Many thanks for participating.

We now solicit your emailed comments about the convention. Please tell us what you liked, didn't like, what you would change, what you would like to see more of and what you would like to see less of.

Please direct these to me or John Bechtel at shaymech@hotmail.com.

We enjoyed having ALL of you at ARM/TRAIN 2001!

Jim

http://nctrans.org
Wrinnbo@aol.com

Thanks to the NCTM for hosting a really outstanding convention. It was certainly worth attending and participating in. I think everyone there got a taste of good 'ole southern hospitality and most of them managed to learn that the plural of "y'all" is "all y'all".

And finally, let me add my many thanks to the great hospitality extended by the Food Lion to me, Dick Gruber, Dennis Daugherty, Matt Austin, and Mike Brown.

See all y'all in Durango next year.

aw90h@cs.com

Both organizations owe the NCTMF and NCTM staff and volunteers a standing ovation (Jim, I'm standing) for a job well done. The range of seminars and discussions were wonderful and the hotel was good overall (despite the hiccups incurred at the banquet) and the town of Salisbury seemed to do a very nice job of post-poning the rolling up of the streets on Friday night. The food otherwise provided was simple yet sufficient and the bar in Rascal's managed to keep the drink glasses filled and was kind enough to open the lobby bar after hours last evening. Additionally, the hospitality in the local grocery chain was exceptional. The Scoutmaster has a handle on where to shop.

> Many thanks for participating.

> We now solicit your emailed comments about
> the convention. Please tell us what you
> liked, didn't like, what you would change,
> what you would like to see more of and what
> you would like to see less of.

> Please direct these to me or John Bechtel at
> shaymech@hotmail.com.

> We enjoyed having ALL of you at ARM/TRAIN
> 2001!

> Jim


Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
newriver400@cs.com

Jim:

My one and only recommendation--thankfully--is that you see about supplying more chairs for the seminars. I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout of each seminar I attended.

I can't speak for the "spouses" but I think you managed a perfect balance among the field trips so far as topic and missions were concerned. The hospitality was commendable considering our size and the amount of time designated to each site.

To everyone else:

While I have your ears, I think a very long and sincere "thank you" is in order.

To each of you, thank you so much for answering my nutty questions and likewise considering my opinions; thank you for taking me seriously as a participant, as I am now more than ever committed to this as both a career and academic pursuit. Everyone...ok, the vast, VAST majority of you has been a positive influence and inspiration to me.

Thank you to each of the sites for letting me ride, fire, photo and climb on/under your locomotives.

Thank you for the tack pins, posters, pamphlets, drinks and invitations to visit or throw some coal. Thank you for the e-mail addresses and the business cards and the encouragement to use them. If it is at all humanly possible, I hope to follow up on all of the invites.

Barring death or bankruptcy, you can expect to see me next year, and I think return business is a huge indicator of success. I sincerely thank each and every one of you, delegate or staff/volunteer.

Angel


angelinanotgrimk@aol.com

Jim (and the rest of your merry band):

It was great event, one of the best ARM or TRAIN events I've attended. You have a wonderful site, collection, and museum, and some really great people. It was extremely encouraging to meet young people like Hays, Angel, and John Bechtel's assistant (whose name I didn't get); it made me think we might just have a future for this biz.

It was really nice to meet some of the faces and personalities to go with the web postings and discussions-- Iron Dave, Mike B., Rudd, etc., and it was good to see old friends.

Suggestions: Plan on the seminars needing more room. Better direction to seminar locations would be helpful. Fewer door prizes (perhaps a few "good ones" at the dinner only) would leave more time for discussion/presentation at seminars. And, the last suggestion but not least, move your facility to Connecticut (g). Donnie wants to stretch 6900's legs.

One last thought: I think you have something there with that biscuits and gravy stuff. Right tasty.

Lots to be proud of, Jim.

hpincus@mindspring.com

To all who attended,

I would first like to extend a thank you to Jim Wrinn, and all of my other friends at the North Carolina Transportation Museum for putting together such a wonderful convention. Also, a extended thanks to those who attended the Seminar which Angel, John Taggitt and I were part of, because this is something that needs to be dealt with severely. I was talking with a fellow from Strasburg yesterday, and he is worried about the future of steam railroading in the U.S., as well as all other types. Scott Lindsay and Mark Ray put on a excellent seminar about wheel shop work and tooling and machinery necessary to do so. The panel of steam mechanics during the "Steam in the 21st Century" Seminar provided superb context and ideas, as well as general information. I was fortunate enough to meet many people who were very interested in getting me involved, in one way or another early on. Once again, I would like to thank anyone who attended and hope they had a great time.

Hayes Smith Jr.



nctrans.org
cookiemonster@rrmail.com

Thanks, Jim, it was great. It was very good to see so many old friends from ARM and to meet so many new friends from TRAIN.

I didn't realize that North Carolina is as fond of the y'all contraction as Texas. I enjoyed the bbq, but I wonder if the red Carolina coleslaw was off a bit or if that's how it normally tastes.

The hallway seating was not good for a couple of the seminars that I was particularly interested in. The fundraising seminar was interrupted by the click and clack of Boy Scouts operating the CTC(?) display near John Bechtel's office.

