2001

The 2001 Annual Convention, held in Chicago, was one of our most successful to date. We visited the Illinois Railway Museum; the new PCC streetcar operation in Kenosha; the East Troy Railway Museum, and the Fox River Railway Museum. We also had fantrips on the Chicago Rapid Transit system on two different days.

A particular highlight was our excursion on the Douglas Park Line, which was held on a Saturday. Since that line normally operates Monday through Friday only, we had the entire line to ourselves. We were able to have photo stops at nearly every station on the line because we didn't have to worry about interfering with regular service. The crew on our four-car train went so far as to split it up into a pair of two car trains which were then posed on opposite platforms.

The speaker at our banquet was Professor George Smirk who gave an excellent presentation on recent improvements to the Chicago South Shore and South Bend rail service along with some long range plans for that service. We want to thank Jack May for the excellent job he did in putting the convention together.