August 14
I need some input/feedback on this. AMRS
and MLS have informally discussed
combining their Starlight Christmas Party and our Christmas run. Historically
they
have their night on a Thursday night while we ran Friday and Saturday last year.
They
are talking about adding a night to their Thursday night, either Friday or
Saturday. Last
year we rained out on Friday night but ran on Saturday. That was just the luck
of the
draw.
So my questions are this. Do we want to decorate the park again this year and
run? If
so, which night would we prefer to join with AMRS? The Saturday night is
normally
our potluck Christmas dinner. My thought is that they could have their event
Thursday
and Friday and we could do Friday and Saturday nights again. Friday would be the
overlap. The Christmas dinner could still be held on Saturday night as we did
that last
year.
Keep in mind that the Toy Drive will be happening on Saturday and Sunday during
the
day (as far as I know). Please email me and let me know what you think. I need
to let
AMRS know by next Wednesday.
Jim Manley email me
August 14
The cub scouts will be here on Sep 6 from 8 to noon.
WE NEED ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET!!!
last year we gave over 400 rides in the 4 hours. We will need all the riding
cars and motive
power that we can find
Any questions Call Jim Brown 623-694-1061
August 4
The August Stack Talk is now posted click here to view it
August 4
Fire Ban Lifted
The fire ban posted on May 12th has been lifted as of Aug 1st click
here for Details,
http://www.maricopa.gov/pr_detail.aspx?releaseID=897.
Remember folks to maintain your vigilance against
accidental fires since we still have dry brush.
July 31
Fall meet Schedule is now posted
July 31
Volunteers needed !
This is an URGENT request for volunteers to help us get ready for the fall runs.
We need people to rake up weeds, I
need a crew of 3 or 4 to go around and “plant” all the new signs we have had
made. We need people to paint the station and the railing around it. I will need
a crew of a couple younger people to pick up rocks so we can finish the
approaches to the bridges. -
Thanks Bill Myers
July 16
Fall Meet sign up form is now active -- -Fall meet info page coming soon
July 15
New Sunday Run Schedule is posted - We need you to help fill in the blank spots - Including Maintenance
Click here to see the schedule
July 14
Auction August 9 2008
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These cars will be auctioned at the August meeting The cars may be viewed prior to auction by contacting
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June 15
A friendly reminder ;
that we need to help contain cost at the club. If you are out at the park running at night (which is great) please remember to turn off the lights that are not in use. The other night some board members stopped by the park close to midnight and found the club house, patio, switch barn, and station lights all on. Please turn off the lights in the areas that you are not using at that time.
For safety remember to carry a flashlight!
June 1
The June issue of Stack Talk is now available in our Stack Talk Library
A note from Jim Manley
I just got back from vacation in the Los Angeles
And there’s the beauty of it… we don’t have to.
With the countless hours put in by volunteers
over the years we have our own “magical” park.
If you don’t believe me, watch on Sundays when
it is too hot to breathe the number of people who
show up and want a train ride. The same nostalgia
that makes people want to ride the trains at
Disneyland makes people want to ride our trains.
We don’t have the scenery that Disneyland has and
yet people return visit after visit. There’s a nostalgic
peacefulness about riding trains that calms the spirit.
In a society where the microwave doesn’t cook fast
enough anymore, isn’t it nice to be stewards for a time
when things weren’t so busy and folks enjoyed looking
out the window to see what was going to go by.
We, rail fans, have an extraordinary task to keep railroading
alive. Just remember that as you carry the
torch on at breakneck speeds to ride the trains and
calm your spirit.
Amtrak: Wheel of Fortune Celebrates National Train Day
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Wheel of Fortune Celebrates National Train Day
The First-Ever National Train Day Arrives May 10
Visit NationalTrainDay.com for more details about events in your area »
Celebrate National Train Day every day — use your MasterCard on Amtrak and you could win a National Park vacation, Amtrak travel or a MasterCard gift card. Make an Amtrak purchase with your MasterCard now through May 31, 2008 and you will automatically be entered for a chance to win. So, take a ride on Amtrak today and celebrate these national treasures. Learn more and enter the sweepstakes »
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May 5 -- Attention
May 3 -- Thanks to all Volunteers for your great support and hard work which made a great day for our visiting guests. Each one of them will take home a great Experience at Maricopa Live Steamers!
May 1
The May issue of Stack Talk is now available in our Stack Talk Library
April 19 -- Thanks to the club members who
helped paint the containers last week, Friday, April 11th. Jerry Smolyk,
who headed up the paint party had this to say,
"I would like to thank everyone who turned up Friday morning to help paint all
the new containers. In all we had 16 members [ 14 men and 2 ladies] show up all
prepared to go to work. Everyone was asking "What can we do?" Well everyone did
something, scraping rust or loose paint, removing peeling decals, brushing off
dirt, manning the spray guns and the support people that kept the paint coming,
mixing it and helping move the spray equipment around, dragging hoses and cords,
moving the power generator and cleaning up. Ladies and gentlemen you should be
proud of your efforts. Can you believe you all participated in preparing and
painting 14 [ yes that's right FOURTEEN!!!!! ] containers or trailers AND
repainted FOUR previously painted containers! Thanks also to Pete Pennarts, Bob
Alkire and Dan Tack for supplying the paint spraying equipment. That was a
TERRIFIC TEAM EFFORT and I was glad to be a part of the team. Sincere THANK YOU
to you all !!! Job WELL DONE !!!! I may be a little biased but I think the
WEST END of CONTAINER ROW looks Pretty Darn Good!!!! Going back to Canada
:( See you in the fall. Regards, Jerry Smolyk"
For those of you who had a container painted, the club is asking for donations to cover the costs of the paint. For those that didn't have a container painted but would like to donate towards the cost of painting the club containers, that will be accepted gladly as well.
