groups, and sale items right at your finger tips.
Remember the basic requirements for receiving the PennyRail via email: 1) Internet/email account access; 2) An internet service provider (ISP) which allows for attachments to emails; 3) Adobe Reader for opening the pdf file when it arrives. Adobe Reader is available for free download at www.adobe.com.
We had a great meeting last month with some great slides by Dr. Fred Ripley and wonderful refreshments from Thomas and Jim Bryan. HMMM!
Last week my wife and I visited the Paducah Railroad Museum. They have done a lot of improvements to an already large and interesting collection of railroad historical items along with photos, displays, and hands-on displays. The IC, GM&O, NC&StL, Burlington, and BNSF are all represented nicely. There are several places for kids to see and learn, tools, lanterns, track maintenance vehicles, dispatching controls, locomotive boiler fronts and headlights, and a nice interactive video library of train videos and books.
There is a great HO train layout that is operated by members of a Paducah model railroad club, quite large and fully landscaped and even using command control. The Museum is open from 1-4pm on Fridays and Saturdays and also when a riverboat docks and also by appointment. They are at 200 Washington Street near the Carson Center and the IC steam locomotive. More info can be found at their website, www.paducahrr.org or call 270-519-7377, 270-559-5253, 270-442-4032. There is a nice gift shop, too. My wife liked it a lot.
There is still time to get your name on the ballot to serve as an officer for next year. All offices are open each year and we already have at least one nominee for each office.
I hope to see all of your smiling faces at the meeting on Monday, November 22d, at 7pm at The Center in beautiful downtown Madisonville.
Rich
CSX announced its timetable for transitioning from wideband (25 KHz) to narrowband (12.5 KHz) railroad radio operation, the American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association reported on September 21, 2010. It is the first Class I railroad to furnish this information for dissemination. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated the end of wideband two-way radio transmission for non-military purposes in the U.S. after Jan. 1, 2013. [See Technology, October 2010 TRAINS] The CSX timetable presently calls for the changeover to be completed entirely in 2011. Submitted by Chris Dees
Saturday November 6 – Is this a great day for a train ride or what?? We are about a half dozen or so miles out of Antonito Colorado on our way up to Toltec Gorge and the top of Cumbres Pass. #488 is really working hard and the “stack music” is being enjoyed by all, through mostly raised windows and open-air cars. No one seemed to mind a few cinders.
It was about this far out of town when the hostess in our parlor car brought around fresh fruit servings for us. They do know how to pamper the tourists.
Soon the terrain will change from open sage to rocky aspen and evergreen covered mountains. There is no let-up in the grade from town to the top, about 50 miles. We’ll stop for water in Sublette, about 20 miles. This was home for the section gangs, the men who maintained the right-of-way, ties, ballast and rails. Our train met the downhill train at Osier, and we all enjoyed dinner choices. I chose turkey, with all the dressings. Gary O. Ostlund (submitted by Jim Futrell)
- West Kentucky NRHS Chapter Meeting – November 22, Madisonville, L&N Depot.
- Chapter Christmas Dinner – Monday, December 13, 2010, 6pm, at The Center.
- No PennyRail in December!
Muncie Newspaper says CAT to open facility in Indiana…
* Report says 650 jobs could be created
* Not clear whether facility will manufacture locomotives
* Caterpillar currently assembles those in Canada only
CHICAGO, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N), the U.S. heavy equipment maker that has been moving aggressively into the rail business, will announce plans on Friday to open a railcar facility in east central Indiana, the (Muncie) Star Press newspaper reported on Friday.
Citing unnamed sources, the paper said Caterpillar’s Progress Rail unit would take over a huge vacant factory in Muncie which has doors in the rear that allow trains to enter and exit.
The newspaper did not say whether the plant would be used to service locomotives and other railroad rolling stock or to manufacture new equipment. It said the facility would eventually employ 650 workers.
A spokesman for Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar, best known for its yellow construction and mining equipment, declined to comment on the report.
