may - jun 2010

The

SETOFFThe Official Publication of NARCOANorth American Railcar Operators Association

May / June2010

Volume 24 No. 3

Associated Manufacturing Company

History of the Hy-Rail

NARCOARulebook Changes

New NARCOASecretary

The SETOFF May / June 2010

On The Cover:Amador Central – March21, 2010 near Ione, CA. The last east-bound group crosses the Hwy 104 over-pass at MP 3.3. Photo byWayne Parsons

The

SETOFFVolume 24 - No 3

The SETOFF is the official publication ofthe North American Railcar Operators Associ-ation (NARCOA) and is published bimonthlyto promote safe legal operation of railroad mo-torcars, and to encourage fellowship and ex-change of information among motorcarenthusiasts. Membership in NARCOA, whichincludes a subscription to The SETOFF, is $30per year, and is available from Secretary MarkHudson. Please send your check made out toNARCOA to:

Mark Hudson, MembershipP.O. Box 321, Dry Ridge, KY 41035.

[email protected]

Brian Davis, SETOFF Editor5626 Chadwell CircleRavenna, Ohio [email protected]

Leon Sapp, Assistant EditorJan Taylor, Assistant EditorJamie Haislip, Contributor

The SETOFF is printed byGreg Kightlinger, GEK Printing

All subscriptions and address changesmust go to the Secretary. All materials for pub-lication must go to the Editor.

Materials received by the 15th of evennumbered months will appear on the 1st of thenext odd numbered month subject to editingand available space. Please include your e-mailaddress and phone number. Electronic submis-sions are preferred. Text files must have either.doc or .txt extensions. Photo files must be highresolution with .jpg extensions. All materialsare archived and not returned. We cannotreprint copyrighted material without written au-thorization or proper attribution.

Letters to the Editor must be signed andinclude an e-mail address or phone number forauthentication. All such letters will be printedas discussed in the NARCOA policy book.

For more information about NARCOA,the safe legal operation of motorcars, or to findNARCOA affiliates located in Canada, theUnited States, and Mexico, please see:

www.narcoa.org© Copyright 2010 - NARCOA. All rights

reserved. Reproduction, by any means, inwhole or part, by any party, is strictly prohib-ited.

NNAARRCCOOAA OOffffiicciiaallssNNAARRCCOOAA OOffffiicciiaallssPresident: Warren Froese Vice-President: Mark Springer Secretary: Mark Hudson Treasurer: Tom Norman

Area 1 Director (ME, NH, VT, NY, MA, CT, RI) Warren Riccitelli (401) 232-0992 [email protected]

Area 2 Director (NJ, PA, DE, MD) John Gondor (724) [email protected]

Area 3 Director (IN, Lower MI, OH) Dave Verzi (216) 941-5273 [email protected]

Area 4 Director (WV, VA, KY, NC, SC, TN) Tom Falicon (828) 488-8063 [email protected]

Area 5 Director (MS, AL, GA, FL) Bobby Moreman (770) 457-6212 [email protected]

Area 6 Director (MN, WI, IL, Upper MI) Bob Knight (815) [email protected]

Area 7 Director (ND, SD, NE, IA) Carl Schneider (515) 967-5181 [email protected]

Area 8 Director (Canada, World outside U.S.) Warren Froese (204) 668-8311 [email protected]

Area 9 Director (AR, CO, KS, LA, MO, OK, TX) Mark Springer (316) 721-4804 [email protected]

Area 10 Director (WA, OR, ID, MT, AK, WY) Jim Spicer (541) 344-3079 [email protected]

Area 11 Director (CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, HI) Pat Coleman (925) 979-1030 [email protected]

Director-at-Large (non–voting) Margaret Hope (604) [email protected]

Director-at-Large (non–voting) Bernie Leadon (615) [email protected]

Nominations, Elections Carl Anderson1330 Rosedale LaneHoffman Estates, IL [email protected]

NARCOA Insurance Administrator Tom Norman (406) 722-3012 1047 Terrace View Drive Alberton, MT 59820 [email protected]

Rule Book CertificationTest Al McCracken 2916 Taper Avenue Santa Clara, CA 95051 [email protected]

The SETOFF Editor Brian Davis (330) 554-4480 [email protected]

NARCOA Webmaster Keith Mackey (352) 347-0770 [email protected]

NARCOA Forum ModeratorRich Stivers (408) [email protected]

Committee Chairs

Judiciary ChairJim Spicer (541) 344-3079 91375 Coburg RdEugene OR 97408 [email protected]

Safety ChairBob Knight (815) [email protected]

Rules ChairJim McKeel (316) 721-4378 [email protected]

Operations ChairBill Taylor (406) [email protected]

Committee Chairs

Affiliates ................................... Dave VerziCustom-Built Motorcars ........ Tom Falicon Communications ..……..…. Bernie LeadonData and Computer ................ Pat ColemanFRA ........................................ Ron ZammitLegal Forms ......................... Mark Springer

SNARCOA Licensed Radio Call Sign

WPHT745Channel 1 – 151.625 MHzChannel 2 – 151.505 MHzChannel 3 – 158.400 MHz


In This Issue

Masthead ...........................................2NARCOA Officials ..........................2President’s Message .........................3Directors’ Messages .........................4From The Editor ...............................5Voting Announcement.......................6New NARCOA Secretary .................7NARCOA Rulebook Changes ..........8Farmrail Excursion........................... 9Amador Central Setback .................10Everett RR Excursion.....................11History of the Hy-Rail ....................12Riding with Joe ..............................15Two Cylinder Coils .........................16Border Pacific RR ...........................17Associated Manufacturing Co.........18Excursion Announcements..............20Supplier Listings .............................26Checking for a Bent Axle................27Company Store................................28

PPrreessiiddeenntt’’ss MMeessssaaggeePPrreessiiddeenntt’’ss MMeessssaaggeeWarren Froese

The sun is out even in the far north, most of the snow is gone and thelakes are starting to break up after a long frozen winter. Is that the viewout your window? Many of you will have participated in one or moreexcursions by the time you read this edition of the Setoff. Many will beactively preparing their cars for the tracks, and some will still be plan-ning for the great unveiling when the motorcar emerges from the garage(or tarp!).I want to pass on to you an overall summary of NARCOA activitiesover the 2009 calendar year. 165 excursions were organized comparedto 168 in 2008. There were 1007 insured motorcar operators partici-pating in those 165 excursions, compared to 974 insured operators in2008. Membership was 1566, down approximately 100 from 2008.The insurance premium was unchanged from 2008, and dropped to $105for 2010. Our summary financial statement is at right. Under Tom Norman’sguidance we have successfully completed 2009 with an operating sur-plus of $655. Our expenses were down this year as we did not print apaper roster ($7000), spent $3000 less on calendar publication, andsaved approximately $2500 on Setoff costs. The two largest expenseitems are the Setoff and office (which includes annual board meetingcosts). Our balance sheet shows equity of $35,465, up slightly from2008.Overall we had a successful year with a full slate of excursions at-tended by more insured operators than ever. Our membership numbersfell this year, a trend which has gone on for a number of years. Reasonsfor this are difficult to clarify, and it continues to be a concern, offset byour increasing numbers of actual insured operators. Your thoughts onthis change in membership would be welcomed by your board of direc-tors. We are all welcome to invite all interested persons to join NAR-COA, whether they have a motorcar or not. Financially we operatedwithin our means and continue to have a significant bank account for un-foreseen expenses going forward.If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact yourarea director or myself. Full financial statements are available fromTom Norman. On behalf of all NARCOA members I want to publiclythank Tom for his precise work and cheerful assistance. He works tire-lessly on our behalf.Be diligent as you prepare for your next run, and please remember thateverything you do and say reflects on NARCOA as a whole. Bethoughtful, consider where you can lend a hand and enjoy each momenton the rails.If you are in an “ODD” area please take the time to cast your area di-rector vote when it comes in the mail.- Warren

#ARCOA Income/Expense Statement 1/1/09 through 12/31/09

I#COMEDues 42,926Gr sales 3,095Meet Setup fees 8,750Other Inc 1,073

TOTAL I#COME 55,845

EXPE#SESAds 239Bank Charge 187Calendar 3,357Calipers& Gauges 1,172Freight 243Insurance Exp 1,962L&P fees 1,625Lanterns 707Nameplates 587Office 20,656Rule Book 2,204Setoff 22,221Tax 25

TOTAL EXPE#SES 55,189

OVERALL TOTAL 655(All numbers listed to the dollar only)


Area ThreeIN, Lower MI, OH

Dave Verzi

Greetings from (partly) sunnysouthwest Pennsylvania. This year Iam trying a new approach to hope-fully gaining some new rail for usin the region to run on. Teaming upwith some coordinators from an-other regional affiliate, we spent theday touring and mapping a poten-tial new rail line. As we all know,these new trips have to be mappedfor logistics and operational obsta-cles as well as time frame, pottystops, scenery, crossings, set-on lo-cation, turn around points, RR pi-lots, parking for our vehicles,community involvement, medicalemergencies, and oh my! the mostimportant thing on a speedertrip.....FOOD availability! Nowthat we have done that, on topreparing a written proposal for therailroad and associated propertiesthat will require several meetings,lots of travel back and forth, count-less emails, and phone calls, andWOW ! way too many hours ofpreparation just to make this tripattractive to the railroad as well asyou folks. We had a good start yes-terday. Now we wait and see whatcomes back from the railroad. I justwanted you all to know some ofwhat goes on behind the scenes ofgetting your railcar season under-way. All this is just for one excur-sion. there is lots more that has tobe done. Your area coordinatorsare the life line of our hobby. Thereare many trips, both repeat and newthis year all over the country. Allhave been the result of thousands ofman hours in preparation by folksthat ask nothing in return other thanthat you come and enjoy yourselvesand be SAFE!

The past couple of months haveseen a notable transition for NAR-COA in the retirement of JoelWilliams as NARCOA secretary.The transition seems to have gonesmoothly and we appreciate MarkHudson stepping up as NARCOA’ssecretary with assistance from BobHastings and Dan Page. Also ofnote is concurrent progress withNARCOA’s communication teamand electronic data base let by PatColeman. Details of these accom-plishments are better detailed else-where but my emphasis to thankthese dedicated members for theirefforts to step up and progress theorganization. Thanks also to Joelfor his several decades of service toNARCOA as officer, director andfounding member.

There is room for you as a memberto step up and assist too. Our Re-gion has seen a maintained interestin our activities by the general pub-lic at railroad oriented events. Sev-eral organizations have been incontact for us to display and inter-act with the public. While I am gen-erally reserved with broadpromotion activities I feel that theeffort is well spent to inform rail-road interested potential membersabout NARCOA. More impor-tantly is interaction with those thatcould potentially open up additionalrail access for our travels. Several museum events have beenposted on the NARCOA web siteand regionally updated iswww.ohiovalleyrailcars.com. Re-quests to post events in addition toOVR’s NARCOA insured excur-sions are frequently listed there.While too late for this Setoff issueto publicize, there was a request todisplay in the Train Day ToledoMay 1st where we anticipated inter-acting with several thousand rail in-terested people as well as industryand government folks. Upcomingon June 26th is a request for motor-car operators to assist with a Na-tional Railroad Historical Societyevent at the Southern MichiganRailroad in Tecumseh, Michigan.The NRHS folks are very interestedin learning about our hobby andtraveling on a motorcar. Please con-tact Region 3 NARCOA memberPat Robertson at [email protected] and he’ll reply with the de-tails. The SMRS is a cornerstonesupporter of the hobby and if youcan make this event your effortswill be greatly appreciated. Later this summer is the OrrvilleRailroad Days celebration and mo-torcars are traditionally a part ofthat event so watch for details onthis event. There are also several re-

It seems that a lot of you havequestions about the wording or lackof wording and clarifications in ourrule book. As these questions havecome up, I have been trying to getyour questions addressed and an-swered. It is my belief that wedon’t need more rules added to thebook, just perhaps some better ex-planation or definitions for what wecurrently have. this is being ad-dessed. If you have questions,please ask. Your board has been ex-perimenting with the new computerdata base that will make things eas-ier for our new secretary MarkHudson and his committee to keepall our records together and acces-sible and safe from hackers.Let’s have a great season. Helpeach other to enjoy the hobby , andyes... Keep it SAFE out there!John Gondor

Area Two(DE, MD, NJ, PA)

John Gondor


Area FiveMS, AL, GA, FL

Bobby Moreman

Area FourKY, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV

Tom Falicon

Hi Area Four members! Just a short note to remind you thatnow that we are in the peak of ex-cursion season we all must takeextra care and stay focused. You allcan help prevent rear-enders bymaintaining the proper followingdistance, by operating your vehicleat the proper speed for track condi-tions, by slowing down if your line-of-sight distance is short and bybeing aware of adverse track condi-tions and altering your operationaccordingly. Also, remember thatpoor quality rail, a tight curve and abit too much speed are all that isnecessary for a quick derailment.Last but not least, please strive tostay extra alert during those “sleepyhours” right after your lunch break.During these crazy times we all

need more joy in our lives and aNARCOA excursion is the bestway to laugh more and live more,so get out there and enjoy a run nextweekend!

