Category: The Prez Sez

September 2016 The Spill with President Bill Farrell

September 19, 2016 Jim Pearson No Comments Bill Farrell, The Prez Sez

The first thing I want to do is remind everyone that we will meet at; the County (Government Center) Court House (old post office), 56 North Main Street, Madisonville.  (Sept. 19, 2016, 7:00 p.m.) Please park in the North side parking lot, there are about 40 parking places available, use the parking lot side to enter the building.

September, is our annual meeting where Jim and Thomas Bryan do their magic and put on a fish fry. If you have never had an opportunity to experience the food at this meeting you are missing something. It will be well worth the effort to attend. This month program will be provided by Wallace Henderson. I need to thank Jim Kemp and Blair Terry for last month snacks and program respectfully.

We have our annual club picnic this month on the 24th in Crofton, KY., at the Crofton City Hall. In the past we started gathering any time after 10:00 am. This has been a great club function and tradition over the past several years. I hope everyone can attend this function on September 24th. Last year we made a change in the food for the picnic. We had a grill for cooking hamburgers and hotdogs which went along with chips condiments and soft drink. We had a coffee can available for any club members who wanted to make a contribution toward the food. The second option, is if a member wishes to go downtown in Crofton and purchase lunch from a vendor they may certainly do so.

The modules are all finished with the exception of one corner. I have to still lay the roadbed track and wire the underside. All we have to do is put all the modules together and see where we need to make any adjustments. We can do that in my warehouse some Saturday morning and if everything goes well you can take your module with you for structures. We can also go over some very simple rules that govern the layout.

Please mark your calendar for October 8th Blair and myself are putting on a Railfanning event in Hopkinsville, at the former L & N Depot on 9th street. We will be setup by 10:00 am and snacks will be available for those with an appetite.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and CSX will run one train after another. If you have a lawn chair be sure to bring it the seating is limited close to the tracks.

Bill Farrell, President

 

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.

 

 

May 2014 – The Prez Sez by Tom Johnson

May 16, 2014 Jim Pearson No Comments The Prez Sez, Tommy Johnson

Hello fellow Chapter members.  I hope this edition of the Pennyrail finds you all in good health and eager for another chapter meeting.  Remember, the meeting is in Hopkinsville this month, as it always is in May.  I hope to see all of you at the depot in “Hoptown” at 7:00 PM May 19th.  Bill Ferrell is going to grill for us again as he did last year.

The April meeting was a big success.  Dave Millen was given the floor for the discussion portion of the meeting and he told us the story of his grandfather’s train wreck at Earlington in March of 1905.  Thank you, Dave.  That was certainly interesting.

For the entertainment portion of the meeting, Gary Ostlund was kind enough to bring his slide presentation on the subject of the Bullet Train in Japan and tell us about his personal experience riding that train in the late 1960s.  Gary also joined the Chapter that night.  So, welcome to the Chapter, Gary, and thank you for the interesting presentation.

Matt tells me that he is not getting any suggestions as to subjects for the discussion portion of our meetings.  Come on, Folks, most of you thought it was a good idea to devote ten or fifteen minutes of each meeting to a discussion on a subject of interest that had been suggested by a member.  Well then, give Matt some ideas.  Submit those ideas by Emailing Matt at the Chapter Email address.  info@westkentuckynrhs.org .

The Chapter took possession of Chuck’s projector at the April meeting and we asked Wally to take it home with him until we figured out where we are going to keep it.  Chuck pointed out that there are specific instructions on how to start up and shut down the projector that should be followed to maximize bulb life.

We had three trains during the meeting time!  We were all very happy about that.  Am I the only one who thinks it is strange that adults jump up in the middle of a meeting and run out onto the platform to watch a train go by?  Strange, maybe, but FUN!

I guess that’s it for now.  See you at the depot in Hopkinsville!

 

Your Prez

Tom Johnson

April 2014 The Prez Sez

April 16, 2014 Jim Pearson No Comments The Prez Sez, Tommy Johnson

by Tom Johnson, Chapter President

Greetings to all chapter members and friends!

Our March meeting was another good one. We had fifteen people in attendance and we all enjoyed ourselves.
One of my goals for this year was accomplished at the March meeting, namely the purchase of a back-up overhead projector that we can use for slide presentations and for times when the old unit in the Depot doesn’t want to work. We voted to buy Chuck Hinrichs’ projector for $250. The motion was passed with a unanimous vote.

We have some details to work out as far as where the unit will be kept. We may have the means to lock it up safely at the Depot between meetings.

The subject for discussion at the March meeting was “Why did the IC RR continue to use steam locomotives on their coal trains in western Kentucky so long after other railroads had gone to diesel-electrics exclusively?”

Someone said that they believed that the continuing use of steam was just a manifestation of the IC’s tendency to use equipment until it was “used up.” Someone even said the IC believed equipment should be used until it is worn out and then re-built and used again. Another reason put forth was that the IC had that excellent roundhouse and shop in Paducah where steam locomotives could be totally rebuilt. Investments in the steam locomotive fleet had been made as late as the 1940s and even the early 1950s, so the fleet was in good shape in the mid 1950s.

Whatever their reasons, your Old Prez is grateful to the IC that they kept those steam locomotives running as long as they did because that allowed me to see them in action “up close and personal” when I spent summers with my grandmother in 1958, 1959, and 1960. Her house was only 100 feet from the tracks on the “Old Line” that ran from Dawson Springs to Central City. Those locomotives were something I will never forget.

I ask you chapter members again to please submit your ideas for the discussion part of our meetings. You submit those ideas by emailing Matt Gentry at the Chapter Email address, info@westkentuckynrhs.org. Ideas are used on a first come first served basis.
Hey, a few chapter members have been getting together over the last few weeks and going train spotting. It has not worked out so that I could go but I have been asked several times and I appreciate it. Maybe one of these days I will be able to go. If you would like to be included when some of the members are going train spotting, just let it be known that you would like to be asked; I’m sure you would be welcome.

I’ll be looking forward to seeing all of you at the next meeting on April 21, 2014.

March 2014 The Prez Sez

March 11, 2014 Jim Pearson No Comments The Prez Sez, Tommy Johnson

By Tom Johnson, Chapter President

Greetings, fellow chapter members!

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone Monday night, March 17, 2014 at the depot for our monthly meeting.

We had a real good February meeting with Steve Miller presenting a power point program on railroad signal interpretation.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the program and I think we all learned some things.  There were some good discussions during the presentation with people citing local examples of many of the signal situations included in the program.

We had good attendance.  I counted 18 but the sign-up sheet only showed 17; I guess someone forgot to sign-in.

The discussion segment of the meeting was on the subject of “foreign power” and several folks contributed good information.

It seems that lots of you like the idea of devoting a few minutes of our meetings to discussion on a particular topic.  Each and every one of you is encouraged to submit ideas for these discussions to Matt Gentry.  Matt will announce the topic in the newsletter so that members will have time to do a little research on the subject ahead of the meeting.  Subjects will be chosen on a first come, first served basis when more than one suggestion is submitted.  The “official” way to submit an idea is to Email it to Matt.  If you don’t “do” Emails, let me know your idea and I will Email Matt for you.

Remember, we are not trying to make this the main “entertainment” for the meetings, just a feature where we spend maybe 15 minutes on the topic that has been chosen.

Hope to see all of you Monday night!