Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society W ^ MEMBER's MEETINGS LOWELL FOLK FESTIVAL

Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society w ^ EWSLETTEi19 Smxwfwwated 71 J V BUDDY WINIARZ, Editor JEFF URSILLO, Production & Distribution P.O. Box 2936 P.O. Box 4117 Woburn, MA 01888 Boynton Beach, FL 33424-4117 Meeting/Membership Telephone Number (617) 628-4053 July /August 1994 Opinions expressed In the signed columns or letters of this Newsletter are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Society, Its officers or members with respect to any particular subject discussed In those columns. The mention of commercial products or services in this Newsletter is tor the conve• nience of the membership only, and in no way constitutes an endorsement of said products or services by the Society or any ot its officers or directors, nor will the Society be responsible for the performance of said commercial suppliers. We reserve the right to edit all material, either due to length or content, submitted for publication. — B&MRRHS CALENDAR — JULY 29, 30, 31 1994 Lowell Folk Festival. Be sure to stop by and see the B&MRRHS display at the rail-car. A number of the Society's hardware artifacts and other curios and items of interest will be on display. Be sure to see us. Remember: THERE WILL BE NO REGULAR MEMBERS MEETING AT THE MOGAN CENTER FOR THE MONTH OF JULY. AUGUST 13,1994 B&MRRHS Day at Conway Scenic Railroad (see enclosed flyer). Nominations of candi• dates for office in the B&MRRHS will be closed at the meeting. NO REGULAR MEM• BERSHIP MEETING AT THE MOGAN CENTER DURING THE MONTH OF AUGUST. SEPTEMBER 10,1994 This will be our annual joint meeting with the Salisbury Point Railroad Historical Society in Amesbury. The meeting will be held at the Amesbury Town Hall, as in the past. Entertainment will be announced. Unless otherwise noted, all membership meetings are held on the second Saturday of any given month at 8:00 PM at the Patrick Mogan Cultural Center, 40 French Street, in Lowell, Mass. (This is diagonally across from the Lowell High School, in the Boott Mills area.) MEMBER'S MEETINGS LOWELL FOLK FESTIVAL On July 29-30-31 the Society will be manning the combine April saw the combine manned for the Trolley meet held for the Folk Festival. The 29th is only for a few hours but on in Lowell and several hundred people went through our the 30th & 31st (Sat./Sun.) we will be there from 9:00 AM till exhibit. A big thanks goes out to all who helped. 5:00 PM. This is probably the best kind of publicity our May saw our joint meeting with Mass Bay RRE held in Society can get, and the past few years we have always gotten Lowell at the Boott Mills. Over one-hundred people showed new members from this exhibit. So if you are interested in up to hear Mr. H. Arnold Wilder give a presentation on rail• helping out please drop a note to the Society by July 15th to roading and the grand hotels of the White Mountains. the PO Box in Woburn or call the Societies phone line. Both (BW) are listed at the top of the Newsletters front page. And for those of you who do not wish to partake at least try to come down and see some of the items your Society has on display besides there are many other exhibits and types of entertain• ment for both young and old. B&MRRHS Newsletter Page 1 IT SEEMS EVERYONE WANTS TO BE AN ENGINEER! On Monday evening, June 6th (the 50th Anniversary of D- the caller of such, I was told to place the bid at $125. Day as it turns out) I was one of a number of volunteers from Subsequent calls came in for other items over the next cou• my company, Cambridge Electric Light, working the tele• ple of minutes, and I got caught up in the other goings-on. phones at the WGBH-Channel 2 Auction. This was a fun Suddenly, the siren for "overbids" (items which sell for signif• event which helps support the station's public television pro• icantly more than their retail value) began to wail. I glanced gramming. Among the multitude of items donated to the auc• over at the crowd gathered around the camera in front of the tion each year are a series of small gifts or services which go "Quickie Board" who were cheering wildly. The final bid for up on what is known as the "Quickie Board." Basically, this is the "Be an engineer" was a whopping $250 which a woman a listing of items which are auctioned off in a short period of caller had bid for her husband! time, and subsequently replaced with other items. It occurred to me a while later that this was perhaps one of The pace of the auction