Amherst Railway Society P. O. Box 2351 Amherst, MA

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Amherst Railway Society P. O. Box 2351 Amherst, MA 01004-2351 www.amherstrail.

Meetings are canceled if Amherst Regional Schools are canceled, if meetings are canceled, the notice will be posted at www.cbs3springfield.com and at www.nbcconnecticut.

1 Amherst Railway Society P. O. Box 2351 Amherst, MA The next meeting of the Amherst Railway Society will be 7:30 pm EST Tuesday, September 16, 2014, at the Amherst Regional Middle School Auditorium. Meetings are canceled if Amherst Regional Schools are canceled, if meetings are canceled, the notice will be posted at and at Holyoke Street Railway (rescheduled from Jan 2014) By Jeremy Smith This past Feb 12 marked the 130th anniversary of the founding of the Holyoke Street Railway. The Holyoke Street Railway enjoyed some of its greatest success during the years 1910 to This was a period of major rail and service expansion. In addition to carrying passengers, the HSR began offering milk & mail transport services, street sprinkling, and funeral transport. Funeral cars were equipped with room for a casket, the attendant mourners, and a trolley inspector to steer the car. Ridership of the Mt. Tom Railway to the Summit House peaked in 1920 at 75,532. In 1923, earnings for the company were $3,500,000, its highest ever. This prosperity mirrored Holyoke s. In 1920 the population of Holyoke peaked at 60,203. Combined with the economic boom of the United States entry into World War I in 1917, the late teens and early twenties were truly a golden era for Holyoke and its railway company. The final trolley ride was taken on Labor Day in 1937 Jeremy Smith is an archivist who is currently the Digital Project Manager for the W. E. B. Du Bois Digitization Project at Special Collections and University Archives at the UMass Amherst Library. He is responsible for a Holyoke Street Railway Company online exhibit. He is a Holyoke resident. From the Treasurer All donations to the Amherst Railway Society may be tax deductible. As Amherst Railway Society Inc. is a 501 C(3) tax exempt organization, your donations (of either cash and/or property) may be deducted on your Schedule A, Form 1040 of your Federal income tax. Consider the Amherst Railway Society in your estate planning. Your gifts can be restricted or non-restricted (you can pre-determine how you want your donation used). Upon request, and proper documentation of course, the Treasurer will issue you a letter to be used as justification for your tax deductions Page 1 of 6

2 Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Modeling Clinics January 22-23, 2015 Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show West Springfield, MA January 24-25, 2015 Upcoming presentations include: Jan 13, 2015 James Smith and Kerstin H. Becker on Railroads and Trolleys of Amherst Massachusetts THIS PROGRAM WILL BE ON THE SECOND TUESDAY IN JANUARY MEMBERSHIP DUES: Check your dailing label, or membership card to see if the year says 2014 If it does, your membership expired at the end of this past June. Memberships expire on June 30 of the year listed. Student memberships require an update of year and expected graduation. Regular adult memberships are $28 for one year, $70 for three years, or $112 for five years. The five year membership renewal is equal to one free year. Please note the deadlines for the upcoming newsletters, and be sure to submit your articles to the President before the deadline Upcoming ARS meeting Dates Newsletter Deadline October 21, 2014 Oct 3, 2014 November 18, 2014 Oct 31, 2014 (before the first of the month) January 13, 2015 Dec 23, 2014 (before Christmas) March 17, 2015 Feb 27, 2015 (before the first of the month) April 14, 2015 March 27, 2015 (before the first of the month) May 19, 2015 May 1, 2015 June 16, 2015 May 29, 2015 (before the first of the month) Amherst Railway Society, Inc Annual Awards and Grants Programs Deadline is Oct 31, 2014 The Amherst Railway Society, Inc. sponsors two annual grant programs intended to further the preservation, renovation, rebuilding and restoration of historical railroad items. The Founders' Award is a single $10,000 grant to a project, selected by the Board of Directors. The Heritage Grant Program is for lesser amounts and includes two named grants: the Robert A. Buck Memorial Award and the President's Award. Since the funds for these programs are generated by our annual Railroad Hobby Show held in West Springfield, MA near the end of January, there is a bias towards Northeastern organizations and/or railroad items. The Founders' Award The Founders' Award was established to honor the original founding members of the Amherst Railway Society, Inc. It was their foresight and effort that allows the Amherst Railway Society to make these awards. The Founders' Award is intended to be a single $10,000 grant to a selected organization to assist in funding a single large project, or for funding multiple smaller projects totaling $10,000. An organization submitting a Founders' Award request may also submit a Heritage Grant request for the same or different project. The Heritage Grants The Heritage Grants are awards of lesser amounts, usually below $4,000, made to several organizations from the applications received for the current grant cycle. These awards are for smaller projects, or for partially funding larger projects that are receiving matching funds from other sources, or are being phased over several years. At the sole discretion of the Board of Directors, an application submitted for the Founders' Award, but not selected, may be considered for partial funding as a Heritage Grant. The Heritage Grant program includes two named grants that will be selected from the successful recipients: An organization submitting a Heritage Grant request may also submit a Founders' Award request for the same or different project. See the website for more information.