By the time you read this, we willhave had several successful motor-car excursions in the Southeast.While NARCOA runs on verymuch appreciated volunteers, it isthe Excursion Coordinators that goout and get permission from rail-roads for us to ride on. Some of usare getting older and feeling the‘aches and pains’ of senior years. Itis important for new folks to ‘stepup to the plate’, and learn from theirelders the ‘ins and outs’ of beingsuccessful excursion coordinators.I urge each of you to look into be-coming excursions coordinators.Contact your Area Narcoa Direc-tors and work with Bill Taylor yourNARCOA Operations Chairperson.To me, it has been a lot of satisfac-tion to promote, organize, and runsuccessful and safe motorcar excur-sions. I’m slowing down now to letthe younger folks do the work andBrenda and I will start riding otherexcursions. Brenda and I figure wehave been the EC for almost 100excursions in the past 20 plus yearsand have ridden that many other ex-cursions.Larry Crowe is Area 5’s newest ex-cursion coordinator and is alreadygot plans for his first excursion inthe works. He will be followed byWill Thompson to become Area 5’snext excursion coordinator. Thereare others out there throughoutNARCOA land and we need yourhelp and input.It’s not too late to plan to attend theannual NARCOA directors meetingin Chicago the first weekend of Oc-tober. We have a really good roomrate and hope that many of you willplan to attend the meeting and meet

all the hard working NARCOA vol-unteers and you read about in the‘SETOFF’. Our hotel is just min-utes from O’Hare Airport and a freeshuttle will get you there quickly.We will have elected three new di-rectors and I’m sure we will have avery interesting meeting. There arecommittees that need volunteersand much work for all of us. Cometo Chicago and support your NAR-COA motorcar organization.Most of you know of the passingof Dr. Jack Whitt this past winter.Jack was one of the founders ofNARCOA and Area 5’s first direc-tor. He and Susie put on the firstexcursions in the southeast beforethere was a NARCOA or a MCCA.Jack and Susie also went all overthe US, Canada, and Mexico intheir standard and narrow gaugecars. Jack was an inspiration to meto become an excursion coordinatorand I was very proud to take overthe directorship of Area 5 when heretired. I and many others will missJack for a very long time. Be safe out there.Bobby Moreman

gional museum’s with motorcar re-lated activities and/or NARCOAmembers active within their mem-bership. Some of these groupspresently support our travels viaNARCOA Affiliate excursions andothers have in the past. Any effortswe make to assist their effort cer-tainly help our motorcar excursionefforts as well as preserve some railhistory for future generations. Ifyou are in Indiana, Michigan orOhio there are museums closeenough to satisfy your rail relateddesires for an occasional weekendbetween our motorcar travels.

From TheFrom TheEditorEditorBrian Davis

Hello Fellow Members!Spring has come to Ohio, thesnow is off the rails, and the ex-cursions have begun. It is time toget out and see how the landscapehas changed over the winter.The SETOFF has had somechanges over the winter as well.This will be the first issue whichdoes not have any of the familiarFor Sale or Wanted Ads. These arebest left on the website. In theirplace I have been able to add an-

Continued on Page 7


EEMMAAIILL AADDDDRREESSSSEESS

Your membership team wouldgreatly appreciate your attentionto this detail. As we work to triala web based data base we needaccurate email addresses fromeach member.

Please forward your primaryemail address to Dan Page at:

[email protected] list will not be passed on toany third party at any time. Ifyou do not have email accessplease disregard this message.We will continue to provide forpaper /mail communication foryou.

We would also encourage eachmember to join the NARCOAForum (details at the bottom ofthe “Members Only” page atwww.narcoa.org This will ensurethat each member receives theregular username and passwordupdates for the members onlypage.

Dear Editor,Allow me to introduce myself...myname is Harry Fischer, and I am anew member of motorcar-ring sinceAugust 2009. I live in Saugus, Cal-ifornia (Southern California), and amember of PRO.I have been a participant of otherassociations during my 62 years.But nothing has come close to thefriendship, camaraderie, willing-ness to help others and just plainfun as this hobby.EVERYONE is willing to helpyou! Whether it is over a friendlyphone, before, during and after anexcursion. Although, I’ve been rid-ing the rails a short time in Califor-nia, I look forward to meeting newmember in other States as well. I’llbe heading east to Arizona in Aprilfor the Grand Canyon Run and willcontinue to meet new membersfrom other regions and share help-ful hints, information and stories.I especially learn from the articlesI read in the Setoff as well as ourregional publication of MotorcarWest. There is SOOOoooo much tolearn and share. I am thankful to allof you who write these articles andshare your knowledge and experi-ence.Sincerely Yours

Harry FischerMT14L, # 250629

AALLLL OODDDD NNUUMMBBEERRAARREEAASS

Now is the time

to VOTE! Depending how you receive yourcopy of The SETOFF. Your ballotwill be provided as follows: If youreceive a hard copy of the SETOFF,your ballot will with your SETOFF.If you receive your copy of theSETOFF electronically, your bal-lots will be sent in a separate mail-ing.AREA 11 has three members run-ning for the Board seat and AREA 3has two. All other ODD numberAREAS have only one person run-ning for each Board seat. Write invotes are welcome.Voting is very important for at leasttwo reasons. 1- To select an Areamember for the NARCOA Board toguide our Organization into the fu-ture. 2- To show support for theBoard members. They all are inter-ested in the percentage of membersin their Area voting.I am trying something new, addinga picture of the candidates runningin each Area. So you can connect aname to a face. I would like toknow your thoughts on this, a noteadded ( no names ) or just write ayes or no on the ballot envelope.Thanks!It is important that each of us takea few minutes and 44 cents to vote.You never know, yours may be thevote to make the difference.I look forward to your Ballotscoming in. My letter carrier ( a newone ) has no idea how many letterswill be coming in.- Carl Anderson

other excursion report and a how toarticle by Wayne Parsons. I hopeyou like the changes!I would also like to take a momentto welcome Mark Hudson to thepost of Secretary, and hope you allwill join me in giving Mark oursupport. I also want to thank Joelfor his long service, and bid him awarm farwell. I also want to thank Leon Sapp forhis continuing support and consis-tant level of quality. Make sure youthank him as well, because theSETOFF wouldn’t exist withoutsubmissions from the membership!See you on the rails!Brian Davis

From the Editor, continued.


and protection of valuable and sen-sitive NARCOA data. Bob Hast-ings is working this effort guidedby Pat Coleman. You can reachBob at [email protected], Pat and the committee arealso working on a plan to bringNARCOA member services into

the 21st century. They are consid-ering a web site based system formembership sign up. This wouldbe an option in addition to using thecurrent paper application but wouldbe faster and more accurate. No de-cisions about adopting this systemhave been made by the NARCOABoard of Directors, but many non-profit organizations are now mov-

Our new NARCOA secretary,Mark Hudson, is working withNARCOA officers and the Board ofDirectors to modernize how serv-ices are delivered to NARCOAmembers. Mark has created amembership committee to assisthim in this task. NARCOA mem-bers Bob Hastingsand Dan Page aremembers of the com-mittee. Vice-Presi-dent Mark SpringerandArea 11 DirectorPat Coleman arementoring the effort.Mark has completedthe hand off of re-sponsibilities fromour former secretary,Joel Williams. Thenew ‘official’ organi-zational address forNARCOA is P.O.Box 321, Dry Ridge,KY 41035.Mark handles all the‘snail mail’ thatNARCOA receivesat this address. Ap-plications for mem-bership and changesto your current mem-ber data should besent to Mark at thisaddress. Please notethat addresses for insurance and op-erator testing have not beenchanged.Initially, the membership commit-tee is working to consolidate sev-eral different sets of membershipdata that exist within NARCOAinto a single integrated data set.This effort will ensure integrity

ing to a web based approach toserve their members. Dan Page ishandling the technical issues andweb design tasks. Dan can be con-tacted at [email protected] and his team will keep themembership updated with frequentcommunications as the project pro-

ceeds. Questions and suggestionsshould be sent to Mark, Bob, andDan. – Dan Page

New NARCOA Secretary Working toImprove Member Service


NARCOA RULEBOOK CHANGESJim McKeel

The following rules in the NAR-COA rulebook have been modifiedto wording as shown in this articleas approved by a recent confirma-tion vote by the board of directors.A preliminary vote on the changeswas taken at the last board meeting.Time was then allowed for membercomment before the confirmationvote was taken giving final ap-proval of the changes. The follow-ing wording for these rules is nowin effect with publication in thisissue of the newsletter.

Section I, rule #99. TOW HITCHES. All motor-cars must be equipped with se-curely attached horizontal towhitches, with a 3/4 inch to 1 inchhole, mounted on the front and rearof the car 6 inches to 16 inchesabove the railhead. The hitch mustbe constructed of material at leastas thick as the member that it is at-tached to. Eye bolts used as towhitches must be of 1/2 inch stock orlarger, and must be welded closedor cast. Hitches must be mountedon the center-line of the car.

Section I, rule #1010. TOW BARS & PINS. A metaltow bar strong enough for pushingor towing must be carried on thecar. It must be at least 20 incheslong. The ends of the tow bar shalloverlap the top and bottom of thehitch. Tow pins must be between3/4 inch and one inch and musthave a retainer clip to prevent themfrom falling out. Bolts and nuts arenot acceptable unless drilled for andused with a retainer clip. Hitch pinswith swivel latches are prohibitedin any application. It is the respon-

sibility of each operator to makecertain that the length of the tow baris sufficient to clear any structuraloverhang or attachments on the endof the car that might otherwise pre-vent safe coupling to another car.

Section I, rule #1818. ADDITIONAL SAFETYEQUIPMENT. A first aid kit, afully charged 1A:10B:C fire extin-guisher (or larger, but must be ratedfor class A, B & C fires), and an op-erable flashlight or lantern, are re-quired to be carried on each motorcar. Properly installed seat belts arerecommended.

Section II, MOTORCAR OPER-ATING RULES, INTRODUC-TION.Motorcar safety hazards com-monly include the following:a. Operator inattention.b. Operator fatigue.c. Following too closely.d. Insufficient signaling.e. Excessive speed for conditions.f. Improper yielding to automobiletraffic.g. Collisions with animals.h. Improper seating of passengers.

Section II, rule #1:1. HOST RAILROAD. The oper-ation of a railroad motorcar upon acooperating railroad’s right-of-wayrequires obedience to special in-structions by the railroad and toNARCOA rules.

Section II, rule #2222. TOWING OF MOTORCARS,TRAILERS, OR OTHER EQUIP-MENT. Whenever practicable,other motorcars, trailers, or other

on-track equipment that needs to betowed, must be pulled and notpushed. This would apply to move-ments either forward or backward.If it is necessary to push anothermotorcar, trailer, or other on-trackequipment; it shall be done at aspeed no faster than 10 mph and forthe shortest distance possible to apoint where the towing vehicle canbe placed in front of the otherequipment. Equipment beingpulled or pushed must be coupledto the assisting motorcar with anapproved tow bar, tow hitches, andpins. The operator of a motorcarbeing towed should be prepared toassist with braking as necessary.

Section III, rule #1111. SAFETY MEETING ATTEN-DANCE. It is mandatory that allexcursion participants attend thesafety meeting each day prior to de-parture and be attentive to instruc-tions and other informationprovided.

Section IV, rule #1111. SAFETY MEETING. Asafety meeting will be conductedprior to departure each day of everyexcursion. The safety meeting willserve as an opportunity for the Ex-cursion Coordinator to remind op-erators of important safety items, toinform operators of unusual cir-cumstances that might be encoun-tered on the excursion, to informoperators of the schedule for theday, and to pass along any other in-formation from the Excursion Co-ordinator or from railroad officials.


On Saturday, April 10 and SundayApril 11, fifteen units operated onthe Farmrail system in WesternOklahoma. The weather was pleas-ant in the 70’s, but a 25mph breezefrom the south made the morningtravel a little slower than antici-

pated. The arrival at Rocky, Okla-homa was about 45 minutes behindschedule due to the headwind. Theunits were comprised of thirteenmotor cars and two Hy-rails. TheNARCOA members were fromBritish Columbia, Canada, Min-nesota, Iowa, Colorado, Texas andOklahoma. The units all arrived inSnyder, OK 63.5 miles from Clin-ton for the turn-around point. Afterturning around everyone loaded inthe Hy-rail vehicles for a short 3block trip to a local café. Afterlunch the group began the trip northback to Clinton, only this time withthe 25 mph breeze behind, goodtime was made on the return withtwo stops, one unscheduled one inHobart where the Railroad Superin-tendent met the railroad pilot andwas pleased to see all units hadamber safety beacons that were op-erating. This was a requirement the

railroad placed on future rides lastNovember. The second was theplanned break in Cordell, Okla-homa. The local Dollar GeneralStore accommodated the group, ex-cept for one who made his way tothe city police department to check

on the facilities. Agood laugh was en-joyed by all on hisstory of why he chosethe PD to use the facil-ities. Back in Clinton,the railroad allowedthe units to remain onthe track at the railroadshops under a blue flagprotection overnight.That evening severalof members gatheredfor dinner at a localrestaurant to share sto-

ries and become better acquainted. The next morning with only oneadditional unit setting on that re-placed a unit that had mechanicalproblems, the fifteen units pro-ceeded north onto the old Rock Is-land main for the 30.3 mile run

Farmrail Trips in Western OklahomaBy Drake Rice

west to Elk City. The damp morn-ing required additional separation.No mechanical problems were en-countered and the group arrived inElk City at the old Rock IslandDepot. The units had been turnedprior to arriving at the depot so par-ticipants again loaded in the Hy-railtrucks for the mile ride to therestaurant area adjacent to I-40.After an hour and half lunch breakit was the return trip to Clinton.Again we had great weather, andthe winds had died down somecompared to the Saturday trip. The Oklahoma Railway Museum,a NARCOA affiliate sponsored thetrip and as always appreciates thestaff at Farmrail, Rodney Roof,Business Manager for allowing usto enjoy their railroad in WesternOklahoma and special thanks toG.W. Householder for being ourpilot for the two days. Members en-joyed over 187 miles of travel onWestern Oklahoma’s Railroad.I also want to thank participantLeon Sapp for the two pictures usedin this report.

Units lined up on the main at Farmrail Shops prior to de-parture to Elk City. -photo by Leon Sapp

Units lined up in Elk City for the return trip to Clinton in front of the old Elk City RockIsland Depot. -photo by Leon Sapp


Ione, CA – March 20, 2010. MotorcarOperators West hosted what may be thelast Amador Central RR run following no-tice by Sierra Pacific Industries that theRecreational Railroad Coalition (RRC)lease of the line will not be renewed. RRC has leased the Amador Central RRfor the last five years and made improve-ments to the line to facilitate motorcarevents. The first upgrade was the con-struction of a concrete turn-around pad atRidge Road. Next RRC began a 2+ yearproject to reconstruct the south leg of theturning wye removed in the 1940's. Usingrail from old industrial sidings, volunteersspent thousand of hours on the project ful-filling the educational goals of the RRC asthey rediscovered traditional "gandydancer" skills. (See July/August 2008SETOFF article.)

