DECEMBER 19, 2016 ■■■■■■■■■■■ VOLUME 36 ■■■■■■■■■■ NUMBER 12 Happy Holidays from Your Editors! The Semaphore David N. Clinton, Editor-in-Chief CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Southeastern Massachusetts…………………. Paul Cutler, Jr. “The Operator”………………………………… Paul Cutler III Cape Cod News………………………………….Skip Burton Boston Globe Reporter………………………. Brendan Sheehan Boston Herald Reporter……………………… Jim South Wall Street Journal Reporter....………………. Paul Bonanno, Jack Foley Rhode Island News…………………………… Tony Donatelli Empire State News…………………………… Dick Kozlowski Amtrak News……………………………. .. Rick Sutton, Russell Buck “The Chief’s Corner”……………………… . Fred Lockhart PRODUCTION STAFF Publication………………………………… ….. Al Taylor Al Munn Jim Ferris Web Page and photographer…………………… Joe Dumas Guest Contributors………………………………. Joan Chatterton The Semaphore is the monthly (except July) newsletter of the South Shore Model Railway Club & Museum (SSMRC) and any opinions found herein are those of the authors thereof and of the Editors and do not necessarily reflect any policies of this organization. The SSMRC, as a non-profit organization, does not endorse any position. Your comments are welcome! Please address all correspondence regarding this publication to: The Semaphore, 11 Hancock Rd., Hingham, MA 02043. ©2016 E-mail: [email protected] Club phone: 781-740-2000. Web page: www.ssmrc.org VOLUME 36 ■■■■■ NUMBER 12 ■■■■■ DECEMBER 2016 CLUB OFFICERS BILL OF LADING President………………….Jack Foley Vice-President…….. …..Dan Peterson Chief’s Corner ...... …….….4 Treasurer………………....Will Baker Contests ................ ……..4, 11 Secretary……………….....Dave Clinton Clinic……………..….…….6 Chief Engineer……….. .Fred Lockhart Directors……………… ...Bill Garvey (’18) Editor’s Notes. ….…....….10 ……………………….. .Bryan Miller (‘18) Rob Cook ……………………… ….Roger St. Peter (’17) In Memorium: ….….3 …………………………...Rick Sutton (‘17) Members .............. ….…....10 Memories ............. .………..5 Potpourri .............. ..……….7 ON THE COVER: Blasting out of State Line Tunnel on the Mass-NY border, one of the famous NYC “Mohawk” types (4-8-2) hauls “The New England States” towards Boston over the Boston & Albany main in December 1947. In memory of our recently-passed member Rob Cook, a real B&A 2 aficionado. Original painting by Howard Fogg. Robert A. Cook April 13, 1959-December 5, 2016 Our friend and SSMRC Brother passed away suddenly two weeks ago in his sleep. “Rob”, as we called him, was our newest member, having joined 18 months ago. I had met him 30 years ago, while running my Amtrak train from Cab 5 in the “Southern Division” during an Open House in Weymouth. He took out an application at that time, but with family and work he was not able to complete the requirements for membership. It wasn’t until late in 2014 that he applied for membership again. Things had settled down in his life and he was ready to build a railroad. He had amassed a collection and built a room over his garage, especially for his railroad. His idea was to “infiltrate” the SSMRC for a few members to assist him. The truth of the matter, though, as he related several times, was that the SSMRC infiltrated him! This started with Paul Bonanno grabbing him in his early applicant days and teaching him scenery and building miniature buildings---he was hooked on helping to build the “East Coast Lines”, and his ideas of building his own railroad fell to the side of the road of life. “His railroad” was the Boston & Albany and, man, was he a devotee! Many times I thought how sorry it was he had never met Bob Buck, who was equally devoted. Bob passed away five years ago and I bet they have met now. Rob tried hard to get others interested in the B&A and I think he succeeded to some degree, at least as far as I’m concerned. Rob was so excited in contemplating the construction of the next legs of the RR. He was big into making his own turnouts and had acquired most of the “Fast-trax” templates and tools for his prospective railroad. When Fred Lockhart asked him to be the “main man” for building the turnouts for future construction on the RR, I thought he was going to burst with pride. Rob loved the Club and told me on several occasions how lucky he was to have joined because of the friendships he found here; he loved coming to the Club. His personal life had become troubled and I invited him to stay with me, until things got better. Rob loved all animals, too. I got a scolding for killing a cricket at the Club one night—I should have put it outside. To add to his sorrows, his Bulldog of 13 years passed away in October; “Martha” showed him such unfaltering love through thick and thin. He and my “Kitty” were instant companions. He nicknamed him “Big Boy” and fed him and