Model Engineers to Host Slide ShowThe New York Society of Model Engineers (NYSME) will be hosting a slide show covering the branch lines and terminals of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The presentation will be given by noted rail photographer Rich Taylor. Due to the strong response to this slide show so far, it has been moved from the Society’s Carlstadt, N.J. headquarters at 341 Hoboken Road to a larger location that will permit more people to attend.
The New York Society of Model Engineers was founded in the early part of the 20th century and incorporated in 1926. The Society is the oldest model railroad club in the US and possibly the world. Located within their 5,000 square foot headquarters in Carlstadt, N.J. are two large “HO” and “O” scale model train layouts, a fully equipped machine shop, and large library. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in model trains, or just trains.
For additional details, see the Society’s website: ModelEngineers.org
Philadelphia has always been a hotbed of electric traction, with streetcars (including an extensive trolley subway), elevated and underground rapid transit, suburban MU operation and electrically-propelled intercity trains. And now the metropolitan area even has a diesel light rail line.
This year’s convention will treat participants to much of what Philadelphia has to offer:
The Crowne Plaza Hotel Philadelphia Center City will be our convention headquarters. This full-service hotel offers such amenities as a health and fitness center, spa and an outdoor swimming pool. Single, double and twin accommodations are priced at $129 plus tax per evening and include a free group continental breakfast in our own private breakfast room. Click here to see our full 4-day Itinerary.
1800 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103. P: 888-444-0401
Click here to go to Google Maps.
The Electric Railroaders’ Association is proud to announce its ninth European tour. Tramways in Scandinavia constitute a diverse assortment of urban, rural and interurban traction, as well as modern high-speed lines. Trolley, light-rail, trolley bus and metro systems will be explored on our tour. During 14 days of travel we will cover many systems including Copenhagen, Malmo, Goteborg, Oslo, Oslo-Bergen, Bergen, Trondheim, Stockholm and Norrkoping. [More]
Headlights is now full-color with twice the usual number of pages, plus four-page color map supplements. The current issue (July-December 2004, left), which went to press on December 19, 2007 and will be arriving soon, is an impressive 76 full-color, ad-free pages! Topics include the San Diego Trolley, the BART Airport Extenson, and the ERA’s 2004 San Francisco Convention. [More]
St. Louis, a hotbed of traction until after World War II, was the site of our 2007 Convention. The Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown St. Louis, at 200 North 4th Street, was our convention headquarters. It was only a short walk from the 8th & Pine station of MetroLink, and convention participants could reach it easily from both Lambert Field and the Amtrak station. Activities included an excursion to the Midwest Electric Railway, a MetroLink Light Rail shop tour and ride, and a visit to the Museum of Transport. A Day Ticket, valid for unlimited use on MetroLink from Friday, August 31 through Monday, September 3, was sent to all those participating in our Sunday activities.
Convention goers who stayed for the Memphis/Little Rock add-on were treated to private charters of the Main Street Trolley and Riverfront Loop heritage line in Memphis, Tenn. and the River Rail heritage line in Little Rock, Ark. Our hotel was the Comfort Inn in downtown Memphis.
Shore Line Trolley Museum T-ShirtWe thank eagle-eyed ERA member Frank Pfuhler for alerting us to these Beefy-T 100% cotton T-shirts available from the Shore Line Trolley Museum. The T-shirt depicts the 15-bench open breezer Connecticut Company 401 in meticulous detail. According to the museum, the Connecticut Company had hundreds of these large, 75-passenger open breezer cars. Very popular in the summertime, they were retained until 1947 to handle large crowds at Yale Bowl events. We don’t know how many T-shirts they have or what sizes they come in (x-small looks like a given), so call the museum at 203-467-6927 for details.
If you’ve ever used Google Maps, you know how useful it is. We’ve even included links to maps for both 2006 and 2007 Convention hotels. But Google Maps views locations from straight above. If you want a real thrill, download Google Earth. Google Earth is a free application the takes the satellite photos used in Google Maps and positions them on a 3-dimensional earth that you can pan and rotate. It can even overlay roads and buildings. Google Earth bookmarks are called .KMZ files. We’ve created .KMZ files for our 2005–2007 Convention hotels that you can download below.
ERA member Subutay Musluoglu sent us this interesting correction to the article on London’s Jubilee Line in the current Las Vegas issue of Headlights…
First, on Page 27 in the first paragraph, there is a reference to the line’s planning background history that was obtained from Wikipedia. It states that the line was to have originally been named the Fleet line after the River Fleet. This is incorrect and a confusion stemming from the complex planning history of the line that goes back to the end of World War II. The name Fleet Line refers to an earlier proposed alignment that followed Fleet Street, which is on the northern side of the River Thames. However, the line’s alignment was subsequently changed to one that followed more closely along the Thames River, alternately shifting between, and serving, both sides of the city, thus leading to the new name River Line. This was then followed by the renaming to the Jubilee Line in honor of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, which is correct in the article. This alignment, with some adjustments, resembles what was eventually built. The history is actually much more complex, with several alignment variations, but this is the basic story.
Second, on the map on Page 29, the description of the new Canada Water station omits the transfer that is available there to the East London Line. The Jubilee Line crosses underneath the East London Line there, and the station was built during the same period in the late 1990s that the East London Line was closed for extensive refurbishment of line’s original tunnel under the river, built by the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Thank you, Subutuy. All members are reminded that we are always on the lookout for images and text for upcoming issues of Headlights, and materials in electronic form take precedence over those that require typing or scanning. For more information, contact Sandy Campbell, editor.