Next Meeting Monday, June 28, 2010 at 7:00 pm
L&N Depot, Madisonville, KY
June Program By Chuck Hinrichs
25 Years in Western Kentucky
Refreshments By Danny Koeber
Month: June 2010
Submitted by Chuck Hinrichs
NEW ORLEANS — A CSX train conductor was shot and killed in a robbery early Sunday, police said. It happened near Marshall Foch Street and Florida Boulevard on the Norfolk Southern Railroad just after 12:30 a.m. New Orleans Police Department officials said the train was traveling west when it came to stop due to traffic delays. That’s when police said the gunman got on board, shot at the conductor and ran. The 52-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.
FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF RAILFANS ONLY
WKNRHS – June 28, Chapter Meeting in Madisonville, L&N Depot.
WKNRHS – July 26, Chapter Meeting in Madisonville, L&N Depot.
Chapter Fall Picnic at Crofton – Saturday, October 9, 2010, noon until ?
Next month, look for information covering shirt orders with the Western Kentucky Chapter NRHS logo. Shirt types range from T-shirts, sweat shirts, and golf or polo style. Colors options and other details will be forthcoming in next month’s issue of “The PennyRail”.
A follow up on my layout photographs in May’s newsletter.
My health physically prevents me from working on my newest layout in the basement of our new home. No matter how long I have here on this earth I hope to have a train layout. I really didn’t know what to do about accomplishing the building etc. of this layout. I did realize that there is nothing wrong with using my head to build and design. I’m sure several of the members have several hilarious antidotes that could go along with using my head. I started to have some club guys come and build the layout. But, I know when you get a group of railroad guys designing a layout you will get as many ideas as there are guys present. At that rate I would never get anything completed and certainly not the way I wanted it to. I will however will call upon my good friend Rich Hane’s electronic skills to wire the track system. The main wiring will be brought out to a trough with a hinged lid mounted on the front of the layout with all the electrical connections very easy to attach using twist nuts.
I hired two guys that weren’t familiar with model railroads. This has worked out great. There is just one idea and that’s mine. If that doesn’t work the it easy to lay the blame on myself. My workers are really good about tearing out something that they have just built and redoing it without complaints. The layout will be about 6 or seven tracks wide. There will be HO-Gauge, 3rail O-Gauge, S-Gauge and G-Gauge tracks. It will be mainly a simple mulit-operating track system so I can operate many different scales of trains. That proves that I’m just a Kiddies Loop runner, throw down a loop of track with a train and run them trains until the wheels fall off.
The O-Gauge track will have 0-72, 054, 027 curves. The G-Gauge will be a 4′ radius curve. The rest will be what ever will fit and I may be required to use flex track here. The track will very few switches or may have none at all. The layout will be scenic with trees etc. The track bed is 3/8″ plywood that is well braced in order to prevent sagging. It is covered with a 5/8″ carpet foam. With the foam the sound will be will cut down and the rubber padding will hold the track in place and it will not have to be nailed to the plywood. This is the way my old layout was built and it worked great. There is a 34″ lift gate so to gain entrance to the interior of the layout. We hope to have trains operating within 6 weeks.
I miss being with you guys. The Newsletter really keeps me informed.
Large-R
Ron Stubblefield
CINCINNATI RAILROAD CLUB and MIAMI VALLEY RAILFANS Presen
SUMMERAIL AT C.U.T.
1:00 PM to 10:00 PM and RAILROAD SHOW AND SALE
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, in the Rotunda
Saturday, August 14, 2010
CINCINNATI UNION TERMINAL
1301 Western Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio
Join us at this historic art deco railroad terminal to escape the summer heat and enjoy a day of high quality railroad photography. There will be twelve 222 multimedia digital and dual-projector slide presentations, all set to music. The programs will run from 1:00 – 10:00 p.m., with a break for dinner (on your own) from approximately 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. Admission is $15.
A railroad show and sale will be set up in the terminal rotunda from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. Friday August 13 in CUT Auditorium will be some traditional “talkie” programs from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Admission is free. Thursday August 12 in Tower A will be the Cincinnati Railroad Club’s monthly business meeting at 8:00 p.m. Admission is free.
Indiana Railway Museum recently acquired former Indiana Railroad GP 16 number 1813 as part of a donation/purchase arrangement with the Indiana Railroad. – Chris Dees
CSX won permission from the National Surface Transportation Board to discontinue service on the 62-mile Bedford-to-New Albany (IN) line as of May 7, following a March 5 hearing in Salem. The only active shipper on the line — L. Thorn Co., a Floyd County manufacturer of bricks, stone and concrete masonry — hadn’t used it at all in 2009, according to board documents. – Chuck Hinrichs
BOSTON (Reuters) – Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) agreed to buy a U.S. maker of railroad locomotives on Tuesday for $820 million in cash, expanding its rail business from service into new engine manufacturing.
The world’s largest maker of heavy equipment said it was buying Electro-Motive Diesel, which last year generated $1.8 billion in revenue, from private equity firms Berkshire Partners LLC and Greenbriar Equity Group LLC. The new business will be a part of Caterpillar’s Progress Rail operation, which will now compete more directly with General Electric Co (GE.N), another major U.S. maker of locomotives.