Lead by Excursion Coordinator DaveBalestreri, 37 speeders participated in oneor more of the five trips run during theweekend. Starting in Ione, CA and run-ning to the turn-around near Martell, thetwenty mile roundtrip travels through theheart of California gold country. There arelong sweeping curves through green hill-sides dotted with oak trees and grazing cat-tle. In several places the rail follows thehigh ridge line of the hill country offeringspectacular spring-time views of the high-ways and farms below. Following thisyears' heavy winter rains, the vistas wereespecially beautiful making the loss of thisrailroad particularly painful.The relationship between RRC and theowner Sierra Pacific Industries has been agood one. Unfortunately the local histori-cal society has made strident demands of

SPI regarding the preservation of variousproperties. In particular, the societywanted a gift of the old depot at Martel,and a land donation, and moving expenses,and restoration money on top of every-thing. As one wag put it, "They don't knowhow to ask for nothin'." Following the re-cent removal of track in Martel, the localpress vilified SPI. The result was a deci-sion by SPI to end all activity on theAmador Central.Larry Bowler, President of RRC, hasasked the speeder community to writethank you letters to Sierra Pacific Indus-tries for the access granted over the lastfive years. Bowler has a meeting sched-uled for April 13th with management todiscuss ideas for the future and see if a wayforward can be found for future speeder ac-tivity.

RRC SUFFERS SETBACKAAmmaaddoorr CCeennttrraall RRRR LLeeaassee NNoott RReenneewweedd

By Wayne Parsons

Above: Motoring through California gold country on Saturday March 20. Below Left: Approaching a HWY 104 crossing onthe last Sunday run. Below Right: The Martel, CA depot that the Amador County Historical Society wants to save.

Photos by Wayne Parsons


On Saturday April 10, 2010, thirty-eightcars and their crews enjoyed the tenth runin eleven years on the Everett Railroad incentral Pennsylvania. Northern CentralRailcar Association EC Gary Shrey and hiswife Eileen have led this interesting run

each time. Dean Grote served as assistantEC. For many NARCOA members in thearea, this is the traditional first run of theseason. To celebrate, Gary arranged forrailroad logo hats for each operator and teeshirts for all who attended the run.The Everett Railroad Company is a class-III common carrier railroad offeringcarload freight service in Blair County,Pennsylvania. The interchange carrier isNorfolk Southern at Hollidaysburg, PA.The Everett Railroad Company and itsaffiliate, the Hollidaysburg & RoaringSpring Railroad Company, are bothhandling line carriers for NorfolkSouthern. Together, they operate 25 milesof track serving the communities of

Roaring Spring, Martinsburg, Sproul, andClaysburg. These roads serve customersin the food, warehousing, printing, milling,and feed industries.We set on under a little cool but otherwisebeautiful morning sky at the Claysburg, PA

yard which is just off I-99 south of Al-toona. After our safety meeting, we left theyard and traveled north to Hollidaysburgwhere we turned the cars. We then trav-eled south to Roaring Spring station, wherewe made our lunch and restroom stop.Lunch and ice cream were once againserved at the by the local Roaring SpringsHistorical Society at the restored station.After lunch we continued south to Mar-tinsburg and turned our cars on the wye.On the way back we could not resist an-other stop at Roaring Springs for more icecream! After that, we returned to Clays-burg for setoff.Prior to the run, Gary had been inter-viewed by a reporter for the Altoona Mir-

ror about the run. The article was pub-lished about ten days before the run. In hisinterview, Gary did a great job explainingthe history of the run and promoting NAR-COA and the hobby. The article alsoquoted Everett Railroad General ManagerAl Novotny.“They are a very safety-conscious group,”Novotny said of the association. “Theydon’t want to do anything to jeopardizethat relationship with the railroad. Theyrun a tight group, and we make sure theydo and that everybody’s happy. It is apretty cool thing.”Day two of this excursion was a ride onthe Western a Maryland Scenic Railroadon Sunday April 11. Dale Steiner assistedGary as EC on this run. Thirty-one carscame to run on this scenic mountain rail-road. Fortunately, the trains were not run-ning on Sunday and we had goodflexibility in our schedule. From our set-on at the engine house in Ridgeley, WV,we ran past the former Western Marylandrailroad station, through the narrows, andup the mountain to Frostburg. As we trav-elled on a spring weekend, the leaves werenot out yet, allowing us to see into the val-leys for some beautiful views. We turnedthe speeders on the turntable. After a lunchbreak, we returned for set off, for a total ofabout 34 miles. We were off the rails by 3PM allowing everyone an early start on thetrip home.Gary, Eileen, Dean and Dale have astrong history of running interesting andsafe excursions and maintain excellent re-lationships with the railroads and localcommunities. We look forward to runningwith them many times in the future.

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Al Tyson (L) / Jack Bubernack (R) set their speeders on -photo by Gary Shrey

All turned and are preparing for the trip south - photo by James Matalik Speeders at Roaring Spring station for lunch -photo by Gary Shrey


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When we think of the Hy-Rail weusually look back only about 60 yearsto Fairmont’s innovative design of

1948. After all, isn’t the very nametheir trademark? However the idea foran all purpose vehicle that could ridethe rails as easily asthe highway andquickly change fromone mode to the otherhas been around for alot longer, in factnearly 100 years. En-trepreneurs had beenbolting flangedwheels on automo-biles since the turn ofthe century. RansomOlds had marketed his famous littlerunabout with rail wheels straight fromthe factory in 1903. Some of the veryfirst Fords were already on the rails andseveral companies including Kalama-zoo and Buda were stamping out steelwheels for automobile conversions.However once converted those vehi-cles usually remained on the track forthe rest of their useful life and rarely ifever went back to the asphalt so theydon’t really qualify as a Hy-Rail. For the first true hybrid we need to goback to 1916 and thank the military.When General Pershing was chasingPoncho Villa across Mexico he askedfor a vehicle that could do both duties.

Passable roads across the SonoraDesert were nearly non-existent butthere were several very good railroads.

The answer forGeneral Pershinghad been a twopiece flanged steelshell which boltedaround the solidrubber tires of histrucks. It took twomen only 15 min-utes per wheel toinstall or removethe shells but theArmy found thatonce in place thetruck could be

driven over dirt roads without remov-ing them and they were simply left inplace. So, tongue-in-cheek, they might

qualify as dual mode ‘hy-rails.’ In allthirty Army Trucks were fitted with thebolt-on flanges and performed excep-

tionally well. However, following thepunitive expedition they seem to havebeen forgotten in the American Mili-tary Arsenal. Both the British and theFrench were only too glad to borrowthe idea during the latter days of WWIbut with war’s end they too dropped theidea. In 1918 a California inventor triedbolting slightly smaller rail wheels in-board of the solid rubber tires of an au-tomobile enabling it to run on eitherrails or the highway using smallwedges to mount and dismount therails. The dual wheels were fitted to asmall bus which was tried out for ashort time on the Southern PacificBranch Line between Holtville and ElCentro, California. Although consid-ered a success the idea did not catch onelsewhere.Following up on the California ideaMack Truck Company had built a truehybrid truck in 1922 that also used thesame double wheel arraignment on atruck with a separate single axle pilotset of rail wheels up front. The Macksystem also had the rail wheels slightlysmaller than the solid rubber tire andmounted inside solid rubber wheels sothe vehicle could be safely driven overthe highway. When the pilot wheel setwas lowered the steering gear was dis-abled. Mack had some success with theidea and in 1922 an article in ‘The In-


ternational Yearbook’ stated that “12(U.S.) steam railroads employed motortrucks with flanged wheels on regulartracks.” But, as freight carriers theywere just one small unit trying to com-pete with mile long freight trains fortrack time. Although workable and rel-atively inexpensive it now appears theMack design was a victim of the post-war slump, a troubled economy and therapid transition to pneumatic tires.Simply carrying bolt on rail wheels inan automobile for a quick change ofmodes was not uncommon. On Sep-tember 8, 1925, Ford’s chief photogra-pher left Halifax Nova Scotia in a brandnew Ford with the intention of driving4,794 miles across Canada to Vancou-

ver but for 500 miles of the trip he hadto fit the Model T with railroad wheelsbecause there were no roads. Suppos-edly the conversion from highway totrail or back again took less than 20minutes so, arguably, it could be calleda hy-rail. In 1932 and at about the same timetwo companies would try different ap-proaches to the concept. Karrier Mo-tors of Great Britain developed anelaborate dual wheel system on rotat-ing eccentrics and sold at least threedifferent units, two to British Rail andone to Holland. They called their sys-tem the “Ro-Railer” but it was compli-cated and prone to breakdowns. TheTwin Coach Corporation in the U.S.came up with a simpler, drop-down

guide wheel arrangement for abus but did not attract a buyer. Itwould be another five years be-fore a truly successful Americansystem would come along. All the builders of our modernHy-Rail vehicles owe a histori-cal debt to Evans Products ofDetroit, Michigan. In 1937Evans would take the best of allthe previous ideas and producethe first truly workable hybrid. Al-though Evans never realized a profitthey did manage to sell a few and pavethe way for the future revolution in railmaintenance vehicles. Evans calledtheir machines ‘Auto-Railer’ and theyoffered several very innovative designs.

An ad from 1937 shows a bus, pick-uptruck and a small automobile style lo-comotive running side by side downthe rails. Like Mack the weight of thevehicle was carried on its rubber tires,but this time all four wheels were in-volved. Unlike Mack, they were pneu-matic tires and the front wheelsremained on the rail with the steeringlocked. Just enough of the vehiclesweight was transferred to springloaded steel pilot wheels both frontand rear to capture the rail. Using pneumatic cylinders the drivercould both raise and lower rail wheelsfrom inside any of the three vehicles.The remotely operated lifting systemwas truly cutting edge technology forthe day and actually allowed the vehi-

cle to move from rail to asphalt with-out stopping. That time saving featurewas one of their strongest selling pointsfor the passenger carrying bus and sev-eral transit companies would try out theidea including The Old Dominion Rail-road in our Nation’s Capital and at least

one Alaskan railroadwhere they operated asschool busses well intothe WW War II years.Evans designed differ-ent rail buses to be ca-pable of carrying from12 to 27 passengers. A small pick-up truckwas marketed for lightfreight or company sup-plies and sedans wereequipped for VIP in-spections. Several weresold to the Chicago,Burlington and QuincyRailroad. The railroadhad once claimed to

have purchased the very first railroadmotor car and could now claim to havethe first American Hy-Rails in mainte-nance service with some 1940 and 41station wagons and pick-ups. A largerflatbed truck was also design for trackmaintenance and an even larger versioncould even be had with a dump bed anda coupler at the rear to serve as a small


locomotive but there is no record thateither model generated a sale. Evanscontinued to advertise their conceptsthroughoutWorld WarII. Theyran a fullpage spreadin the No-v e m b e r1943 LifeMagazineabout theirmach inescontribut-ing to theWar effort. They included a “BombTrain” which consisted of a step vantype of tractor with two trailers ridingon a total of 42 rubber-tired wheelswhich carried 80% of the gross capac-ity of 90,000 pounds. The U.S. Ord-nance Plant in Detroit used the ‘train’to move ammunition from a plant to itsDepot. Several of the automobilebodied light industrial switch-ing locomotives did sell andwere capable of moving up totwo loaded freight cars. As atestament to the success of thedesign, one was still at work inMinneapolis as late as 1955working for a municipal watertreatment plant. At least two ofthe busses would be convertedto overhead line maintenancevehicles and also soldier onwell into the 1950’s on two dif-ferent electric railroads. But asreliable as the system was, forsome reason Evans was neverable to capture a large market.In 1939 the PennsylvaniaRailroad had applied for apatent for its own design for ahy-rail freight delivery truckwhich lowered rail wheels be-hind both the front and rearaxles lifting the entire vehicleoff its rubber tires and poweringthe vehicle through the steel railwheels. The system was me-chanically sound but competing

with mainline trains for track timedoomed the experiment. All of which brings us to the real win-

ner in the battle to put rubber tires towork on the railroad. Following WorldWar II railroad workers demanded a 40hour work week and Fairmont saw anopportunity. They quickly moved tomeet the changing market and the needfor a road-rail vehicle. They improvedon the Evans system by eliminating the

pneumatic lifts and instead used a sim-ple manual drop-and-lock design. Itwas cheaper and required less mainte-nance. They sold their first productionunit to the Louisville & Nashville Rail-road in 1949. Fairmont, like Evans hadsmall rail guide wheels in both the frontand rear of the vehicle with nearly allthe weight of the vehicle carried on therubber tires both on and off the rail. Inpartnership with Willys (Jeep) theydominated the new and growing mar-ket. In a very short time virtually everyrailroad in the country had at least onein operation. Their trade name ‘Hy-Rail’ would soon become synonymousfor all such hybrids regardless of themanufacturer.At first railroads who had a large fleetof traditional motorcars in service werereluctant to make big purchases of themachines But with sections gettinglonger; the gangs getting smaller; thework week getting shorter; and wages


RRiiddiinnggWWiitthh JJooeeRRiiddiinnggWWiitthh JJooeeBy Jim McKeel

Ahhh, the smell of spring . . . andcreosote! These are invigoratingsmells for a speeder enthusiast. JoeSpeeder is excited because it is timefor the first ride of the season. Thecars are on the rail and he’s off. It’sa great day! Riding the rails withfriends and making new friends.How can it get any better? This railline has some very scenic locationsand Joe has his camera at the ready.Joe is cruising along nicely at about23 miles per hour about ten milesinto the excursion. He spots abeautiful view of the ocean as hepasses an opening in the trees. It’sa short opportunity for a great pho-tograph. He pushes the brake leverforward, latching it into the firstnotch. The car comes quickly to ahalt as Joe reaches for his camera.BAMMMMMM!!! What the . . .??? Joe is slightly stunned as hejumps from his car to see what hap-pened. He quickly surveys thescene, realizing at the same timethat he doesn’t seem to have any in-juries. He sees that his car has beenstruck from behind by the follow-ing car. He checks with the folks inthat car to find out if they have beenhurt or not. Both cars have derailedand are locked together with signif-icant damage to both cars but, for-tunately, no one is hurt. The ECcomes running up from the rear ofthe group to see what happened andif everyone is okay. The EC’s in-vestigation into what happened be-gins as the two operators start towork on the incident report formand photographs of the scene aretaken. Both cars are disabled and

must be set off at the nearby roadcrossing to be picked up later by theoperators so they can take themhome, fully assess the damage, andbegin repairs. What had started outas a beautiful spring day is ruined,and their speeders didn’t fare toowell either. It’s a sullen drive homeafter what could have been an ex-ceptional day on the rails.

