The Dispatcher August 2020
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Upcoming Events
Regular Train Ride: August 15th, 2020
Board Meeting: August 25th, 2020
Labor Day Train: September 5th, 2020
Regular Train Ride: September 19th, 2020
Halloween Train: Oct. 30th, 2020 and Oct. 31st, 2020, We will have more runs this year and will need more volunteers. More info below.
If you would like to volunteer for any of these events, please contact our volunteer coordinator, Amanda, at [email protected]
Volunteer News
Fall is fast approaching and Halloween Train is just around the corner! Please think
about adding us to your schedule this October. We will be having train rides
October 30th: 4:30 pm, 5:45pm, and 7:00pm October 31st: 9:00am, 10:15am, 11:30am, 1:15pm, 2:30pm, and 3:45pm
To make it a success, we need more volunteers than usual.
We need help decorating the museum. Oct. 22th-24th Oct. 30th and 31st We need Car Hosts and Flaggers.
To volunteer, call 405-424-8222, email [email protected], or drop by the museum.
Happenings Museum Update-Drake Rice
Trains have started running again, and that has brought more visitors out to the museum. The staff has been working hard to ensure we are maintaining social distance, wearing face masks at the museum, and doing our part to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Thank you for your support and continuing to volunteer
Happenings continued
Many volunteers have been involved with the cleaning, sanding and repainting the Army Engine 4649 back to the original Milwaukee Road 615 colors. The 7- month project was completed on July 31st and on Saturday, August 1, rolled out into the sun. It really looks good and will now be released back to service. Good Job to the team and Eric Dilbeck. His paint job came out fantastic!
Jerry Gore and Charles Price have been changing oil and filters on our mowers and tractors. Jerry is also keeping all weed eaters and small mowers in good operating order. Charles making sure water levels in the golf cart batteries are good. Paul Pennell has been mowing early in the mornings, when it is cool, and he has help from many others like Bob Nantois, Charles Price and Bob Cossairt along with Jerry Gore. Another volunteer maintenance project was some landscaping around the yard office. The crew was Debbie Dunn, Anne Chiton and Amanda Resnick. Good job volunteers, it looks a lot better. Keep up the good work.
The museum had a tree trimming party, south of NE 16th St. to our intersection with the Union Pacific. It has been a few years so the trees had a much-needed trim. We are going to receive the Farmrail Passenger Cars any day now, and we don’t need to have limbs rubbing on our equipment. Since all our switchers were in the shop or out of service, Dave Townsend used the F-9 for the work train. Pushing a Rock Island boxcar and one of the ORM flat cars, a crew of Dave Townsend, Eric Dilbeck, Justin Riehm and Drake Rice, spent four hours cutting and trimming trees over the half mile section of track. Results were good, but now we have a lot of limbs to get chipped up.
Drainage along the line continues to create problems. The city 24-inch drainage tube under NE 36st Street is plugged, and the museum is working with the city to get it opened. Since January, we have had four washouts in this area. But thanks to volunteers, all have been repaired to keep the track open and trains running. Track drainage and maintenance is a continual need at the museum. Thanks to all who have helped.
Speaking of track, we have a few ties we need to put in the track down toward the south interconnect. So, we will be organizing some of the younger volunteers to test their skills at spiking in some new ties. Watch for a request for some volunteers on this project in the near future.
Guy Lynn keeps working away on Engine 48 to get it back in service. Four fuel injectors were replaced due to leaking fuel and the engine oil replaced due to fuel contamination. It looks like the unit should be back in operation around September 1.
Harry Currie, Bob Cossairt and Charles Price keep working away on the Leflore Depot trim and Steve Kamm is following them with his paint brush.
It takes a lot of volunteers to keep things moving at the museum, like the car host; Brandon Fentem, Jason and Glenna Blair, Darryl Owens, and Steve and Harley Davis. Also, we have our operating crew, Dave Townsend, Eric Dilbeck, Charles Price, Bob Cook, David Eads, Guy Lynn, Drake Rice, Bob Nantois, Natalie Lawson, Jim Hackworth and Jerry Gore, with trainees Jordan Green and Justin Riehm. And of course, our shop keepers, Bill Wright and Amanda Resnick and Debbie Dunn on tickets. Thanks to these and others, who I have not listed, for keeping our trains running.
If you would like to join this happy group. Come out and enjoy the friendship as we make train travel come alive here in Oklahoma City. No skills are required, just a smile and desire to help people enjoy trains. We hope to see you at your museum.
Board of Trustees Meeting, July 28, 2020 Minutes
1. Trustees are continuing to monitor museum expenditures.
2. Next meeting set for August 25th via Zoom .
3. Train Operations and work session are going well and following the guidelines for safety.
4. Trustees voted to take our investment income from the Community Foundation this year and put it in the operating fund.
5. Tie replacements south of NE 16th street is needed.
6. Reviewed projects list and will continue on the few projects that have been previously started.
7. Set Train ride Schedule to for the Halloween Trains; Three trains on the 30th and Five trains on the 31st.
8. Museum will start Birthday Parties this fall, on limited basis.
9. Need to set a time to install the FRA required Yield Signs at all crossings.
10. Work team going to Muskogee to get GP-7 and GP-9 ready to move. Units were given to museum.
11. Museum of Great Plains has requested one of the Amtrak Baggage Cars we have. An agreement has been worked out.
12. Museum has received a draft of the Polar Express Contract that is being reviewed and changes offered.
Planned Giving: August 2020
Gift of Securities – Give us your old stock (with a low basis) that has appreciated in the rising market and avoid capital gains tax.
Donating appreciated securities, including stocks or bonds, is an easy and tax-effective way for you to make a gift to Oklahoma Railway Museum.
