GOLDEN SPIKE
US PROTOTYPE MODEL RAILROADERS OF AUSTRIA

US MODEL RAILROADING - ATSF 1999 Convention

A model railroad related journey to the USA
July 31st - August 14th, 1999

Franz Reichl

(A Dutch version of this report has been published in "Modelspoorwegen", Jaargang 30, December 1999, pp.14-22).

In early August, I had to go to Madison/Wisconsin for business reasons, and I was able to combine this trip with model railroad related activities, especially with attending the Santa Fe convention in Denver and with visiting a fellow model railroader in Virginia - to discuss with him, use his library, go train watching together (we e.g. saw two 12 wheel diesel units pulling more than 170 "Bethgon" gondolas with coal on the old Norfolk & Western mainline across the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River, en route to the coaling piers at Lamberts Point in Norfolk, Virginia), to do soem sightseeing, to visit Chuck Davis' H0 "Lehigh Valley Railroad, Wyoming Division" and to eat crab in several varieties.

After a long delay at New York's JFK Airport, I arrived in Chicago after midnight (local time, which would already have been morning in Europe where I had started 24 hours before). According to my perception, the weather was very hot, but many people soon convinced me that I was lucky to have arrived just after the end of a terrible heat wave which has caused the death of several hundred persons.

Rails of Summer '99 Model Railroad Show

On several model railroad lists in the Internet, "Northwest Trainmasters" had announced their "Rails of Summer '99" exhibition and presentation; the club used the gymnasium of a high school in Elk Grove Village (northwestern Chicago area) to display and operate its own large modular layout and to provide room for a few other layouts.

As president of a US model railroading club at that time designing a modular layout, it was especially interesting to see a modular pike which follows a combination of FREMO and NMRA standards with transition modules between the standards actually operating.

My first activity after a few hours of sleep thus brought me to this show where I received several interesting impressions.

ATSF Convention "The Navajo", Denver/Colorado

The Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society (SFRH&MS) held its 1999 annual convention "The Navajo" from Thursday, August 5th to Sunday, August 8th in the southern outskirts of Denver (where commuting is a major problem - I was very happy about my decision to rent another car to drive around between the various places of activity and the many "self guided" - i.e. "find your own transportation" - events). The conventionīs theme train "The Navajo" was a daily Chicago to San Francisco economy train which ran from 1915 to 1940 with a connection to Denver at La Junta (and later at Emporia, KS).

Approximately 250 Santa Fe fans and modelers convened to exchange information on history, experiences and stories. Among the many activities during the convention were clinics, layout tours, modeling and photo contest, a vendor room and swap tables, an excursion to the Colorado Railroad Museum and the banquet hosting even 300 participants. The convention chair Dave Kampsnider and his team did a marvelous job to organize everything for this large crowd on an all volunteer basis.

After an excursion to the "Georgetown Loop" railway (which I didn't attend - I have been there already some years earlier, and decided to spend a lot of money at Caboose Hobbies instead), a barbecue picnic at Heritage Square south of Golden provided the possibility to meet personally with Santa Fe fans from all over the world.

Caboose Hobbies

Caboose Hobbies claims (IMHO correctly) to be the world's largest model railroading shop - I was really overwhelmed by the variety and quantity of their offerings: they carry over 300.000 items at 18.000 square feet (1.672 square meters) of floor space; especially interesting is the brass department with more than 1.500 brass models in stock, served by 6 expert sales associates; in total, Caboose Hobbies has more than 50 employees.

For me as a modeler who lives several thousands of miles away from his favorite prototype railway, Caboose Hobbies also provided very interesting sources of information among the over 1.000 different titles of new books and more than 300 video titles they carry, not to mention the used books.

An Open House was held at their store especially for the Santa Fe Society on Thursday evening, with special discounts for convention attendees. I found many additional possibilities to spend even more money!

Clinics

During Friday and Saturday, an outstanding group of people shared their skills and knowledge and offered a variety of clinics for Santa Fe modelers and historians. Several clinics were running in parallel; I decided to concentrate on the more model related ones.

