Greetings Everyone.

First and foremost, Thank You for a vote of confidence. With guidance from the Chapter officers, National and Chapter Members I hope to make 2017 a very good year. 2016 was exceptional. Looking back, we can see many events went into our history book. Track side visits, a picnic, meetings, work sessions and of course an excellent Christmas Dinner at the Miller residence. We finished the year with the Christmas Show showcasing the Chapters Modular Layout, Movies, Standard Gauge trains and of course Wally Watts and his steam engines.

I was surprised in several respects with the Christmas Show. The layout while there were some issues, ran very well “right out of the box” and for the first time! Parkway Plaza Mall was an excellent host. Bill’s Standard gauge trains were a hit with the children as were Wally’s steam engines. One thing I was very much pleased with was the level of participation from the membership. Many members helped in various ways. That being said, Bill Farrell gets the prize. Bill put many, many hours into the event as did Rich Hane and Jim Kemp. A special thanks goes out to these guys.

As for 2017, we have a lot of work to do if we are to top 2016! By now you have learned we have a possible meeting place change. Our January meeting will be held in the old court house building, third floor. Enter via the basement entrance located on the buildings east side. Take the stairs or elevator to the third floor. The meeting space is on the north side of the building. Our program will be a guest speaker, Randy Teague. Randy will give us a tour of the proposed Coal and Railroad Museum space within the building. We will learn from Randy, what is in store for the building and of possible involvement with our Chapter. This will be a very interesting night. The Historical Society of Hopkins County has a media center in the building. I will provide refreshments and there will be a train video playing in the background. However, I expect our attention to be directed at the museum and Mr. Teague.

On January 2, 2017 I held an officers meeting at my house. The officers in attendance discussed the newsletter, the web site, dues, membership, programs, the photo archive and a host of other “thoughts’. Most will be brought before the Chapter meeting night.

With that being said, Monday January 16, 2017 will be a good night, an even better night if YOU attend…and bring a guest.

Ricky Bivins, President