The annual eastern region spring meeting was held on April 1, 2007 at the Holiday Inn in Parsippany New Jersey. We had an estimated 66 attendees.

Preston Cook started the programs off with a two-hour presentation titled “Inside EMD”. He gave a fascinating show on the inner workings of the LaGrange, IL facility, the birthplace of Electro-Motive Corp (EMC), the predecessor to Electro-Motive Division of General Motors Corporation, and the FT. The presentation included shop tours and, sadly, the demolition of the plant once it was closed. Bill McDonald followed with a slide show and his recollections of the last DL&W passenger train on the Syracuse Branch as well as a day at Erie's MQ tower. Bill traveled all the way from Vermont to share these views of the historic event.

Next up was Bill Greenburg with his presentation of "Memories of the Erie" before and after the merger. Peter Klopper was back by popular demand, and showed more of his fabulous EL images. Former EL employee Perry Billington gave a detailed slide show focused on the EL and D&H in and around Scranton. He even included material covering the former Lackawanna Bloomsburg Branch to Northumberland and Berwick, PA. He showed some slides that brought back memories of railfanning at Taylor Yard on the Bloom and Cayuga on the old Lackawanna main west out of Scranton.

A buffet dinner was served after Perry’s show. Dinner was followed by announcements and door prizes. Peter Hasler received the brass EL diamond award for 19 years of service in organizing the eastern spring meeting. Bob Hannon also was awarded a brass EL diamond for 25 years of service as editor of the Extra Board and for serving on the board of directors.

Jack Emerick, former Erie towerman, B&O trainee, CNJ trainmaster, shortline General Manager, Amtrak engineer and steam engineer ended the event with recollections of some of his railroad experiences during the late 50's and 60's and a brief slide show.

After several weeks of below normal temperatures, bright sunshine, blue skies and warm temperatures greeted ELHS members at the 2007 ELHS Western Region Meeting in Marion, Ohio on Saturday, April 21. It was an unusually busy day at Marion trackside, with CSX and NS providing nearly non-stop action most of the day (and well into the night as we listened to trains roll by while watching slides). The Marion Union Station Association, as well as the Marion Model Railroad Club opened up their doors for the ELHS.

Several presentations were provided, including member and legendary EL photographer Joe Slanser who showed great views of Erie and EL operations on the Mahoning & Marion Divisions, including Dayton Branch trains and various views in Marion Yard in the 1960's & 1970's. Rich Behrendt showed shots of stations and structures of the NY and Scranton Divisions from the mid-70's through the late-1980's including an impromptu look westward into PA and OH. Member George Detwiller (also a member of the Marion Union Station Association (MUSA)) showed views of track, stations and towers along the Marion Division from Huntington east to Marion, including shots on the Dayton Branch and inside the Marion Shop. Joe Slanser rounded out the evening by showing some of his more 'classic' shots taken in his early days of photography, showing passenger trains on the C&O and PRR operations that once ran through Marion before the line was sold to the N&W in 1964.

The day ended just after midnight and was enjoyed by all that came. Our thanks go out to the Marion Union Station Association for opening up the station and AC Tower for us to enjoy and to the Marion Model Railroad Club for inviting us in to see their HO-scale layout in operation. Besides AC Tower (which looks as it did when it was closed in 1995 complete with working levers & model board), MUSA has also acquired several model boards from area towers, and has several different types of signals that have been restored to working condition by changing aspects by use of tower levers - gives you a feel for what it used to be like working as a towerman.

If you're in the area, Marion is worth a stop.