Overall, however, I think it was great and I hope we do as well next year in Dallas. See you there if you make it, or see you in a few years for another combined meeting if you are in Durango next year.



tnold@bigfoot.com

To All:

I want to thank everyone who helped make this a great convention. The seminars were great and the whole convention was well planned out. After spending several days in the south, I didn't want to leave. The hospitality was great. Mark Ray and Scott Lindsey helped to put on two of the best seminars I have seen. The museum in Spencer is one of the best examples of railway preservation I can think of. I would like to say thanks to all the people I met who helped me determine that the railroad industry has a good future. A special thanks to Jim Wrinn for putting on a great show!!



http://www.lakecentralrailtours.com
ra1508vh@cs.com

Like everyone else who attended, I wish to thank you for a great convention Jim. You treated us all like royalty, and my stomach is still aching for some more of that southern bbq. I would have liked to see some more of the "smaller" railroad museums involved, but until ARM's requisite "one piece of rolling stock" rule is changed, I don't see many more of us attending. However, it was ggreat meeting all those that did attend, especially those whose name I knew but now have a face to associate that name with ;-)

I think Angel, Hayes, and the other of us under-30 crowd were all extremely surprised to realize how many of our mentors realized the need to be pro-active in getting youth on board. Maybe I'm overly sensitive to this subject, but it seemed to me that after that first seminar on Saturday, every other seminar I attended had some youth-oriented issue come up. Even the "Steam in the 21st Century" had a lively discussion about it.

To all those who were there, especially Hayes and Angel: keep it up. I think everyone has recognized that there aren't a bumper crop of us out there. In my mind, there should be. They just may not know they are interested in our subject yet ;-)

Thanks again,

TJ



Port Huron Museum
peremarquette@hotmail.com

> I would have liked to see some
> more of the "smaller" railroad
> museums involved, but until ARM's requisite
> "one piece of rolling stock" rule
> is changed, I don't see many more of us
> attending. However, it was ggreat meeting
> all those that did attend, especially those
> whose name I knew but now have a face to
> associate that name with ;-)

Everyone is invited to attend the ARM annual conventions. The size and existance of a museum does not matter.

If a "small museum" has "one piece of railroad equipment" it is invited to become a member of the Association of Railway Museums. ARM has several members that have but one piece of equipment. It also has Affiliates that do not meet the full membership requirements.

One developing depot museum (Sedalia, Missouri) joined several years ago as an Affiliate and has been attending the meetings ever since. One of the women from the managing tenant (the Chamber of Commerce) commented this weekend that they have gained much through the seminars and networking at the ARM meetings. The displays should be installed this coming year and they invite people going to the 2003 meeting in St. Louis to visit the museum.

The Board of the Association of Railway Museums is seriously looking at changing this limitation to full organizational memberships. It has been with the organization since its beginning.

The Board voted this week to place a proposed revised bylaw out for comment during the coming months. The Board will review the comments received during its Spring meeting. It will then decide whether or not to go forward and if there is any wording changes to the proposed revision. The bylaw change will then be submitted for a membership vote at the annual meeting in Dallas.

The proposed change is very similar to the definition used by the American Association of Museums.

Brian Norden
member ARM Board of Directors

bnorden@gateway.net

Brian-

> If a "small museum" has "one
> piece of railroad equipment" it is
> invited to become a member of the
> Association of Railway Museums. ARM has
> several members that have but one piece of
> equipment. It also has Affiliates that do
> not meet the full membership requirements.

Thanks for the clarification, and while I did understand that one piece of equipment does qualify you for full membership, I did not realize that your affiliate program was that large. In our case, we have at least one piece of equipment, so we would qualify, and do hope to join ARM. But as was pointed out in one of the recent articles in Railway Museum Quarterly ("Much Greater than you'd expect" by Aaron Isaacs in Fall 2001 issue) the present ARM membership includes only half a dozen "depot" museums as full members. In many cases, could this low number be because these museums do not have a piece of equipment besides their depot?

> One developing depot museum (Sedalia,
> Missouri) joined several years ago as an
> Affiliate and has been attending the
> meetings ever since. One of the women from
> the managing tenant (the Chamber of
> Commerce) commented this weekend that they
> have gained much through the seminars and
> networking at the ARM meetings. The displays
> should be installed this coming year and
> they invite people going to the 2003 meeting
> in St. Louis to visit the museum.

We gained much from this seminar as well. There is absolutely no question that the two of us who attended from our museum were very pleased with our experience. My concern lies not in those of us who attended; if I inferred that we did not have an excellent experience, I am sorry. However, it would be nice to see MORE of those of us in the "smaller" or "depot" museum category there as full members.

> The Board of the Association of Railway
> Museums is seriously looking at changing
> this limitation to full organizational
> memberships. It has been with the
> organization since its beginning.

> The Board voted this week to place a
> proposed revised bylaw out for comment
> during the coming months. The Board will
> review the comments received during its
> Spring meeting. It will then decide whether
> or not to go forward and if there is any
> wording changes to the proposed revision.
> The bylaw change will then be submitted for
> a membership vote at the annual meeting in
> Dallas.

> The proposed change is very similar to the
> definition used by the American Association
> of Museums.

This is an excellent step. Again, I'm sorry if I inferred that we weren't pleased with our experience. Lets hope that some of the potential by-law changes might allow other potential full members of ARM to have the same experience in the future!

Sincerely,

T.J. Gaffney
Curator of Collections
Port Huron Museum



Port Huron Museum
peremarquette@hotmail.com

While the entire convention was well done,for me, there were three high points. One was riding the cab of Ten-Wheeler #12 at the Tweetsie. I have never ridden a locomotive that accelerated as that one one did during the runby over the trestle with the double-header! Of course, that Mikado was right in the crack of our *** the whole time.

That morning at the Hampton Inn my wife made fun of my biscuits and gravy - so it was fun catching her having some after she thought I had already left!

But the memory that means the most to me was firing Shay 1925 under the tutelage of Bill Weidemann, in the bibs I bought at Ruffty's for $10.50. Thanks again to Bill, Jim, and everyone involved in putting on this historic First Joint National ARM/TRAIN Convention!!!


Martyhuck@aol.com