The Dispatcher Central Oklahoma Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society Oklahoma Railway Museum, Ltd. NARCOA Affiliate Member Volume 51 Issue 5 May 2016 ORM Launches Merit Badge Program By Steve Kamm On April 16, 2016, the Oklahoma Railway Museum launched the Gary Githens Railroading Merit Badge Program. We hope this marks a new chapter in ORM history. This educational program aims to provide education and experiences which help Boy Scouts earn their Railroading Merit Badge. For some time, members of the Oklahoma Railroad Museum, including Gary Githens and Anne Murray-Chilton, had been discussing the possibility of developing a merit badge program. In late January of this year, ORM was contacted by Mr. Frank McNickel the Assistant Scout Master of Troop 6 of the Cherokee Area Council, based in Bartlesville, OK. Mr. McNickel asked if our museum offered a merit badge program. When Frank learned the program was anticipated but not yet developed, he offered his troop as guinea pigs. The idea of a merit badge program was discussed at the next ORM board meeting where it received enthusiastic support. After the passing of Gary Githens in January of this year, the suggestion was made to name the program in his memory. Gary Githens was a long-time ORM member, rail photographer, editor of The Dispatcher and also an active Boy Scout Leader. ORM received donations in honor of Gary (at his bequest) and in February the board approved to allocate the donated funds to use as seed money for the program. Two long-term railroad employees, Tony Chamblin and Fred Jones, volunteered their services as hosts and program presenters. Together, Tony and Fred have over 90 years of experience as brakemen and conductors for the Rock Island, Katy and Union Pacific railroads. On the morning of Saturday, April 16th, thirteen Boy Scouts, one Girl Scout, and seven Photo by Steve Kamm adult leaders arrived at ORM to learn about railroading, ride the rails, and spend the night camping. After introductions, activities began with a flag-raising ceremony conducted by the Scouts and attended by several museum volunteers. The Scouts and their leaders then boarded the 9:15 AM train and rode the Great Northern caboose for a 50 minute journey. For most of the Scouts, this was their first train ride! Our Rock Island Party Coach was converted into a classroom, and after their train trip, the Scouts convened for a session on Operation Lifesaver conducted by Drake Rice. The Scouts then went outside where In This Issue Boy Scouts Visit ORM 1 Presidents Message 2 Light Donation 2 Museum Update 3 Volunteer System 4 Ramblin Rails 5 Porter Tanks Donation 6 Around The Grounds 7 Current Projects 9 Timetable 10 Steve Kamm told them the story of cabooses, illustrating with our CRI&P No. 17834. Back in the classroom, Tony and Fred began their presentation, about the history of railroads and the various types of rail cars. The presintaion was prepared by Anne Murray-Chilton and Eric Dilbeck from content found on a public Boy Scout website. Continued on Page 8 Photos by Steve Kamm
Page 2 The President s Column As you read this month s newsletter, you will see that the past month has brought many exciting events and activities to the Oklahoma Railway Museum. One of note, is a grant for the restoration of the MKT inspection car from the National Railroad Historic Society s Heritage Grants Program. Anne Murray-Chilton and I wrote the grant application earlier this year. We were assisted by volunteers Tony Chamblin and Fred Jones who worked on the materials list required for the restoration. Oklahoma Railway Museum was awarded the amount of $4000.00 which will go towards the cost of materials. As Drake has discussed in his museum updates the last several months, we are starting the initial tasks for our museum expansion project. The initial expansion concept was created several years ago, but a vision for implementation was not created. A clear purpose and use for the buildings will need to be defined before a capital campaign can be started. At our April board meeting, we discussed this issue and the museum s future. We have decided it is time for the museum to go through a Strategic Planning session. We have enlisted the Oklahoma Center for Non-profits to guide us through this process. This will include three 2 hour sessions to gather information from the board and members. They will help us plan for the next five years and set objectives for the next 12 months. The end result will be a clear plan for the museum to follow and measures to gauge our success. This will be an opportunity for you, the members of ORM, to also voice your vision of ORM s future. We as members need to look toward the future and ask ourselves how our museum will fit into our community. How will the additional infrastructure of the expansion project support the museum s purpose and goals? Now is the time to prepare our museum for growth and sustainability. Eric Dilbeck The Dispatcher Oklahoma Railway Museum, Ltd. (405) 424-8222 Board of Directors Eric Dilbeck, President Bob Nantois, Vice President and Program Chair Drake Rice, Secretary Charles Price, Treasurer Greg Robertson, NRHS Director Bob Cossairt, Director of Museum Grounds & Facilities Bob Hussey, Director of Track Maintenance Terry Birchett, Director of Mechanical Operations Harry Currie, Director at Large Greg Hall, Director of Museum Activities Bob Cook, Director of Museum Displays Ed Birch Jr., Train Show Chair Anne Murray-Chilton, Membership Chair Eric Dilbeck, Interim Dispatcher Editor