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| April 2005 Flying Yankee newsletter https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12812 |
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| Author: | bobyar2001 [ Sat Apr 16, 2005 9:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | April 2005 Flying Yankee newsletter |
FRIENDS OF THE FLYING YANKEE E-NEWSLETTER April 2005 THE FLYING YANKEE TURNS 70 YEARS OLD – 1935 to 2005 Can you believe it? The Flying Yankee is celebrating its 70th birthday this month! According to a press release written and distributed by H.L. Baldwin, Publicity Manager for the Boston & Maine Railroad and the Maine Central Railroad dated Tuesday, March 12, 1935: The new Flying Yankee of the Boston & Maine Railroad and the Maine Central Railroad will go into regular service on April 1, 1935, stated Mr. John W. Rimmer, Vice President in Charge of Traffic of the two railroads. At the time of Mr. Baldwin’s press release 70 years ago, it was made known that Newburyport, MA and Portsmouth, NH would also be served by the Flying Yankee in addition to Portland, Lewiston and Bangor, ME which had already been named as stops in a promotional flier released several weeks earlier. According to Vice President Brimmer, The definite schedule was a fast one, but by no means at the top speed of the new Flyer. The first regular schedule for the Flying Yankee cut an hour and 10 minutes from the present running time between Boston and Bangor and 15 minutes from the running time between Boston and Portland according to Brimmer. The information above was taken from an original B&M railroad press release reprinted in Volume XXII, Number 3 of the B&M Bulletin. For more information, feel free to contact the B&M Railroad Historical Society, Inc. PO Box 469, Derry, NH 03038 HOOKSETT, NH MODEL TRAIN SHOW – SUNDAY, APRIL 24TH Interested in visiting a model train show? Sure you are! We’ll have a display at the 10th annual Hooksett Lion’s Club Model Train Show on Sunday, April 24th from 10am to 4pm. The show will take place at the Hooksett Cawley Middle School located on Route 27 (Whitehall Road) off Route 3 in Hooksett, NH. We’ll have plenty of Flying Yankee collectibles on hand as well as plenty of 16 x 20 inch Stephen Cryan autographed and numbered Flying Yankee prints available. Also at the show will be various railroad hobby vendors, operational displays, raffles, How-To clinics, a white elephant table and plenty of food! Admission to the 10th annual Hooksett Lion’s Club Model Train Show is only $3.00 for adults while children 6 to 12 years of age can get in for just $1 dollar. Children 5 and under are free. For more information on the 10th annual Hooksett Model Train show, feel free to call the organizers at (603) 485-7281 or (603) 661-2760. You can also send them an E-mail: HooksettTrainShow@yahoo.com We hope to see you there! FLYING YANKEE E-NEWSLETTER ACKNOWLEDGES 500TH SUBSCRIBER! As you may or may not know, we started the Friends of the Flying Yankee E-Newsletter just over one year ago, in March of 2003, with just 33 subscribers. The simple purpose of this monthly document when it was created was to develop a simple newsletter to keep folks informed as to the state of the Flying Yankee’s restoration on a regular basis, let everyone know what’s taking place regarding fundraising activities, provide information on special events such as Open Houses and let everyone know of special offers regarding Flying Yankee memorabilia. As of Tuesday, April 6, 2005, we’re proud to announce that Mr. Neal McBain of Lebanon, NH became the 500th subscriber of the Friends of the Flying Yankee monthly E-Newsletter! To acknowledge this incredible milestone, we immediately E-mailed Mr. McBain to inform him he was the 500th subscriber to the Friends of the Flying Yankee E-Newsletter and that we were sending him a complimentary Flying Yankee T-shirt as our way of saying thank you. Needless to say, Mr. McBain was quite surprised when he read his E-mail. His E-mail response simply stated he felt he should immediately run out and buy a lottery ticket and that his son would be green with envy when he heard about his Dad winning the FREE Flying Yankee T-shirt! We’d like to also take this opportunity to recognize and thank the many other subscribers of the Friends of the Flying Yankee from across the United States, Australia, Canada, England and Holland who have taken the time to subscribe to and read our monthly E-newsletter. We greatly appreciate your interest in the Flying Yankee and truly value your support of the restoration. RECALLING A MIDNIGHT RIDE ABOARD THE FLYING YANKEE IN 1936 by Paul Giblin I recently had the opportunity to interview Mr. Charles Downing of York Beach, Maine, one of our Friends of the Flying Yankee. As it turns out, Mr. Downing had the distinct pleasure to ride aboard the Flying Yankee in 1936. Mr. Downing, a teenager at the time, lived in South Berwick, Maine and had taken a steam train from Portsmouth, NH to see the Circus in Boston during the fall of 1936. When it was time to make the return trip to Portsmouth