Maintainance of Way and Work Trains (Joe McMillan)

Joe McMillan was working as a trainmaster for ATSF in Arizona and took many photos from the mid 60s to the mid 70s. In his clinics he explained different maintenance activities and showed slides of many items of maintenance of way equipment used - together with very informative explanations; e.g.:

• tie replacement: inspection was done by an employee who walked 5 to 10 miles per day and marked the ties to be replaced; a special tie unloader kicks out new ties from a rolling work train; very specialized equipment rips out the old ties, pushes in the new ones, spikes the rails, ballasts and aligns the track; Jordan spreaders were also used to shape the ballast again
• rail laying: new rails were first slided from cars and placed between the existing rails; after pulling the spikes, (nowadays, tracks are ripped out in one piece) and putting wooden stubs into the holes and breaking off their tops, new rails are put in and at a specific temperature permanently controlled by propane heating and water cooling, rails are welded together
• rail grinding with Speno cars at 1.7 miles/hour
• Jordan Spreaders were used to cut off ballast to guide water flow, but also as snow plows
• sand between rail and tie plates had to be blown away (former passenger cars were equiped for the job); planting trees now helps to reduce the problem
• railroad cranes had been used to re-rail cars (nowadays they don't exist any more)
• photographs showed lots of other MoW cars from the 60s and 70s, e.g. steam and diesel derricks, pile drivers, rail detector cars, accomodation for crews, ice and water cars, intertrack plows, wheel cars, snow plows etc.

Using SFRH&MS Car Kits (Paul Tucker, Scott Kraus)

This clinic provided information on car kits offered by the "Society" and on how to use them to make prototypical models of lightweight passenger cars.

In 1994, Bob Ellis started to produce brass etched passenger car sides for the society, to be used with Eastern Car Works "core kits". Currently available are:

• Pullman Early 8-2-2 Sleeper "Tolchico"
• Pullman 2861-2911 Series 44 seat coach as built for El Capitan
• Pullman 10-3-2 (10 roomette, 3 bedrooms, 2 compartments) "Blue" Series Sleeper (1950 Super Chief, later in general service)
• 1566-77 Lunch/Counter/Diner: 2 of them ran in each El Capitan consist
• Pullman Early 4-4-2 "Hotevilla", Mojave Series Sleeper (not yet available)
• 8 car Super Chief set, 1953 consist (as described by Andy Sperandeo in the August 1993 Model Railroader):
  ACF RPO #82-88
  ACF Baggage #3453-3466
  ACF 10-6 Palm Series Sleeper
  ACF 4-4-2 Regal Series Sleeper
  Pullman #500-506 Pleasure Dome Bar Lounge
  Pullman Diner #600-606
  Pullman Dorm Lounge # 1339-1344
  Pullman 4-1 Vista Sleeper Lounge Observation
• extra cars for the Super Chief consist

Important sources for prototype research:

• Frailey: "Santa Fe Consists" (late 40s to 70/71): out of print (I was able to find Robert J. Wayner's more general book on "Passenger Train Consists 1923-1973" which contains only a few Santa Fe trains from different eras)
• System Time Tables: Ticket Agent Editions (some of them are still available at swap meets; I could so far find a 1958 ticket agent's edition and a 1953 traveler's edition)
• Randall/Rose: "Official Pullman Standard Library, vol. 1 Santa Fe" (while some of the other volumes can still be found, it is very unlikely that there can ever be a reprint of the Santa Fe volume, since the original has been stolen; used copies can be found for extraordinary prices)
• System Circular/Passenger Equipment (e.g. 244-P, November 1952) lists passenger cars, similar to an ORER
• Frank Ellington, Joe W. Shine: "Santa Fe Railway Passenger Car Reference Series - Volume one: Head End Cars" (the book has just - 1999 - been re-published by the SFRH&MS)
• Andy Sperandeo: "The Super Chief", Model Railroader, August 1993

The presenters explained how to construct models from the kits. An important decision is whether the car will be painted (5-6 parts Microscale gloss plus 1 part flat) or the plated side only treated (which will result in a not unprototypical contrast between sides and roof). Roofs, ends and floor come from the Eastern Car Works "core kit" which has been designed for use with thicker sides; thus, sides have to be shimmed, and the shimming has to be square, since it will also act as the floor brace. 0.040" clear styrene should be used for shimming the sides and also provide for window glazing - Eastern Car Works has announced to provide such window strips, and meanwhile the SFRH&MS is also selling some. Roof tabs have to be cut.

While building the dome car is complicated, building the observation car is even more complicated, Tucker and Kraus recommend to build the other kits from the Super Chief Set first; it is recommended to start building the observation car from the non-observation end and to use the Eastern Car Works end door.

Many recommendations for the use of appropriate detail parts and accessories have been given in the clinics (e.g. American Ltd. operating diaphragms or IHC diaphragms, Detail Associates grabs, Cal Scale mail catcher for the RPO). These recommendations shall soon be available on the Internet.

