What's everybody planning for this day next year 150 years later?

Attending the NRHS convention in Utah !!!

For details on this year's convention which will be held in Cumberland this August see:

http://nrhs.com/content/2018-convention

Caveat -- anyone planning on going to this year's NRHS convention who has not ordered tickets should do so soon because some events/ ticket classes are already sold out.

Bob H

This took me a couple of seconds to decipher. I think what you mean is what are people planning to do to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental railroad.

Probably watching the 4014!

The same thing I do everyday, try to take over the world 39ft at a time.

Seriously, I really want to see 4014 in action as well, but not sure I can make it to Utah for the festivities. Time will tell.

I could go out and put a gold (painted) spike in the middle of my railroad... With the 80 tonner and SW8 facing each other... hmmm...

I know where I'd like to be a year from now: admiring 26 bundles of new ties, a unit train of ballast hoppers and an eager, enthusiastic track gang. A guy can dream, can't he?

Wayne L. and I were recently discussing what we'd do over at the WW&F.

Our first inclination was to develop an exhibit about the transcon itself. Then we developed an idea developed to discuss the impact the opening of the transcon had on railroad development throughout the U.S.

Not only did it bring about many small railroads which would later merge into larger roads, but it also led to a vast system of narrow gauge lines built where capital and financing to build standard gauge railroads could not be procured.

It also led, indirectly, to the financial panics of 1873 and 1893.

So that story is more specifically relevant to us, and will be along the lines of what we will tell.

Steve Piwowarski
WW&F Ry.

I will be counting down the days until the August 15, 2020 celebration in Strasburg that will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.

5 responses, only one indicates thought being put towards interpretation of history about the greatest railroad event in the history of our country on its 150th anniversary - apologies to posters from other nations. What does this say about our dedication to performing the function of legitimate museums as opposed to just playing with trains on weekends? A year isn't a lot of lead time for producing a good event........

No offense, but if your question was more clear, you would have gotten more of the answers you were looking for. For us, the anniversary is on the event committee docket but nothing is written in stone yet.

As a Museum devoted to street railways we have not given thought to celebrating the anniversary of the golden spike. On the other hand we have started planning for the 50th anniversary of operation on our demonstration railway in 2019!

Wesley