by Rick Bivins, Chapter President
Hello Again Members. As I write this I cannot believe how quickly the month of January rolled into February. It just does not seem possible that yet another month has passed us by. My parents have always told me “time goes faster the older you get”. Well, I have to admit they are correct…again!
January’s meeting was a productive one, a few ideas were discussed, plans made, near record attendance and a great program. My Step Son Brian gave us an in-depth look at modern day railroading from a railroad employee’s perspective as opposed to a railfan’s. When I approached Brian two months ago about giving a talk he was very apprehensive and nervous. For one, he was afraid he would bore us to tears….wrong. He was afraid he wouldn’t have enough to talk about…wrong. He was afraid he would have difficulty speaking to a crowd…wrong. Brian did an excellent job communicating to us. He even surprised me with some of his witty-ness. He told me later he was nervous but found it easier to give the presentation than he thought it would be. As those of us in attendance can attest, his talk was never boring. And as for not having enough to talk about, well, Brian also told me there was so much more he wanted to tell us and didn’t get a chance to do so.
As an aside, he was impressed with Thomas Bryan’s knowledge of the railroad! I invited Brian to put his thoughts on paper and I promised I would get them in the news-letter if he does. One last note on the January program, I apologize for the video segment of the program not working out, I had planned to run our Neff Video HD Sub program in the back ground but I couldn’t find my copy (imagine that). Steve came to the rescue with a collection of YouTube videos that as we saw would not cooperate with the projection equipment. Bear in mind the said equipment is nearly twenty years old now and much out of date. I doubt it has been properly serviced in half as many years so we need to count our blessings. Video programs at the Station may now be iffy at best. Perhaps we should look into our own media equipment or plan on some other kind of programs.
To close, Matt Gentry is working on calling cards, Friday Night Live will be upon us soon, members are getting spring fever and any one, any member can arrange a railfan outing or meeting. Put your thinking caps on members and come up with something to do…and then step up to the plate and sponsor same.
Rick.