Shop Light Donation By Eric Dilbeck I was recently touring one of MIDCON Data Services facilities for my employer. During the tour, they mentioned they had recently changed out the lighting in the facility. I noticed the old lights on a pallet and that they match the ones in the Jim Murray maintance building. I inquired about the possibility of a donation, and after a few emails, they agreed to donate two lights to the Oklahoma Railway Museum. During Day Out with Thomas and while performing restoration, the extra light will be apprectiated. Thanks Trey Cole and MIDCON Data Services! About MIDCON: http://www.midcondata.com/ MIDCON Data Services LLC is a full-service Document Management and Storage Business. We provide off-site secure, climate-controlled document storage. Whether it s physical documents, magnetic media or electronic data, we provide record management and storage from inception to destruction, all while maintaining a complete chain of custody of each and every document. We offer MIDCON s proprietary On-Line Data Management Software so you can manage your records remotely. Photo by Anne Murray-Chilton
The Dispatcher Museum Update By Drake Rice A special Thank You to the A-OK Railroad out of Wilburton whose workers came up to perform single car air tests prior to our 2016 train ride season. Before the cars could be tested, ORM shop crews removed the brake valves, sent them in for repairs and testing, and then reinstalled them. Since ORM does not have equipment, or the certified personnel, to perform the actual test we require outside help. The A-OK Railroad workers tested and certified seven cars at Oklahoma Railway Museum to ensure all of the brake valves were in working order. Thanks to their willingness to help, we now have all passenger equipment available for service this year. Again, thank you Mr. Dave Donoley and the A-OK for their assistance. Page 3 In the yard, cars 115 and 113 were moved from yard track one to the yard storage track, to be ready for service if needed this year. The Frisco Caboose from the fairgrounds has been rolled back in on track one for continued restoration work. OKRX 2, an Alco engine that is used for parts, is in the shop so shop personnel can weld the doors shut. This is to keep wire thieves from stealing copper wire from the engine since it will be stored at the school yard track when the work is completed. The plan is to take the locomotive to the school yard and exchange it for the Rock Island box car for maintenance and preparation for future painting. Also planned to return from the school yard is the UP Caboose for some future cleaning and restoration work. Update on the expansion work, currently the museum has received two bids back from contractors on the water line installation and we hope to have a third proposal soon. Once we have three bids, they will be reviewed and a contractor selected so work can get underway. The engineering company for the parking lot has been working through the city requirements which has slowed the project down. We are working to get all the requirements met so we can proceed without future issues. Once the water line is in, bids can be obtained for the new parking lot. President Eric Dilbeck and Secretary Drake Rice met with a Union Pacific Representative and the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Railroad Association. We discussed several items and asked for promotional items that could be used for the museum s celebration of National Train Day on the first Saturday in May. It was a good meeting and several good suggestions were offered to the museum. Work has continued on the Birthday Caboose by our carpentry crew. The caboose has received major repairs which were much needed. Insulation was replaced for better heating and cooling, rotten wood was replaced, and the outside is in the process of being repainted. This is the same team that restored the Rock Island Caboose, which is a project the museum is very proud of. They are also doing the work on the Frisco Caboose that was received from the fairgrounds that is on track one in the shop. As always, the museum can use your help Thursday through Saturday. Please come by and support your museum. We hope to see you at the museum. Drake Rice Photos by Anne Murray-Chilton
Page 4 The Dispatcher Volgistics Volunteer Management System By Anne Murray-Chilton Until recently, volunteers have used a paper work register to document time spent working at the museum. As the museum has grown, the number of volunteers and paper work registers have grown as well. These paper work register entries are manually typed into a database before they are able to be used for reporting purposes. This was a time consuming and error prone process. To streamline this process, the Board of Directors approved investing in the volunteer management system Volgistics. We rolled out the first part of this system in March of this year. Some of the members have already used this system. For those of you who have not yet been out this year, a computer terminal has been placed in the Jim Murray Maintenance Facility meeting/break room. The computer terminal will be used to log time volunteers spend working at the museum and on special projects. We have implemented this system because of the importance for ORM to track volunteer hours and projects. This information is used when we apply for grants and for various other reporting requirements. There are two components to our new system; the VicTouch, a login computer for volunteers to use to sign in and out, and