September-October 2011 President’s Report

As you read this month’s issue of The Railyard Local please think about its significance and impact on our members. Our local members regularly converse, meet, work on projects together, and even argue about (discuss!) the happenings within our Museum. Many of our members who are not within earshot don’t have this exposure. The first purpose of The Railyard Local is to inform our readers of progress, schedules, needs, accomplishments, biographies, plans, and the general goings on within the Museum. Periodically, we even throw in some educational history (Purpose #2).

Historically, we started issuing a newsletter, the Danbury Railway News, in 1994 under the editorship of then-President Peter C. Cornwall, who was assisted by Micky Silberbauer, who later took over editorship. The May-June issue in 1998 saw a name change to Danbury Departures. Ron Freitag and Bill O’Keefe were our editors of the March and April 2000 issues. Peter Hanen took over the editorial role with the May 2000 issue. Roberta Ballard assumed the editorial position in July 2001, and continued churning out Danbury Departures through July 2003. Another name change to our current The Railyard Local came in July 2003, when Debbie Kern took over as editor and headed the production until July 2004. In August 2004, Peter Hanen and young member Charlie Albanetti jointly provided news coverage – not as editors, but under the heading of the Production and Distribution team. When in January 2005 they were unable to continue, new member and current editor Carolyn Taylor volunteered to assume both the editorial and distribution roles.

Reflecting back through the many issues our newsletter, I have noticed one prominent and recurring characteristic: every issue has had a dedicated and committed individual (or, in some cases, a pair of individuals) who turned out a very significant communication device, having had to chase after contributors for timely article input, assemble the articles, obtain and coordinate supporting photographs, provide the overall layout, and then get it to and back from the printer, address, seal, and get to the Post Office for on-time delivery . . . without staff to assist!

How many of us have every thanked the many people listed above for all the time and energy they have spent preparing and producing what is probably the most important document we disseminate? On behalf of our out-of-earshot members and our local members, I offer sincere thanks to Mr. Cornwall, Ms. Silberbauer, Mr. Freitag Mr. O’Keefe, Mr. Hanen, Ms. Ballard, Ms. Kern, Mr. Albanetti, and Ms. Taylor. Your efforts and expertise have been and continue to be appreciated.

On behalf of the Danbury Railway Museum,

Wade W. Roese