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Milan trams. Photo by Animesh Bhargava on Unsplash

Our April program will be presented by Clark Frazier. The topic of Clark’s show will be announced soon. Read More

Seattle Streetcar with monorail in background. Mike Glikin photo (September 3, 2010)

For its 2023 Annual Convention, the ERA returns to the dynamic Pacific Northwest, anchored by our two primary destinations: Portland and Seattle. These two spectacular cities are, respectively, the nation’s 22nd and 15th most populous metro regions.

The combination of a 60-mile light rail network, local streetcar, commuter rail system, and high-frequency grid bus system have earned Portland the title of one of the best transit networks in the U.S. Seattle is the metro area most committed to developing urban transit, with $54 billion earmarked for transit in 2016, more than any other U.S. city. Read More

2023 Convention Flyer

Courtyard Secaucus Meadowlands. Marriott photo

MBS invites our fellow ERA members to join us in celebrating our 75th anniversary with the Spring 2023 Motor Bus Society Convention to be held in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area. Please note that this is a four-day Thursday to Sunday convention, different from previous conventions which started on a Friday.

The host hotel for the convention will be the Courtyard Secaucus Meadowlands. Highlights of the convention will include visits to the NYCTA Transit Museum, the Branford Trolley Museum, the FNJTHC Lakewood Facility, and the Westchester Bee Line/Liberty Lines Maintenance Facility in Yonkers. There will be activities for everyone! Read More

2023 MBS Spring Convention Flyer

2023 Monthly Meeting Dates

January 20February 17March 17April 21May 19June 16September 22October 20November 17December 15

All dates are the third Friday of each month except September 22, the fourth Friday, since the third Friday is Rosh Hashanah. There will be no meetings in July and August.

The Elevated Railways of Brooklyn and the BMT Subway, Volume One: 1864-1940. Sandy Campbell composite photo

Extra copies of Eric Oszustowicz’s The Elevated Railways of Brooklyn and the BMT Subway, Volume One: 1864-1940 are still available for sale on our Publication Sales page. This incredible 436-page book counted as the 2019 and 2020 issues of Headlights.

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Join

Members, feel free to share this page with your friends. If they enjoy our Zoom programs, your friends can join the ERA for 2023 right now using our New Member Application Form.

Digital dues are $60 and members receive the monthly Bulletin via email. All-print dues are $110 per year. Those under 30 years are eligible for $30 youth dues. All three memberships include either an annual print copy of the color Headlights magazine or a book every two years.

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Renew

You can now renew your ERA membership for 2023. Please take a moment to complete our Dues Renewal Form.

ERA greatly appreciates your prompt membership renewals and your donations. It’s our primary source of income and makes possible the monthly programming, Bulletin issues and Headlights magazine that we all count on and enjoy!

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Donate

Thank you very much to those of you who have already made generous contributions to support our programs in 2022. The membership’s response to our fund drive has been outstanding! If you have not already done so, please consider a donation this year to help ERA continue its nearly 90-year record of traction education and entertainment. Our Donation Form makes it much easier to contribute!

Donations are tax deductible: The ERA is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt corporation. Your donations are fully tax deductible and can be made using the new donation form on our website.

Shop using AmazonSmile: Each time you shop on Amazon, use our unique charity link AmazonSmile ERA and 0.5% of your purchase will go to the ERA!

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We’re proud to announce the 2023 ERA Membership Card, photographed in 1990 by Bulletin Editor-in-Chief Jeff Erlitz from his Headlights 2021 article on East German Traction.

Our membership cards are now digital. Upload them to your phone for easy access, or print them if you want to add your name and membership number.

The complete set of 2016-2023 membership cards is available as high-res PDFs, suitable for printing and framing. Click an image to enlarge; click a caption to download the PDF.

2023 PDF

2022 PDF

2021 PDF

2020 PDF

2019 PDF

2018 PDF

2017 PDF

2016 PDF

We have a huge selection of Headlights in both print and PDF editions, plus The Elevated Railways of Brooklyn and the BMT Subway book, all available for immediate purchase online. Plus, our convenient Publication Sales section is cleaner and easier to use than ever before.

Free PDFs of vintage ERA memorabilia are now available for viewing online or download. Sandy Campbell composite photo

When Ray Berger passed away in 2016, he left a trove of transportation memorabilia he had been collecting for decades. Jeff Erlitz and Noah Caplin have been hard at work sorting through these archives. Jeff has scanned a bunch of the vintage items they found, presented here for our members to enjoy.

ERA Periodicals

Our new Periodicals landing page gathers all of our ERA magazines and newsletters in one spot for easy access.

Facebook

Created in 2011 by Philip Hom, our Facebook page is the place to go for the latest news from ERA members.

Twitter

Our frequently updated Twitter feed is written by Alexander ‘Sasha’ Ivanoff, a contributing editor to the Bulletin.

YouTube

Fascinating member videos, including some of our monthly meetings, can be watched on our YouTube channel.

Issuu

Every back issue since 2002 of the Bulletin and previews of Headlights since 1996 can be found on our Issuu page.

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