Since development costs (mainly to prepare etching) are only around US$ 300, the break even point is already reached with approximately 30 cars sold. In the future, we will thus see several new kits. Under development are a 17 roomette lightweight car and also a heavyweight Baggage Car (since the developers are not completely satisfied with the ECW core kit, this will probably be designed for a Rivarossi car, but Rivarossi models will have to be lowered).

For me, this clinic was "mouth watering", and I could not resist to buy a kit of the 10-3-2 to try out what I learned there - I will keep you informed on the progress of building it.

Quick Kitbashing of Santa Fe Rolling Stock (Steve Priest)

Steve Priest has published books on Santa Fe freight cars, and during the clinics he presented photographs of some of his models. As a basis for kitbashing models mainly from the 70s, he uses currently available models; these are quickly converted to match Santa Fe prototypes. The resulting models are "quick kitbashes" - not exact replicas of the prototypes but close enough to represent their prototypes well; many of these models are slightly reworked (removed roof walks, reworked ribs, replaced doors) and repainted or relettered, while others are more heavily reworked (raised roof, ...).

Steve also explained the meaning of colors for Santa Fe freight cars of this time period to reflect different types of service (e.g. red for damage free equipment). Among the most interesting models is a moving burro crane (motorized from a reworked GE 44-tonner drive mechanism).

At the end of his presentation he also showed photographs from his double deck layout, the "Emporia Sub": the lower level provides for switching opportunities, while the upper (which is max. 6" wide) is designed for train running; the layout fits into a garage providing space for a car nose below it.

Kitbashing Passenger Cars (Steve Mudd)

On his H0 "Great Plains and Western Railway", Steve Mudd runs Santa Fe passenger trains of the late 40s and early 50s with PFM Northerns, Hudsons, and Pacifics. Rivarossi heavyweight passenger cars show Santa Fe design characteristics (e.g. footrails in casting, bows, double pane windows, ends, doors); the Rivarossi diner and cafe-observation cars depict Santa Fe prototypes without needing major rebuilding.

In his clinics, Steve Mudd explained how he built up a Santa Fe fleet of transition era passenger and express equipment based on cheap models obtained from swap meets; at least the following ATSF heavyweight passenger cars can be kitbashed from the Rivarossi three window combine: techniques for building approximately 9; from

• lounge-observation
• chair cars
• horse express cars
• 8-1-2 Pullman
• 10-1-2 Pullman
• 14 or 16 berth tourist cars,
• and a 12-1 "Centwell" Pullman can be built with addition of Don Valentine's NERS (New England Rail Services) window sets and air condition duct kits.

Recommended research includes:

• an article in the former S.F.M.A. magazine "High Iron"
• a Walthers passenger car book: list of Santa Fe Pullmans
• the "Mainline Modeler" Booklet on passenger cars
• the recently republished book by Frank Ellington and Joe Shine on ATSF Head End Cars

Steve Mudd gave many details on various techniques he applied for his kitbashing, e.g.:

• knocking out windows or cutting 6-panel doors to 4-panel doors, e.g. for the buffet library cars, betterment cars, horse express cars, 60' storage mail (4 and 6 panel door), 60' Postal Baggage (6 and 3 panel door)
• roofs have to be cut carefully, since they are made from clear styrene and thus break easily
• windows are cut with a chisel blade, longer sequences of windows are made in parts
• flat ends have been built for the horse cars
• a thin paste from talkum powder and cyanoacrylate is used as putty
• a specific cutting and assembly fixture was built from cheap wooden blocks to hold the car bodies during cutting and for assembly

Steve Mudd uses Rivarossi trucks and Kadee wheelsets. Color is mixed from 20 oz green, 20 oz yellow, and a few drops of black. Decals come from the Micro Scale Santa Fe head end car set.

Steve also mentioned lightweight car kitbashing (from Athearn, ConCor models); he puts the splices in areas without fluting.

	mudda.jpg: Steve Mudd during his clinic on Passenger Car Kitbashes showing his cutting and assembly fixture built from cheap wooden blocks
	mudd2.jpg: Steve Mudd Passenger Car Kitbash photo from his layout
	mudd3.jpg: Steve Mudd Passenger Car Kitbash photo from his layout
	mudd1a.jpg: Steve Mudd Passenger Car Kitbashes photo from his clinic
	mudd3a.jpg: Steve Mudd Passenger Car Kitbash photo from his clinic

Oral History, How to Interpret (Sandra Clark)

Sandra Clark explained how to collect authentic, reliable and useful information from oral interviews. Suggestions and techniques for conducting a successful oral history interview were presented together with rules and checklists. During the clinics, ethics and principles behind oral history have been discussed.

