2013 FRRS Board Elections – nominations open

Nominations are now open for the 2013 FRRS Board of Directors Election.

 

Below are some dates and procedure information that society members need to be aware of.  They are:

Jan 1 – Jan 31, 2013 – Open Nominations. During this time members can nominate themselves or another FRRS member as a candidate for one of the three seats.

Feb 1 – Feb 28, 2013 – Members nominated have this time to either accept their nominations or decline their nominations. Any candidate that does not notify the Election Chair in writing of their intent to withdraw from the election by Feb 28, 2013 will be on the 2013 ballot.

Mar 1- Mar 31, 2013 – Candidates have this time to send their written candidate statement to the Election Chair for inclusion in the ballot instructions.

April 15, 2013 – Ballot mailing, all ballots will be in the mail by this date.

May 25, 2013 – Ballot return deadline, all ballots must be in by this date or they will not be counted. Ballots will be counted May 31 and the results announced at the annual membership dinner at the museum on June 1, 2013.

There is a dedicated email address for the elections: election@wplives.org. For nominations, please contact Ron Huey, 2013 Election Chair, via the Elections email address or by postal mail at 2013 FRRS Elections, 4536 Meade Street Shasta Lake, CA 96019-9309.

2013 Western Pacific Railroad Historical Convention

The FRRS is pleased to announce the…

2013 Western Pacific Railroad Historical Convention
The Biggest and Best Ever

May 17 – 19, 2013 – Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Hosted by the California State Railroad Museum
Located in Old Sacramento, California

Featuring…
• Historic and Modeling Clinics
• Archive and Photo Exhibits
• Rare Film Footage from the Virgil Staff Collection
• Disney California Zephyr Exhibit
• Layout Tours
• Vendors and Special Guests
• Modeling Display and Competition
• Fantastic Banquet in the CSRM Roundhouse
• Special Train Ride and Reception aboard the Sacramento Southern
• Presentation and Discussion on the Future Direction of the FRRS – WPRRHS – WPRM
• Special Museum Tours and Events
• Our Ever Popular Raffle!

Fares…
Pre-Registration ending May 1, 2013:
• Combination Fare (convention and banquet): $80 for FRRS members, $90 for non members
• Convention only: $40 for FRRS members, $50 for non-members
• Banquet only (available until May 1): $45
Convention only after May 1 until May 15: $45 for FRRS members, $55 for non-members
Convention only at the door: $50 for FRRS members, $60 for non-members

note: There is no charge for non-rail spouses to attend the convention, but they need to be registered and have paid fare to attend the clinics, banquet and some special events.

Register on-line at http://convention.WPLives.org (starting Friday, Dec. 28)
or mail payments to: WP Historic Convention 2013, 12012 Gold Arbor Lane, Gold River, CA 95670

Non-members wishing to join FRRS can receive a 1 year Active membership for $15 more over cost of any non-member fare. This is a 50% discount over regular Active membership. As a special bonus, current members wishing to renew their Active memberships can also do so for 50% off ($25 extra) when they register.

Guest Speaker, Times, Clinic and Event Line-Up and more information will be announced soon. Convention info will be available at http://www.WPRRHS.org and http://www.WPLives.org

Closest hotels…
• Embassy Suites – Riverfront Promenade
• Holiday Inn – Sacramento Capitol Plaza
• Vagabond – Sacramento Old Town
• Delta King – on the river in Old Sacramento
• Hawthorn Suites
• Clarion
• Holiday Inn Express
• Sheraton

Scott McAllister, Convention Chair
eMail – convention@WPLives.org

Around the Museum, 9/2/2012

Hi Everyone! Yes, we’re way overdue for an update, but here’s one for you. After Railroad Days things began to slow down here at the museum. Summer is coming to a close, schools are going back into session, and so things have slowed down a bit here at the museum. Our volunteers who continue to keep up their participation are remaining busy seeing to ongoing repair and restorations projects as well as general upkeep of the facilities. Right now we are in the midst of the Labor Day Holiday weekend, and business has been great for us so far! Yesterday (Saturday) was busy but today was even busier. This weekend represents kind of our “last hurrah” for the summer, and it’s been great to see so many people coming over the last few days to enjoy our museum – if you are reading this and are among those who have come to visit us this weekend, we thank you so much for making this a great weekend for us! Volunteers helping out this weekend include Ethan Doty, Rick Gruninger, Loren Ross, Gail McClure, Stephanie Parker, Matt Parker, Matt Elems, Bob Sims, Bill Parker, and Fred Elenbaas. Some of us are fortunate enough to be spending this holiday weekend right here at the museum, enjoying the camaraderie of our fellow members – what a great way to spend a long weekend!

Guest blog

I just recieved a link and video to a wonderful blog post by Author Janet Dawson, who is writing a novel set on the “California Zephyr”.  In it, Ms. Dawson talks about a unique part of her research for her new book:  A “Run – A – Locomotive” experience at our museum.  If you’ve ever been “on the fence” about having your own RAL experience, check it out:

http://janetdawson.com/blog/?p=509

After you read through her blog post, check out the photos and video she posted HERE

Enjoy, and I look forward to reading her book when it comes out.  Should be a winner.

Tom

Portola Railroad Days Wrap-Up

. . .how can we even begin, as we wrap up a weekend like this?

Well, let’s start with a general observation. It is estimated that the crowd drawn to Portola Railroad Days was significantly less than last year. But, our business numbers were better than last year, which is great news!