The positions of Stack Talk Editor and Webmaster have been filled. Please thank Jim Ashcraft and Bob Waterworth for taking on these roles and helping the club to continue forward. A really big Thank You to Charlie Downs who handled both of these jobs for almost four and a half years.
A little humor for today... Jerry Smolyk got a new handcar to play with. Jim Brown and Jim Manley got the crazy idea to paint the handcar like a Via Rail F40PH so Jerry could pull his passenger cars with some "realism" instead of his F-7 Zebra. The only problem is Jerry didn't have a "baggage" car so they built him one. Below are the pictures from the delivery day.
A new Stack Talk editor is needed. Charlie Downs has resigned as editor but can help turn the reigns over to a willing volunteer. Please let Jim Manley know if you would like to take on this very important job.
First I want to thank Jerry Moore for the good job he did on welcoming and registering our guests on Thursday. By the time I started on Friday he had already signed in 22 people.
We had 95 out of state visitors which is the most we have ever had. Our last three meets had 72, 75 and 72 out of state visitors. Our guests this year came from 14 states plus Birsay and Edmonton, Canada. What a great group.
The attendance break down was:
Birsay, Canada 4
Edmonton, Canada 3
California 31
Colorado 1
Illinois 2
Michigan 2
Minnesota 5
Nebraska 2
Nevada 19
New Mexico 6
Oklahoma 1
Oregon 1
Pennsylvania 2
Tennessee 2
Texas 12
Virginia 2
It was such a pleasure for us to have all these guests come and run on our railroad. We all hope that everyone had such a good time that they will return for future meets.
On behalf of Sahuaro Central I want to thank Maricopa Live Steamers for their support of the Swap Meet Train Rides on Saturday, March 15, 2008. Our passengers were treated to a ride from Adobe City to Pottsville with a 10 minute layover at Pottsville and then a return trip back to Adobe City. At Pottsville the passengers visited the Sahuaro Central Museum and the operating 'G' gauge train layout. The visit at Pottsville was nicely facilitated by Jerry Oyler and Mike Russell.
Based on the number of train trips we estimate that we gave rides to 475 people. This was quite an increase over the 140 passengers for the 2007 Spring Swap Meet and the 176 passengers for the 2007 Fall Swap Meet. For most of the time we were operating all three of the club locomotives. There were no derailments in the Pottsville Yard. Kudos to the track crew and the rolling stock maintenance crew.
I want to express particular thanks to Bud Waterworth. He served as Station Master for the whole time and did a great job in keeping everything moving smoothly. I also want to thank all the volunteers who kept the trains running and the passengers smiling. The rest of the volunteer crew consisted of: John Caldwell, John Draftz, Greg Gorman, Wade Gorman, Denise Kennedy, John Lovely, Bob Waterworth, Ed Willekens, Fred Wilson and Ken Bain. Denise Kennedy with her smile and conductors' uniform added a nice touch of class.
It was a pleasure to hear the comments from several of our passengers. Not only were they complementary about the ride but they were very impressed with the whole Adobe Western Railroad. Several mentioned how much they enjoyed seeing all the train action and a couple said that this was the first time they had seen live steam locomotives in action on our tracks. In the final analysis I am sure that everyone involved felt they had a satisfying experience.
Thanks Maricopa Live Steamers!
We have also sorted through the hundreds of photos Moe McKiernan took of the Fall Meet, and have posted his best here
And we have Perry McCully's Fall Meet Photos for your consideration. Take a look.
March 6 -- Orange County Model Engineers Inc., home of the Mackerel Flats & Goat Hill Junction Railroad, will celebrate its 2008 Spring Meet April 24th through the 27th. The club is located in a Costa Mesa city park in Orange County, Calif. A map depicting the location can be viewed at the club's web page, www.ocmetrains.org.
Space for RV's and tenters is available on-site for four nights (Thursday through Sunday). No hookups are provided. Water and bathroom facilities (no hot water or showers) are available. No open fires permitted. Early arrival date is the Thursday of the meet. The park is not open for camping before then. Departure required by noon Monday.
OCME is a 380-mile one-way trip from MLS (seven-hour driving-time trip for a vehicle towing a trailer and obeying the speed limits - no fueling or eating time included). Our usual fueling stop is Quartzite each way. For a trip starting in Arizona, we think that buying fuel in Arizona (at Quartzite) would be good (cheapest). It is 265 miles from Quartzite to Costa Mesa, so at least one California fuel stop seems mandatory.
Bill Laird has decided to sell his RMI 65-ton "A" and "B" diesels. Complete information is available on our Want Ads page.
John Lovely has an Atlas bench lathe for sale
in the
Want Ads. He has added a picture and some more
details to the listing.
To
Maricopa Live Steamers members:
Never in the history of the club has so much work been done by so few for the
good of the many.
For the members that are using the rails of the club not knowing about the
entire storm damage and what has happened to put it back into shape, every
member of Maricopa Live Steamers needs to thank the few for the work that was
done. There were a number of bridges put in. Landscaping has been
done at each location to improve water flow. It also looks great.
Track has been leveled and ballasted. I for one thank the track and
ballast crews. We would not have track to run on, if it were not for them.
To think that most of the work was done in 110 degree heat!!!!
From a very grateful member,
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember
to watch Wheel of Fortune Monday, May 5 when America's Game celebrates
National Train Day. The episode will feature on-air segments with Pat and
Vanna and a wedge on the famous Wheel with fantastic getaways from Amtrak
Vacations. An eye-catching Wheel of Fortune-wrapped train will also be
traveling between Chicago and Milwaukee through May 15 to spread the word
about National Train Day. Check your local listing for times, then tune in
to Wheel, play along and catch all the National Train Day fun.