Joe Speeder learned something heretoday, but did he also violate anyNARCOA rules? Yep, unfortu-nately he sure did. Rule #11 underSection II in the NARCOA rule-book states as follows: “Sudden ap-plication of the brake shall not bemade except in an emergency.Warning of such application shallbe given to riders and followingcars as soon as possible.” Joestopped his speeder very quicklyand did so without giving adequatewarning to the operator of the fol-lowing car. The operator of the carfollowing Joe may also share insome point loss as she may havebeen following a little too closely.That will be determined by the EC’sinvestigation and the judgment ofthe Judicial Committee as they re-view the reports and photographs ofthe incident. Joe should have madesure that he gave adequate warningto the following car any time that hedecided to slow down or stop andhe should not have made the sud-den stop unless it was absolutelynecessary.

EEMMAAIILL AADDDDRREESSSSEESS

Your membership team wouldgreatly appreciate your attention tothis detail. As we work to trial aweb based data base we need ac-curate email addresses from eachmember.Please forward your primaryemail address to Dan Page at:[email protected]

This list will not be passed on toany third party at any time. If youdo not have email access pleasedisregard this message. We willcontinue to provide for paper /mailcommunication for you.We would also encourage eachmember to join the NARCOAForum (details at the bottom of the“Members Only” page at www.nar-coa.org This will ensure that eachmember receives the regular user-name and password updates for themembers only page.Thank you for your timely help.

climbing, time was becoming the pri-mary factor in the decision makingprocess. The Hy-Rail just made mon-etary sense and a fairly rapid transitionbegan. Several firms would license theFairmont patents and build kits for vir-tually every make and model of truckor car on the market. At first they werepurchased for officers and senior main-tenance officials such as Division En-gineers and Roadmasters. But gangsize trucks soon followed and slowlythe new vehicles worked their waydown the list. It would take over fortyyears for the motorcar to be completelymoved aside but the end finally camein the early 1990’s when the last of thegreat manufacturers shut down the as-sembly lines for good. The Hy-Railwas then and now King-of-the-Road…both kinds of road.


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Those of us who enjoy runningthe 2-cycle cars because of the nos-talgia often have to experience a lit-tle dose of reality now and then…as a result of 1930’s technology.One of the most common defects isthe 2-cycle ignition coil. Fairmontmotorcars used wooden cased Pon-tiac coils and wooden cased ModelT car coils along with various com-binations of homemade railroadshop inventions to power the 2-cycle cars.As many of us 2-cycle car ownershave experienced first hand…without a good hot spark from thecoil you are not going very far.Wooden cased coils of both thePontiac design and Henry’s designhad a few inherit design flaws. Theone that affects us the most is vi-bration. 2-cycle cars have their fairshare of engine vibration and trav-eling down the rails will shakethings up a little more. Many of theignition coils rode in motorcars inthe front toolbox and were seldomtied in, so they just bounced aroundinside the took box while goingdown the track.Moisture is another thing thatcauses 2-cycle ignition coil prob-lems. Setting out in the weather asmany early motorcars often did,the wooden cased coils drew mois-ture from the damp air causingthem to fail internally. Finally…loose wiring connections wouldcause the spark to arc to ground onthe body of the motorcar (oftengoing unnoticed until a missed de-veloped) causing the coil to eventu-ally fail. Without a spark it is a longwalk back to the motorcar shed.I make my living designing elec-trical cooling and fuels system up-

grades for antique and classic cars.About 20 years ago one of themajor grain dryer manufacturerscame calling wanting to know if Ihad a better design Model T igni-tion coil. They were using wooden caseoriginal design Model T Ignitioncoils to ignite the burners on thegrain dryers and having lots of trou-ble with the wooden cased coilsdrawing moisture while exposed tothe elements. Wooden cased coils

were also getting expensive, andwith a number of overseas cus-tomers the failures were becomingcostly with the added shippingcharges.So I sent them information on the

new design I use on the antiquecars. They are the same physicalsize as a Model T coil; they aresealed in a tough plastic case usinga hi-temp epoxy, making the coilswaterproof and vibration proof. Theoutside terminals are the clip typejust like the motorcar timers use sovibration does not jiggle the wiringnut loose. These coils have heavy gaugecopper windings inside for a hotspark. They will jump a bright bluespark 3/8 of an inch or more. Theywill work on either 6 or 12 volts.They DO NOT need a ballast re-sistor. The come with the pointspreset and all of the connectionsare brass for good conductivity.And they are proudly made in theUSA!The grain dryer company initiallybought three and tried them out.They have been buying them everysince.If you have heard the rumorabout the heavy-duty ignition coilsthat you can buy from the graindryer company to use on your mo-torcar…these are the ones.I have used one of these coils onmy M-19 motorcar for six yearswith good success. I have soldquite a few for motorcar applica-tions they have proven to be veryreliable in motorcar use.The cost for the coils is $80.00each plus $10.00 shipping via pri-ority mail. Sent to Fifth AvenueAntique Auto Parts 415 CourtStreet Clay Center Kansas 67432 orph. 785-632-3450.


Border Pacific Railroad Leland Stewart

On Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010, Rail-road Partners, Inc. and the BorderPacific Railroad hosted a NAR-

COA motorcar excursion on thisunique and scenic line. This lineruns approximately. 35 miles be-tween Mission, and Rio GrandeCity, TX where the railroadis headquartered. The BorderPacific hauls aggregates andagricultural products con-necting with the Rio GrandeSwitching RR in Mission.Most of its ROW runs paral-lel to the Rio Grande riverwhich is also the US/Mexicoborder.We started the day with theset on in Penitas, TX. Penitas is theoldest settlement on the Rio Grandeand was founded in the 1790’s. Wehad 8 motorcars from Ft. Worth,Houston, Austin, San Antonio, andNew Orleans. Riding with the leadcar was BoP’s head locomotive en-gineer, Jesse Longoria, who wasour host and escort. Another keyplayer in the event was Frank Ja-cobson of Rio Grande Valley Rails,who was my prime contact for set-ting this run up.After inspection of the cars andthe safety meeting, we departed

Penitas and headed west for RioGrande City. The area throughwhich the railroad travels is very

rural interlaced withsmall colonias. The closeproximity to the bordergave us a chance to seethe new border fenceunder construction aswell as the first handworkings of the US Bor-der Patrol. At one pointwe encountered a fullyarmed agent patrollingthe tracks. The railroadruns through a segment

of a US Wildlife Preserve so manymigrating birds were in abundance.One motorcar had a close encounterwith a wild hog.

Upon arrival in Rio Grande City,the motorcars were secured in frontof BoP’s motive power at the officeand yard. The group then walkedacross the highway to boardBessie 3, a motorized trolley,for a 1 hour tour of historicalRio Grande City. The tour in-cluded Ft Ringgold whichserved as a supply point for allof the forts along the RioGrande dating back to themiddle 1800’s. The tour con-cluded at the historic LaBordeHouse where we enjoyed a

leisurely and tasty meal.After dining, we boarded Bessieagain and returned to the rail yardto prepare for the return trip. On theway back to Rio Grande City ourentourage attracted the attention ofa couple of Border Patrol truckswho paced us for a couple of milesand then accommodated us byusing their vehicles to flag a high-way crossing for us. We were muchobliged. A few more leisurely milesand we were back in Penitas. Aflawless trip with no operator is-sues, no breakdowns, and no setonor setoff problems.My thanks to a great bunch of op-erators who made this excursion apleasure to coordinate. I want tothank Joe Escamilla and Jesse Lon-goria of the Border Pacific for theirhospitality and Frank Jacobson forhis extensive work to help makethis run happen. The attached pic-tures were provided by Leon Sapp. We (RPI) hope to make this aregular winter run so keep this inmind for a good opportunity toshorten the time away from therails during the cold months. Formore information on Railroad Part-ners check out our web site atwww.railroadpartners.com .Hope to see you soon on the rails.Leland Stewart

Set on in Penitas, TX

Border Pacific Locomotive at Rio Grande City yard

Along the ROW east of Rio Grande City


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The Associated ManufacturingCompany of Waterloo, Iowa wasfounded in 1896 primarily to man-ufacture creams e p a r a t o r s .However, two ofthe firms thatjoined the newcompany werethe Sherman &Smith Manufac-turing Co. andthe Theodore C.Menges EngineWorks, bothbuilders of smallgasoline en-gines. Mengeswould later be one of the foundersof the National Gas Engine Asso-ciation. As General Superinten-dent of the combined companyMenges began a line of gasolineengines for farm applicationsunder the trade mark name ofChore Boy. In a time before being‘politically correct’ was a concernany hired hand was derisively re-ferred to as a“boy.” The en-gines were mar-keted as tirelessnon-human work-ers and thereforethe choice of thename. Their lineof little enginesfor farmers wereused for every-thing from pump-ing water togrinding grain andcorn and accord-ing to size wentunder such namesas Johnny Boy,Busy Boy, andChore Boy.Three years later Associatedwould market a railroad motorcar

and an engine kit to convert handcars. The complete car was giventhe unusual brand name ‘Husky

Jerry BoyMotor Car.’Their offi-cial entryinto ther a i l r o a dm a r k e tcame onSep tember12, 1912when theye x h i b i t e dboth theircar andconversion

kits at the Track Supply Asso-ciation in connection with theRoad Master’s Convention.They were again listed as anexhibitor at the 1913 conven-tion. The Jerry Boy and theChore Boy were essentiallythe same engine, the only dif-ference was in the manner ofcooling. The Chore Boy was

hopper cooled,the Jerry Boywas air cooled.Later on mostAssociated en-gines would beoffered in either con-figuration. Associ-ated engines had aone-piece casting ofcylinder and hollowbase which on somemodels served as thefuel tank. The Husky Jerry BoyCar was a cut abovethe competition.While most were stillusing wooden frames

the Jerry Boy was constructed of ariveted pressed steel channel. Theair-cooled, four-cycle 2-1/4 h.p.

engine came equipped with dualignition. Reversing was simplyaccomplished by cranking the en-gine in the opposite direction.Teeth on the starting crank wereangled to allow quick release in ei-ther direction. Using a belt tight-ener pulley the car could be startedand idled in place. The idler pul-ley was heavy enough that itsweight alone was sufficient to runthe car without a ratchet, spring orother fastening. Four-inch leatherbelts with alligator lacing weresupplied along with directions onhow to shorten a stretched belt.The upper works were of oak andthe protective housing was

equipped with a full length hingedtop that served as a seat for up toeight men. Associated manufac-tured their own magnetos. Beltpulleys were deliberately sized fora top speed of only 15 to 20 mph.With the typical railroad sectiononly 5 to 7 miles speed was notthat important but pulling powerwas. The wheels were 17 inchpressed steel on 1-1/2 inch axlesAlthough Associated pushedtheir product to railroad manage-ment it appears that most of theiradvertisements targeted the work-ing man, not the railroad he


worked for. Knowing that Rail-road Management might be reluc-tant to make the investment theemployee was encouraged buy onehimself. Advertisements beganextolling the labor saving enginesthat were claimed to make life eas-ier and going to work a pleasure.However buying a brand new fac-tory made motor car seemed an ex-

pense few could afford. As late as1914 the wage of a common tracklaborer was still just .25 cents anhour. An experienced skilled trackinspector could expect a bit morebut even a Track Foreman aver-aged only $65 a month. All themanufacturers struggled to keepthe prices low and both cars andkits could be purchased on a pay-ment plan, some as little as $5down and $5 a month. Unfortu-nately this led to some unscrupu-lous practices. There were storiesof Foremen being disciplined forcharging their laborers a few centsfor the ride each day to make thepayments.The Jerry Boy motor carprompted some rave reviews.Early advertisements stressed thetime and money saving advantagesof repowering old hand cars andprospective buyers were suppliedwith numerous testimonials. Onereport from a very satisfied Sec-tion Foreman told of pulling six 33ft., 83-pound rails and 12 men, atotal weight he estimated at 5,280pounds. Another told how his carhad logged 6,322 miles in one yearwith a total repair cost of only 45-cents. Still another told of havingto push his Road Master up a hillwhen his own motorcar (a com-

petitor’s brand) repeatedly failed.And others claimed savings intime of up to an hour each day.Ads claimed that a car in daily useon a typical section should notconsume more than ten to twelvegallons of gasoline and a half pintof lubricating oil per month. Sev-eral testimonials told of an entireyear of service with no repair costsat all. In 1913 Associated pub-lished a small 49 page booklet en-titled Associated ManufacturersCompany: Worlds Largest Gaso-line Engine Builders. However inthose days ‘Truth-in-Advertising’was a vague notion at best andseveral firms were making thesame claim. They also claimedthat Jerry Boy Service Cars wereworking “on a hundred railroads inforty-two states and Canada”which was certainly possible. Kitsales had been especially strongduring the early years of produc-tion.A complete Jerry Boy kit for ahand car cost as little as $66 plusfreight and gave the buyer the en-gine and all the parts, chain andsprockets to convert any make ormodel of hand car. For a few dol-lars more a larger 4 hp engine wasavailable. Near the end of produc-tion the engines would be adver-

tised as “Iowa Over Size.” The kitwas shipped completely assembledin a sturdy Oak frame that bolteddirectly onto the deck of a handcar. Installation was said to bequick and easy and like the factorymade car the hinged top deckserved as a bench seat for thegang. Full page ads began appearing inrailroad trade publications andUnion Newsletters in 1913 andwere frequent until about 1920.Both the complete Jerry Boy Carand conversion kits were adver-tised until the very end. Their lastadvertisement would appear in1920 in the American RailwayBridge and Building AssociationConvention minutes when the pro-duction line was closed. Afteronly seven years of production theAssociated Company fell back ontheir stationery farm engine andcream separator market and qui-etly disappeared from the railroadworld. They survived the GreatDepression and the Second WorldWar but in 1946 after exactly 50years in business the company wassold to Hamilton EngineeringCompany and the As-sociated brand namewas retired.


