August - September 2014 President’s Report

Armando’s restaurant in Bethel was deluged by 60 DRM members and guests on July 18^th to happily celebrate our 20^th anniversary. New and long-time members started the evening with hors d’oeuvres and then sat down to a great buffet dinner, which was interrupted by only a couple of short speeches. The first was a quick welcome and then a history of the Museum’s founding by Vice President Stan Madyda was given. This was concluded with a summary of accomplishments in the last ten years by yours truly. A special thank you to Sue Teer and Patty Osmer for all the arrangements and logistics to facilitate a super night.

After the nice celebration dinner, the next day on July 19^th was our Owney day celebration. Jose’s own ‘Owney’ (aka, Max), was a big hit in the RPO car. The free hot dogs were another hit with the guests. Special stamps, postcards and envelopes were available. Story reading on the train by Martha Bishop and forge demonstrations by Bob Pitcher were some of the other activities of the day. Note: No dogs were lost during the day.

A couple of weeks later, we again impressed our volunteers into service for our annual Danbury Railway Day. Two coaches behind our 44-tonner (the Railyard Local) provided visitors the ride experience with a midway stop to tour the Tonawanda Valley with Art Slothower and Terrie Roese as guides. When visitors arrived back on track 18, a coupling/uncoupling demonstration took place with Don Konen as interpreter, Dave Fuller as Engineer and Joe LaPorta as Conductor. Afterwards, visitors were led to a designated area towards the end of the track 18 platform where they were able to see and photograph a freight train pulled by our RS1 with Mike Lague as Engineer, Mike LaPorta as Brakeman and Jeff Van Wagenen as Conductor. A visit to Gerry Herrmann’s NYC caboose and a demonstration at the forge by Bob Pitcher were some of the other experiences guests were able to enjoy this day. In addition, various railroad models, duplicate books from the library and gift shop specials were for sale. The model railroads inside the Station even featured special train consists.

The end of Danbury Railway Day was followed by our annual member picnic. Approximately 60 members enjoyed an evening of hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, salads and desserts. A special thank you to Don Konen and Patty Osmer for preparing and cooking the food. Afterwards, anyone wishing to run a locomotive climbed aboard our RS1 with Jim Teer as Engineer/teacher. Thanks to all who volunteered and have helped with these and all other events.

On behalf of the DRM, Wade W. Roese