April 2006 News.Pub
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WCRA NEWS APRIL 2006 INSTALLATION of TUBES UNDERWAY on HUDSON! WCRA News, Page 2 GENERAL MEETING NOTICE The March General Meeting of the WCRA will be held on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 at 1930 hours at the Rainbow Creek Station, Confederation Park in Burnaby. Entertainment will be a variety of slides from the 50’s and 60’s of Canadian National Railways construction projects and train operations (including the Super Continental and Continental of the era), presented by Bill Johnston. Bill worked on the railway at the time doing a variety of civil engineering type projects. ON THE COVER Working on the Hudson! A classic shot of work in a steam shop—in this self portrait we see our lead hand on the Royal Hudson #2860 restoration, Trevor Mills, taking a brief break from the dirty and hard work in the boiler of #2860. Trevor has just emerged from hours of removing boiler scale and takes a short break—with the oil can! This is the essence of the hard work that will soon see #2860 back in steam, making all the bull work and dirt worth the effort. A salute to Trevor and all the others who have been working tirelessly to get #2860 back out on the rails. APRIL CALENDAR • West Coast Railway Heritage Park Open daily 1000 through 1700k • Thursday, March 30—Deadline for items for the May 2006 WCRA News • Tuesday, April 14—Tours Committee meets, contact Bernie at 604-325-0923 • Sunday, April 16—6th Annual Easter Scavenger Hunt at the Heritage Park, 1200 to 1500 hours, fun for the whole family with treats • Saturday, April 22—WCRT’s Spirit of Washington / Amtrak Cascades tour operates • Tuesday, April 25—WCRA General Meeting, 1930 hours, Rainbow Creek Station The West Coast Railway Association is an historical group dedicated to the preservation of British Columbia railway history. Membership is open to all people with an interest in railways past and present. We are a non-profit British Columbia society, registered as a Canadian charity. Individual membership in the WCRA is $50.00 per year, family membership is $60.00. New! E Members (electronic newsletter) are $35 individual and $45 family. Other membership categories are: - Junior Member (age 16 and under ) $ 25 - Sustaining Member $100 (tax receipt) plus membership type regular fee - Life Member (one time fee) $700 individual life / $1,200 family life All memberships include the monthly newsletter, Heritage Park admission, mini rail rides and discounts on food and merchandise. The Association holds a monthly meeting on the last Tuesday of the month at 1930 hours in Burnaby at Rainbow Creek Station in Confederation Park. Apply through www.wcra.org or mail to WCRA, PO Box 2790 Stn. Term., Vancouver, B.C., V6B 3X2. WCRA News, Page 3 EDITORIAL HERE WE GO! Well, another Annual General Meeting is behind us, and we are off and running into what will be our busiest and most exciting year ever. As I write this piece, on March 11, 2006, Spring Break is just starting and, up at the Heritage Park, we are offering our very first day of speeder rides. Thanks to Craig McDowall, and his purchase of an A 4 Motorcar, we had the incentive to get this running . Our crews have added in a trailer car and another A 4, and presto—we have a three car speeder train. Also coming up shortly is an audit of our operating facilities by the Railway Association of Canada. This is in conjunction with our partnership with BCIT, and will verify our trackage / switching for the use as the site of the BCIT Railway Conductor program practicums. These will see the BCIT classes spend a week each class in Squamish and work with WCRA to complete all their practical work. This will be done at the MP 1 shop area, where we now have great facilities to do all these things. Also at the Heritage Park, the contract for the construction of the turntable and CN Turntable Plaza has been let to Duro Construction of Squamish. As soon as we have the development permit from the District of Squamish we will get started. Work on the turntable itself is progressing on schedule. The Royal Hudson is also progressing according to schedule. Installation of the new tubes started March 1, 2006 and should complete over the next four weeks. All being well, hydro tests will happen the first week of April and first test steaming if the loco looks like mid May. All this—and it is WCRA’s 45th anniversary year too. Good reason for all of you to think about participation in any way you can during 2006. It will be a year we will all remember. Don ASSOCIATION NEWS FROM THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 45 members and guests were present, the AGM was chaired by Don Evans with Keith Anderson as the