Researching Railroad Information Using the Internet (Michael Clark)

Many new sources of information are now available to assist Santa Fe fans to find information on historic railroad activities and new developments. Michael Clark( (clarkmi7@pilot.msu.edu) reported about

• hubs (link collections to other sites):
  ATSF Internet Resource Center
  Q-Station
  
• authorities (citing from other sites)
  Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society
• meta searches (search among the search results from different search engines):
  even the best search engines hit only 11% of the sites
• software to test links (shareware search engines, testing changes)
• other interesting, Santa Fe related sites:
  Kansas State Historical Society
  Santa Fe Subjects
  Cajon Pass Group
  Cajon Pass Photo Tour
  Denver Public Library (photography collection)
  The Sanborn Map Company (trackplans, aereal photographs, downloadable samples)
  University of Kansas - Railroads in Kansas
  Clara's

There is also an e-mail discussion list for Santa Fe topics (SANTAFE@CRCVMS.UNL.EDU) which I personally think to provide very valuable information, especially for us non-US resident Santa Fe fans.

Other Clinics

Due to lack of time and availability of other interesting clinics and activities, I was unable to attend the following clinics:

• History of the Joint Line:
  Steve Patterson gave an overview of the historic "Joint Line" between Denver and Pueblo; he explained the history of the line and how it was operated, and he also included slides.
• Rails among the Cimarron:
  Joe Cammalleri gave a preview of a forthcoming book on the Eastern Oaklahoma Railway, a subsidiary of the Santa Fe in the Guthrie, Oklahoma area. His clinc was very detailed; he explained the line with aerial and satellite photos and maps, and he showed photos of locomotives and told anecdotes.
• Publishing as a Form of Historical Preservation:
  Cinthia Priest outlined experiences in gathering, preserving and publishing Santa Fe images and information for future generations and gave an overview on the publishing process.
• How to Interpret Railroad Radio Communication:
  Larry Page presented information on railway radio communication, including guidance on radio frequencies and legal aspects of scanning railway radio transmissions.
• A Tale of Two Bridges and More:
  Bill Van der Meer showed slides of two Santa Fe bridges and described how he modeled them on his layout.

Vendor Room, Contest

During the convention, in a large room with vendors' and swap meet tables, a variety of Santa Fe related items was offered by many well known hobby dealers, artists and authors, e.g.:

• videos, slides, photos, and paintings
• books, e.g. by Frank Ellington, Joe McMillan, Steven and Cinthia Priest (who just re-published the first part of their diesel book)
• models of rolling stock, e.g. from Intermountain
• brass models, e.g. from the collection of the late Lee Berglund
• and others

Among the vendors was also Martin Lofton from Sunshine Models; I was discussing with him problems with cheques and other methods of trans-atlantic money transfer, and we were negotiating on postal money transfer. Sunshine Models does not have a HomePage, nor an e-mail address, not even a fax machine; until I can find the time to update it, I am providing an old list of their resin kits at http://www.8ung.at/golden_spike/goldenspike/sunshine.html.

For my own collection, I was able to find

• a travelers edition of a 1953 time table
• a rule book from the Santa Fe Operating Department from 1953
• several contracts between the ATSF and their employees from the 50s

The "Company Store" had numerous SFRH&MS items on sale (see http://www.ATSFRR.com/ including the society's publications, back issues of "The Warbonnet", and the passenger car kits. Currently available publications are:

• Frank M. Ellington & Joe W. Shine: HEAD END CARS; SANTA FE RAILWAY PASSENGER CAR REFERENCE SERIES, VOLUME ONE
• Richard H. Hendrickson: Santa Fe Railway Painting and Lettering Guide
• Richard W. Pelouze: TRADEMARKS OF THE SANTA FE RAILWAY and Peripheral Subjects
• Larry Occhiello: Santa Fe Railway Listing of Freight Cars by Class and Car Number 1906 - 1991
• C. Keith Jordan, Richard H. Hendrickson, John B. Moore, and Dean Hale: Santa Fe Railway Rolling Stock Reference Series - Volume Two: REFRIGERATOR CARS - Ice Bunker Cars 1884 - 1979
• Richard H. Hendrickson: Santa Fe Railway Rolling Stock Reference Series - Volume Three: FURNITURE AND AUTOMOBILE BOX CARS
• Frank M. Ellington, John Berry, and Loren Martens: Stock Cars of the Santa Fe Railway

Swap tables offered many additional items, e.g. remains from the collection of the late Lee Berglund.

