Year: 2015

November 2015 Chapter Notes

November 9, 2015 Jim Pearson No Comments General Post

By Ricky Bivins

Our Friend Bill Heaton recently won awards for his O Scale modeling efforts while attending the O Scale meet in Indianapolis. Bill took “Best of Show” and First Place both in Steam Locomotive category. Congratulations Bill, well done.

Our Friend in Texas, Phil Randall reports seeing new GE Locomotives rolling out of the Fort Worth plant, An ALCo PA is being restored at the Museum of American Railroading and a new switch (turnout) with “jump frog capability” has been installed there as well.

The annual Clayton/Watts Open House was held on November 7, 2015 and was well attended with 19 people present. Food, Friends and Trains makes this a fun evening. Special Thanks to homeowner Don Clayton for his hospitality.

Keith Kittinger seems to be enjoying his retirement from CSX. I find it really neat in that he has pay stubs from: L&N RR, Family Lines, Seaboard Systems and CSX….congratulations Keith.

Keith and I are starting a “Round Robin Group” to enjoy model trains as “group therapy” so to speak. We plan to schedule regular “meetings” at member’s homes to help and encourage each other’s model railroads. Ask me for details if interested.

Newsletter Changes, November 2015

November 9, 2015 Jim Pearson No Comments Rick Bivins

By Ricky Bivins

Greetings Chapter Members, This is my first (and you may decide, last) attempt as Editor of the Chapter Newsletter. I am sure you noticed immediately I did not call it “Pennyrail”. The Pennyrail is the Chapter Publication and I have no intention (or ability) to uphold the standards Matt Gentry set forth.

This Newsletter will suffice as merely….news! Matt as we have learned (and I think anyone could imagine) is challenged by time, time needed to put together the outstanding publication for our Chapter as he has in the past. A new job, new employer and 2000+ mile relocation effort is certainly enough. Throw in learning a new environment (yeah, finding one’s way to Cajon Pass is a challenge…blah blah blah), Matt has a lot going on. So upon his behalf, I will give it a go…for now.

Pacific Northwest – part 1 by Matt Gentry

September 19, 2015 Jim Pearson No Comments Matt Gentry, Photo Section

Photos by Matt Gentry

As luck would have it, I was given the opportunity to attend the NMRA National Train Show, which was held in Portland Oregon this year. The actual show was held August 28, 29 & 30. But with a set-up day on Thursday the 27th, that meant that a travel day was Wednesday the 26th. So my boss, Craig, and I decided to just take a few vacation days and travel around the Pacific Northwest, with some fellow railfan friends from Southern California, and left Saturday, August 22.
Not being one to watch the news, I had no idea the severity of the drought or wildfires in Oregon and Washington. I was told that the drought is worse up north than it is in Southern California, and it shows. Most of Southern California is concrete so you can’t see all the dead grass! But upon landing in Portland, the wildfires were evident as the atmosphere was smoky. Little did I know it would become much worse as we made our way towards Spokane Washington on Sunday, August 23.

For now, I will let my photos tell the tale of my travels. I have plenty to share, so look forward to more next month.

September 2015 – The Spill with President Bill

September 19, 2015 Jim Pearson No Comments Bill Farrell, The Prez Sez

by Bill Farrell, President
Western Kentucky Chapter/NRHS

Well, now that school has started, everything in Western Kentucky seems to be getting back to an even grind. I hope most of you had a good, enjoyable summer, I know we did at the Farrell, Terry house hold.

I would like to thank Tom Johnson for pulling double duty last month on the program and the refreshments. The post of President is easy when you have a membership that will step up to bat and help out. The remainder of our year is down hill now with the club picnic on October 3rd in Crofton, Ky., the Fall Photo Contest on October 17th to the 24th, election of officers on November 16 and our annual Christmas party on December 8th at Brothers BBQ. I have contacted the Crofton City Hall, and have the pavilion for the club picnic. We still have the modular layout to work on but the weather needs to be cooler. I plan on picking a Saturday, and those who can work on the module will come to Hopkinsville and assemble the project.

Blair Terry and I plan on hosting a Railfanning event on Saturday, September 19th in Hopkinsville at the former L&N Depot. We plan on having everything set up by 9:00 am for those who want to attend. Just bring your lawn chair, a camera and enjoy the CSX next to a vintage railroad station. We plan on having a cooler of drinks and maybe a little food, so come one come all.

A reminder to the membership, we have promised Brothers BBQ that we would have twenty five members to attend the Christmas party this year. This means bring the family so we can have the numbers we promised. Brothers have forgone the usual $100.00 fee for the use of their meeting room. So it is important to have the numbers in attendance for the party that night. Brothers has excellent food and more choices then just BBQ. Almost forgot, December 8, 2015, we are also going to have an operating layout at the party.

