It is finally over ! The tracks are all put away waiting for next year , the bills are mostly paid, and the planning for number 17 is under way. From what I heard from many of you this was a successful gathering of the initiated and we all should be thankful that there is still a feeling of wanting more - Sooo , here’s where we are for the next running of the trains. Our tracks will be taken from storage and assembled on the 10th of January, ready for running on that Sunday. We’ll have our takedown on Saturday night and put it all away on Sunday, the 17th. This change is what you guys asked for at the closing meeting and it looks like it will work out to give everyone a full week of activity. Our band concert and movie may shift , but you’ll be notified as we firm this all up.The Carol Homuth flea market was a great adjunct and those of you who picked up a treasure will look back fondly at this effort. Carol and the other Canadians certainly have created a winner. The unfortunate screw up on the shirts will not be repeated and I’ll be waiting for a refund for the items that never arrived . Terry Smelser tells me that there is a local source here in Mississippi that might be a place to do business with and I’ll look into it. The Heritage Locomotive display was interesting and I heard from many of you that we should do it again . Your wishes are listened to and we will ! I want to thank all of the volunteers who gave their time to make this all happen. The track engineers from Michigan and Canada , and the guys from the Bayou Live Steamers made it all look simple ,but it is a real challenge to get everything up and running in a few hours , and to take it all down again and get it to the storage unit. This ready bunch was augmented by some of the Florida gang , and I most appreciate them all elevating me to emeritus status because of my age - I didn’t have to lift much of anything. Again, the ladies at the front desk are the key to our event ! While some of the front desk staff were unable to attend, Myrna Peacock, Lisa Holtorf , Carol Jobusch, Emily Kaldestad , and Fran Reinhardt pitched in and all went as if nothing was unusual . GREAT JOB! We had 170 steamers at the event , from 30 states and 5 other countries. For those of you with an actuarial bent , here is how it all shakes out : |
| Florida | 22 |
| Texas | 15 |
| Louisiana | 11 |
| California | 9 |
| Georgia | 9 |
| Virginia | 8 |
| Colorado | 7 |
| South Carolina | 7 |
| Michigan | 6 |
| Mississippi | 6 |
| Illinois | 4 |
| Washington | 4 |
| Kansas | 3 |
| Alabama | 3 |
| Maryland | 3 |
| Ohio | 3 |
| Missouri | 3 |
| Arkansas | 3 |
| North Carolina | 2 |
| Utah | 2 |
| Wisconsin | 2 |
| Arizona | 1 |
| Indiana | 1 |
| Iowa | 1 |
| Oklahoma | 1 |
| Kentucky | 1 |
| New Jersey | 1 |
| New York | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 1 |
| Canada | 10 |
| UK | 4 |
| Australia | 1 |
| Mexico | 1 |
| Trinidad | 1 |
We had some walk - ins but I haven’t sorted out their forms. We have 38 registrants for 2010 , and some of them are paid up so we are committed to doing it gain.There were fourteen entries in the annual “Drawbar Pull” competition at the 2009 International Small Scale Steamup. There was a significant increase in the weight pulled by some locomotives this year. As a result of this increase there will be a new rule next year. There will be no depleted uranium or other exotic metals allowed as adhesion enhancers. The results in each category are as follows: |
ONE AXLE |
||
Larry Newman* | Pirate Truck #T-1 | 1lb 14.5oz |
TWO AXLE |
||
Bill Boyle* | “der über” Willi | 6lb 7.7oz |
Mark Tilden | “Unmolested” Willi | 2lb 7.5oz |
Wil Davis | Cricket | 15.9oz |
THREE AXLE |
||
Mitch Mitchell* | Accucraft Mogul | 5lb 5.6oz |
Bill Boyle | Accucraft 1:29 0-6-0 | 3lb 16.0oz |
Kent Killiam | Accucraft S-12 | 2lb 13.8oz |
FOUR AXLE |
||
Dave Orwig* | Accucraft C-21 | 4lb 3.0oz |
Daniel Tilden | Aristocraft Mikado | 3lb 10.0oz |
EIGHT AXLE |
||
Dave Hottmann* | Accucraft Cab Forward | 10lb 3.2oz |
Paul Lator | Accucraft Cab Forward | 4lb 2.0oz |
GEARED |
||
Bob Pope* | P-2 Diesel | 10lb 9.8oz |
DEMO RUN | ||
John Garrett | Accucraft 4T Shay | 10lb 4.9oz |
Honorable Mention | ||
Pat Darby | Three Fingers | 13lb 6.0oz |
* Class trophy winners. |