loved holding him, which was right up Kitty’s alley; he loves attention. Rob loved eating and was a great cook. He would text me, while I was at the gym, “when are you coming home—I’m hungry”. I’d get home and find him working the pots and pans and preparing some delicious concoction. I’m surprised I didn’t put on weight, as I wasn’t used to that! It was always fun being with him. Such a crazy, silly guy; you had to laugh at and with him. Rob was looking forward to the “Big E” and being a part of the team. He loved going places in my Mustang. “Let’s go out in the Race Car!” he’d say…must have been from letting him drive on several occasions. He took to the 6-speed manual, as if he’d been driving one for years; he was like a teenager again, enjoying the ride and speed and shifting through the gears (and putting some rubber on the street occasionally). I’ll miss his goofy questions and actions and companionship; he made life fun. We’ll all miss him for one reason or another, mainly because he was a kind, loving person. Being fairly religious, one day we were comparing our favorite passages and sayings that we carry in our wallets. One of his was: “The faith inside of us is stronger than the fear in front of us.” I now carry that in my wallet and heart. God bless you, Robert, you’re now at peace in a beautiful place of happiness…until we meet again, my soulmate. David N. Clinton 3 FOR JANUARY: Our ANNUAL CALENDAR CONTEST. A tradition started many years ago with FORM 19 prizes being Train-related calendars going to all who successfully answer the contest question. Also a tradition is members supplying the winning ORDERS calendars. So, if you’re a member of a RR organization which produces calendars, or you’re DECEMBER B.O.D. MEETING th shopping for a RR calendar for yourself, please Thursday, December 29 8 p.m. consider adding one for the contest. Here’s the DECODER & LOCO TUNE-UP CLINIC question: What was the only “Streamlined” th Thursday, January 5 8 p.m. steam locomotive built for a New England- SCOUT AND FAMILY NIGHT based railroad? Name the locomotive type, or Friday, January 6th 6-9 p.m. wheel arrangement and the Railroad it was built JANUARY BUSINESS MEETING for. Newsletter contest answer forms or any piece Monday, January 9th 8 p.m. of paper works. Don’t forget your name and good SHOW COMMITTEE MEETING luck! Monday, January 9th, after BM NEWSLETTER DEADLINE st Saturday, January 21 OFFICIAL OPERATIONS nd Sunday, January 22 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. AMHERST TRAIN SHOW @ BIG E Saturday & Sunday, January 28th -29th JANUARY B.O.D. MEETING Monday, January 30th 8 p.m. CONTESTS Congratulations to Roger St. Peter on winning this month’s 50/50 Raffle! For MARCH: One of Al Taylor’s famous “word find” puzzles. “All Aboard Amtrak” can be found near Answering this month’s correctly: the back of the newsletter and extra copies available in the contest answer rack, just inside the Jack Foley Coley Coleman door to the train room, on top of the old wooden Dan Peterson Ross Kudlick display case. Don’t forget your name and good Will Baker Rick Sutton Savery Moore Roger St. Peter luck! Doug Buchanan Fred Lockhart Al Taylor Barry Doland John Holmes Ron Clough Fred Lockhart Jim Ferris John Sheridan Skip Burton Last month I reported that we They knew that Amtrak’s new president and CEO is were having problems with the “Wick” Mooreman, who was in that position at Norfolk Southern, until his retirement two years ago. internal switching failing on the Congratulations to John Holmes on winning the drawing Tortoise switch machines that control for the B&M S2 from P2K! power to the turnout frogs and the LEDs, even though the motors 4 themselves were still functioning. Since then, Bob That is it for this month. I hope that everyone has England and Stan Rydell have been working on a very Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah and solutions to this problem that would allow us to best wishes for the New Year. avoid replacing the Tortoise machine. Bob has designed a small, very inexpensive circuit board Fred Lockhart that takes over the function of powering the frogs Chief Engineer and the Leds. He has installed several and we are testing them to make sure that they will stand up to the job. Stan has been building these boards for Bob. Stan also has taken a tortoise that has been SEMAPHORE removed and is working on adding external contact MEMORIES switches that would control power to the frogs and LEDs instead of the internal switches. If this can be done, this would allow us to re-use the switch DECEMBER 2011 (5 years ago) machines that have already been replaced, saving STB gives final approval to Alaska RR to build new 35- mile line to Port MacKenzie.