CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE
Don Payne and Bob Batson have provided us with the rules of the Christmas gift exchange for the December meeting. They are as follows:Each gift will be laid out on a table in the front of the room.
Each participant will draw a number written on a slip of paper. Only those who bring a gift will get to draw a number.
Number one will start.
Number one will pick a gift off the table, unwrap it, and show it to the room.
Number two will go next. Number two can either pick another gift off the table, or take number one's gift. If number two takes the gift from number one, number one will go back to the table and pick another gift.
Number three will go next. The exact same rules apply as outlined in 4 - 5 above.
A gift can only have three "owners." It will belong permanently to the third "owner." For example, if number one picks a structure kit off the table, and two decides to take it from one and three decides to take it from two, then three is the third "owner" and becomes the permanent owner. The gift can no longer change hands.
At the end of the exchanges, number one, who originally had no chance to pick another gift, will now choose (if desired) any gift which does not reside with its third (permanent) owner.
The gifts should be related to railroading or model railroading.
Although there is no strict money limit on the price of a gift, remember the golden rule; bring a gift that you would enjoy receiving. The gift need not necessarily be new. A well-built structure or piece of rolling stock will be fine.
Have fun.
I received a note from Lynne G. Kuhn of the Amarillo railroad club notifying us of a model train sale and swap on Saturday, December 9, 2000. She writes:
This would be a great way to sell or trade the extra items in your collection or add new - you can never have too many trains!! If you have train-related articles to sell or trade, please consider this event. Be sure to mark your calendar to stop in even if you do not rent a table.
Reserved tables are $10.00 each.
Yes, it is that time of the year. Membership dues for 2001 are due this month. The good news is that dues have not been raised, and for the next year are again $12.00 for a single membership and $18.00 for a family. The treasurer will have his table set up in the usual place before, during and after the meeting for your convenience. This is a great bargain. Pay with a smile!
By Laurence Arnold
Associated Press Writer
Washington (AP) - America's first bullet train pulled out of Union station on time Thursday morning [November 16] carrying VIPs and the long-term hopes for Amtrak and high-speed rail service in the U.S."Every generation is marked by breakthroughs that profoundly affect our society," said Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, the chairman of Amtrak. "The launch of Acela Express is one of those truly defining moments."
Thompson shattered a bottle of California champagne on the train's distinctive tapered nose in a christening ceremony right before the departure, showering those nearby with bubbly.
Packed end to end with special guests including federal officials, business leaders and 15 students from a technology high school in Philadelphia, the train was expected to break Amtrak speed records during its trip.
The Acela Express, powered by two locomotives and including five passenger cars and a café car, was to reach 135 mph during a two-hour, 28 minute trip to New York and 150 mph during a three-hour, 15 minute run to Boston.
When regular passenger service in the Northeast begins Dec. 11, America finally will have a rail line comparable to the high-speed train service common in Europe and Japan. Amtrak officials and rail enthusiasts hope favorable publicity will increase the demand for similar high-speed lines elsewhere in the country.
Acela Express will cut about one half-hour off the current Metroliner service between Washington and New York and about 45 minutes off the New York to Boston trip.
A one-way coach ticket between Washington and New York will be $143, up from $122 on Metroliner. Travel between New York and Boston will cost $120, compared to $57 on conventional Amtrak trains, which will continue to run in the Northeast Corridor.
Speed is not the only attraction of Acela Express. Passengers remarked about the spacious restrooms, oversized windows and brightly colored blue-and-purple seats. Audio service is available at each seat. The café car includes bar stools and serves beer on tap.
Amtrak and high-speed rail advocates have much riding on Acela Express. If it's a success, it will boost Amtrak's revenues and could lead to other high-speed trains elsewhere in the country.
If it fails, however, Acela Express could be the swan song for Amtrak, the federally subsidized railway that is under orders from Congress to become financially self-sufficient by 2003. Amtrak is relying on the service to earn $180 million a year.
Once a leader in rail travel, the United States has fallen decades behind other countries. Japan's Shinkansen trains, introduced just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, regularly hit 186 mph and have reached maximum speeds of 275 mph in test runs. France's TGV trains, launched in the late 1960s also cruise at 186 mph.
In the United States, the top speed for most passenger trains outside the Northeast Corridor - the area between Washington and Boston where tracks have been modernized - is 79 mph.
Acela Express operates with a sensor-driven tilt system that allows the train to maintain high speeds through curves. Problems with the tilt technology, along with premature wheel wear, forced a delay in plans to begin Acela Express in October 1999.
Amtrak received the first of 20 eight-car train sets last month from the consortium building Acela Express - Canada's Bombardier Transportation and France's Alstom Ltd. All 20 trains should be in service by next summer.
JANUARY 20 - 21, 2001 - Annual Dallas Area Train Show. Plano Center, 2000 East Spring Creek Parkway, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm. Admission is $5.00, free for kids under 12. Contact Bob Bray c/o LMRA 3400 Bryant Irvin Road, Forth Worth, TX 76109
MARCH 3 - 4, 2001 - Longview Model Train Show. Fairgrounds Exhibit Building, off Highway 31 on Jaycee Drive. Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Sunday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Admission $5.00, free for kids under 12. Contact Homer Fleischer, J.E.T.T.S., PO Box 6704, Longview, 75608; 903 753-9512
JULY 8 - 15, 2001. NMRA National Convention and Train Show. Contact the Registrar, Gateway 2001, PO Box 6846, Chesterfield, MO 6306. The web page is http://www.gatewaynmra.org,. The e-mail address is mailto:registration@gatewaynmra.org,.
Durango, Colo. (AP) - A steam powered locomotive may help Rocky mountain bighorn sheep regain a foothold in Colorado's wilderness.
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has offered to haul about 20 bighorn sheep for free into the Animas river Gorge, about 225 miles southwest of Denver.
The railroad is the only mechanized ground travel to that area, and a two-hour train ride would be less stressful for the animals than transporting them by sling-suspension via a helicopter, district wildlife manager Drayton Harrison said.
The 118-year-old railroad, built to haul gold and silver ore, is one of the last remaining segments of narrow-gauge track still in use in the West. It operates year-round as a tourist attraction.
The bighorn sheep could travel as early as January, when the wildlife division hopes to introduce a herd of Colorado's official mammal in the gorge.