VicNet, an online portal that all our volunteers can utilize through our website. VicNet will be available soon on our newly re-designed website which will debut next month. VicTouch is a touchscreen based Volunteer Information Center that allows volunteers to checkin and out upon arrival and departure from ORM. Your volunteer service hours are recorded automatically when you sign-in and sign-out. It is important to do this so we have an accurate record of your volunteer service. As of now we do not have a touch screen computer and are using a laptop and mouse. If anyone has a touch screen tablet that you no longer need please consider donating it to ORM to use for this purpose. A PIN is used to sign into the VicTouch application. Your PIN is your ORM member number without any leading zeros. For example: If your member number is 0066 your PIN is 66. Temporarily a list of PINs will be by the login computer and you can always call or email me at the museum to get your PIN For more information on VicTouch procedures, you can refer to this online web page: VicTouch help page. The second part of the system is the VicNet module. The VicNet module is a portal on the internet and is used to manage your account. The following features are some of the tasks you can perform: View and manage your schedule Sign-up for vacant schedule openings Print your schedule Keep your personal information up-to-date Post your hours Receive news and messages from the ORM Check your service records, and print your own service reports Change your VicNet password Opt-in or out of text messaging and update your message preferences The online portal will be configured and available for volunteer use in May. An email will be sent out to everyone with information on how to use the system. For more information on VicNet procedures, you can refer to this online web page link: VicNet help page I thank all of you in advance for your patience while we transition to this new system. Anne Murray Chilton
The Dispatcher Page 5 Ramblin Rails by Larry Dodd My day on Cajon Pass In February of 2015 our travels found us in sunny California. We were in Hesperia CA to be exact. We had arrived at Hesperia via old route 66 from Barstow. Segments of Route 66 still remain, but Interstate 15 has now replaced the Mother Road. If you know where to look, you can still drive the Mother Road, which we took advantage of on some of our travels. During some of our down time, I took the opportunity to travel up the hill to Cajon. There is a McDonalds there that you can set in and watch I-15 traffic as well as train traffic going up and down the hill. It s not a bad spot to hang out. It s air conditioned and the coffee is always hot. However if you re a real rail fan, you know you can t hang out inside, you have to be out there. I am no exception. Fortunately I drive a Jeep that has great off road capability. The area has dirt roads that access the property adjacent to the railroad tracks, but some are pitted as well heavily potholed. Fortunately for me it was dry during my visit. Rains in this area can make some of these roads nearly impossible. I used the off road capability to access a couple of good photo locations, set up my lawn chair, and watched trains go by. Train traffic on Cajon pass is active to say the least. I was there for about two hours and trains ran on average every 15 minutes. A couple of times there were three trains moving by at once. It keeps a photographer busy. The lighting conditions weren t the best, but I did get a lot of photos. I was hoping to see a Santa Fe Warbonnet go by, but none did. Drat! Cajon is located on the Cajon Subdivision. The subdivision runs north to south from Barstow CA to San Bernardino CA at a distance of 80 miles. The elevation at Barstow is 2079.0 feet. At the summit of the sub division, the elevation is 3775.0 feet. The hill then drops significantly towards San Bernardino where the elevation is 1072.8 feet, a height difference of 2702.2 feet. The history of this location is well known to most of us. In steam days there were helper engines from both directions to shove the trains uphill. Of course in steam days the length of trains was significantly smaller. Trains today can reach 1.5 miles in length and some loaded trains on the sub-division may reach 10,000 tons. Today s modern motive power, dynamic braking, and distributed power negate the need for helpers. Back in the 1950 s Santa Fe had to establish some train order operator positions on Cajon. The railroad moved a series of section houses and other out buildings to this location on flat cars. They were then set on make-shift foundations and utilities were established for the operators whose seniority allowed them, or on some cases condemned them to work at this location. In those days this was an absolute outpost. There are some great photographs of the move as well as the resultant community of Cajon somewhere on the internet. Your assignment is to go find them...... Until next month, Larry Dodd Click to view Larry s Cajon Pass Photo Album Engraved Platform Bricks Cost is $50.00 per brick.a maximum of 4 lines with 16 letters and spaces per line. More than one platform brick can be donated to the Museum and you can make copies of the form below. Mail completed forms with check or money order to: Oklahoma Railway Museum 3400 NE Grand Boulevard Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73111 Call the museum with any questions. 405-424-8222 Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Line 4 Purchaser s Name Phone No.