The ELHS Annual Convention was held in Elmira, NY at the Hilton Garden Inn during the weekend of October 12-14. The convention started with a rare mileage excursion over the Tioga Central Railroad on a sunny but crisp Friday Oct. 12th. The train left the main parking area at Much Road and SR-287 at 1:30 PM heading north with seven cars and 75 convention attendees. The consist included a table car, three coaches, a lounge car, and open-air car. Ex-WUT RS1 and Buffalo Creek S1 units led the train to Gang Mills, NY; along with ex-D&H RS3U rebuild #506 leading the train southbound back to Wellsboro, PA. The excursion was added to the Tioga Central's daily schedule exclusively for our use. In addition to going all the way to Gang Miles, we rode an additional three miles down to the Wellsboro station. At the time we did not realize how rare the mileage was, for the Tioga Central Railroad ceased options shortly after our trip. (See The Diamond, Vol. 21 No. 4 for more details on the status of the Tioga Central. ) We covered the entire 37 miles of the Wellsboro & Corning, not just the usual 12 mile trip to Hammond Lake and back.

The presentations scheduled for Friday evening got off to a late start due the extra mileage of the excursion and most of the attendees arriving back at the hotel an hour later than anticipated. Ron Dukarm was the first presenter of the evening once we got the LCD and 35mm slide projectors set up. Ron gave a great presentation on Erie, Lackawanna, and EL maintenance of way equipment including snow plows, flangers, cranes, and ballast cars. Jay Held closed out the regularly scheduled show with a two-part presentation on modeling DL&W, Erie, and EL Trailer On FlatCar (TOFC) equipment. This included prototype photographs and diagrams on the flatcars as well as the trailers in addition to the models. Member slide shows commenced at approximately 10:30PM. David Monte Verde treated the audience to several carousels of EL slides taken around the system.

Saturday morning came all too quickly for many of us due to the late hour slide viewing the night before. Michael J. Conner, ELHS Vice President, kicked off the day with brief genealogy of the railroads in the Elmira - Corning area and was immediately followed by Greg Dickinson who covered the early history of the railroads in the area. Glen Mallow, Jr. continued the Elmira theme with images and discussion of the region during the immediate post-WWII through EL periods. Don Jilson closed out the study of the Elmira area with slides depicting the railroad during the EL's twilight. After a short break Sheldon King presented the EC&W Railway. This was an ambitious attempt by the Erie to stem the loss of regional passenger revenue due to the automobile and the interurban railways in the area. Will Schultz then presented the early history of the Lackawanna's Ithaca Branch in the 1800s followed by Bill Caloroso's presentation on the branch in the 20th century. We were also treated to the railroad history of the Corning area by Dr. Ken Hogrefe followed by Richard Perry who showed us asense of railroading, past and present, in and around the area. Robert Barrs ended the day's presentation with an interactive discussion of his archeological work on the 18 Lackawanna reinforced concrete interlocking towers. The presentation started with a brief quiz on the quantities of these towers as well as their location. It was a welcome change from the day's abundance of slides being shown.

Dinner was served at approximately 6:30 PM and was followed by the presentation of an EL brass diamond to Will Shultz for arranging the convention, announcements, and door prizes. Walter Smith, EL veteran, closed out the day's formal program with his recollection of his time on the railroad and selected slides from his days on the property. Members' slides and the board of directors meeting immediately followed at 10:30 PM and lasted into the small hours of Sunday morning.

We also had several local vendors at the convention the ELHS sales table manned by Jay Held, ELDCP sales table operated by Joel Long, Cal's Classics, and Steve Timko.

Elmira, NY local resident and long time collector Randy Bushart step up his extensive display of railroad memorabilia for the attendees to enjoy. Randy started collected the artifacts from the NYC/PC. PRR, LVRR, DL&W, and Erie when he was just 11 years old. Here is brief list of what was displayed.

• Elmira station sign from the Erie Depot
• Elmira station sign from the Lackawanna Depot
• Elmira Erie freight station sign
• Horseheads station sign from the Erie Depot
• Erie Elmira Fifth St. Tower Sign, CTC board, Model board, various items.
• DL&W "Phoebe Snow" Bowling team shirts from Elmira
• Erie Semaphore signal
• Erie Step Stool
• Horseheads HO Tower Armstrong lever
• NY& Erie baggage tag from Elmira and NY &E timetable
• Various Lanterns, Lamps, Keys, Locks, Badges and Timetables.
• Many area railroad photographs, some unique and rarely publicly displayed.
• Lackawanna Kerosene Steam Locomotive Headlight