that evening, Mr. Downing chose to ride aboard the Flying Yankee on its midnight run from Boston’s North Station knowing it would make a brief stop in Portsmouth on its way to Portland, Maine for the night. He remembers boarding the Flying Yankee in North Station and sitting in the third seat from the rear in the Coach Car on the right hand side. He sat facing towards the front of the train and as he settled back into his seat, he was amazed at how comfortable the seat actually was. Up to this point, he had only ridden on steam trains with hard, horse-hair filled seats surrounded by small, rattling windows. The brightly colored mohair seats and the large windows of the Flying Yankee however, reminded him of sitting in his family’s living room. He also remembered the controlled climate of the Flying Yankee. It wasn’t too hot, and it wasn’t too cold, it was extremely comfortable. When the Flying Yankee left North Station that evening and headed towards Portsmouth, Mr. Downing was amazed at how quickly the train got up to speed and how quiet it was in the Coach Car. Being surrounded by the large windows of the Flying Yankee, he said he really didn’t feel as though he was going that fast. That is, until he fixed his eyes on something! At 70, 80 or 90 miles per hour, Mr. Downing commented that the Flying Yankee was incredibly quiet and very comfortable. He remembers seeing the lights of Newburyport and a few other towns that evening as the Flying Yankee rolled along quietly making very few stops on its midnight run from Boston to Portland. This was a very elegant way to travel he thought! The only noise Mr. Downing remembered hearing from the train while it was moving was some light clicking noises as the brakes were applied from time to time. This was nothing like the harsh, metal to metal noises heard when the brakes were applied on the old steam trains. After this memorable midnight trip from Boston to Portsmouth in the fall of 1936, Mr. Downing would stand in awe every time he saw this magnificent streamliner. He told me that a number of years later, while he was a member of the Grange near Knights Pond in South Berwick, Maine, the Flying Yankee would often roll by on the way to Portland on its evening run. He and others would stand quietly behind the Grange Hall and watch as the Flying Yankee cruised by, it was always a welcomed sight. He also remembered going to an area he referred to as Jewett and Rosemary Junction, not far from South Berwick, where he would be able to stand near the track and watch the Flying Yankee roll by at speeds upwards of 70 or 80 miles per hour. The last time Mr. Downing visited the Flying Yankee up close, it was at the Edaville Railroad in South Carver, MA many years ago. He told me he used to bring his family camping near South Carver when his children were young. They would often plan a trip to Edaville to see and ride the trains while there. Every year when the family visited the Edaville Railroad, Mr. Downing would take his children aboard the Flying Yankee as part of their tour. He would often remind them of the time he rode the shiny streamliner from Boston to Portsmouth on the midnight run. He was also quite bothered by the damage inflicted to the streamliner by souvenir hunters and railroad buffs as the years went by. He couldn’t understand why anyone would want to damage this train. However, now that Mr. Downing knows the Flying Yankee is being restored to run again, he’s very excited. After recently looking at pictures of the Flying Yankee’s Coach Car on the Flying Yankee’s web site, he told me it looked just like it did when he last rode aboard it in 1936! Mr. Downing also shared with me that his dream is to ride aboard the Flying Yankee once it’s restored. He wants to sit in the very same seat, the third seat from the rear on the right side in the Coach Car and relive that magical midnight ride from Boston to Portsmouth one more time. CONTRIBUTING – AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE FLYING YANKEE’S RESTORATION As always, the support that each of you offer to the Flying Yankee is greatly appreciated and it’s what makes the restoration possible. Those who contribute on a regular basis are the strength of the restoration and are making it happen. For those of you who are considering making your very first donation to the restoration, this is certainly an appropriate time to join the effort. With the Flying Yankee being moved to Lincoln, NH in the very near future, we are busy doing the behind-the-scenes work necessary to send the Flying Yankee’s four trucks off to be restored. The cost of this particular segment of the restoration is estimated to be in the vicinity of $100,000 dollars. Therefore, your continued financial support of the Flying Yankee is not only greatly appreciated at this time, it’s crucial. As we prepare to move forward with Phase II of the Flying Yankee’s restoration which will include refurbishment of the trucks, searching for a replacement for the Winton 201A as well as other major driveline and safety components such as the compressor and air