By Bill Farrell, Chapter President
Well, it just seemed like last week and we were having our February meeting. We need to thank Ricky for getting the February program together for us. Rich did a good job on the refreshments; Blair Terry gave him a four star rating on the food. In other words, you did good, Rich. Our program this month will be brought to us by Wally Watts. We will have some guests from the former Owensboro Chapter of the NRHS.
We have some exciting news about events and projects coming up in March and April. On March 28th we have a trip planned to the National Transportation Museum in St. Louis, MO. We have two 15 passenger vans lined up for those who would rather ride then drive. I say 15 passengers but the plan is to carry only 10 people per van. I believe the word we are looking for is “comfortable”. We will fill the seats on a first come first serve basis, so if you would like to go, let me know soon. The cost per member and or guest to take the van is $17.00 (per person). We will discuss this in more detail at the March meeting.
We now have some thirty DVDs for the chapter Video Library. Any member that would like to put a DVD in the library on loan please bring them to the next meeting. I noticed several members checking out movies last month. Until we get the number of DVDs up in the library members can only check out one per month.
April 11th is “Archeology Saturday”. The plan is to use metal detectors and go to a former location of a train depot in Hopkins County. We are going to list and catalog all the artifacts our club members unearth. These items can be placed in the case in the Parkway Plaza Mall or stored at the Hopkins County Historical Society. Now keep all that in mind, last Friday I called one of our chapter in house railroad historians, Wally Watts. I said, Wally lets go and find a depot site for “Archeology Saturday”, Wally said sound fine lets meet at Cracker Barrel.
Once we got on the road, Wally dragged your President through the bowels of Hopkins County looking for sites where depots once stood. I don’t know how many times I hear Wally say, “I’ll sit in the car, you wade through that water and see what is over there”. “Wally it’s just more snow and ice”. All kidding aside we did find one very interesting site, I think you will find the pictures we have of the Nebo site very rewarding. Wally and I will have the pictures for the next meeting.
Do you have a digital camera? Well if not, maybe you can borrow one from a good friend. In May, the chapter plans on having a photography contest within the club. Jim Pearson, one of the chapter members will chair this event. It will be open to all our chapter members in good standing. The pictures you submit to Jim (by email) will have to be taken in Western Kentucky on the day of the contest. Jim will have some tips and rules for the contest in the April meeting. Those members who are worried about Jim Pearson winning the photo contest need to know he will not be a contestant. We are still working on the prize to the winner. The most important thing in this event is, you have fun. In the case of Matt Gentry, he will be allowed to submit a picture from the west coast.
Those who missed the last meeting, it was announced that the GarGraves track company has donated between $1,000.00 and $1,100.00 in track for the modular layout. We still have three module’s unspoken for, any member who want to build one, let me know.
We need “Show & Tell” items and things for the raffle for the next meeting. Weather permitting I hope to see you on the 16th of March @ 7:00.