NWI CHAPTER
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
November 2024 from
Jerry Pyfer

NWI Chapter Business

The NWI Chapter Nominating Committee Report:

Jason Leverton Chaired the committee with the following results; Nominated for President - Jerry Pyfer - Vice President Jason Leverton - Treasurer Daniel Fredrickson - Directors (Three) Norm Hoisington, Gilbert Sebenste, Andrew Townsend. Secretary had no nomination.

All were awarded their position by acclamation. Thus, there will be no need for an election this year.

Secretary will remain vacant until someone indicates an interest in the position. That person will be appointed by the President with Board of Directors’ approval. If you might be interested, please let me know soon. It is not a difficult job.

Changing of the guard

NWI Chapter has been blessed with two outstanding officers.

Ron Lundstrom has served in one position or another for as long as I can remember. In his words;

“In ancient history I had been an NRHS director---back when there were such things. I even attended some of the area events hosted by other NRHS chapters for the regional NRHS reps. That was actually fun at the time. I also edited the newsletter as Mike Schafer was backing off of that duty. This was back in the days when I would drive to his office in Waukesha to work well into the night with typed copy, a hot waxer to affix the copy and/or pix or diagrams to a layout sheet. I probably wasn't worth much at work the next day. The process moved down here but I continued to edit for some years--don't remember how many.

I was also NWI president back in the Golden Fleece

(Arrow) tours time where we were winding down Doug Cobb's "train trips". In handling the many dollars of cash for these trips, I never detected any inside theft or cheating in the cash accounting. To their credit neither Ann nor Doug showed any indication of wanting a "cut" of anything. Getting a bunch of people on the train was a pride thing of Doug's. The only problem we ever had was a tendency for checks written on what was then Northwest Bank to have a high incidence of NSF bounces. We finally wouldn't take checks from there. There were days of having a former RI baggage car, NWI was being used to get NRHS trip insurance to run the 765 on the TP&W. Certainly not pleasant times filled with lots of turmoil and the Chapter getting skunked out of a few thousand $$ by Golden Fleece.

But, we still survive in a more relaxed format. It'll be interesting to see how the group continues as we have or slowly wander into internet land and zoom shows.”

Ron was our vice-president for a few years when Secretary Mark Broman passed away a short time back. Ron accepted a joint officer role as VP and Secretary. Ron serves as our liaison with St. Mark’s Church, our Rockford “home”.

Ron and I shared the responsibility of accessing the church for our meetings. I would always feel uncertain about going through the protocol opening or closing the church security system. I could do it, but breathed a sigh of relief when Ron handled the job.

Ron was one year short of being a charter member.

Next, Lloyd Rinehart is a charter member of the NWI chapter from 1969.

Lloyd has served as president and secretary in years past. He is probably most remembered as our treasurer. After ten years on duty, he was called back when new treasurer Jim Boeger resigned for personal reasons, for another ten years. As long as there was a need, Lloyd stepped in to serve.

I appreciated Lloyd as our fiduciary officer. As such, I would have spending ideas he didn’t agree with for one reason or another. That was fine with me as some of the ideas I had would have gotten us

into trouble with the good ole IRS. We have to follow IRS rules since we are a 501-3C non-profit organization. Not to mention, the treasurer has the task to protect the chapter’s funds.

Lloyd also served as program director. He and Mr. B, Mark, would get programs scheduled for chapter meetings. Lloyd and I now share that task.

As well as being chapter officers, they are my friends. We have taken railfan trips together with laughs and fun times. The biggest was the trip to Salisbury, NC for the “Streamliners at Spencer” event in 2014. Has it been 10-years already?

Dues Renewal Season

NWI/NRHS dues renewal season is upon us.

Our NWI dues/NWL subscription will remain at $25.00 for 2025.

The NRHS portion remains at $50 for 2025. You must send the NRHS dues directly to the National.

Your NWI dues notice form is in this issue of the NWL.

NWI Chapter’s 55th Anniversary

Plans are set for the NWI Chapter’s 55th anniversary celebration at the November Annual Meeting.

This annual meeting will be November 30th, the weekend after Thanksgiving as directed by our By-Laws. This will make it the fifth Saturday.

As announced on the front page, we will start at 3:00pm.

Pizza is expected to arrive around 5:00pm.

Mark & Mike Nelson will share a traditional slide show at 6:00pm.

The official Annual Meeting highballs at 7:00pm. We have a fantastic line-up of Presenters offering multi-media presentations including:

Mike Raia - My Favorite Things
Mike McBride - Riding the North Western Carousel
Mike Schafer - The Illinois Terminal
Lance Wales - Big Cities - Little Towns
Jason Leverton - What About Now?
Pat Malone - A long steel rail and a Short Cross Tie
Jerry Pyfer - Even more stuff from little yellow boxes.

See you then

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