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Election of Officers
We will
be holding our annual election of officers at the October 20
meeting. A nominating
committee has been formed consisting of Art Hall (742-7454), Bill
Robinson (456-4903), Walt Dumas (646-8776), and Jerry Griffin
(228-9703). If you
would like to run for office, or nominate someone for office, please
contact one of the above members.
Vermont Fall Excursion
The Transit
Alliance has been informed by New England Central Railroad that the
cost for using their rail and engineers will increase from $11,000
to $33,000. This means
that the popular Fall foliage excursion will not be run this
year. An attempt will
be made to change this next year and the Chapter is also looking
into the possibility of a foliage excursion into Massachusetts next
year on the Providence & Worcester Railroad.
CERR Logo Contest
A contest
is being held to design a logo for the Connecticut Eastern Railroad,
the railroad that will be running trains on museum track. This logo will be used on
CERR equipment, i.e., pieces that do not have railroad history for
restoration purposes.
Present examples are the 25-ton locomotive, the car mover,
the pump car, and the gradall. Designs
should be sketched in color on 8½x11
paper and need not be professional. Keep in mind that the CERR
colors are white and blue, but other colors may be used.
Mail your entry to P.O. Box
665, Willimantic, CT
06226 no later than Tuesday, December 3. The winner will be
immortalized on a roundhouse floor paver.
Editor Anyone?
We are still looking for an
editor for the Ghost Train
Journal. Until an
editor is found, the journal may be published on an irregular
schedule.
The job requires basic
computer skills and e-mail capability. The journal is currently put
together using a template in Microsoft Word 2000. The editor is mainly
responsible for content.
The assistant editor will take care of style, spelling and
grammar and our publisher will take care of copying, addressing,
stamping and mailing.
Most of the content can be obtained from business
and membership meetings and from working members. The job shouldn’t take more
than three to four hours each month in addition to attendance at
business and membership meetings. Anyone interested should
call our president, Mark Granville, at
860-456-3956.
What’s Happening?
The Pfizer
car mover, our pump car, and our velocipede #1 participated in the
2002 July 4th boom box parade in Willimantic.
The Little
Rhody division of the NMRA held a picnic at the museum.
The Nutmeg
division of the NMRA also held a picnic at our museum.
A
family held their 4-year old son’s birthday party at the
museum.
Our
sales department sold soda and handed out museum literature during
Willimantic’s 3rd Thursday event in July and
August.
Wish List!
We need to
plant grass on some slopes at the West end of the museum property to
prevent erosion. If
anyone knows of a cheap (better yet, donated) source for grass seed
and/or hay, please call Adrian Atkins at 423-5930.
P&W Zoo Train
By Ray
Axelrod
We had a
great time on the Zoo Train on September 21st. We saw many animals and a
lot of nice scenery.
P&W even got us back to Plainfield an hour early. The Roger Williams Zoo has
many animals and a nice focus on conservation, education, and animal
preservation.
A raffle
was held and museum members sold 2003 calendars and T-shirts. A great big thank you to
Veronica Trudeau, the P&W railroad, and the excursion committee
for a job well done.
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Calendar of Events
October
5 -Bikes-through-History
group from Textile Museum visits railroad museum
6 -Business
Meeting
9 -Natchaug School field
trip to museum
20 -Membership Meeting,
election of officers
November
3 -Business
Meeting
17-Membership Meeting
22 -Joint auction with
Textile Museum
December
8 - CT Eastern Train Show
Fall Train Show
Our fall
train show will be held on December 8th at Windham High
School from 10 AM to 3
PM. There will be
numerous vendors and several layouts. This is traditionally one of
our most important fund raisers. If you know of a vendor who
would be interested in coming or know of good places to post a show
flyer, give Joe Sokol a call at (860)872-2240.
Roundhouse Windows
The
Chapter recently received a $5000 grant for five roundhouse windows
from the State of Connecticut through the efforts of Senator Don
Williams. A total of 21
windows, plus a door and two round gable windows are needed. Individuals or groups who
wish to help us complete the roundhouse can purchase a window for
$1000. A plaque
acknowledging the donor(s) will be placed on the inside wall below
the corresponding window. So far, eleven windows have
been reserved, leaving only ten to be purchased. With windows going quickly,
don’t miss the opportunity to not only support the museum but
purchase a lasting piece of history. To reserve your window, send
a check for $1000, payable to “Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum”,
to P.O. Box 665, Willimantic, CT 06226. A
prototype window has already been installed. Come to the museum to see
it. It has two
undivided sashes. The
final version will have two sashes each divided into 9 panes. We will be ordering the
reserved windows soon.
Thanks to Dick Arnold, museum member and owner of Arnold
Millwork in Manchester, for dealing with the window company and for
subsidizing delivery.
What’s New at the Museum
Village Area:
The
passenger deck and milk platform in front of the Chaplin Station has
been constructed.
The Groton
Freight House is being painted.
Trackwork:
Track is
being laid for the Groton Freight House siding. This is 80# rail spiked to
ties without tie plates.
Ballast
base and ties have been laid at the East end up to gate 3 in
preparation for extending our North “main line” to Bridge
Street.
Site Work:
The Town of Windham filled and graded the gravel
road.
Sewer
upgrades in Willimantic have generated significant fill that is
being used to bring the West end of the museum up to final
grade.
Infrastructure:
Sewer lines
have been buried for our future visitors center, back shops, car
shops, and restoration building. A sewer connection to the
roundhouse is included.
Some
underground electrical conduit has been installed for the future
visitors center.
A telephone
line has been installed.
The museum number is 860-456-9999.
Museum in the News
The Hartford Courant, Tuesday, July 16, page B3
- A very nice “Areawide” article and photo about the museum
pump car by .
Mystic Valley Railway Society, Waybill Newsletter
-
Photos of museum visitors riding the pump car and
the 44-ton locomotive coupled to one of the New Haven passenger
cars.
Internet
http://photos.nerail.org/show/?byrail:1:Connecticut_Eastern_Railroad_Museum
- 31 color photos showing our museum grounds and
rolling stock. Also,
see the home page at http://www.nerail.org/.
Welcome to the Chapter
We welcome
the following new members who were voted into the chapter at the
September membership meeting:
Kelly Krupa &
Emory Rounds, Manchester, CT
Joe &
Yara Montminy, Glastonbury, CT
Treasurer’s Summary – August
By Jeff
Laverty
Income for
August totaled $3,893.12 and came primarily from individual
contributions, P&W excursion ticket sales, and the sales
department
Expenses
amounted to $3,779.48 and consisted primarily of P&W excursion
costs, move of our new flat car, repair of a bucket loader whose use
has been generously donated to the museum, and hookup of sewer lines
for future construction.
As of
August 31, cash on hand totaled $24,466.61.
CERR pump car
#94
Manufactured and
built by Ted Swol and Duke York in 1994
Currently used
for rides at the museum |