Recording Secretary. A quorum was recorded in attendance: • The minutes of the February 22, 2005 Annual General Meeting were approved • Jeremy Davy read the report from the Chair as Craig McDowall was out of town • Don Evans presented the strategic plan and the WCRA’s 2006 objectives WCRA News, Page 4 • The 2006 Board of Directors nominations were presented to the membership who approved them for the year. • Jim Brown reviewed the financial statements for 2005, they were approved by the membership. • Jim Brown presented the proposed 2006 budget which was approved by the membership. • Don Evans presented the Executive Director’s annual report. • Colin Dathan presented the Association Administration annual report. • Ron Anstey presented the Collection annual report. • Jim Brown presented the Heritage Park annual report. • Bill Johnston presented the Tours annual report. • The meeting was closed at 8:30PM During the break, the usual 50/50 draw was held. FROM THE FEBRUARY GENERAL MEETING Following the AGM, an abbreviated general meeting was held, chaired by Colin Dathan: • Don Evans updated the Executive Director’s report, noting a new major donation towards the Royal Hudson by Westran. A hearty round of applause for this support ensued. • Don Evans also provided an updated Heritage Park report. • Colin Dathan noted that volunteers are still needed for the 374 Pavilion. • Jeremy Davy provided a membership report, noting that we are now up to 22 e members. • Bernie Tully talked about events coming up, particularly the Western Rails Show set for March 12, 2006. He sought volunteers to help with the WCRA tables at the show. • Bill Johnston noted that several of our tours are selling well, there being only three spaces left on April’s Spirit of Washington / Amtrak Cascades tour. • Colin Dathan noted that the vehicle mileage rate for 200 has been increased to $.45 / km. • Eric Anderson was applauded for his recent successful climb of Mount Kilimanjaro. • Eric Anderson donated Canadian Tire money. • Bill Marchant presented his Trackside Report. • The calendar was reviewed. • Entertainment was a DVD of the Royal Canadian Pacific train. WCRA TRIVIA # 207 - by Ryan D. Cruickshank The first train in Ontario ran on May 16, 1853 between Toronto and Aurora on what railway? (for answer, see Credit Lines) YOU KNOW YOU’RE A RAILFAN WHEN……. ………..that ringing in your ears isn’t Tinnitus, but rather your recollection of the Royal Hudson sounds as it steamed along the waterfront in West Vancouver. WCRA News, Page 5 NEW MEMBERS The WCRA welcomes new members Michael Berton & family of North Vancouver, Doug Davies & family of Terrace, Kate Drew & family of Garibaldi Highlands, Michael Lloyd & family of Squamish, and Alf Spence of Burnaby. We also welcome back Robert Gordon of Maple Ridge. (J.D.) MEMBER NEWS Congratulations to Shane Carr who received great exposure in Malcolm Parry’s column in the Vancouver Sun of March 9, 2006. The item featured his scale model locomotive business. PLEASE RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP Memberships dated 2/28/2006 have now expired, and if your membership expired December 31, 2005 this will be your last issue. Please check the label on your newsletter and renew today. (J.D.) Remember that renewals are being accepted for memberships with the E–Newsletter Option. The fees are - for an E-Individual membership $35.00, and an E- Family $45.00 (J.D.) Do you have an E-mail Address? Do we have it in our database? The WCRA office now regularly distributes time sensitive information of interest to those members for whom we have their e-mail addresses. More and more members are getting email addresses and we would like to have this information in our database just the same as we have your telephone number. If we already have your E-mail address is it current? Matt recently prepared a list of E-mail addresses that the Service Providers indicated were invalid. If you are not sure whether we have a current E-mail address please confirm your information with Jeremy Davy. If you wish to update your E-mail address, are not sure if your address is current or provide us with a your Email address please send an e-mail to [email protected] indicating your Name and Postal address as well as the e-mail address. I will acknowledge all messages. (JD) WCRA’S 2006 BOARD OF DIRECTORS At the Annual General Meeting, WCRA members approved the 2006 Board of Directors. Your Board for 2006 is Keith Anderson, Douglas Chiasson, Colin Dathan, Jeremy Davy, Grant Ferguson, Greg Gardner, Bob Griffiths, Hugh Little, Craig McDowall, Wes Rafuse, Denise Rittberg, Colin Smith, Paul Turner, and Carl Vanderspek, There is one board vacancy in the Lower Mainland which will be filled as the year progresses.