loads, two gondolas, as well as a box car that is currently off its trucks, and

These cars were created and detailed by Mr. Dunnington's father.

A resident on Brockton for most of his life, he and his father, Herbert E.

3 Amherst Railway Society Newsletter September 2014 The ARS recently received a donation of several 7.25 gauge cars and an engine from Mr. and Mrs. George B. Dunnington Jr. The donation includes a highly detailed caboose and flat car with Weyerhaeuser loads, two gondolas, as well as a box car that is currently off its trucks, and the switching engine that has had the gasoline engine removed. These cars were created and detailed by Mr. Dunnington's father. George Balfour Dunnington Sr. was born in Manchester N.H. A resident on Brockton for most of his life, he and his father, Herbert E. Dunnington, ran the Dunnington Apothecaries which later became the Dunnington Super Drug in Brockton. After his retirement, he moved to Marion, where he enjoyed fishing, boating and 7.25 gauge model railroading. Page 3 of 6

4 Message from the Show Director: The quick answer is plenty. What goes on this time of year? But, here s the latest in the form of updates. Silent / Live Auction: I had no less than a dozen s from folks commenting on what a great time they had the food was great, the live auctioneer was a laugh-riot and the prices were downright embarrassing. From this collection, we made very close to $5, most of which will go to our grant program.everyone was a winner and I want to thank all those involved in set-up and those who attended as well.i cannot promise that we will have one like this every year, but when our collection of donated goods gets large, we will be doing this again!! By the way, we still have about 30% of the collection, so if anyone is interested in some of the items that they saw there, just let me know The Railroad Hobby Show: We are in full swing for the 2015 Show. All 500 contracts are out the door and have been for a while now. We are approaching the first deadline of having contracts back to us and probably by the time you read this in print that deadline will be nearly upon us. We then start assigning table space to those that have responded early. In conjunction with this process, we are already re-designing the layout of the four buildings based upon new ideas, new exhibitors and improvements over last year. I can say with excitement, that the new changes will be amazing. Let me give you just a small taste of what is happening: The newest exhibitors include Kalmbach Publishing asking for a huge space. Lionel will be attending with a 20 X 30 foot display area, one of the largest of our many manufacturers. There promises to be many new product releases there are well. You will hear about many more as the Show continues to take shape for the 2015 season! Special note: The admission to the Show is finally going up, after several years. The admission price for the 2015 Show is $ Children 15 and under are still free, when accompanied by an adult. The reason for the increase is simply - expenses. They continue to rise and we need to be able to keep on top of that For the past several years, our exhibitors have been covering these increased costs. But, we ve held off as long as we could and we also are now more in line with other 2-day shows of this type, yet at the same time we are not the most expensive. We are about to launch, once again, the ability to purchase advance tickets online by credit card within the next couple of weeks! Volunteers: Next up is my annual plea for volunteers. The one constant that we have is the fact that our Show is only as good as the number of volunteers that we have to run it. With this year s continued growth, we need more volunteers than ever. Even if you can only put in 2 hours, we want you! Please, if you can help, fill out this year s volunteer form. Duties include simple tasks like door man, unfolding tables, to hanging number signs on posts, to checking badges to distributing flyers to escorting exhibitors to their area. If you are not sure, just come on down and we will get you an assignment. Please contact the Volunteer Coordinator if you are interested. Also, if you do want to volunteer, please try to get there on either Thursday or Friday. The mystique that has grown around the setup of the show continues. The amount of early horse-trading that goes on with the exhibitors and the volunteers continues to be site to behold. The faster an exhibitor gets set up, the faster the trading begins. It s most definitely a tradition at this point, but more important is that it is a great deal of fun and all before the show opens! Exhibitors actually look forward to it and press us to get in earlier and earlier each year they know that it gives them more time to sell! And, don t forget, during Show set up, parking is free. So, please consider joining us for the Show setup and breakdown, sign up as a volunteer. Think about the fact that this show is one of the best and biggest shows in the United States you play a big role it that Volunteer Today!!! As we get close to the show date, we will report to you the new exhibitors and any other new and exciting ideas that will be happening for You will not want to miss some of the latest changes and additions to the show!! John Sacerdote, Show Director

