Staying on Track is published monthly by the LMRA - David Lamberts, editor.
Visit us on the Internet at http://www.railserve.com/lmra
E-mail me at DWL1944@cs.com
Our mailing address is PO Box 53674, Lubbock, TX 79453
It is time to registration for the June 13-16, 2002 LSR meeting in San Antonio. The registration fee (in advance) is $70.00 and $78.00 at the door. Children (12 and under) are $35.00 in advance. There are some rail tours also available. A Steel Mill Tour is $10.00, A Car Shop Tour is $5.00, and a special soldering clinic (limited to the first 15) is $15.00. The meeting will be held at the Doubletree Club Hotel, 1111 Loop 410 North, San Antonio. Their phone is 210 828-9031 (fax 210 828-3066). The rate is $70.00 (double) or $89.00 (suite) per night. You must mention the NMRA to get these rates. Since we are hosting the meeting in 2003, it would be great if as many of the members as possible made it to this meeting for some "O.J.T."
We received a nice plug in The Marker Lamp (Spring 2002) from Larry Redmond, the LSR convention chair. He writes:
At the just ended meeting of the Lone Star Region Officers and Directors, the site for the Lone Star Region 2003 Convention was selected. The Director of Division 5, Ron Kutch, offered a presentation on the probable program for the Convention. The Board members were pleased with what they heard and the consensus was that Ron and his committee should proceed with their planning
PETER AND DAVID'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
Peter Wierzba and I made it to Dallas in March to view the layout at the Children's Hospital. We had a good time and photographed the layout in Kodachrome, digital and video. We will present the information at the May meeting. The layout is very impressive.It is a two-story, eight-train, G-scale system alleged to be the largest permanent model train exhibit in the county. There is more than 1,000 feet of track. The scenery ranges from 16-foot mountains inspired by the majestic scenery of Arizona to the eight-foot replica of the Dallas skyline. The trains range from old steam engines to today's sleek modern diesels. An engineer visits Children's Hospital regularly to keep the trains running smoothly. The trains run at least 12 hours a day.
George Farr, president and CEO of Children's, originated the idea for the train scape. His love for trains began as a boy when his grandfather worked for the Southern Railroad in Mississippi. Dallas artist (now in Sante Fe) Malcolm Furrow directed the construction of the trainscape. While he is known for his model train layouts at the F.A.O Schwartz toy store in New York City and for his work on movie sets for Walt Disney, the Dallas Children's Hospital trainscape is his largest model train project.
The train scape was designed and built in approximately six months by a tam of local artists, engineers, construction workers and model train enthusiasts. The construction cost approximately $500,000.00 and was donated by the Maidie Bradford Goddard Foundation and the Noble Foundation of Oklahoma. The cost did not detract from the focus on health care. The money was donated specifically for the construction and maintenance of the train scape.
Peter and Dave would especially like to thank Paige Hilley for her patience and her help showing us the trainscape. She was gracious to a fault and very knowledgeable about the layout.
I recently received a letter regarding a journal called Live Steam. I don't know if this is a new journal or just a new ad to subscribe. The come-on is a free issue of Live Steam. The subscription rate is $37.95 for five issues for a year. I will bring the letter with me to the next meeting if anyone is interested.
Dues for the year 2002 are due - now. This is the end of the "grace" period. If your dues are not paid at the April meeting, we remove your name from the member list and, perish the thought, stop the newsletter. Don't let this happen to you! The treasurer accepts dues any way but credit cards. Or you can just mail dues to the club postbox.
These from Bob Batson.
I found each of your e-mail addresses through the NMRA web site. I am writing to explore potential interest in a special project. I'm sure most of you know that Richard Meyer is retiring and closing Champ Decals. I have been in contact with him regarding production of decals for HO scale steam-era boxcars of the Nacionales de Mexico. Now, I realize that not too many nut cases model the N de M. However, there has always been a certain amount of interchange traffic with the N de M, particularly in south Texas.
Champ never offered N de M freight car decals during its 62 years, so a reprint is not an option. I have original artwork already prepared; one sheet will letter four cars with unique road numbers and build dates. Richard has indicated that he can work with me on this. The issue is cost. As the man says, "ain't gonna be cheap." But it can be reasonable. If you or anyone in your club has an interest in N de M, please let me know within the next couple of weeks. If I can give Richard a large enough order, four-car sheets would probably cost $16.00, possibly more, possibly less. That's $4.00 a car for Champ's usual high quality and some freight cars that will be very unusual.
Hal Williams c4racer@aol.com
I am still seeking images of the ATSF depot in Lubbock, TX circa 1970. Do you have any photos from track side? Know where I might find any? John Lott did NOT have any photos of the depot, after all. I am after the ATSF depot circa 1970. Check out my new web site www.swphq.com
Doyle doyle@intrstar.net
By Bill Marvel as published in the Dallas Morning News
They may not be the Dead Sea Scrolls or Shakespeare manuscripts, but stored in three trailers standing in the middle of an Oklahoma scrap yard is a cache of historic railroad documents that nobody seems to want.
Old ledger books, canceled checks, annual reports, track charts and maps, daily logs, train orders and other ephemera, the collection is virtually a daily record of the comings and goings of the Katy Railroad for a good part of the 20th century. The documents - 120 boxes of them - date from the 1920s to 1989, the year the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad was gobbled up by Union Pacific and vanished from Texas history
That year John Zimmerman, then 17, accompanied his father, Rick, a Chouteau, Oklahoma scrap dealer, on a business trip to the Sherman Denison area. Business done, the younger Zimmerman says, his father needed a trailer to haul some scrap back to Chouteau.
Mr. Zimmerman recalls that a paper recycling plant was across the street from where his father was doing business, and in its yard were three tractor-trailer rigs. "We went over and asked if we could buy them or lease them," he says, "and the old boy in charge said, ÔWell, you can, but the paper inside has to be shredded."
"We only needed the trailers for three days so he let us store the papers in his warehouse." To their surprise the trailers contained the history of a railroad. Both of Mr. Zimmerman's grandfathers had worked for the railroad, he says. He and his father were both railroad buffs. And the Katy's Kansas City-Fort Worth mainline ran right past the scrap yard in Chouteau.
"And so Dad offered a price for the three trailers and their contents and bought the whole thing. Then we reloaded them and brought them home." Mr. Zimmerman has no idea how many tons of documents the trailers contain, but there's a whole lot of paper.
"As we crossed the state line a local cop pulled us over and made us go to the scales. The truth was, we thought we were overweight." The first truck was within limits, "but we dodged scale stations all the way home" on the next trips. The two Zimmermans parked the trailers and tarred and sealed them to keep water out. "They've been sitting on our property at Chouteau ever since. We originally bought the collection partly with the idea that some day a museum might want it," he says. But, so far, it hasn't turned out that way.
The club bought 13 vests a few months ago, thanks to the efforts and good work of Joe and Be-Ann Faherty. We are selling them at cost for $20.00. Joe brings the vests with him to all the meetings. We need to sell the rest of them as soon as possible. Please buy a vest. You can decorate it any way you want with pins and iron-on badges.