If any member has railroad pictures or artwork they would like to display in the Depot in Madisonville, please bring it to our next meeting. We have several pieces on display at the present time but, we can use more. Look around and see what you might have in storage. I might add anything you bring should be framed, ready to display.

We will start to issue Western Kentucky Chapter club cards in January 2016. This month program and refreshment will be hosted by Thomas and Jim Bryan. Well this is just more than refreshments; it is the Bryan’s Annual Fish Fry. This is one meeting you don’t want to miss.

 

 

Tom’s DVD of the Month Review September 21, 2015

September 19, 2015 Jim Pearson No Comments Rail Flicks, Tommy Johnson

Title Cascade Snow Fighters
Producer 7 Idea Productions
Format DVD
Playing Time 1 hr. 5 min.
Purchased From Trainvideodepot.com
Date Purchased 8/17/15
Price Paid $26.95

We get the usual high quality videography that 7 Idea Productions is known for in this DVD. The video was shot in widescreen format which makes the scenery even more impressive as we watch snow removal activities on the Union Pacific’s Cascade Sub in Oregon. Some of the scenes go back as far as 2004 and some are as recent as this 2013.

We see Nordco M7 snow fighters, flangers, and Jordan spreaders in operation. The Nordco M7 has a blade on one end and a snow blower on the opposite end. It is powered by a supercharged Cummins six cylinder diesel engine. There are 16.5 feet blades on either side to push the snow away from the tracks.

Flangers, of course, are similar to cabooses with belly blades to remove the snow from between the rails. There are some nice scenes from a nighttime cab ride in a locomotive pulling a flanger.

Jordan spreaders are the last line of defense on the Cascade Sub and are put to use when the snow is too deep for the M7s or the flangers. There is some very good spreader action and we even get a cab ride.

The excellent snow removal action, the beautiful scenery, and the high quality widescreen image make this video a keeper.

B&O Storage Facility, Cincinnatti, OH by Steve Gentry

September 10, 2015 Jim Pearson No Comments Steve Gentry

Living in the Cincinnati metro area, in my opinion, it’s less stressful to take public transportation to and from work and not do battle with I75 traffic. Recently, because of street car construction, specifically track laying, the bus I use, started taking a different route.IMG_0412

IMG_0406Some of you may know that Cincinnati was a large railroad town. Prior to the 1960’s there was probably at least 5 major railroads that pulled into Cincinnati and many used C.U.T. (Cincinnatti Union Terminal). I digress. One morning when we first started taking the new route, I noticed a building that had the wording on the side of it “ Baltimore and Ohio Railroad freight station & storage warehouse.”  That evening, when I got home from work, I did some research about the building (most of this is information is gleaned from the internet).

The building was built in 1904, it is 5 stories tall and 1,277 feet long. The length of the building was the first thing I noticed about it. And because of it’s close proximity to C.U.T., I suspected it was probably used by some railroad.  There are 80,000 feet of pillings used to support the concrete foundation. There are 4.2 million bricks used in the walls. There are 2.5 million board feet of lumber used for floors, joists, roof beams, etc. IMG_0409

The lower floor was designed for inbound freight and the 4 (four) upper floors were used for storage. The facility trackage could accommodate 125 cars. Other facilities included a boiler house, a 6 stall roundhouse, a coal tipple and a US Customs Bonded Warehouse, for the care of imported goods.  The building is listed in the National Register of historic buildings. However, to my knowledge, you cannot go into the building as it current used by private businesses.

IMG_0405For more information about the building, google: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad storage Cincinnati.

Paducah and Louisville’s engine 4522 by Jim Pearson

September 10, 2015 Jim Pearson No Comments Jim Pearson, Photo Section
Fresh out of the paint shop at NRE (National Railway Equipment Co.) in Paducah, Ky, Paducah and Louisville’s engine 4522 sports a brand new UK paint scheme showing all the years that the University of Kentucky has won a NCAA National Championship. This is one of series of photographs I’ll be doing for P&L over the next few months. Thanks to P&L for allowing me to share it with you. – Tech Info: 1/800sec, f/7, ISO 140, Lens: Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm with a Nikon D800 shot and processed in RAW. - Jim Pearson
Fresh out of the paint shop at NRE (National Railway Equipment Co.) in Paducah, Ky, Paducah and Louisville’s engine 4522 sports a brand new UK paint scheme showing all the years that the University of Kentucky has won a NCAA National Championship. This is one of series of photographs I’ll be doing for P&L over the next few months. Thanks to P&L for allowing me to share it with you. – Tech Info: 1/800sec, f/7, ISO 140, Lens: Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm with a Nikon D800 shot and processed in RAW. – Jim Pearson