February 1999 - Roanoke Chapter National Railway Historical Society

Thursday nights at 9:00 p.m. TRACKS AHEAD isusually scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Saturdayafternoon. In addition to the above mentionedregularly programs, I’ve also seen a number ofprograms on railroading on The LearningChannel and The Discovery Channel. To keepthese features coming and maybe increasing innumbers, please call and or write to the stationor network that presents these programs. Letthem know there is indeed an audience for suchprograms. This is especially important whereadvertisers are concerned. Most of the programsI’ve observed are entertaining and informative.Though some of the information given isvery basic for those of us within the hobby orprofession, it has to be this way for the viewinggeneral public that is no as educated about railroadingas most railroad enthusiast are.The Second Annual North Carolina Rail Fair isscheduled to occur the second weekend ofMarch 99. The dates are March 13th & 14th withthe location being The North Carolina StateFairgrounds in the W. Kerr Scott Building from9:00 a.m. til 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and from10:00 a.m. til 3:00 p.m. Sunday. I attended theevent last year and left satisfied. This is an eventinvolving the sale of model railroad merchandiseand railroadiana. For more information, callCharles Miller at 703-536-2954 or Sid Suggs at803-532-5912. e-mail: alabar9@aol.comCloser to home, last winter Trains Unlimited ofLynchburg offered a series of free and open tothe public clinics covering various aspects ofmodel railroading usually held on Saturday afternoons.They are doing it again this winter. Theclinics will continue thru March. Contact TrainsUnlimited at 804-239-8377 or 800-728-3850 orlog into members.aol.com/trnsunltd/ You mayalso want to inquire about the National ModelRailroad Association’s Mid-East RegionConvention being held in Lynchburg on April23rd and thru 25th.Our comrades at the Historic Spencer Shopshave recently put voice mail to work for them tomake things easier for callers. The new numberis 704-636-2889 which replaces all the previousPage 2numbers for the different departments.With the anticipated increase of freight traffic,the proposed higher speed passenger trainsand less than acceptable numbers of gradecrossing accidents, a number of grade crossingsalong the former Southern Railway betweenGreensboro and Charlotte, N.C. are beingclosed or alterated. This is especially true forSalisbury and Spencer. Some crossings will havetheir safety appliances upgraded. Some will becamera equipped to video tape motorist whomdrive around lowered gates.Telling About Our Railroad Heritageby Dave MeasheyOne day during the week after Christmas, Itook some track and a train to theSunshine Station nursery school, where my wifeteaches, and put on an exhibit for the children.The exhibit’s mission was twofold: I shared thefun of model railroading. But I also told the childrensomething about the trains and howimportant they were to the building of ournation - which fits in with the mission of theNRHS.It was not that hard to do. Setting up took themost effort. But the enjoyment those childrengot from watching the train made the effort wellworth my time. It also gave me an opportunity totalk to the children about how important thesteam trains were, and how important today’strains are. I used a long spout engineer’s oil canas a pointer, while I told the children about eachcar and the kinds of goods they would haul. Ialso used the oil can to point out the differentparts of the locomotive and tell what they werefor. I didn’t use highly technical terms, but I didn’t“talk down” to the children either. I had tokeep my presentation short for groups ofyounger children, who had less attention spanthan those children who were almost kindergardenage.I also explained why steam locomotive engineerswore the soft billed hats and goggles. Itold them how the high-cuffed gauntlet glovesprotected from heat, and sometimes from cold.