The success of this weekend is the result of the selfless efforts of our core group of volunteers. Thank you so much to Gail McClure, Stephanie Parker, Deanna Fecko, Greg Elems, David Elems, Matt Elems, Loren Ross, Charlie Spikes, Ethan Doty, Jerry Richardson, Bob Sims, Rod McClure, Steve Habeck, Matt Shuman, Ron Huey, Alex Wilson, Burr Wilson, Ed Powell, Rick Gruninger, and Matt Parker. We always enjoy the company of Tim Carter, but it was particularly good to see him this weekend as he continues to recuperate from several recent surgeries. All of these volunteers combined their efforts to make this weekend the best of this summer for our museum! Again, thanks to all of you and to any others who may have been missed in this report!

The volunteers mentioned pitched in to tidy up the museum in preparation for all of the visitors we entertained this weekend. With their help, from Friday through today we ran caboose trains, gave motorcar rides, and conducted equipment tours to entertain our guests. Special visitor UP 6936, the last operating DDA-40X locomotive (a member of Union Pacific Railroad’s historic locomotive collection) was running and open for public tours.

The efforts of our hard working volunteers were rewarded Saturday evening with a barbecue dinner and live music under a spectacular Sierra sunset transcending into a star-filled sky. The music was provided by FRRS Member Rick Gruninger’s band, “Bad Neighbors.” A great time was had by all!

Many, many thanks to our hard-working volunteers and to those visitors who were able to join us for this event that marks another great success for the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola!

Around the Museum, 8/14/12

Isn’t it time for an update?

Portola Railroad Days is this weekend, Friday, August 17 through Sunday, August 19. Admission to the museum will be free during this event! We will be running trains all three days, and tickets must still be purchased for rides ($4 per person or $10 for a family of 4). Aside from the museum, there will be events going on all over town, so it will be a great weekend to visit Portola!

You may have heard that we have two large fires burning in the nearby forests. The smoke has not gotten bad here in Portola, however, it has been VERY thick in the lower portions of the Feather River Canyon along Highway 70 for the past two days.  Just something to keep in mind if you are travelling this way.

Around the museum, many of our volunteers have been working hard in these days leading up to the Railroad Days event, tidying the museum up in preparation for the expected influx of visitors this weekend. Perhaps the most noteworthy thing to mention is that WP 1503 (currently disguised as UPY 1042) was used to perform some switching chores around our yard – great news to hear that this locomotive is functional! In the same realm is that Master Mechanics Dave McClain and Dwight Whetstone were here today installing new rings in WP 501, moving toward getting this locomotive closer to being back in operation. This was the very first diesel electric locomotive purchased by the Western Pacific, so seeing it back in working order will be a fantastic accomplishment!

Other volunteers including Gail McClure, Matt Elems, David Elems, Rod McClure, Jerry Richardson, Charlie Spikes, Steve Habeck, and Loren Ross have been attending to our day-to-day business and seeing to general duties around the museum. Today, the large wooden table that came out of the dining car from the relief train with the Portola derrick was moved into the board room. Track 1 in the shop has been cleared off, and Matt Elems went to work with the Hotsy and a squeegee, cleaning the shop floor in this area. Matt Parker cleaned the shower car in preparation for all of the volunteers who will be joining us for this weekend. Thanks to all those folks as well as any others not mentioned here for their efforts in preparing us for what we expect to be a great weekend!

Around the Museum, 8/2/2012

It’s been a while. . .too long. . .since there’s been an update of goings-on at the museum. So finally, here’s one to try and catch up on museum happenin’s.

As last reported, there was a good turnout of volunteers for the summer work session on steam locomotive WP165. Many tasks were completed moving toward the locomotive’s reassembly and eventual return to operation. And all those participating had a great time, to boot!

The most noteworthy thing to report is that WP 1503 LIVES! This locomotive, the last diesel switch engine purchased by the Western Pacific, was donated to us by Union Pacific last year and arrived in Portola last December. Much mechanical work was done to locomotive by UP prior to its being placed in long-term storage a few years ago, so it was essentially fully operational when we received it. . .except that, when shop forces removed the auto-start system that had been installed in it, they cut all the wires and removed the cabinet, leaving the electrical system virtually in pieces. Well, on the Thursday during the steam work session, one of WPRM’s most favorite and renowned wrench enthusiasts, Seth Adams, showed up and went to work on the unit. Within a relatively short period of time, Seth had much of the electrical system back together and the unit ready to test-fire. After pre-lubing the engine as well as removing, cleaning, lubricating, and re-installing all the test valves, the engine was started. However, the governor would not run the engine on its own, the engine would only run if the fuel control was manually operated. Two days later, Seth returned, corrected that problem, and reported that unit was running and loading in both forward and reverse. WOOHOO!

Since that weekend, we have continued to entertain a steady stream of visitors and guests wishing to experience the thrill of operating a locomotive through the RAL program. Our volunteers tending to the Company Store have continued to stock the shelves with the outstanding line of railroad goodies that are proving vastly popular with our visitors. Matt and David Elems are working away at their adopted project, the internal restoration of WP caboose 428. Of late they have raided the gondola loaded with scrap steel, removing many pieces that they are fashioning into parts for the caboose. To see this kind of work ongoing here makes one feel that they are at the Jefferey Shops in Sacramento – WP’s large car shop that was torn down many years ago, where once the kind of work the Elems’ are doing here was an everyday norm. Way to go, guys!

It is now Thursday evening in Portola. The trash has been emptied in the crew lounge and the Company Store, the guest restrooms have been cleaned and stocked, the soda fountain has been iced and serviced. . .and our museum is ready for another outstanding weekend of entertaining our visitors and volunteers. BRING IT!!!!