Benefits of gifts of stocks and bonds
Avoid paying capital gains tax on the sale of appreciated stock
Receive a charitable income tax deduction
Further our mission today
How to make a gift of stocks and bonds
By electronic transfer - Please contact us [email protected] for instructions on how you can transfer stock or bonds from your brokerage or investment account to our Oklahoma Railway Museum account.
By certified mail - If you hold securities in certificate form, you will need to mail two envelopes separately to complete your gift. In the first envelope, place the unsigned stock certificate(s). In the other envelope, include a signed stock power for each certificate. You may obtain this power from your broker or bank. Please remember to use certified mail.
More on gifts of stocks and bonds
There are special rules for valuing a gift of stock. The value of a charitable gift of stock is determined by taking the mean between the high and low stock price on the date of the gift. Mutual fund shares are valued using the closing price for the fund on the date of the gift.
Contact us
If you have any questions about gifts of stocks and bonds, please contact us at 405-424-8222 or [email protected]. We would be happy to assist you and answer any questions that you have.
The Crash at Crush: Train Collisions as an American Past Time
By Amanda Resnick
On a hot September day in 1896, just north of Waco, Texas, two MKT steam engines hit each other head on. The resulting explosion, killed 2 people, seriously injured at least six more, and blinded one photojournalist. The rest of the 40,000-person crowd cheered, and thus began America’s 30+ year love affair with train crashes as entertainment. After the financial crash of 1893, the MKT railroad was looking for a way to raise revenue. The aptly named Katy Agent, William Crush, proposed a publicity stunt of crashing two obsolete 30-ton steam engines into one another. A location was found along the Dallas-Houston route about 14 miles north of Waco, TX. A four-mile piece of track was built to ensure there was no way the locomotives would end up on the main track. The event was free of charge, but people paid $2 for the train to the site, about $60 in today's money.MKT officials expected about 20,000 people to attend. Wells were dug for water, the Ringling Brothers put up a circus tent, and food stands and carnival games were set up. Speed tests were held the day before and 6 boxcars were chained to both locomotives. Barricades were placed to keep the public 200 yards from the crash, but the press was allowed with in 100 yards. The day of the event, 40,000 people arrived in the new town of Crush, TX; making it the second largest city in Texas for a few hours. The show was delayed two hours because people kept pushing past the safety barricades.
At about 5:00 pm, William Crush rode out on a white horse and signaled the locomotives to start their engines. The crews in each engine opened to full throttle and then jumped from the moving train. Both locomotives were traveling at about 45 mph when they collided. Shortly after the collision, both boilers exploded nearly simultaneously. Debris shot hundreds of feet in the air and showered down on the crowd. Two people were killed instantly after being hit with debris, and many others were injured. Journalist Jarvis Deane was blinded by a flying bolt. When the explosion settled onlookers swarmed the demolished trains for souvenirs.
Despite the loss of life, the staged crash was a huge success. Train crashes became popular events at state fairs and some “train wreckers” even strapped dynamite to the locomotives and filled cars with gasoline to make sure they were completely engulfed in flames.Staged crashes fell in popularity in the 1930s. Destroying two working locomotives, was seen as too wasteful, during the Great depression. The last crash staged for the public was in 1935.
D D onation Box
Because of closings and cancellations, we are in need of donations more than ever before! Brick purchases and donations will make a real difference during this difficult time.
The museum is also in need on a box blade for our tractor. The one we have is worn out and beyond repair. If anyone has one to donate or funds toward a new one, it would be greatly appreciated. Please visit our w ebsite if you are able to give.
A A round the Museum
Stages of repainting the Army Engine 4649 back to the original Milwaukee Road 615 colors. Paint job complete! Waiting for Milwaukee Road emblem.
Volunteer, Justin Riehm, trimming trees along the track. Miss Georgia High School Rodeo Queen, Nora Stephens, rode the train on July 18th, with volunteer Jim Hackworth! Oklahoma Railway Museum, Ltd. 3400 NE Grand Boulevard Oklahoma City, OK 73111-4417
Return Service Requested
The Dispatcher Timetable Oklahoma Railway Museum (ORM) - Open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM Closed on major holidays. ORM Train Rides - First and third Saturdays, April through August at 9:15 AM, 11:15 AM, 1:15 PM and 3:15 PM ORM Board Meetings - Last Thursday of every month at Oklahoma Railway Museum - 7:00 PM Oklahoma “N” Rail - For information call Rick Inselman (405) 412-1552 Oklahoma Model Railroad Association - For information contact Phil Howell via email [email protected] Central Oklahoma Garden Railroad Society Contact information: Steve Lemcke (405) 703-0209 e-mail [email protected] Marshall Douglas (405) 290-8989 Steve Kamm (405) 685-3755 email [email protected] Passenger Rail Oklahoma - Passenger Rail Oklahoma volunteers provide Amtrak depot hosting for the Hartland Flyer in City of Norman, OK most evenings, holidays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The depot opens at 7:50 AM. Contact Evan Stair at [email protected], www.passengerrailok.org, or (405) 366-8957. Depot volunteer opportunities are available. Oklahoma S.W. Division NMRA - 2nd Saturday of each month, 1:00 PM, Goldman Room, Kirkpatrick Center, Jim Heidon, President Yukon’s Best Railroad Museum - Thursday/Saturday/Sunday and by appointment. Located 1 block north of Main and UP tracks in Yukon. Call John Knuppel, (405) 354-5079, for times and information. Waynoka Station/Waynoka Historical Society - 202 South Cleveland, Waynoka, (580) 824-1886. If you can help, call Sandie Olson. Corrections Any changes to the above information or articles in “the Dispatcher” should be directed to the editor, at [email protected]. For information on upcoming programs contact Anne Chilton at [email protected].