brake system, we’ll be working with various subcontractors and specialized craftsmen, as funds allow, addressing these various aspects of the Flying Yankee’s restoration. Therefore, raising the necessary funds to complete these vital tasks is much more important now than it’s ever been. At this point, we’re estimating we need to raise just under $1.5 million dollars to complete the restoration and testing of the Flying Yankee. Without question, this is a lot of money. But it’s not an impossible task. In fact, we are extremely confident that we can raise the funds necessary to complete this restoration. Our confidence comes from knowing how important it is to bring the Flying Yankee back to life - to preserve what gave many folks the right to dream again in the depths of the Great Depression, and to preserve the technology that helped revolutionize railroad transportation forever. If you’d like to help support the restoration of the Flying Yankee with a tax deductible contribution, please contact us Monday through Friday between 8am and 4pm at 603-383-4186 ext. 117, visit our web site at www.flyingyankee.com, send an E-mail to: info@flyingyankee.com, or mail your contribution to: Flying Yankee Restoration Group, PO Box 6000, Glen, NH 03838. FLYING YANKEE SILVER NUGGET Did you know that most early Streamliners, such as the Flying Yankee, were built as train sets comprised of permanently coupled cars, usually articulated in nature? This arrangement reduced the train’s overall weight and provided a much smoother ride. However, the main drawback of this system was the lack of flexibility in accommodating passengers, as extra cars could not be added to meet peak demands. Also, if one car required special repairs, then the entire train set had to be removed from service. For these two reasons, articulated design fell into disfavor by the end of the 1930’s on most railroads. Note: Info from: The Art of Streamliners by B. Johnston. FLYING YANKEE T-SHIRTS AND CAPS FOR SALE With spring now in full swing, why not purchase several Flying Yankee T-Shirts and Caps to complete your spring and summer clothing collection? You’ll be the envy of everyone you know when you show up sporting one of these beautiful Flying Yankee silk-screened T-shirts or embroidered baseball-style caps! At just $15 each (plus $5.00 shipping), they’re a great bargain and you’ll be helping the restoration of the Flying Yankee at the same time – how can you beat it? Here’s the deal on sizes and colors of the T-shirts, we have Medium and Large sizes available in BLACK with a silver silk-screen of the historic Flying Yankee on the front of the T-Shirt. If you’re interested in X-LARGE or XX-LARGE sizes, we have T-shirts available in NAVY BLUE with the very same silver silk-screen of the Flying Yankee on the front of the shirt. The Flying Yankee baseball-style caps are BLACK with a SILVER and RED Flying Yankee logo embroidered on the front. They’re also easily adjustable to fit both adults and children. To order your Flying Yankee T-Shirts and Caps, or to check on availability of quantities and sizes, either send us an E-mail with the quantities and sizes of the items you’d like to info@flyingyankee.com or call us at (603) 383-4186 X-117 Mon. - Fri. between 8am and 4pm. SUGGESTIONS WANTED FOR FLYING YANKEE COLLECTIBLES Have you ever gone shopping and felt like you could do a better job at selecting the items a store should carry than they can? Well, here’s your chance to make a difference. We’re getting ready to identify several new items for the Flying Yankee Company Store which will carry the Flying Yankee logo and we’d like to hear from you! If you have some ideas pertaining to items you think we should be selling which will help raise funds for the Flying Yankee restoration, please send an E-mail to info@flyingyankee.com with information on the item(s) you feel we should carry and where you think we might be able to buy them. Please be aware that we won’t be able to satisfy everyone’s suggestions. However, we’ll certainly take a good look at all the suggestions we receive and make our decisions based on unit cost, minimum purchases and unit availability. As always, should you have any friends, family members or co-workers who you feel might enjoy receiving this E-Newsletter, please have them contact us by sending an E-mail request to: info@flyingyankee.com or they could visit www.flyingyankee.com where they can subscribe online by clicking on the E-Newsletter icon located on the front page of our web site. Please don’t forget to visit us online at: www.flyingyankee.com Flying Yankee Restoration Group, Inc. PO Box 6000, Glen, NH 03838 E-mail: info@flyingyankee.com Office Telephone: 603-383-4186 ext. 117 Fax Number: 603-383-6172 Paul Giblin Project Consultant, Flying Yankee Restoration Group, Inc. PO Box 6000, Glen, NH 03838 Office Phone: 603-383-4186 ext. 117 Mobile Phone: 603-986-1217 Fax Number: 603-383-6172 E-mail: paulgiblin@usa.net Web Site: www.flyingyankee.com "A Rolling Monument to American Industry and Ingenuity!" |
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