This posting is an update on the INSIDE EMD plant tour slide program that has been discussed in several past strings on RyPN. I assembled this program in 2003 as a 35mm slide presentation, it has since been upgraded to PowerPoint. It is a 450 slide 2-1/2 hour narrated tour of the original EMD plant one in La Grange, Illinois, as it appeared when I worked in the Service Department Training Center in the 1970s. The plant was demolished several years ago.

After a large number of showings in 2003-2005, I put the program on the shelf for 2006 in order to concentrate on completing several other EMD related research projects and presentations. Those projects have now been finished, and I hope to be able to resume showing INSIDE EMD in 2007.

Because of work related travel which can be difficult to predict, and lack of vacation days to use to protect travel to mid-week events, I expect that most showings of this program will have to be at events on weekends. If there continues to be interest in the program I will try to provide some notice of locations and dates of planned showings.

If any of you missed this presentation when it was last offered, DO NOT MISS IT this time!!!! It is well worth doing some travelling for.

Howard, thanks very much for your kind comments and for the excellent support you and your friends at RMNE provided for the showing of INSIDE EMD at the museum the last time I was touring with the program. Providing the GP9 for the "chalk talk" following the program was a particularly nice touch that contributed significantly to the success of the event. I have encouraged some other potential hosting organizations to take a look at the kind of event you set up, as it makes a really excellent use of the time and effort involved in doing the presentation.

PC

For the benefit of any folks who may be interested, the INSIDE EMD program is being shown on Sunday April 1, 2007 at the spring meeting of the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society. This is being held at the Holiday Inn in Parsippany, NJ, located at 707 Route 46, the inn is east of where I-80 and I-287 cross in Parsippany. The meeting begins at 12 noon. The program is presently scheduled as the 2nd presentation of the afternoon.

Every time I read of this program being presented somewhere many miles from where I live, I die a little inside. If you EVER bring this presentation west, please let me know.

I've been a Colorado resident for 35 years, but I grew up in La Grange listening to the rumble of EMD power on the CB&Q, which ran a few short blocks from my home, and from the EMD plant, off to the SE. I even played PONY league baseball for a team sponsored by EMD, at a field (at Eastview Park) which was basically across the road from the plant.

The EMD connections are strong. As a very young kid, I didn't even realize there WERE other diesels for some time. I can still recall seeing my first Alco and wondering what the heck that thing was.

Oh yes, I'd love to see this presentation!

Scott

Scott, that was a great posting, thanks for sharing your comments with us! I hope that some day it will be possible for you to get to one of the showings of the program. I actually have been through your area on trips to the west coast, I rode the last day of the Fort Collins Street Railway operations on one trip through Colorado last fall. I was also in Sacramento (and showed the program at CSRM), Chicago (showed the program to EMD retirees there), St. Louis, and Portola during the last year, along with other locations that have active groups or museums. However the trips unfortunately always seem to occur at times when we cannot coordinate with most of the local groups event schedules.

Just to let everyone know, we got caught up on the backlog of requests for showings of INSIDE EMD in 2007, including a visit to Detroit for several showings at the NMRA National Convention. I did not announce those showings here because if it is a members only event, I leave the notices and news to the hosting organizations.

I got to the point where I had to make committments for use of my vacation days in 2008 and I did not have any confirmed requests for program showings in hand at that time, so the 2008 vacation time is all going to family use. This does not mean there will not be any showings of INSIDE EMD next year. It just means I will not have any vacation days to offer for travel or to protect program showings, anything that comes up will have to be on weekends if enough time is available for automobile travel to the location and home again.

The NMRA, which has been my most frequent requester of programs for a long time now, asked for additional showings at their National Convention in Hartford, Connecticut in 2009. So that year I will definitely have at least part of my vacation time set aside for event related travel.