May 01, 2010 - OH - #ational Train Day - Toledo, Ohio:Non OVR / NARCOA event. We are invited to display our motorcars atthe Northwest Ohio/Southeast Michigan observance of Amtrak’s Na-tional Train Day. Last year, some 3500 people visited the station areathroughout the day. There will be a static display of Amtrak equipmenton the station tracks. This event is being held one week earlier in Ohio toassure a good representation of equipment from Amtrak and possiblyother railroads. Several tourist railroads will also have displays set up.For more info contact Bill Gill, Chair National Train Day - Toledo ToledoMetropolitan Area Council of Governments at [email protected] Dave Verzi at [email protected]

May 01, 2010 - PA - #ittany & Bald Eagle Railroad: Ride the approximately 70 miles RT of the Nittany & Bald Eagle Rail-road from Bellefonte to either Tyrone or Mill Hall and return if track isavailable. If not, we will ride the Bellefonte Secondary. The exact itiner-ary will be set by the railroad that day due to train traffic. Former Penn-sylvania Railroad, lots of welded rail. Proof of NARCOA insurancerequired, all NARCOA rules will be enforced. Registration fee - $55.00.Note: All CPE rides are rain or shine. No cancellations due to weather orschedule changes. Hard soled shoes required - NO sneakers or sandals.Children must be closely supervised at all times. Send check to: CentralPA Excursions, PO Box 145, White Deer, PA 17887. Questions: (570)538-9050 or email [email protected].

May 02, 2010 - PA - Lycoming Valley RailroadRide the 80 miles RT of the Lycoming Valley Railroad from Williamsportto Muncy and Avis. Former Reading and New York Central Railroads.Proof of NARCOA insurance required, all NARCOA rules will be en-forced. Registration fee - $55.00. Note: All CPE rides are rain or shine.No cancellations due to weather. Hard soled shoes required - NO sneak-ers or sandals. Children must be closely supervised at all times. Sendcheck to: Central PA Excursions, PO Box 145, White Deer, PA 17887.Questions: (570) 538-9050 or email [email protected]

May 08, 2010 - #J - Cape May Seashore Line ;The Volunteer Railroaders Association is pleased to sponsor a 1-day runover the Cape May Seashore Line on May 8, 2010. Participants will travelapproximately 54 round-trip miles between Tuckahoe, NJ and Cape May,NJ. We will be stopping at convenient locations for bathroom breaks. Seton will be at Tuckahoe and run all the way into Cape May where we willhave some time to shop and get some lunch before we head back to Tuck-ahoe. Being that the next day is Mother’s Day some people may chooseto spend the weekend in the area so that the Mom’s in the group can ridethe rails one day and enjoy a day doing “Mom” type stuff the next day.The trip fee is $50.00 per car which includes the railroad’s per car fee.There is a 40 car limit. This is a NARCOA insured excursion, and allNARCOA rules will apply. This is a mentoring run. EC for the trip is KCSmith. For trip details contact the VRA at 80 Royal Avenue, Hawthorne,NJ 07506 Tel: (973) 238-0555 or email to: [email protected]. You canalso sign up and pay for the trip with a major credit card via our websiteat http://www.vratrips.org

May 08, 2010 - TX -Capitol Metro Transportation:Llano, TX to Scobee Spur, TX – Apprx. 54 miles RT. NARCOA insur-ance and rules apply. This will be a cleanup ride to clear flangeways andbrush to prepare the line for the 3/27 and 7/4 excursions. Bring weedtrimmers, loppers, and grubbing hoes. Fee: $25 membership to Railroad

Partners, Inc. Additional RPI safety rules will apply. Do not set on untilpermission given by EC. Set on at 8:00 am at Llano wye. Safety meetingat 8:45 am. Please pre-register so we may plan accordingly and knowwho to notify in case of cancellation. Excursion Coordinator: LelandStewart 10057 Palomino Canyon converse, TX 78109 210-945-9268home 210-863-5397 cell email: [email protected] . RPI website:www.railroadpartners.com

May 14 - 16, 2010 - PA - Oil Creek & Titusville - Titusville, PA:Non OVR / NARCOA event. Friday, May 14 -We will set-on at the PerryStreet Station for a very scenic ride down thru the valley where oil wasfirst discovered. Saturday, May 15 -We will have a work detail beforeand after lunch thru the same valley. Sunday, May 16 – We will have amorning run thru the valley and an early setoff. Approximate round tripmileage each day will be 26. There is no fee for this event. We just askthat you help out as much as you can with the work. Our railcars will beused when we do the MOW. You may have a chance to stay in one of theCabooses that are very close to our seton. For more information and to re-serve your spot for the weekend, mail or e-mail Alan Wilber, PO Box368, Hartville, OH 44632 [email protected]

May 15, 2010 - GA - Blue Ridge Scenic RR:Blue Ridge, GA to Talking Rock, GA – Approx 60 miles round trip. PIC-NIC – BRING YOUR PICNIC LUNCH AND DRINKS. Set-on at Dav-enport Wood Yard at 8 AM, Safety Briefing at 8:45 AM. Do not set onuntil permission is given by EC. Price: $5.00 per active Blue Ridge Sce-nic Railroad Volunteers. All others $10.00 per car. Coordinators: CarlHymen (706-455-0492), Scottie Wershing (828-644-5204), Ron Long(706-632-9736). Email: [email protected] Directions to Set-On – South Bound on Hwy 515 – from traffic light at Arby’s go 1.4 milesand turn Left on Boardtown Road. Go to RR crossing. North Bound onHwy 515 – from traffic light at June Walker Chevrolet go ½ mile andturn Right on Boardtown Road. Go to RR crossing. Call if you get lost.

May 15, 2010 - MA - Pioneer Valley Railroad:Please see our additional trip on Sunday - only a few miles away on theMass Central Railroad. Join us on the Pioneer Valley Railroad for a tourwith this “can do” railroad. Trip will start in Westfield and to Holyoke andall railroad trackage. We will set on at Westfield, MA at 8:00 AM. De-parture is scheduled for 9:00 AM. Approximate round trip mileage forthis excursion is 35 miles. The event is sponsored by NERCA. Excur-sion limited to 25 cars. NARCOA insurance and rules apply. Please bringa box lunch. No food is available on this excursion. Trip is contingent onminimum 20 car sign up. All payments / cancelations are required 30 be-fore the excursion. The price of the trip is $55. Equipment Restric-tions/Requirements: No HY-Rails or A-cars. All NARCOA rules apply.NARCOA insurance and rules apply. Reflective vests are required. Nocars will be able to operate with sanders and use of manually applied sandwill not be tolerated. Additional information: NAROCA mentoring al-lowed on this excursion. The event is sponsored by NERCA; The priceof the excursion trip is $50. Event Coordinator: Warren Riccitelli / Al El-liott. For more information please contact Warren Riccitelli, 39 Jackso-nia Drive, North Providence, RI 02911 (401) 232-0992

May 15, 2010 - MA - Mass Central Railroad: Please see our additional trip on Sunday - only a few miles away on thePioneer Valley Railroad. This is a beautiful trip thru many small undis-turbed New England towns, this excursion is set in the rural hills and val-

Please submit all excursions and ads directly [email protected]

The SETOFF downloads directly from the websitefor the most current information.

NARCOA Excursionsas of April 16th, 2010


leys of central MA. Please bring a box lunch. No food is available on thisexcursion. Trip is contingent on minimum 20 car sign up. All payments /cancelations are required 30 before the excursion. We will set on atPalmer, MA at 7:00 AM. Departure is scheduled for 8:00 AM. Approxi-mate round trip mileage for this excursion is 50 miles. This ride is limitedto 25 cars. Equipment Restrictions/Requirements: No HY-Rails or A-cars.All NARCOA rules apply. The event is sponsored by NERCA. NARCOAinsurance and rules apply. Reflective vests are required. No cars will beable to operate with sanders and no use of manually applied sand will notbe tolerated. Additional information: NAROCA mentoring allowed onthis excursion. The price of the excursion trip is $55. Event Coordinator:Warren Riccitelli / Al Elliott. For more information please contact War-ren Riccitelli, 39 Jacksonia Drive, North Providence, RI 02911 (401) 232-0992

May 15 - 16, 2010 - KY - Big South Fork Scenic RailwayGreat Lakes Railcars is pleased to announce a trip on the Big South ForkScenic Railway at Stearns, KY. Come help us celebrate the Kentucky andTennessee Railroad railfan weekend. We will be displaying our motorcarsfor the railfan weekend and making at least 3, possibly 4 trips on approx-imately 16 miles of track. For further information, please contact AndySargent at [email protected] or call 812-591-3345 before9:00 pm.

May 16, 2010 - IA - Boone & Scenic Valley RailroadBoone, Iowa - The First Iowa Division is hosting a ride on the Boone &Scenic Valley Railroad as a season opener. Notice that this is a Sundayride and not Saturday as in the past. There will hopefully be four trips dur-ing the day and a night ride. Enjoy the 156 ft. high bridge and Des MoinesRiver bridge by the Y-Camp. The track damage from flooding last yearand the year before has been repaired and the line is open all the way tothe end at Wolf. Round trip mileage is 22 miles. Set on at the depot willstart at 7:00am with a 9:00am departure. Cost of the ride is $20. Currentmembership in the Iowa Railroad Historical Society ($25) is a railroad re-quirement. Please make checks for the ride payable to FID and member-ship payable to IRHS. Motels at Boone are the Super 8 (800-800-8000)and the Amerihost (515-432-8168). Dave Pratt (515-674-3803) is the Ex-cursion Coordinator for this ride. Contact Carl Schneider at 515-967-5181or e-mail [email protected] for more information. This is a Narcoa-insured ride and all Narcoa rules apply.

May 22 - 23, 2010 - CA - Skunk Train - Mendocino Railway:MOW is pleased to sponsor an overnight B&B run on the Skunk TrainRR May 22-23, 2010. Participants will travel 40 miles from Willits to FortBragg, CA Saturday May 22, stay overnight in Fort Bragg , return toWillits on Sunday, May 23. Required: Pre-registration, current NARCOAliability insurance and Rule Book Certification, spark arrestor. MOWmembership is not required. You must receive confirmation from me (bymail, email or phone) before coming to this excursion. For trip detailscheck www.mowonline.org. To register, mail a check for $160 payable toMOW to Bill Owen - 24601 Voorhees Drive, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022.Tel (650) 949-4564 or email [email protected].

May 22 - 24, 2010 - QE - Canadian #ational & Charlevoix RailwayThe Club Railcar Québec (CRQ) invites you in Québec City for its 2ndNARCOA excursion. Track used are with Canadian National (CN) andCharlevoix Railway Inc. (CFC Inc.); a run of approximately 370 miles.The run is of three days on May 22, 23 & 24. NARCOA insurance andrules apply. Fees are $250 per vehicle payable in Canadian or Americanmoney. Send your check payable to “Club Railcar Quebec” at this ad-dress: Club Railcar Québec, P.O. Box 45005, Charny (Quebec) CanadaG6X 3R4. The number of participants is limited to 30 cars on the first dayand to 25 cars on the two others. The deadline for registration is April20th 2010 and after this date, there will be no refund possible. For moreinformation, please contact Louis-François Garceau at 1 (418) 832-1502.Mobile is (418) 955-2466. VISA and/or MASTER CARD are accepted.

A block of rooms have been reserved to participants at Hotel Bernières.You must make your own booking before April 20th 2010. CallSébastien Rousseau at 1-800-749-3119 SETON: Friday evening after dinner and/or Saturday morning at 6:00AM. Departure shall be at 8:00 AM. SETON is just beside the Ste. FoyVIA Rail Station located near the SMFQ which is at 3350 chemin de laGare - postal code G1V 4N6. Please, keep your vehicle lock correctlywhen not in use. Safety boots, safety hats and safety vests are obligatory. Saturday May 22nd, departure from Ste. Foy at 8 AM for Hervey Junc-tion via Charny (approx. 149 miles). Bring your food or a lunch box tobe furnished. Sunday May 23rd, departure from Ste. Foy to LimoilouEast and than to Clermont (approx. 110 miles). Room in Motel is paidby the CRQ and probably a few meals such as dinner and breakfast.Meals must be taken at CHEZ PIERRE Restaurant in front of MotelCHEZ PIERRE. Monday May 24th, departure from Clermont at 8 AMdirection Ste. Foy (approx. 110 miles) - Arrival at Ste. Foy (SMFQ Garede Sainte-Foy) around 4:00 PM for the SETOFF. NOTE: On arrival,Miniatures trains inside the SMFQ Hall will run at your convenience. E-mail: [email protected] – Louis-François Garceau, Certified Excursion Co-ordinator.

May 26 - 31, 2010 - WA - Eastern Washington Gateway, Great#orthwest and BG&CM Railroads Full - wait list started:Pacific Railcar Operators is pleased to announce the third annual East-ern Washington Gateway Railroad excursion on May 26 and 27 com-bined with the fifth annual Memorial Day Weekend motorcar excursionon three branches of the former Camas Prairie Railroad (CSP) on May29, 30 and 31, 2010. Initial set on will be at Wilbur, WA on Tuesday,May 25. We run Wilbur to Medical Lake on Wednesday, the 26th, 127miles, and Wilbur to Coulee City on Thursday, May 27th, 67 miles. Fri-day, May 28th is a travel day and set on at the Great Northwest yard inLewiston. The Great Northwest management has graciously allowed usto use the Lewiston yard as our base of operations and Saturday, the 29thwe will run the Riparia branch, 144 miles, Sunday to Kamiah, 124 miles,and Monday to Craigmont, approximately 86 miles. Storage cars havebeen removed off the hill between Spalding and Culdesac which pro-vides us the opportunity of running out of Lewiston to Craigmont forthe first time in several years. We require that hyrail vehicles complywith rule 12.1 (E) of the #ARCOA operations handbook and carryenough blocking and other materials needed to re-rail the vehicle incase of derailment. We strongly urge all A series cars to do the same.There is a limit of 30 cars for this excursion with preference given tothose who sign up for the entire package. A waiting list will be main-tained on a first come – first served basis and late entries will be notifiedof their status on the waiting list. Run fees for the package are $525 andno refunds will be issued after May 1, 2010 unless the vacancy can befilled from the waiting list. Make checks payable to Pacific Railcar Op-erators and mail them to Meet Coordinator Steve Taulbee, 2206 BurrellAvenue, Lewiston, ID 83501. For more information contact Meet Co-Coordinators Steve Taulbee, (208) 746-5430, [email protected] ,or Jim Morefield, (208) 743-0802, [email protected]. NARCOAinsurance, NARCOA Rules Certification, PRO membership, spark ar-restors and mechanically sound motorcars with all the specified NAR-COA equipment are required. Packets with itinerary, motels, restaurants,camping spots and maps will be mailed after payment is received. Asbefore, Lewis Clark State College is hosting the NAIA college baseballworld series the same weekend. Once the field is set, the teams and fanswill start to reserve rooms in Lewiston. Usually by the first of May, allavailable rooms are booked for this weekend.