to Volunteer for the Amherst Railway Society 2015 Railroad Hobby Show We need volunteers who are serious about helping with the Largest Show in North America!

5 to Volunteer for the Amherst Railway Society 2015 Railroad Hobby Show We need volunteers who are serious about helping with the Largest Show in North America! Please sign up using the form below: Please complete this form and return to us ASAP (see reverse for contact info) NAME STREET ADDRESS (IF APPLICABLE) CITY, STATE, ZIP PHONE NUMBER ALTERNATE PHONE Check and list all that you are interested in: READ THE BACK OF THIS FORM TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JOBS AVAILABLE!!! Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday THE COMMITTEE WILL MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ASSIGN YOU TO TASKS REQUESTED; YOU MAY BE ASKED TO FILL IN WHERE NEEDED Page 5 of 6

6 All Volunteers are eligible for FREE PARKING!! Available Jobs Include: THURSDAY JOBS AVAILABLE (Show Set-up) - Signs, including table numbers (mostly in the am) - Tables and chair set-up and placement (all day long; coordinate with Boy Scouts in evening) - door monitor/traffic control (all day long, but in shifts) - Stanchions in Parking lot for bus and ARS Parking only; add appropriate signs to stanchions FRIDAY JOBS AVAILABLE (Vendors Arrive) - door monitor/traffic control (all day long, but in shifts) - barrier providers/set-up (all day long, but in shifts) - hands on volunteers - test tracks (if applicable) - time savers (if applicable) - reception center set up SATURDAY/SUNDAY (SHOW TIME) JOBS AVAILABLE - reception center (greetings) - reception center raffle ticket sales - door monitor/traffic control (extras on doors 3,5,7 in BLC) CLOSE JOBS AVAILABLE (Sunday afternoon) - door monitor/traffic control/door guard (no vehicles until notice; in shifts) - break down of reception center (late afternoon) - collection of signs, numbers, easels, homasote boards, AV equipment (late afternoon) - Boy Scouts assistance and coordination of table and chair breakdown (late afternoon) For more information or to return this form, contact: Show Office at ShowOffice@AmherstRail.org or call or send your form to: Amherst Railway Society P.O. Box 247 Monson, MA or just bring your completed form to the Next Meeting!!!

Thank You for Getting Involved!

Coordinator Guide Thank You for Getting Involved! Thank you for joining Second Harvest Heartland in the fight to end hunger. Your Food & Fund Drive will make a big difference in the lives of our hungry