B&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&M8&MB&MB&MB&M DENNIS ADAMS, EDITOR, 28 Summer Street, Exeter, NH 03833 SCOTT WHITNEY, WEST END EDITOR, 25 Maple Avenue, Claremont, NH 03743 Opinions expressed in the signed columns of this Newsletter are the opinions of those 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 in this Newsletter is for the convenience of the membership only.andinno way constitutes endorsement by the Society, or any of its Officers or Directors, nor will the Society be responsible for the performance of said commercial suppliers. MEETING/MEMBERSHIP TELEPHONE NUMBER (617) 387-7141 B&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&MB&M APRIL 9,1988 Our Annual Meeting With the Mass Bay RRE! This is our annual meeting with the Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts! It's our turn to host this year, and we're very priviledged to have as our guest speaker Mr. Uoyd E. Neal, Jr. Lloyd will be showing us a selection of black and white slides from his father's extensive collection. Among these will be various subjects from the 1930'sand 1940's, including some RREfantrips from that era! This should be an evening that no one will want to miss! MAY 14,1988 Mr. Rodney Cowen Returns! Mr. Rodney Cowen, of Leominster, Mass., will be returning for a repeat performance! You may remember that he gave us "Rigby to Rotterdam" in January of 1987. This time, Rodney, a retired Boston & Maine conductor, will be doing something a little different! He'll be challenging us to identify various locations on the B&M in an audience-participation format! Get your thinking caps out for this one! JUNE 11,1988 Railroad Potpourri Night! Our June meeting will be held in Woburn (a change of plans from last Newsletter!) and will feature selected viewing from the collection of the late Dr. J. Drennan Lowell, which was recently donated to the B&MRRHS! Tour Boston, Mass., and its environs during the 1950's and 1960's through the lens of Dr. Lowell's camera and his beautiful Kodachrome slides! More surprises are planned for the evening, as we kick off another B&MRRHS Super Summer! JULY 2, 1988 Our First Trip to Stratham, NH! We'll beheading up to Stratham Hill Park, in Stratham, NH a week earlier than usual! This will also be our first annual joint meeting with the Salisbury Point Railroad Historical Society, and plans for the day include family events, a softball game, and barbeque pits will be available to cook your meals (Bring your own food and non-alcholic beverages!). The evening's entertainment will be provided by Mr. Preston Cook, who will be giving us a preview of his soon-to-be-published all-color book on the Boston & Maine, Maine Central, and Delaware & Hudson during the ten years prior to inclusion in Guilford! Please join us and make this a smashing success! Please note change in meeting date and location! Maps next month! AUGUST 13,1988 Our Annual Visit to The Conway Scenic Railroad! An August tradition continues! Once again, the B&MRRHS will be heading north (for our 11 th time!) to visit the Conway Scenic Railroad! Dwight Smith and crew have again promised an exceptional day's activities. The ninth annual Supper Chief, truly one of New England's premier special passenger trians, will run again. Following the day's activities, we'll adjourn to Stall Four Theater for a presentation by Mr. Ben English, who will be showing us "A Century of Railroading in Crawford Notch!" This will also be our annual joint meeting with the 470 Railroad Club of Portland, Maine. Full details and ticket order forms will be in the May/June Newsletter! SEPTEMBER 10,1988 Back to the Green Mountain Railroad! We'll be going back to Bellows Falls, Vermont, and the Green Mountain Railroad for another day of railfan activities! This is not a normal operating day for the Green Mountain, so we just possibly might have the whole railroad to ourselves to enjoy! Featured will be a couple of round trips to Chester, with runby's at several locations. A slide show and a night photo session are also planned. We need to have an advance sale of at least 100 tickets, so get the word out! Order forms next month! SEPTEMBER 17,1988 Conway Scenic Annual Railfan's Day! Come to North Conway again in September for the Conway Scenic Railroad's Annual Rail- fan's Day! Five operating locomotives, regular and special passenger trains, mixed and freight trains will make for an exciting day! ALL MEETINGS ARE HELD IN THE 1st UNITARIAN CHURCH IN WOBURN, MA., UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED! MEETINGS BEGIN PROMPTLY AT 8:00 P.M. UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED! THERE WILL BE NO MEETINGS IN WOBURN IN JULY, AUGUST, AND SEPTEMBER!!! As I approach the mid-point of my year as Jeff Ursillo stuff on us here (and, as an aside, most of the Chairman of the Board of Directors, I feel the Chairman, Board of Directors Newsletter staff was also involved heavily in time has come to write an Interchange column. B&MRRHS planning of the very successful joint B&MR- There are many points that I would like to RHS-Salisbury Point Trains Unlimited 2Show.) address about the "B&M Bulletin" and the With this issue, we hope to be somewhat back Society as a whole. RUMINATIONS ON THE NEWSLETTER on track. First, the Society's financial picture. The Jan. (Postponed from last month!) One question that we get often at the Newsletter /Feb. newsletter has only been out to the When last we left our discussion of the offices is: "Why do you print information from membership for about three weeks and your B&MRRHS Newsletter, we had determined other railfan organizations' newsletters when response to Dick Symmes' letter about the that we would shift from a monthly format to a 'first person' reports are better?" We whole• voluntary assessment has been overwhelming! six-page, bi-monthly format, and that we heartedly agree that the first-person approach Not only have over 100 responses come to us, would continue with a first-class mailing for is so much better, but if we spot something that but most were more than the $8.00 for which the time being. Since a couple of months have another organization has printed that would be we asked. In addition to these donations, the elapsed, and we have been able to get some of interest to B&MRRHS members, but no one Society's joint train show with the Salisbury feedback from the membership, we can pick in our organization lets us know about it, we Point crew was a smashing success once up our discussion from here. have two choices: Ignore it and get blasted for again. Many of you have bought the Society's First, and probably with a note of sarcasm in not letting anyone know about it: or "borrow" it video tapes through the mail or at shows, but our editorial voices, since Scott and I an• from another newsletter, credit it appropriately, few of you may realize that these are the work nounced that we would be hanging up our and get blasted for not having the "personal of one person, Gerry Babyok. Through Ger• typewriters at the end of the year, we have not touch." True, we could take the story, rewrite ry's generosity and desire to seethe B&MRRHS exactly been trampled with offers to take over and re-edit it and put our own by-line on it, but grow, the tapes have been a major fundraiser the mantle. Since Scott and I are already that would be "unethical," and there does seem for us. These things, combined with attend• committed to several projects after the first of to be an unspoken rule among the various news• ance at many of the local train shows, and the next year that will not leave time for preparing letter editors around New England that "this "Best of the Bulletin" book coming out in the Newsletter too, it would seem that the just isn't done!" It's a nice policy, and we have early Summer have shown that the B&MRRHS future of the Newsletter relies upon some no intention of violating it. is alive and doing quite well, despite rumors generous soul or two coming forward and The reviews from the membership concerning that have been circulated to the contrary. offering to help out. It's not a terribly difficult the bi-monthly Newsletter have been mixed, The decision was made at the March 12th job, but it does require a good command of some opting for accepting it as is, and others Board meeting to send the Bulletin to the the English language, grammar, and about wishing for a return to the smaller monthly printer. Hopefully it will be in the mail by mid- fifteen hours of spare time per month. If it is Newsletter, but mostly, there has been absolute April. Again a vote of thanks to all who helped feasible, we can continue to handle the silence as far as the change is concerned.