The deal is expected to close by the year’s end. Demand for railroad locomotives has been weak of late, as the recession lowered demand for transportation of all sorts of bulk commodities.
However, U.S. railroads including No. 1 Union Pacific (UNP.N) in recent months have begun to report rebounding profits as volumes begin to grow after a two-year slump. Union Pacific last month said it aimed to boost its capital spending budget this year to $2.6 billion, planning to spend that on intermodal equipment, which enables trains to carry equipment that can also travel by ship and truck. – Chuck Hinrichs
MADISON, Tenn. — The depot that country music star Johnny Cash saved from demolition will open as a visitors center June 3 in the Nashville suburb of Madison. The 1910 Louisville & Nashville Amqui Station is located at 301 Madison Street; the grand opening celebration will run from 5:30 until 7 p.m.
The station served as many as 40 to 50 daily trains at its peak, but by the 1970s, it had fallen into disrepair. Cash was given the station in 1979 and moved it to his property in Hendersonville, Tenn., then restored it to display his collection of railroadiana. When Cash died in 2003, Halo Properties purchased the station and donated it to the city of Madison. It was moved back to the city in 2006 and was situated near its original site. A $1 million restoration began last October. The visitors center will feature a museum dedicated to the connection between music and railroads. – Chuck Hinrichs
For Sale: a very limited number of the Earlington Bee Newspaper Coal Mining and Railroad Supplement are still available. This special supplement was printed December 3, 1903. This 49 page supplement is printed in magazine style on 11×16 inch heavy stock paper.
The edition contains ten chapters. Three chapters devoted to the L&N Railroad Henderson Division, including over 75 bios on railroad employees at Earlington. Bios cover jobs worked, longest time on duty without rest, and fastest running time on the division, etc.
Other chapters cover history of Western Kentucky coal fields, leading coal companies in the area and bios of the leaders in the coal business. Another chapter covers the history of Earlington. Many photographs are provided, giving readers a look at life in Western Kentucky during the early 1900’s.
Twenty Three pages are devoted to ads for business in Earlington, Madisonville, and Evansville. A must buy for new and or out-of-state members. The cost of the 1903 Earlington Bee supplement is $10.00 each, plus $6.00 postage and handling. Proceeds from sales go to the Earlington Schools Reunion Association. Make checks payable to Dennis J. Carnal. Mail orders to Dennis Carnal, 704 Choctaw Drive, Madisonville, KY 42431. Phone 270-584-5491.
Murrel Hogue was a fellow NRHS member, mileage collector, traveling companion with several Madisonville chapter members, and former Amtrak agent at Texarkana, TX. Many of his fellow mileage collectors would purchase Amtrak tickets through the Texarkana agency in order to support and keep the depot open.
Murrel’s many friends in railroading have discussed options for some permanent recognition of Murrel’s years of service and enthusiastic support for rail passenger service.
A bronze plaque is being prepared designating the Texarkana waiting room as the “Murrel Edward Hogue, Jr. Memorial Waiting Room.” A ceremony is planned to fomalize this designation, with a tentative date of August 28, 2010 in Texarkana. Once this date is finalized, additional details will be announced. It is hopeful that many of Murrel’s friends might be able to attend.
Contributions toward the cost of this memorial plaque may be sent to:
Griff Hubbard
1270 Brandywine Drive
Longview, TX 75601
With Best Regards,
Chris Dees
Continue to remember Ron Stubblefield and Jim Finley in your prayers. Tom Johnson’s wife, Georgeann, received a great report from her last doctor visit. No cancer in the lymph nodes! She will undergo precautionary radiation treatments for six weeks. Tom thanks all for your prayers.
May 31st – June 1st 1886 all the rail lines in the South, including the IC, were converted to standard gauge from the various gauges in use until then. 11,000 miles of rail were switched in 24 hours. Pretty impressive. – submitted by Chuck Hinrichs
by President, Rich Hane
Those of you that made it down to the train station in Hopkinsville for our May meeting were treated to an interesting program hosted by Wallace Henderson. The setting was beautiful, several trains came bye, and the evening was a lot of fun.
The recent floods have severely impacted the Kentucky Railway Museum (KRM) with sections of track heavily damaged and 40 inches of water in the model train center. As of May 15th the train rides have resumed on a modified basis with the trains going to New Hope, KY. The Days out with Thomas the Tank Engine were held on June 5-6 and June 12-13. The train track, museum, and model train center are all in need of volunteers to help restore this wonderful train museum and donations are urgently needed since insurance and FEMA funds will only pay a portion of the repairs needed. You can contact them at 502-549-5470, email at kyrail@bardstown.com and website at kyrail.org. They do a great job of presenting the history and equipment of railroads and are in need of our help. The museum and train rides are a nice way to introduce young people to the great tradition of American railroading. There is a nice variety of diesel and steam powered trains and some well preserved passenger cars.
I am looking forward to seeing all of your smiling faces at our next meeting at The Center here in beautiful downtown Madisonville at 7pm on Monday, June 28th.
Copies of the new book Kentucky and the Illinois Central Railroad are now on sale at Walgreens Drug Stores in Madisonville, KY. These 128-page soft-cover books contain around 200 photographs. Some taken in Madisonville area including West Yard. Books are priced at 21.95. Save postage by buying one at Walgreens in Madisonville.