May 29, 2010 - CO - San Luis Central RR:Monte Vista, CO - The Rocky Mountain Division (www.rockymoun-taindiv.com) invites you to this railroad set in the famous San Luis Val-ley of Colorado. Set-on will at the SLCRR offices at 2899 Sherman Ave.,Monte Vista, CO followed by safety inspections, signing of liabilitywaivers and a safety meeting. We will travel north 12 miles to Center,


CO for a lunch break. Departure for the return will be after lunch witharrival back at Monte Vista early afternoon for a 24 mile round trip.This railroad aka The Pea Vine moves over 3000 carloads in and outduring the year. It serves an agricultural area involved in the productionof potatoes and potato products. This is a NARCOA insured event andall NARCOA rules will apply. No Hi-Rails. Operators needing men-toring are welcome, just please let the EC know when you sign up thatyou will need mentoring. The fee for the day will be $50 per car. Feemust be received by EC two weeks prior to the event. For informationand/or reservations contact: Jon Keeling Phone: 719-989-0779 MailP.O. Box 721 La Veta, Colorado 81055 Email: [email protected]

May 29 - 30, 2010 - OH - City of Greenfield RR, US Rail:Saturday May 29th, 2010. Greenfield (Ohio). City of Greenfield Rail-road. Ohio Valley Railcars sponsored excursions. Former B&O St.Louis Main Line with some travel over the former Detroit Toledo &Ironton. Set on begins at 8 a.m. 60 mile round trip. Travel west fromGreenfield to Midland, Ohio where we will turn our cars. This is partof the same former main line as the US Rail line in Jackson, Ohio.There are several large bridges and vintage depots along the route. Wehave a brunch stop planned at a local restaurant and your meal is in-cluded (2 per car). Dave Verzi is coordinator for Saturday and can becontacted at [email protected] or 216.941.5273. Sunday May 30th,2010. Jackson (Ohio). US Rail Jackson Division 110 + round trip mile.This line is comprised of the former B&O, C&O and DT&I lines. Fea-tures much welded rail along varied scenic locations with 2 tunnels.Our set on is to be announced in your confirmation letter planned to bein Jackson. There will be a stop planned to eat Wellston, Ohio. JaimeSamuell is coordinator for Sunday - contact info below. NARCOA In-surance and compliance with the Rule Book is required along with theOVR policy book. All operators must be NARCOA certified. HyRailoperators required to contact coordinators prior to registering. With thereturn of your registration you will be sent a map and required NAR-COA paperwork. NOTE: Run(s) subject to change destination, toursand there may be additional rules by the railroad including no pets.NARCOA Rules & Insurance/OVR policy in effect - 35 car limit eachtrip. Confirmation and releases will be pre-sent via email and will be re-turned the morning of the excursion. The railroad and OVR is not re-spons ible for unannounced change in plans or schedules. Fee will bebased on registration of 20 cars minimum, and the railroad is paid percar. RETURN COMBINED REGISTRATION FORM TO: Ohio Val-ley Railcars c/o Jaime Samuell 3624 Watt Road Columbus, Oh [email protected] Phone 740-427-4444 www.ohioval-leyrailcars.com Saturday (only) Fee: $80 per car includes two meal se-lections Sunday (only) Fee: $110 per car Saturday & Sunday combinedfee both trips is $185 Checks payable to Ohio Valley Railcars

May 29 - 30, 2010 - #E - #ebraska #ortheastern RailroadOsmond, Nebraska - The First Iowa Division is pleased to announce a2-day ride on the Nebraska Northeastern Railroad. The Osmond toO’Neill segment will be ridden on Saturday and the Osmond to Jack-son part will be ridden on Sunday. Mileage for this 2-day event is ap-proximately 230 miles. Set on will be at the NENE offices in Osmondbeginning at 6:30am and departure for both days will be at 8:00am.Cost of this 2-day event is $60. The Cedar Motel (402-337-0500) is inRandolph about 14 miles east. Dave Pratt (515-674-3803) is the Ex-cursion Coordinator for this ride. Contact Carl Schneider at 515-967-5181 or e-mail [email protected] for more information. This is aNarcoa-insured ride and all Narcoa rules apply.

May 30, 2010 - TX - Blacklands RailroadRailroad Partners, Inc. ( a NARCOA affiliate) is pleased to announce a1 day run on the Blacklands Railroad (former Cotton Belt) on SundayMay 30, 2010. Participants will travel approx. 110 RT miles betweenGreenville, TX and Mt. Vernon, TX. Sturdy shoes and long pants re-quired. No shorts or tennis shoes. All cars must be pre-registered prior

to arrival. Experienced operators only. Mentoring by permission only.Hyrails welcome. No homebuilt motorcars. Trip fee of $80.00 includesrailroad fees. This is a NARCOA insured excursion and all NARCOA ruleswill apply. Trip information available at www.railroadpartners.com andfor registration contact the excursion coordinator, Leland Stewart 10057Palomino Canyon Converse, TX 78109 210-945-9268 or [email protected]

June 04, 2010 - #H - Cotton Valley Rail Trail Club:Pre-HOBO tune up ride The Cotton Valley Rail Trail Club is hosting a pre-HOBO tune up ride at their trackage in Wolfeboro, NH. This will giveeveryone a chance to shake the bugs out of their speeders before the pres-sure of the time constraints of an actual run. Experience the scenic NewHampshire wilderness along 11 miles of club maintained track, with agood diner at the other end of the line. Hot dogs, etc. will also be availableat our engine house throughout the day. This is open to all speeder own-ers/operators/riders, regardless of club affiliation. This is not a NARCOAsanctioned event. CVRTC operates from Fernald Station. The station islocated approximately 3 miles East of downtown Wolfeboro, NH on Route109 (64 Governor Wentworth Highway). The closest intersection is Gov-ernor Wentworth Highway & Fernald Crossing in Wolfeboro, NH. Pleasestop by on your way to the HOBO run, check out your speeder, check outour tracks and share the fellowship of other speeder owners. This is a ‘dropin’ event and no reservations are required. Donations to the club will be ac-cepted. We will be starting about 8:00am and will finish with enough timeto get to Lincoln, NH for HOBO’s Friday evening events. Dick Forde, co-coordinator, e-mail - [email protected] Cotton Valley Rail Trail Clubweb site: http://www.cottonvalley.org

June 12, 2010 - IA - Iowa River RailroadEldora, Iowa - The First Iowa Division will host a ride on this ex-M&StLline which runs from Marshalltown to Steamboat Rock, Iowa and northpast the ethanol plant towards Ackley. Due to track repairs from the 2008flooding, mileage could be up to 70 miles round trip depending on how farwe can ride. We plan on possibly riding the line twice if time permits. Costof this ride is $45 per car. The set on time will be at 7:00am with an 8:00amdeparture. The set on location is about 2 blocks north of the Hwy 175crossing. Motels in Eldora are the Village Motel (641-939-3441) and theEldora Motel (641-939-2232). Both of these motels are small and family-owned so there is a limited number of rooms at each so make your reser-vations early. Dave Pratt (515-674-3803) is the Excursion Coordinator forthis ride. Contact Carl Schneider at 515-967-5181 or e-mail [email protected] for more information. This is a Narcoa-insured ride andall Narcoa rules apply.

June 19 - 20, 2010 - WV West Virginia Central RR, Cass Scenic RR:A.R.E. Appalachian Rail Excursions is pleased to announce another run onthe West Virginia Central Railroad and the Cass Scenic Railroad for June19-20, 2010. This is for vacation planning only. DO NOT SEND ANYMONEY. Announcements will be sent out next year. If you would like an-nouncement as soon as it becomes available send a #10 self addressed en-velope to: West Virginia Central Motorcar Run, c/o Paul S. Rujak, 786Hudson Hill Road, Weirton WV 26062-5584

July 4, 2010 - TX - Capitol Metro Transportation: Railroad Partners, Inc. is pleased to sponsor a motorcar excursion over theex SP Llano branch. This is a scenic stretch of track which parallels theLlano River and crosses the Colorado River on Lake LBJ. There will beabundant wildlife and open range vistas. Participants will travel fromLlano, TX, through Kingsland, TX to Scobey Spur, a round trip distanceof approx 54 mi. Trip fee is $40.00 per car payable as a donation to Rail-road Partners, Inc. (a nonprofit 501c3). This is a NARCOA insured ex-cursion and all NARCOA rules apply. Hy-rails welcome. For trip detailsor lodging information, contact: Excursion Coordinator Leland Stewart10057 Palomino Canyon Converse, TX 78109 (210) 863-5397. Informa-tion about RPI may be found at www.railroadpartners.com


July 10 - 11, 2010 - SD - Prairie Village, Herman & Milwaukee Rail-roadHistoric Prairie Village is Featuring Motorcars this year for RailroadDays. July 10 & 11 motorcars will be giving rides both days. This is aNON-NAROA event NARCOA rules do apply. Prairie Village is locatedtwo miles west of Madison, South Dakota on Hwy 34 & 81 websitewww.prairievillage.org . We are also checking for the interest in havinga Motorcar swapmeet the same weekend. Please contact me if you wouldbe interested in attending the swapmeet or Railroad Days. LeRaySwedeen e-mail [email protected] 605-532-3470

July 10 - 11, 2010 - M# - #orth Shore Scenic RailroadNorth Central Railcars, Ltd. is pleased to announce two, round-trip ex-cursions over the North Shore Scenic Railroad along the Lake Superiorshore, between Two Harbors, MN and Duluth, MN; one on Saturday af-ternoon/evening, July 10, 2010, and a second trip on Sunday morning,July 11, 2010. You have the option to travel Saturday, Sunday, or bothdays. We will set-on at the historic D.M. & I.R. station (adjacent to theore docks) in Two Harbors Saturday morning, display our cars for 2hours as part of the Two Harbors Heritage Festival, then depart at noonand travel approximately 52 miles round-trip between Two Harbors &Duluth. Upon arrival in Duluth, we will have refreshment and free timeto tour the museum, shop area, and gift shop. Later, we will proceed tothe Canal Park area for dinner (on your own).We plan to return at dusk,with night operation a possibility. Our Sunday trip will cover the sameroute, with coffee & rolls at the midpoint in Duluth, returning to TwoHarbors around 1:00 pm. The excursion fee is $70.00 per car for 1 day,or $100.00 per car if you sign up for both days. Your payment includesthe railroad fee, refreshments, museum & shop admission, gratuities andother related excursion expenses. There is a 25 car limit. Complete de-tails will be sent upon receipt of the excursion fee. This is a NARCOA-insured excursion and all NARCOA rules will apply. To register for theexcursion or obtain more information, contact Michael P. Ford, 7712Carpenter Court, Plainfield, Indiana 46168-8035. Tel: (317) 839-9320 oremail: [email protected]

July 13, 2010 - #D - #orthern Plains Railroad North Central Railcars, Ltd. is pleased to announce a one-day motor carexcursion over a portion of the Northern Plains Railroad Company be-tween Fordville, ND and Devils Lakes, ND on Tuesday, July 10, 2010.The trip will cover approximately 110 round trip miles. This is a firsttime excursion on this railroad. Excursion fee of $85 per car covers therailroad fee, insurance, gratuities, and other excursion related expenses.There is a 25 car limit. Complete details will be sent upon receipt of theexcursion fee. This is a NARCOA insured excursion and all NARCOArules will apply. To register for the excursion, send a check for $85.00(payable to North Central Railcars, Ltd.) to Michael P. Ford, 7712 Car-penter Court, Plainfield, Indiana 46168-8035. For questions or more in-formation, contact Mike at: (317) 839-9320 or email:[email protected]

July 15 - 16, 2010 - #D, MT - Dakota, Missouri Valley, & WesternRailroad North Central Railcars, Ltd. is pleased to announce a two-day motor carexcursion over a portion of the Dakota, Missouri Valley and WesternRailroad (DMVR). On Thursday (7/15), we will run approximately 130round trip miles between Raymond, MT and Crosby, ND. On Friday(7/16) we will run approximately 60 round-trip miles between Raymond,MT and Whitetail, MT. This will allow an early set-off for those whowill be heading on to Regina, SK. If you plan on attending, make yourhotel reservations at the Sherwood Inn, Plentywood, MT (406-765-2810) as this is only 8 miles south of Raymond, MT. Excursion fee of$125.00 per car covers the railroad fee, insurance, gratuity, and otherexcursion related expenses. There is a 25 car limit. Complete details willbe sent upon receipt of the excursion fee. This is a NARCOA insured ex-cursion and all NARCOA rules will apply. To register for the excursion,send a check for $125 (payable to North Central Railcars, Ltd.) to

Michael P. Ford, 7712 Carpenter Court, Plainfield, Indiana 46168-8035.For questions or more information, contact Mike at: (317) 839-9320 oremail: [email protected]

July 17, 2010 - SK - Last Mountain Railway North Central Railcars, Ltd. is pleased to announce a one-day motor carexcursion over a portion of the Last Mountain Railway, Ltd (ex-CN CraikSubdivision) between Condie, SK and Aylesbury, SK on Saturday, July 17,2010. The trip will cover approximately 120 round trip miles through thebeautiful Qu’appelle Valley area northwest of Regina, SK. This is a firsttime excursion on this railroad. Excursion fee of $85.00 (USD or CDN)per car covers the railroad fee, insurance, and other excursion related ex-penses. Canadian participants are welcome to pay cash for the excursionin local currency at the beginning of the trip, but need to register in ad-vance. There is a 25 car limit. Complete details will be sent upon receiptof the excursion fee. This is a NARCOA-insured excursion and all NAR-COA rules will apply. To register for the excursion, send a check for $85(payable to North Central Railcars, Ltd.) to, or request registration mate-rials from, Michael P. Ford, 7712 Carpenter Court, Plainfield, Indiana46168-8035. For questions or more information, contact Mike at: (317)839-9320 or email: [email protected]