The contest room showed the entries for this year's model and photo contests; 60 entries (among them 32 models) were drawn in; awards for modeling were given in 8 categories (steam locomotive, diesel locomotive, multi-unit diesel lashup, passenger car, freight car, caboose car, maintainance of way, structures) and presented during the banquet; best of show was Gary Cane with a model of diner 1467. In addition, the president's awards were given in 3 modeling categories (locomotive, rolling stock and structure/diorama).

Cajon Pass Group

The Cajon Pass Group is an informal association of people who have a special interest in history and modeling of the Cajon Pass that crosses the mountains between San Bernardino and Victorville, California. John Thompson began organizing the group early in 1996. There is a newsletter for members, a Web Page (http://www.workline.it/ute/trains/) and an e-mail list. John also organized a meeting of the group on Friday evening, where various group members discussed information available and challenges in prototypically modeling Cajon Pass, and he showed slides from vintage prototypes.

Andy Sperandeo, the editor of Model Railroader, presented in a slide show detailing his model railroad latest news about his layout of Cajon Pass in 1947 which is currently under construction. His layout is in a 41' by 38' basement (more than 12 by 11 meters), the height varies from from 32" to 66" (81 to 167 cm); the sidings are long enough to fit for a train with 3 FTs, 22 40' reefers, a pusher, and a caboose. San Bernardino yard is placed along one of the long walls (with the depot not modeled on the layout), peninsulae are reaching into the room from the opposite wall.

As Andy explained, in 1947, all freight trains west of San Bernardino used steam engines; diesels were pulling freight trains only to and from the east; steam was used for locals to the east and for helpers; passenger trains mostly used diesel, as did freight trains to the east. In 1946, E-units plus steam helpers were used on the Chief. The 2900 class was operating with heavyweight passenger cars. FT pushers were running backwards to avoid turning. Only a few industries were served by rail along this line.

Andy showed lots of slides depicting the prototype for his layout, and he listed prototype trains; he will model all ATSF trains, but only some of the SP trains.

Layout Tours

Self guided tours to layouts (among them some very famous and interesting ones) in the area were among the most appealing activities.

Jim Ely

Jim has a small but exceptionally detailed modular layout with mines, interior detailed mills, a detailed roundhouse, and a large stone arch bridge; below this H0 layout, S and G scale trains are running.

Chris Komloski

Chris Komloski's H0/H0n3 layout was featured in Model Railroading Magazine; it is a compilation of Colorado railroads on several decks with intricate scenery.

Steve Mudd - Great Plains & Western Railway ("The Cimarron Raiload")

Steve Mudd's "Cimarron" depicts the Santa Fe in the Walsenburg to Salida helper district, plus the bypass to Royal Gorge. The GP&W is a northwest passage subsidiary for the AT&SF, providing a bridge route through northern Oklahoma into southern Colorado along the old Cimarron Trail.

The layout's area is 1946 to 1956, thus the transistion from 2-10-2s to early diesel. This H0 scale bi-level layout is currently under construction; the 30" (72 cm) radius helix between the levels is in planning stadium, its construction scheduled for next winter. For the very solid benchwork, Steve uses lots of plywood.

Some of the stations and facilities are currently represented by wooden blocks. Brass steam engines and primarily heavyweight passenger car models (kitbashed as described in the above mentioned clinics) are complimented by some lightweight stock and gas electrics.

The layout has reefer icing facilities, joint Rio Grande helper district operations, branch lines and many passenger operations.

Doug Geiger - Granite Mountain Railroad

Doug Geiger's Granite Mountain Railroad is a world-class H0-scale layout, meticulously scenicked, and built for operating. It has been documented in Allen Keller's Great Model Railroads tape #8, 1991, and in articles in Railroad Model Craftsman and Model Railroader.

geiger9.jpg: Doug Geiger's Granite Mountain Railroad

The layout is freelanced, time frame set around 1988. It has 2 scenicked levels plus staging levels, in 43' by 23' (approximately 13 by 7 meters) basement, 4 helixes, over 2000 square feet (215 square meters) of model railroad. estimated 4000' (more than 1200 m) of track, 550' (nearly 170 m) mainline, and more than 200 turnouts. It has no duckunders, it features more than 70 locomotives, a linear, directionally pure trackplan, and layout sounds.