Until recently, Progress Rail was focused strictly on the business of repairing and remanufacturing existing rail equipment made by other manufacturers, including General Electric (GE.N).
But that changed this summer, when Caterpillar purchased Electro-Motive Diesel, a locomotive manufacturer spun out of General Motors, for $820 million in cash from the private equity firms Berkshire Partners LLC and Greenbriar Equity LLC.
EMD’s headquarters, engineering facilities and parts-manufacturing operations are located in LaGrange, Illinois, just west of Chicago. But final assembly of the passenger, freight and road-switching locomotives EMD makes is performed at a plant in London, Ontario, Canada.
That has effectively stopped EMD from selling its locomotives to the many regional commuter rail lines in the United States, because they often require that the equipment they buy be assembled in the United States. Over the past four years, Caterpillar, which is also a big maker of diesel engines and gas turbines, has spent about $2 billion in the rail sector.
It was an industry that was viewed as important but dull until last year, when Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) bought Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp for $26 billion.
It was Buffett’s biggest acquisition in the 44 years he has run Berkshire and one he characterized as “an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States.” (Reporting by James B. Kelleher, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
Picnic Demographics: Hopkinsville-4; Madisonville-3; Indiana-3; Clay-2; Henderson-1; 1 of an unknown source. Photos and research by Chuck Hinrichs.
FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF RAILFANS ONLY
- West Kentucky NRHS Chapter Meeting – October 25, Madisonville, L&N Depot.
- Clayton/Watts Open House – Saturday, November 13, 7pm, 750 Wilson Drive, Madisonville, KY 42431.
- Indiana RR Excursion – see page 7
- Chapter Christmas Dinner – Monday, December 13, 2010, at The Center – details forthcoming.
Brian Banta, in cooperation with the Railfans of Indianapolis is hosting a diesel powered excursion on the Indiana Railroad. Date is Sunday, November 14, 2010 (Subject to Change)
Route is the Indiana Railroad: Segment 1: Jasonville, Indiana to Fayette, Indiana (just across the Wabash River from North Terre Haute) and return. Segment 2: Jasonville, Indiana to the new Bear Run Mine Loop (largest surface mine east of the Mississippi River) then to the Indiana RR mainline. Segment 3: Bear Run Mine junction to Elnora, Indiana then back to Jasonville.
Seating is sold only to fill 70% capacity. Departure 9:00 am from Jasonville. Return by 5:00 pm. Cost $65. No one under age 16 allowed. Checks only. Must be prepaid before October 30, Full refunds up to October 29. Checks deposited November 1. Price includes all the food & drinks you want. Send check made out to BRIAN BANTA (not to the Banta Train) as follows: Banta Train, PO. Box 56, Edinburgh, IN 46124.
Map to boarding site will be mailed a week before trip, in case boarding site changes. No alcohol permitted, No smoking permitted. Sorry no coffee provided. You may bring your special drinks (NO Alcohol) and food. Restrooms on board. – submitted by Chris Dees
As Autumn descends on the Midwest, Saturdays are usually set aside for that event known as College Game Day. October 16, 2010, was no exception in Lafayette, Indiana, as the familiar cheer of “Boiler Up – Hammer Down” erupted from Ross-Ade Stadium. However, on this Purdue Homecoming 2010, my friend Doug Buck and I had a different vision of what it means to “Boiler Up and Hammer Down” – one built back in 1907 by the Southern Railway. So we decided to invade “Illini Country” and head west to Monticello, Illinois to ride behind, photograph, and chase newly restored Southern Railway 2-8-0 number 401.
Rich Hane and Rex Easterly will be trying to help Kay Stubblefield dispose of some of Ron’s trains. Let Rich know if you are interested in being put on an email distribution list to buy some of these trains and other memorabilia that we might find. There are trains of many scales that we have found including Z, N, HO, S scale American Flyer, O gauge, G gauge, Marx, Kusan, and probably others beside a few lanterns, etc. Items range in quality from good to poor. Email Rich Hane at rkhane@newwavecomm.net, or call (270) 825-3429.
