NWI CHAPTER
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Jan 2018 from
Jerry Pyfer

New Year Reflection

As the year 2018 sets into place, a review of 2017 might be in order.

We kicked off January with another installment from John Dziobko’s slide stash. Why break with tradition, John is back this January for his 35th annual presentation with us.

February featured M&Ms. Mark & Mike Nelson filled the big screen with their railroad gems from the past.

March saw veteran NWI member Louis Gerard proved the Chicago Transit Authority was more than just subway cars.

April had our Photographer of the Year contest with our first time-ever tied first place winners. Robert Jordan and Michael Raia shared the honors while Brian Carlson presented the interim program.

The May and June meetings were annulled.

July was another picnic hosted by Mike Schafer.

In August, we returned to Oregon’s depot.

September we took our trip on a Specific Pacific railroad with George Strombeck.

October Robert Schmidt reviewed Amtrak operations out of Chicago in the first year
.
November we took flight courtesy of Erik Rasmussen’s drone with a new look at railfanning.

Thank you to all these fellows for sharing their railroad photographs and stories.

So here we are at 2018. I hope you have punched your new ticket for another year of NWI Chapter meetings with superb railroad photography up on the big screen.

NMRA Train Show Moves

Rockford area’s annual model train show hosted by the NMRA Rock River Valley Division is moving for 2018 to Belvidere North High School campus on the weekend of March 24-25th.

The campus is at 9393 Beloit Road, Belvidere on Belvidere’s northwest side.

Chapter Dues

Time for your NWI-NRHS dues renewal for 2018. We are still at $20 for NWI Chapter dues.

A subscription to our newsletter North Western Limited alone remains at $20 as well. Your Chapter renewals and subscriptions may be sent to our Chapter P.O. box or presented at a chapter meeting. You may also mail your dues directly to Chapter Treasurer Lloyd Rinehart at: 522 Bradshaw Street, Dixon, IL. 61021.

The NWI Chapter will not handle the NRHS portion of their dues. A few years back, we use to do this for the National until they told chapters this was no longer their desire and to stop such activities. Today, the NRHS has changed its tune, but we will not handle the NRHS portion.
Please send the National’s dues to the NRHS.

Railfanning is…

My 18 month old granddaughter Nora was visiting one day and we were watching a PBS program called, “Super Why?”

The premise of the animated program is to teach children letters and words through the five main characters. One of these characters is a dog named Woofster. In this episode, Woofster is playing hide-n-seek. A portion of the hiding was done on a train. There are several dog shaped trains arriving and departing the station. I know, it is a young kid’s program after all.

The thing that caught my attention was the first train’s sound affect, was that? Listening more intently to the next train departing the station, it truly was, an EMD turbo-charged sound of a unit revving up. Nice replacement for the usual worn out chug-chug of a steam engine.

For more information about the Chapter, see Meetings and Join.