NWI CHAPTER
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
June 2025 from
Jerry Pyfer

Meeting Start Times
Have you been thinking about the start times for our Chapter meetings?
We went to a doors open at 2:30pm with the meeting starting at 3:00pm.
Thus far, I have not heard a disparaging word about the afternoon starts.

NWI Running Extra Zoom Show
May 12th saw nine participants on the Zoom program. I shared a chapter out of my “Rockford’s Railroad Evolution”. We looked at the Chicago & North Western which changed into the Union Pacific in 1995.
June 16, 2025 at 7pm will see the next installment of Rockford’s Railroad Evolution covering the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in Rockford which of course changed into the Burlington Northern in 1970 before seeing the Rockford branch from Flag Center sold off to North American RailNet becoming the Illinois RailNet and then again to OmniTRAX becoming the Illinois Railway.

This program originally aired at the Rock River Valley Division’s January 2025 meeting.

If you are already on our Zoom list, you will receive the invite. If you are not on the list and wish to participate, please email me at: jrrchase@comcast.net

NWI on the Road
The NWI Chapter will be taking two meetings on the road this year.
The August 23, 2025 meeting will take place at the Oregon, Illinois depot. Some details will be changing, we will include those changes in the August newsletter.

September 26, 2025, we will enjoy another joint meeting with the Iowa Chapter in Savanna, Illinois. Details are still being worked out but this will be an afternoon meeting to be sure.

One thing I can say at this point is;

We will be meeting at the Savanna Museum & Cultural Center, 406 Main Street, Savanna, Illinois. Details about the museum can be found at: savannamuseum.org

When you go to the museum website, scroll down the page of model railroad photographs to the bottom. You might like the railroaders’ interviews. I thought they were all too short.

Railfanning is…
Railfanning is watching videos from your son’s family vacation in Branson, MO., of them enjoying the Branson Scenic Railway.

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