July 17 & 18, 2010 – PA - #orth Shore and Shamokin Valley Rail-roads:Ride the 86 RT miles of the North Shore Railroad from Northumberlandto Berwick and back. Former Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Sunday, ride the50 miles RT of the Shamokin Valley Railroad from Sunbury to Mt. CarmelJunction and back. Former Reading and Pennsylvania Railroads. Saturdaynight dinner and tour at the Central PA Chapter NRHS White Deer TrainStation. $10 of the registration fee donated to the chapter. Sunday tour ofthe Lower Anthracite model railroad while in Shamokin. Proof of NAR-COA insurance required, all NARCOA rules will be enforced. Registra-tion fee - $75.00. Note: All CPE rides are rain or shine. No cancellationsdue to weather. Hard soled shoes required - NO sneakers or sandals. Chil-dren must be closely supervised at all times. Send check to: Central PA Ex-cursions, PO Box 145, White Deer, PA 17887. Questions: (570) 538-9050or email [email protected]

July 19 - 20, 2010 - SK - Great Sandhills Railway North Central Railcars, Ltd. is pleased to announce a 2-day motor car ex-cursion on the Great Sandhills Railway in the rolling hills of southernSaskatchewan near Swift Current. The trip will cover approximately 260rail miles of the ex-CP Empress and Burstall subdivisions between Mayne,SK (just west of Swift Current) and Burstall, SK. This is a new railroadfor NARCOA. The excursion fee of $225 (USD or CDN) covers the rail-road fee, bus transportation between Burstall and Leader, Sandhills tour,evening barbeque, and other related excursion costs. Overnight accom-modations in Leader, SK (night of July 19), which are being arranged bythe railroad, will be an additional cost to be paid by each participant, es-timated to be approximately $80.00. Canadian participants are welcometo pay cash for the excursion in local currency at the beginning of the trip,but need to register in advance. Registration materials and complete tripdetails, itinerary, and maps will be sent upon receipt of the excursion fee.This is a NARCOA insured excursion and NARCOA rules apply. Thereis a 25 car limit. To register, send a check for $225 (USD) (payable toNorth Central Railcars) to, or request registration materials from, MichaelP. Ford, 7712 Carpenter Court, Plainfield, IN 46168-8035. For questionsor further information, contact Mike at (317) 839-9320 or via [email protected]

July 21 - 23, 2010 - SK - Great Western Railway North Central Railcars, Ltd. is pleased to announce a 3-day motor car ex-cursion on the Great Western Railway in the rolling hills of southernSaskatchewan. The trip will run between Assiniboia and Consul, SK, cov-ering approximately 360 rail miles The excursion fee of $300 (USD orCDN) covers the railroad fee, insurance, gratuities, and miscellaneous ex-cursion costs. Canadian participants may pay in local currency at the be-


ginning of the excursion, but do need to register for the trips in advance.Participants will need to make their own lodging arrangements in Shau-navon, SK (nights of July 21 & 22, 2010). For those interested in mak-ing the trip, please contact the excursion coordinator for a list of potentialhotels. Lodging is limited, so please reserve rooms early if you plan to at-tend. Registration materials, complete trip details, itinerary, and mapswill be sent upon receipt of the excursion fee. This is a NARCOA insuredexcursion and NARCOA rules apply. There is a 25 car limit. To register,send a check for $300 (USD) (payable to North Central Railcars) to, orrequest registration materials from, Michael P. Ford, 7712 CarpenterCourt, Plainfield, IN 46168-8035. For questions or further information,contact Mike at (317) 839-9320 or via e-mail [email protected]

July 24 - 25, 2010 - #J - #ew York Susquehanna & Western Railway,Syracuse BranchThe Volunteer Railroaders Association is pleased to sponsor a 2-day runover the NYS&W Syracuse Branch July 24th and 25th, 2010. Partici-pants will travel approximately 160 round-trip miles between ChenangoBridge, NY and Syracuse, NY over the two days. Saturday we will berunning roundtrip from Cortland, NY to Syracuse, NY where lunch willbe on your own at Syracuse’s famed Carousel Mall next to the CSXChicago mainline which hosts many trains per day. Sunday we will runroundtrip from Cortland, NY to Chenango Bridge, NY, lunch will be delisandwiches for an additional $9.00 per person. We will be stopping atconvenient locations for bathroom breaks. Operators and riders under 18are not permitted by the railroad. The trip fee is $120.00 per car which in-cludes the railroad’s per car fee. There is a 40 car limit. This is a NAR-COA insured excursion, and all NARCOA rules will apply. This is anon-mentoring run. ECs for the trip are KC Smith and Chris Vitz. TheNYS&W requires that ALL operators must pass a Northeast OperatingRules Advisory Committee (NORAC) guidelines training class and testprior to the event. If you have a current NORAC certification please mailus copies that we can forward to the railroad. A class will be offered Fri-day night prior to the next day’s trip. To attend the event operators MUSTattend the class and pass the test. If you have attended a previous class andhave a current NORAC certification you will not need to attend. We aresorry for the inconvenience but this is a requirement of the railroad. YourNORAC certification will be good for three full years. For trip detailscontact the VRA at 80 Royal Avenue, Hawthorne, NJ 07506 Tel: (973)238-0555 or email to:[email protected]. You can also sign up andpay for the trip with a major credit card via our website.

August 20-22, 2010 - I#/MI - Indiana #ortheastern RailroadGreat Lakes Railcars, Inc., is pleased to announce a 2-day motor car ex-cursion on the Indiana Northeastern Railroad in northeast Indiana andsoutheast Michigan on Saturday & Sunday, August 21 & 22, 2010. Thetrip will start in Ashley, IN (set-on Friday evening) and run east/west,then north to Coldwater, MI for an overnight stay, with return to Ashleyearly afternoon on Sunday. The entire trip will cover approximately 150miles. The excursion fee of $250.00 includes the railroad fee, overnightaccommodations in Coldwater, MI (Sat., August 21, 2010), gratuities,and other miscellaneous excursion costs. Registration materials, com-plete details, itinerary, and maps will be sent upon receipt of the excur-sion fee. This is a NARCOA insured excursion and NARCOA rulesapply. There is a 35 car limit. To register, send a check for $250.00(Payable to Great Lakes Railcars) to Michael P. Ford, 7712 CarpenterCourt, Plainfield, IN 46168-8035. For questions or further information,contact Mike at (317) 839-9320 or via e-mail ([email protected]). August 26-29, 2010 - MI - Great Lakes Central Railway (FULL -WAIT LIST O#LY)Great Lakes Rail Cars, Inc. is pleased to sponsor a 3-day motor car ex-cursion over a portion of the Great Lakes Central Railway (ex- Tuscola& Saginaw Bay Railway), beginning with set-on Thursday evening, Au-gust 26, 2010 followed by the excursion on Friday/Saturday/Sunday, Au-gust 27-29, 2010. All NARCOA members are welcome to participate.Participants will travel approximately 238 miles in the beautiful north-western portion of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The trip will start in

Cadillac, MI with set-on Thursday evening. We will run the line toPetoskey, Michigan on Friday, Petoskey to Traverse City on Saturday,and Traverse City to Cadillac on Sunday. The excursion fee of $450.00(USD) includes all railroad fees, very nice overnight hotel accommoda-tions in both Traverse City and Petoskey, MI; deluxe continental break-fast on Saturday & Sunday morning, transportation to/from the hotel inboth Traverse City & Petoskey, and other related excursion costs. Com-plete details will be sent upon receipt of the excursion fee. There is a 30car limit. This is a NARCOA-insured excursion and all NARCOA ruleswill apply. To register, send a check for $450.00 (payable to Great LakesRail Cars) to: Michael P. Ford, 7712 Carpenter Court, Plainfield, Indiana46168-8035. For questions or further information contact Mike at (317)839-9320 or email: [email protected].

September 04, 2010 - MO - Ft. Leonard Wood Army BaseFt. Leonard Wood, Missouri The First Iowa Division has set up a ride onthe Army base at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. Set on will be at 8:30amwith a 10:00am departure. As you enter the fort from I-44, be in the leftlane and pull into the inspection area by the security check point. Youwill have to go in the visitor center before proceeding through the vehi-cle check point. Have an early lunch or bring snacks along as there won’tbe a stop for lunch. We will make two trips on this 20-mile scenic linethrough the Ozarks to the connection with the BNSF at Bundy Junction.Due to security issues, everyone will need a picture ID, vehicle registra-tion, proof of insurance, and be prepared for a vehicle inspection. Cost ofthis ride is $35. Motels are the Red Roof Inn (573-336-2510) and theBudget Inn (573-336-5212), all in the St. Robert - Waynesville area. DavePratt (515-674-3803) is the Excursion Coordinator for this ride. ContactCarl Schneider at 515-967-5181 or e-mail [email protected] formore information. This is a Narcoa-insured ride and all Narcoa rulesapply.

September 05, 2010 - MO - Colt RailwayColumbia, Missouri Come join us on this First Iowa Division ride whichruns northeast from Columbia to Centralia on an ex-Wabash track. Wewill set on beginning at 6:30am and have a scheduled 8:00am departurefor the first run. Our set on location is at Boone County Mill Works whichis located in downtown Columbia. Take the Rangeline Rd. exit from I-70and drive south until the T intersection with Rogers St. Turn left and theset on is about a half block in the Boone Co. Millworks facility. We willrun this line two times during the day. Each run is approximately 44 milesround trip so we will have a total for the day of about 88 miles. There isa Lee’s Chicken across the street from the tracks for our lunch break. Costof this ride is $45 per car. There are several motels in Columbia withmany at the junction of I-70 and Hwy 63. There is a Super 8 (800-800-8000 or 573-474-8488), Ramada Inn (537-449-0051), and Econo Lodge(573-442-1191) just to name a few. Dave Pratt (515-674-3803) is the Ex-cursion Coordinator for this ride. Contact Carl Schneider at 515-967-5181 or e-mail [email protected] for more information. This is aNarcoa-insured ride and all Narcoa rules apply.

September 18, 2010 - IA - Appanoose County RailroadCenterville, Iowa The First Iowa Division is pleased to announce a rideon the Appanoose County Railroad between Centerville and Albia, Iowa.Set on will be at 6:30am at the APNC shop building just south of thewater tower in the southeast part of town with an 8:00am departure. Wewill travel 32 miles north to Albia on a well-maintained combination ofwelded and jointed track. This line also crosses the IC&E Kansas City -Quad Cities mainline and we might see a train there. There will be a bar-becue lunch available at the Moravia depot for $7. Cost of the ride is $35.Motels are the Super 8 (800-800-8000) and Motel 60 (800-437-7271).Dave Pratt (515-674-3803) is the Excursion Coordinator for this ride.Contact Carl Schneider at 515-967-5181 or e-mail [email protected] more information. This is a Narcoa-insured ride and all Narcoa rulesapply.

September 25 - 26, 2010 - WV - West Virginia Central RR, Cass Sce-


nic RRCome ride the most scenic railroad south of the Canadian border. TravelWest Virginia’s ex CSX, B&O and Western Maryland Railroad throughmountains and along streams on a railroad flanked by some of the bestscenery in the east. On Saturday we will start at the former Western Mary-land Depot in Elkins West Virginia and travel south to Spruce. At Sprucewe will switch to the Cass Scenic Railroad’s Spruce connector. We willtravel the 1.5 mile track to Old Spruce where we will meet Cass ScenicRailroad’s Bald Knob train coming off the mountain. On Sunday we willtravel north to Tygart Junction where the WVC interchanges with theP&LRR (formerly CSX’s Cowin sub). Early set-on Friday. Round tripmiles is 180. Fee is $150.00. 40 cars. Box lunch and Saturday buffet dineravailable at extra fee. No High-Rails. EXPERIENCED OPERATORSONLY. THIS IS A NON-MENTORED RUN. 2 WAY RADIOS RE-QUIRED. Contact: Paul S. Rujak, 786 Hudson Hill Road, Weirton WV26062-5584 Email: [email protected] Phone: 304-670-4099

October 01 - 02, 2010 - IL - 2010 #ARCOA Annual Meeting: Sheraton Gateway Suites, 6501 North Mannheim Road, Rosemont, IL60018 This meeting is open to all paid NARCOA members.

October 01 - 03, 2010 - SD - Black Hills Central RR:The Rocky Mountain Division and the Black Hills Central have teamed upagain for a 3 day excursion. October 1-3, 2010. The Black Hills Central,a tiny remnant of the extensive railroading that went on there in SouthDakota during some booming days. 4-4-0’s paced themselves up the 4-6%grade of Tin Mill Hill out of Hill City on the way to Oblivion. So opera-tors, beware. How often can we do a 4-6% grade on most motorcar ex-cursions? This is the best little railroad for a evening trip too. Curves,hardwood and pine forests and a twisty rural country road that we mustcross several times. This railroad demands safety at all crossing! The rail-road in Oct will be running just one train per day. Scheduling of runs willbe done as soon as we hit a minimum of 15 motorcars. Cost of excursionwill be $60.00. With an addition of $8.00 for the Saturday night BBQ.Which has always been fun item on this excursion too. Another changethis year will be a BHCRR sponsored raffle for all ride participants on Sat-urday AM. Prizes will include a pair of train tickets and other memora-bilia from the 1880 TRAIN. Meals and lodging are on your own other thanthe BBQ on Saturday. Holiday Inn Express is right next to the railroadwithin walking distance. And many restaurants as well. And there are manycampsites around Hill City. Set-on would be at the Hill City BHCRR yardsnear the engine shops, Oct 1, 2010. So come join us and enjoy the BlackHills in October! EC for this event is Gus Mocilac, 5155 Bluestem Drive,Colorado Springs, CO 80917 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 719-304-1646

October 02 - 03, 2010 - #J - #ew York Susquehanna & Western Rail-way, Southern DivisionThe Volunteer Railroaders Association is pleased to sponsor a 2-day runover the NYS&W Southern Division October 2nd and 3rd, 2010. On Sat-urday the participants will travel approximately 100 round-trip miles be-tween Riverdale, NJ and Warwick, NY. On Sunday we will runapproximately 60 round-trip miles between Riverdale, NJ and NorthBergen, NJ. Operators and riders under 18 are not permitted by the rail-road. Trip fee of $120.00 per car includes railroad costs. Lunch will be onyour own at a sit down restaurant or deli on Saturday, On Sunday we areplanning on a deli sandwich lunch for an additional $9.00 per person. ECsfor the trip are KC Smith and Chris Vitz. There is a 40 car limit. This is aNARCOA insured excursion, and all NARCOA rules will apply. This is anon-mentoring run. The NYS&W requires that ALL operators must passa Northeast Operating Rules Advisory Committee (NORAC) guidelinestraining class and test prior to the event. If you have a current NORACcertification please mail us copies that we can forward to the railroad. Aclass will be offered Friday night prior to the next day’s trip. To attend theevent operators MUST attend the class and pass the test. If you have at-tended a previous class and have a current NORAC certification you willnot need to attend. We are sorry for the inconvenience but this is a re-

quirement of the railroad. Your NORAC certification will be good forthree full years. For trip details contact the VRA at 80 Royal Avenue,Hawthorne, NJ 07506 Tel: (973) 238-0555 or email to: [email protected]. You can also sign up and pay for the trip with amajor credit card via our website.

