any one go? how was it?

I did not go, but took a look at the daily reports on the convention website (link in flimsies). When I looked, the last one posted was for Tuesday and talked about how hot it was and the difficulties with condensation on the camera lenses in the night photo session.

While I was seeing things through the eyes of the crew and not the conventioneers, I must say things seemed to be just fine. All of the people I got the chance to meet and talk to seemed to be enjoying themselves. And having everyone from the crew (especially some of the volunteers that haven't seen each other since '04) back together again was wonderful.

All in all a nice week, but those Canadian cabs sure aren't very comfortable on absurdly hot Ohio summer days!

Hello all,

Did anyone here take notes on the consists of the various passenger trains? Beyond name/number and configuration I am particularly interested who the cars are owned by and where they are based from, how the cars are powered (i.e. DC generator, HEP, etc) and wheither or not they are currently Amtrak certified. Most excursions in recent years have had 100% Amtrak certified consists - however from the photos I have seen so far I have been able to identify a number of non Amtrak certified cars.

Tom Cornillie

what OC steam showed up?

I think they did very well to get even that reduced number of people when you consider the fares/slow speed running,paucity of steam and unremarkable scenery.
I wonder what caused Jerry Jacobson to boycott the entire affair? Seems very odd that he'd totally avoid a national convention on HIS railroad? I'm sure we'll learn why sooner or later.
Congratulations to all those involved for a safe operation!
Ross Rowland

Here is a rough consist - did anyone record every number? - for the excursion trains:

CP 1293 steam engine for parts of Thursday and Saturday excursions
tool car Conneaut (ex-High Iron/614)
OC baggage car (ex-MILW?)
MRHS open-window cars 62 and 90 (ex-NKP)
Orrville RR Historical Society food service car (ex-U.S. Army)
Orrville RR Historical Society coaches 101-105
RPCX 8322 (ex-SP) lounge car, owned by Hank Peterson, for food service
RPCX (?) lounge car, ex-NH(?), owned by Larry Marshall
Theatre car, ex-GTW ex-NP owned by Bob Bixler

Except for (maybe) Marshall's car none are Amtrak PC1/PC2 - approved. All are self-contained with generator sets under the cars.

The MRHS cars are based in Cleveland, the 8322 in Bellevue, and the others in Orrville.

The convention generally went fine, except that it was way too hot out for many of the trips. About 700 people attended, and about 300-400 rode each excursion.

Chris Jacks.

As a member of NRHS and an occasional visitor at a number of chapters besides the one closest to home, I look at the average age of the members and have a very difficult time understanding why this organization picks the hottest part of the summer to run excursions on non-air conditioned equipment in areas of the country that at notorious for 95/95 (degrees and percent humidity) weather. The heat stress in that area on several days of this convention probably was up around 105 or maybe even higher. I lived in that area, and July and August in Ohio can be pretty difficult. In that kind of weather they are running a much higher risk of having a participant suffer a critical medical emergency that causes a delay or even cancellation of an event.

All this plus the fact that you have hazy, high sun that makes for generally poor photography conditions (Isn't picture taking why many attend in the first place?). Mid-March or late October, early November would seem to be a good option - good light all day and weather that that probably won't be too warm or cold. Depending on the region, an October event would allow for marketing of fall color trips - which would be a way to further earn revenue with the equipment that has already been gathered in one spot.

Tom Cornillie

careful, you're making way too much sense

Once upon a time, NRHS conventions were always held Labor Day weekend -- that practice ended in 1982 when the convention was held in Colorado and timed for the 100th anniversary of the Silverton.

The most recent Labor Day convention was held in Cinci in 1984 --

The main reason to move the convention away from the Labor Day weekend was to give the sponsors of the convention the opportunity to select a date based on the availability of equipment, excursion opportunities and even more important a sufficient amount of decently priced hotel rooms.

If you look at the total price of attending this year's convention (tickets, hotels rooms, meals etc.), anyone who attended probably spent much less than they did last year in Portland, or the year before in the Twin Cities.

Bob H

Send 1293 back here to Canada then. We won't mind one bit. ;)

Agreed. Canadian steam is some of the most beautiful in North America. It was designed for a climate where it works, and there is a thread of design that runs through all those locomotives, that is just gripping.

I hope the Ohio Central gets the 1278 back on it's wheels and back under steam. That locomotive deserves a better fate.

They still have yet to update their covention coverage, and the main NRHS site needs an overhaul, both in content and design in my opinion.

Joshua

As I understand it, the Ohio Central had the jacketing removed from the 1278 before or during the convention. Perhaps this bodes well for the engine with a rough and tumble life, and especially well for the preservation community. Many lessons are still to be learned from the incident in 1995.