Author: Jim Pearson

Greetings fellow NRHS members. My what a busy summer. I’m sure yours has been as busy as mine. If you have one blade of grass there’s another million and all of them need to be cut!

Our meeting last month at the Hopkins County Government Center was very productive. We had visitors from Nashville Steam on hand with an excellent program and “questions and answers” session. After which we reconvene and voted to donate $500 to their effort from the Chapter treasury. An additional $200 was donated from members. I look forward to seeing and hearing the Yellow Jacket in operation.

National has a full set of articles covering the convention in Nashville Tennessee. There was a lot of enjoyable trip’s and everything was well patronized. In those articles lies some information pertaining to the National organization. You can go to the NRHS national website and access them via the administrative tab on the lower area of the homepage for the National Organization. Along with those articles are serval additional subjects and many photographs. All very good reading and very good quality.

Our August meeting I’m sure we’ll have a few stories of the upcoming eclipse which would have been over a few hours by meeting time. Additionally, we will review the program Bill Ferrall was going to present two months ago. Due to technical difficulties we were unable to view his program at that time.

We will also confirm the date and time for the annual Chapter picnic at the veterans grounds in Crofton Kentucky. This is always an enjoyable event.

Additionally, we will be discussing the Christmas dinner at the home of Steve and Marilyn Miller a top Billy Goat Hill Road in Hopkinsville Kentucky. This was the most enjoyable venue last year for those that attended. And speaking of Christmas, Bill Ferrall and Jim Kemp will have a precursor to our Christmas show this year. The show last year was very well received and this year promises to have even more impact.

We will touch base with Jim Pearson on the upcoming photo contest and ideas for the Chapter calendar as well.

Please make an effort to attend the meeting on Monday, August 21, 2017 at the Hopkins County Justice Center on North Main St., Madisonville, KY.. Bring a friend, a show and tell item and a raffle item as well. I hope to see you there.

My oh my how time flies. Here it is time for the June NRHS Western Kentucky Chapter meeting and it seems only a few days ago we were in Hopkinsville KY for the May meeting! And speaking of the May meeting, it was a grand time. With the venue being the former L&N RR Passenger Station in historic downtown Hopkinsville, Bill Farrell grilling burgers and dogs, CSX (and BNSF) providing trains and Wallace Henderson giving a detailed talk with photos and newspapers clippings covering train derailments in and around Hopkinsville…. WHEW…we did all of that in one evening. THANK YOU HOPKINSVILLE MEMBERS.

If you have taken time to go track side in our area, I am sure you have noticed a lot of trains are running. CSX and P&L both provide ample opportunities for viewing. On CSX, I have seen locomotives from many class 1 railroads and short lines too. There have been several Chicago Metra F40 rebuilds making their way up and down the line. The new paint scheme is bright and colorful. I spotted one locomotive from the Kiamichi Railway on April 15 of this year! CSX is home to EMD’s only MP-15-T locomotives which make their way by on occasion. And train patterns seem to be changing with the change of power in Jacksonville as well. The modern railroad is interesting to say the least. I still enjoy seeing rail cars from “fallen flag” railroads. It is surprising how many fallen flag railroads are represented in a train! So go out and watch trains. Have a good time and stay off the right-of-way.

The NRHS National Convention is being held in Nashville TN this month. I plan to go Friday the 23rd and represent the Chapter at the business meeting pending my work schedule does not intervene. Having talked with several members I feel the Chapter as a whole has little or no interest in the event. This is fine, not everyone is “on board” with the business aspect of our organization. If I do indeed make it to the meeting, I will have a full report in July.

We need to revisit our display at Parkway Plaza Mall, we have discussed this and taken no action.

We need to (my opinion) have a few more Chapter related functions. Track side days are always well attended and enjoyed. All one needs to do is pony up and sponsor one. Pick a day and location that suits you and we will get the word out. That being said, it is not too early to talk about the Annual Chapter Pic-Nic in Crofton KY. We need to discuss a date.

The Christmas Show Committee will be start planning for this years event. Be thinking of joining in the effort. Last year was a fun time with the kids and adults alike enjoying the show. Bring new ideas to the table for 2017. This should be our signature event with the public.

The meeting will be held Monday evening, June 19th at the Hopkins County Government Centre on North Main Street, Madisonville KY. We will meet at 7:00 PM with Rich Hane providing refreshments and Bill Farrell providing the program. Join in and bring a guest.

Ricky Bivins, President    

Greetings.

Just a heads up, our meeting this month as usual is in Hopkinsville Kentucky. Our friends and members from Hop-town always put on a fine show and the venue is excellent. And I believe we will have some tasty vittles as well.

By the time you read this, our second photo contest for the year will have come and gone. I certainly hope you were able to get out and take a few shots and turn them into Jim Pearson. Remember, these photos will be in our next Chapter calendar. The winners and possibly some honorable mentions, depending on how many total entry’s we received over the year. So, get out there and take some shots when the time comes for number three.

In old business from April, we will decide on our level of involvement with the convention in Nashville. We will be checking with Bowling Green and New Haven to see if we can assist in anyway. The consensus from the members I have talk to is a low-key approach. We have trouble committing to in-house events, committing to something outside of our area might be a bit of a stretch. I would not want to commit to something and then not follow through with it and give us a bad reputation!

We also decided in April, to update and purged the Chapter email list. Steve should have a report on this in May.
During the May meeting I will confirm the mailing address for the Chapter, for some reason I have two mailing addresses on file. Once this is done I will give Matt the go-ahead on printing new biz cards for the Chapter.

Jim Pearson, by the way, lost a brother since our April meeting. David worked for the city in Madisonville and was a very interesting individual. Our condolences to Jim and family. That having been said, Jim may have a report on the Chapter Facebook page, YouTube page and a possible Vimeo page. But if not we certainly understand.