October 08, 2010 - IA - Iowa River RailroadEldora, Iowa - The First Iowa Division will ride this ex-M&StL linewhich runs from Marshalltown to Steamboat Rock, Iowa and north pastthe ethanol plant to Ackley. Mileage is about 70 miles round trip. Weplan on possibly riding the line twice if time permits. Cost of this ride is$45 per car. The set on time will be at 7:00am with an 8:00am depar-ture. The set on location is about 2 blocks north of the Hwy 175 cross-ing. Motels in Eldora are the Village Motel (641-939-3441) and theEldora Motel (641-939-2232). Both of these motels are small and fam-ily-owned so there is a limited number of rooms at each so make yourreservations early. Dave Pratt (515-674-3803) is the Excursion Coordi-nator for this ride. Contact Carl Schneider at 515-967-5181 or [email protected] for more information. This is a Narcoa-insuredride and all Narcoa rules apply.

October 09, 2010 - PA, #Y Wellsboro and Corning Railroad:Ride the 70 miles RT of the Wellsboro & Corning Railroad from Wells-boro, PA to Gang Mills, NY and back. Former New York Central. Proofof NARCOA insurance required, all NARCOA rules will be enforced.Registration fee - $55.00. Note: All CPE rides are rain or shine. No can-cellations due to weather. Hard soled shoes required, no sneakers or san-dals. Children must be closely supervised at all times. Send check to:Central PA Excursions, PO Box 145, White Deer, PA 17887. Questions:(570) 538-9050 or email [email protected].

October 30, 2010 - TX - Capitol Metro Transportation – ex SP Llanobranch Bluebonnet Run:Railroad Partners, Inc. is pleased to sponsor a motorcar excursion overthe ex SP Llano branch. This is a scenic stretch of track which parallelsthe Llano River and crosses the Colorado River on Lake LBJ. There willbe abundant wildlife and open range vistas. Participants will travel fromLlano, TX, through Kingsland, TX to Scobey Spur, a round trip distanceof approx 54 mi. Trip fee is $40.00 per car payable as a donation to Rail-road Partners, Inc. (a nonprofit 501c3). This is a NARCOA insured ex-cursion and all NARCOA rules apply. Hy-rails welcome. For trip detailsor lodging information, contact: Excursion Coordinator Leland Stewart10057 Palomino Canyon Converse, TX 78109 (210) 863-5397. Infor-mation about RPI may be found at www.railroadpartners.com

December 04, 2010 - PA #orth Shore Railroad:ANNUAL TOYS FOR TOTS RIDE – Ride the 86 miles RT of the NorthShore Railroad from Northumberland to Berwick and return. This is for-mer Erie Lackawanna track. As part of the fee for this ride, please bringa new, unwrapped toy with you for either a boy or a girl. The Toys forTots folks will be on hand to collect the toys. We hope to have good presscoverage for this event. The public will be invited to bring a toy also andto see your motorcars. There will also be prizes for the best Christmastheme decorated motorcars. Proof of NARCOA insurance required, allNARCOA rules will be enforced. Registration fee - $55.00. Note: AllCPE rides are rain or shine. No cancellations due to weather. Hard soledshoes required - NO sneakers or sandals. Children must be closely su-pervised at all times. Send check to: Central PA Excursions, PO Box 145,White Deer, PA 17887. Questions: (570) 538-9050 or email [email protected]

Excursions Held On A Monthly or Bi-Monthly Basis

Monthly Excursions thru October 2009 - MI - Sweet Line Railroad,Carson City, Michigan: This is a non-NARCOA excursion on the Sweet Line Railroad that oc-curs every month through October 2009. Dates are June 12 - 14, July 10

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If you are a supplier of motorcar parts, and wish to be includedhere, please contact [email protected]. �o endorsement is madeof the products, services, or vendors. All listings are for members’consideration only, and are at the discretion of the Editor.Atlantic Rail Cars / Warren Riccitelli, [email protected] 39 Jacksonia Drive, North Providence, RI 02911 phone:(401) 232-0992 Fax: (401) 231-7073. Brake Shoes, brake liners,and brake parts for most cars.Carey Boney, [email protected] or 1605 PowersRoad, Wallace, N C 28466 phone (910) 285-7489. Engine & Car-buretor gaskets - RKB Twin engine set. Brown Railroad Equipment / Dan Brown, www.brownrr.com. 4Amersham Court, Glen Carbon, IL 62034. (618) 797-5484. Theentire remaining Fairmont factory inventory of motorcar parts wasbought by Brown when Fairmont stopped making speeders in theearly 1990’s. Web site has NOS inventory look up by part num-ber. Over 200 cars for sale. Railroad Motor Car Resource Library / Doug Cummins,[email protected] 1146 W. 27th St. Independence, MO64052-3222. Library of rail motorcar manuals, performancesheets, parts lists, maintenance instructions. Tom Falicon [email protected] 1227 Sawmill Creek Rd, BrysonCity, NC 28713 ph: 828-488-8063 after six. Fairmont Billet ShiftKnobs.Fredericksburg Shops, [email protected] or leskingmo-torcars.com or 209 Creamery Rd., Fredericksburg, Ohio 44627,phone: 330-465-0713 2PM-6PM EST. Newly manufacturedmotor car parts and accessories. Many original producers identi-fied, and their parts are again for sale. Shop also does car repair.Formerly Les King & Company.Doug Heinmuller, www.dhrc.clco.us P.O. Box 111, 153 BobbinMill Rd, Lunenburg, VT 05906, phone 802-892-6144. FormerONAN dealer has many Fairmont and ONAN parts. Completeengine & transmission rebuilding. For a detailed list of parts avail-able, see website. L&S Speeder Repair and Restoration [email protected] 438th Ave., Henry, SD 57243 phone (605)532-3470. Cus-tom motorcar trailers - will build to your specifications.Dave Myers at: [email protected] or 928-380-7056 MT-19Temporary Axle splint. Fairmont transmission sprockets, and spe-cial sprockets of interest when re-powering a car with non-Onanengines.#ewman Machinery, OUT OF BUSINESS. Dudley Newmanwrites that he still has a few parts left that he is selling on rail-speeders.com, but otherwise he’s out of business. Please, onlycall him in response to one of those ads.Tom Phair [email protected] phone (925) 820-4159Complete line of the David Clark Company Intercom systems andrailroad type Motorola Radios; new double chain sprocket kits,large inventory of NOS Fairmont parts. Some motorcars for sale.Motorcar Shipment by Truck, Charlie Lix, Reno, NV. (775)742-7366. Costs depend on being able to combine several speed-ers, or speeders with other general freight.

Suppliers- 12, August 7 - 9, September 11 - 13 and October 9 - 11. Round tripmileage is 14 miles and as many trips will be held as people want. Motelsand campgrounds are within 1/2 mile. Set on will start on Friday night.More details are on the Sweet Line website at www.sweetlinerr.org. Thisis a Non-Narcoa ride and all railroad rules apply.

2010 Season - First and Third weekends of each month - #C - RedSprings and #orthern Railroad: Railcar Operators of the Carolinas (ROC) invites you to ride 12.5 mileson the Red Springs & Northern Railroad in Red Springs. Located nearFayetteville, NC and 17 miles west of Lumberton/US 95 on Hwy 211.NARCOA rules are in effect. Trips are mainly on Saturday, starting inRed Springs and going north to Parkton, NC and return. Cost is $25/dayor ROC membership of $90/year. Contact person: Carey Boney - EC,1605 Powers Road,Wallace, NC 28466. Tel:910-285-7489 or [email protected]

2010 Season – PA Stewartstown Railroad: The Northern Central Railcar Association is offering to NARCOA mem-bers, excursions on the Stewartstown Railroad from New Freedom, Pa. toStewartstown, Pa. on various dates between February 1, 2009 and Janu-ary 31, 2010. Call Dean L. Grote Excursion Coordinator at 717-637-7647or e-mail [email protected] for details.

2010 Season - PA - #orthern Central Railroad: The Northern Central Railcar Association is offering to NARCOA mem-bers, excursions on the Northern Central Railroad from New Freedom,PA to York, PA, on various dates between February 1, 2009 through Jan-uary 31, 2010. Call Dean L. Grote Excursion Coordinator at 717-637-7647 or e-mail [email protected] for details.

#ARCOA does not guarantee, certify or warrant that anymechanical equipment, modification, solution or device de-scribed in articles or advertisements in The SETOFF aresafe or suitable for any members’ needs or purposes. Tech-nical articles are provided for members’ consideration only.Readers are advised to do their own due diligence to deter-mine the safety and suitability of any such equipment,modification, solution, or device for their purposes, andare advised to seek outside expert advice. B

Yes, we printed another issue with-out a “Spotlight On An Affiliate”article. It brings us no joy to do so.Please help by submitting YOURAffiliate for the Spotlight. Thanks!


MMiissssiinngg yyoouurr ccooppyy ooff TThhee SSEETTOOFFFF??Please do not contact the SETOFF Editor about distribution problems.

If you did not receive your SETOFF please contact Mark Hudson, Membership Secretary. Only Mark Hud-son has replacement copies, which are sent to him at the same time the mailing goes out. For each editionMark creates the the mailing address list and sends it to Greg Kightlinger, the printer who mails the hardcopies. At the same time, Mark creates the e-mail address list and sends it to Jim Hughes, the e-mail distri-

bution volunteer who sends out the emails.Remember, if you have asked to receive The SETOFF electronically you must have a working e-mail ad-dress in order to receive it. You can not have e-mail ‘attachment blocking’ enabled. Check your SPAM

folder. If you need to change either your snail mail or your e-mail address, you must notify:Mark Hudson, #ARCOA Secretary &

Membership ChairmanP.O. Box 321,

Dry Ridge, KY [email protected]

It's best to send in a hard copy change by snail mail for all updates. It is your responsibility to inform theMembership Secretary if your e-mail address changes to insure the timely reception of your e-mail newslet-ter. Keep your snail mail address current. We want you to continue to receive your annual calendar, insur-ance and membership renewal information, as well as other important association mailings which are sent

out as hard copy even if you get The SETOFF electronically.

The next time you change a wheel, check that the axle is straight. The way to do this is sand the rust off the hubsurface and use a feeler gauge. Turning the hub will reveal if the axle has a bend. Do this on each hub becausebends often happen at the ends of the axle when the car gets dropped. After mounting the wheel and tighteningdown all the bolts, do the same test again to determine the wheel’s “true” and how well it is mounted. Of course,good record keeping for each hub and wheel surface will give you the data for deciding what is a normal vari-ance and what might indicate trouble.

CCHHEECCKKIINNGG FFOORR AA BBEENNTT AAXXLLEE -- BByy WWaayynnee PPaarrssoonnss


Want the Spotlight onyour Affiliate Club?The SETOFF Editor

wants to hear from you! Iwould like to have yourClub on this page next

issue!

[[>>nnaarrccooaa__ccoommppaannyy__ssttoorree]]Wheel Inspection Tools -The clear plastic wheel profile is necessary to determine if thewheel is flat, thin in the flange area, or has wear between the flange and the flat sectionof the tread. Use the wheel profile as your first step in diagnosing “hunting” on the rails.Use two of the clear plastic wheel profiles to determine track gauge. The stainless steelcaliper is necessary to determine if you have the required 1/8” minimum wheel thickness.One plastic wheel profile is $11 including s/h. Two plastic profiles are $17 includings/h. Stainless steel wheel calipers with laser printing (they’ll outlast your grandson!) are$30 each including s/h. One plastic profile and one stainless steel wheel caliper go for$35 including s/h. Two plastic profiles and one stainless steel wheel caliper caliper arethe best combination for $40 including s/h. The new calipers have a bold mark at the 1/8”minimum. Because the new stainless steel calipers are just starting production, thephoto at left is of the no longer available old caliper. We’ll get an updated photo inthe next edition. Make your check payable to NARCOA, and mail to Warren Riccitelli,39 Jacksonia Drive, North Providence, RI 02911 E-mail questions to: [email protected]

Please note: each item is shipped fromthe person in charge of that particularproduct. Profits from Company Store

sales go to �ARCOA.

#ARCOA Lanterns - NARCOA has re-ceived another order of Trainman'slanterns produced by Star Headlight andLantern. They are model 292 featuring abright halogen lamp along with a conven-tional bulb. A standard 6 volt lantern bat-tery is required (not included). The body isorange plastic with the NARCOA name,motorcar logo, and "Safety First" im-printed. The lamps are effective for nightsignaling, and make great presentationitems for our railroad hosts. Cost is $29.00each plus $5.00 shipping for the firstlantern and $1.50 s/h for each additionallantern per order. Shipping is free on caselot orders of 12 lanterns. Make your checkpayable to NARCOA, and mail to DaveVerzi, NARCOA Lantern, 3922 RockyRiver Dr. Cleveland, OH. 44111 phone216.941.5273, [email protected]

Reproduction Fairmont Data Plates -These plates fit on the engine cover.They are correct for late 1930's to late1960's cars. M9 M14 M19 S2 ST2 A3A5 59C - maybe others. $6.00 per plateexcept Membership plate which is$3.00. Include SSAE with one stampfor each plate (Three Plates per enve-lope maximum) to: Richard C. Ray, 5Hemlock Place, Randolph, NJ 07869All Profits go to NARCOA - Makechecks out to NARCOA. [email protected]

may - jun 2010

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