process is at times quite brisk, and I the highest percentage overbids of the entire auction. Certainly had lost track of the particular items that were being auctioned there were a lot of items of interest, but as a railfan I sort of off from the quickie board. Suddenly my phone rang, and it puffed my chest up at the fact that the thing people seemingly was a woman who wished to bid on the "BE AN ENGINEER found the most enticing was the chance to be a real-life loco• ON THE HOBO RAILROAD." This caught me off guard, and motive engineer—even if only for a few hours. gave me cause to look over at the board to see what she was And for a few brief shining moments, all those chides about talking about. Sure enough, there at the bottom right hand side "Choo-Choo Charlie" and "Train Brain" that I used to get was the item, with a retail value of $60 and a little locomotive from the kids in school faded into oblivion. drawn in by some would-be artistic staffer. The woman asked Ain't this a great hobby! what the current bid was (these are written in above the market value) and to my amazement, it was at $100! After informing —JAR B&M 3713 IN GOOD HANDS! Member Bob Wilner is a somewhat frequent visitor to Scranton, Pa. He has offered to keep our membership apprise of the condition and restoration efforts of B&M P4a #3713. Bob reports that the 3713 is residing in roundhouse stall #21. There are visitor walkways around the engine, and it is reported that 3713 is a high priority for being restored to running condition.The photos (A & B) show it in the roundhouse and sitting outside shortly before being moved inside. Photos by Bob Wilner Page 2 B&MRRHS Newsletter (SECOND NOTICE) IT'S I INATIONS TIME AGAIN!!! It seems hard to believe that another year has passed. ination on the B&MRRHS phone at (617) 6284053. One of the However, with this issue of the NEWSLETTER, it is again to-be-formed Nominating Committee members will contact you to time to seek out candidates for office to lead YOUR Society. answer any questions you might have regarding what is required. Nominations for the following offices need to be filled... Involvement with the B&MRRHS need not be a full-time job. Usually no more than a few hours of effort a month makes a President world of difference. Like the saying says, "What you give is 5 Vice President percent—What you get back is immeasurable." We don't even Clerk require that much (although you can do as much as you wish). Secretary Directors and officers are required by By-law to attend at least Director (3 positions open) 6 monthly meetings annually (although most of our current direc• Alternate Director (2 positions open) tors and officers have an 80% or better attendance record). It is {Please note: The Treasurer's office carries a two-year safe to say that most, if not all, of the current officers and direc• term, and will be open for election next year (1995). tors find their involvement with the B&MRRHS a rewarding, worthwhile experience that every member should attempt to avail This seems to be a theme which is echoed every year, but if themselves of at least once during the term of their membership. for no other reason than "Old Time's Sake," we'll repeat it again Nominations for officers and directors will be held through• here... THIS IS YOUR SOCIETY. YOUR participation is nec• out August 13th, when they will be officially closed at the meet• essary and vital to the continued success of the B&MRRHS. It ing in North Conway. isn't "Us and Them"—Just "US". New ideas, new enthusiasm, Now, it would be nice for the nominating committee to be new blood; these are the lifeline of our organization. able to call and canvas each and every member. However, this is A Nominating Committee will be formed at the May Board of clearly impractical to do. There are just too few people working Director's meeting to undertake this task. YOUR INPUT IS for the Society's future to do so. So, it's up to YOU to help out. NEEDED! If you or anyone you know who is a member in good Here's to seeing YOUR name on the ballot in 1994!!! standing is interested in seeking office in the B&MRRHS, please contact any one of the current Directors, Officers, or staff mem• —Board of Directors bers. Likewise, you may at any rime call and leave a name in nom- "CITY PULLS MONEY FROM AIR Portland, Me., already due to get $1.3 million in federal summer of 1995 with rail service returning sometimes that funding for the Amtrak station, has found another source of same year.

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