July 2015 President’s Report

In April of 2013, the Danbury Railway Museum had the privilege of receiving the membership application of Ridgefield, Connecticut resident Mr. Jeffery A. Scott. Immediately, Jeff jumped into the everyday operations of the Museum. Jeff, a fast learner, quickly was an expert at the front desk welcoming and processing visitors, opening and closing and processing phone reservations for tours and birthday parties as if he had years of experience. Jeff was quoted by Don Konen, BoD Chair, as “being our most accurate desk person” when it came to the finances. Jeff also showed us how to sell cab rides to our visitors which prompted an unpublished contest. Jeff won us over and inspired us all. Sadly, on June 26, 2015, Jeff lost his battle with medical issues that we all hoped he would successfully overcome. Jeff had joined the Danbury Railway Museum as a life member and those of us that had the opportunity to ride and work with him welcomed the trip.

Track work commenced on June 24th with Justin Chapin, Don Konen, Mike Madyda, Jim Teer, Jeff Van Wagenen, Bill Wagner and Philip Beard performing the labors of the heavy work. You can read more about this in next month’s newsletter.

The “Yard Inside” has also seen progress as we have rebuilt, revised, relocated and re-carpeted the vertical display boards that prominently display our artwork and photography in the main hall waiting room. This will separate artifact displays from the model railroad and children’s play area.

Back in late May and early June, Metro-North had to do repair work on the inside track which curves past our Museum crossing. The track had gone out of gauge in a couple of locations which required rework and the removal of the crossing pads at our pedestrian crossing. The last time work of this nature was undertaken, we waited an extended period of time for a corrected safe passage over this crossing. Fortunately, this time we were able to bring this potential problem to a receptive Metro-North representative, who took a photograph and quickly arranged for the pads to be replaced within a week of notifying him! The pad replacement work finished just 15 minutes before 96 third graders marched over the crossing and into our yard for a tour! Thanks JF!

Finally, decent weather is upon us and work progresses as new and old projects move forward. Join us, try your hand and share YOUR talents. On behalf of the DRM, Wade Roese