Construction began in January 1982; 1995 has seen the 100th operating session. Currently, 18 people operate twice per month. A custom made software program provides wheel reports for each operating session, and there is interchange with several off-site layouts.

Don Meeker

Don Meeker's layout features H0 mountain mainline railroading with wonderful detailing and mini scenes. The mainline on many levels is scenicked to give an illusion of depth.

meeker3.jpg: Detail from Don Meeker's layout

Joe Lecci

Joe Lecci's 42' by 26' (nearly 13 by 8 meters) L-shaped H0 layout is designed around the Union Pacific in the Cheyenne/Laramie area of Wyoming; it has been designed and built for operating.

Dave Kampsnider - Gulf Coast & Santa Fe

Dave Kampsnider, who also does a lot of work for the SFRH&MS and was the convention's local organizer is building a large H0 scale layout portraying the Santa Fe in the early 50s, depicting the line from Paul's Valley to Gene Autry, Oklahoma, with a branch line to Lindsay.

	kamps3.jpg: Dave Kampsnider's Gulf Coast and Santa Fe
	kamps4.jpg: Dave Kampsnider's Gulf Coast and Santa Fe

The layout has extensive staging yards below the scenicked level and hosts Santa Fe steam motive power. Dave is very accurately reproducing the prototype's landscape and track arrangements; just before the convention, some track was re-aligned due to recent research results. Dave uses Sanborn maps and original time tables.

Pat Lana - Cedar River and Iowa Central Railway Co. (the CRANDIC Route)

Pat Lana is Master Model Railroader #208; his large (L-shaped, 32' by 16', nearly 10m by 5m) N-scale layout is set in eastern Iowa with scratch-built structures, intricate benchwork, and recessed lighting in the ceiling. The "CRANDIC" is a bridge route connecting Minneapolis to Kansas City, Chicago to Omaha, time is set for August 10, 1968, featuring first and second generation diesels. Among the most interesting features was a working hump yard (in N scale).

Bob Patrick - Wichita, Copper Valley

Bob Patrick's H0 scale layout depicts 1947 Santa Fe operations in the Wichita, Kansas area, when the Santa Fe began using the Ship and Travel Logo; but, since he is also interested in 70's equipment, one can also find e.g. a bicentennial diesel engine here. His layout has lots of hand-laid track and some intricate benchwork. Building of the layout began in 1991.

It shows mainly the Santa Fe, including Missouri Pacific. Frisco, Rock Island, and Midland Valley. The Wichita area is its main focus - with icing docks, grain elevators, dairy and milk, cold storage, Santa Fe freight house, locomotive servicing with turntable, repair shop, wye, passenger car storage area, and other industries.

Visit to Intermountain Industries

Friday afternoon, Intermountain Industries - manufacturer of the Intermountain Railway Company line of model railroad kits - sponsored a tour to their offices and factory north of Denver. Convention participants could talk to managers and designers and see the production process, tools and machinery.

They were proudly presenting their International Space Station which they offer in different versions.

	interm1: the International Space Station model
	interm5: dies for molding
	interm6: dies for molding
	interm10: lettering

Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden

golden8.jpg: RGS Galopping Goose #7

The Colorado Railroad Museum was open on Friday evening specifically for SFRH&MS members. Among the many things to see were some newly restored D&RGW F-units in the Grande gold scheme, the Santa Fe lightweight observation car "Navajo" and many other items in the museum's engine and car collection, as well as an H0 scale layout. Visitors could take a ride on RGS Galopping Goose #7 and visit the museum's new library building with extensive collection of books and other information sources.

Convention Dinner/Banquet

The Saturday evening convention dinner and banquet attracted 300 participants. Wally Abbey as the host speaker gave an interesting presentation about the FT: "Santa Fe's FTs were the diesels that did it; what was it they did? " Wally had worked on the Santa Fe and various other railways, was a reporter and worked for Trains and Railway Age.

He talked about the EMD 103 demonstrator, Santa Fe 100 class FTs (which introduced the first real diesel railroading with advantages as reduced service, no need for watering, and the "electric brake" - an early version of dynamic brakes). Wally has written about this subject in TRAINS and The Warbonnet, and there will soon be a book by him on that subject.

Business Meeting

The convention's final day started with Breakfast and the society's annual business meeting.

Generally, it was a good opportunity to personally meet people I only knew from e-mail discussions, and it provided lots of interesting information and lasting memories.