Page 6 Porter Tanks Donation by Eric Dilbeck Last summer I had the opportunity to visit the California State Railroad Museum (CSRM). This was an exciting visit since not only do they have a working steam engine, the Granite Rock 10, but it is a sister to our Porter tank engine. The Granite Rock 10 was originally ordered and purchased by the US Army, as ours was. Its road number was 5001 where as ours was 5006. The serial numbers are five numbers Granite Rock 10 Sits on the turntable outside CSRM. apart as well, 7461 and 7466 respectively. These steam engines were ordered to perform switching during World War II, in Europe and North Africa. These engines were designated USATC class S100. Both engines were used briefly and then sold to private ownership. USATC 5001 was sold to the Granite Rock Co. in 1947, renumbered to #10, and used in the granite quarries in California. The Granite Rock Co. donated #10 to the CSRM in 1995, and jointly restored the engine to working order. USATC 5005 was sold to the Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company (OG&E) in 1947, renumbered to #5, where it was used to switch coal cars at the Harrah Horseshoe Lake power plant. OG&E donated #5 to the Al Di Paolo stands next to the Central Oklahoma Railfan Club, the predecessor of the tanks in the old SP shops. Oklahoma Railway Museum. Number 5 was stored on display for many years at the Omniplex with several other of CORC s railroad pieces. While I was at the CSRM, I had the opportunity to ride in the cab of Granite Rock 10. It brought back fond memories of when we had Flagg Coal Co. 75 at the museum. The highlight of my visit was the tour of the back shops by Al Di Paolo, the Chief Mechanical Officer. CSRM s back shops are the old Southern Pacific railroad shops. I was in awe of them. So much railroad history was made here. As Al and I made our way through, looking at all of the mechanical and railroad equipment, we came upon the old water tanks for Granite Rock 10. We talked about our two engine and how close the serial numbers were. I mentioned that our water tanks had disappeared while the engine was in storage, due to scrap metal thieves. He was very excited that we were in need of replacement tanks as the Granite Rock tanks were due to be scrapped. Al offered us the old tanks for our Steam Engine. These tanks will work great for us, because we currently only have plans for our Porter to be a static display. Leaving Sacramento, I was very happy to know that our Porter would soon have water tanks again. Even though the tanks were set to be scrapped, giving them to another museum was not so easy. Persistence paid off, and with the help of Chuck Bird, a CRSM volunteer, our tanks are now in Oklahoma waiting to be installed on our Porter. Eric Dilbeck The Dispatcher Crosstie Donations Friends and families of ORM continue to make donations to the museum for crossties, equipment and facilities. A donation of $50.00 will help ORM purchase a new crosstie. You may donate a crosstie in recognition or in memory of someone. Donations can be mail to the museun at the address below or made online on our website, oklahomarailwaymuseum.org. Notate Crosstie with your donation, and send to : ORM Ltd. 3400 NE Grand Boulevard Oklahoma City, 73111 Depot Store The Oklahoma Railway Museum has items available for both children and adults at the Depot Store. These include baseball caps, polo shirts, t shirts, lapel pins, coasters, and now mugs. Profits from the sale of these items support the museum and it s projects. The Depot Store is located inside the Oakwood Depot on the museum grounds. It is open on run days (the first and third Saturdays April through August) from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The store is also open during special events. We now have ORM Coffee Mugs! Stop by the gift shop and get one. Chuck Bird carries the tanks to be loaded for shipment. Al Di Paolo stands next to the loaded tanks bound for OK.
The Dispatcher Page 7 Around the grounds Photos by Eric Dilbeck Members Tony Wassen and Art Gustafson chat in between trains. Greg Hall waits to flag and run the signals for the next train at Grand crossing. Greg Hall, Bob Cook, Stan Hall, and Fred Jones apply stencils to the model train car. Photo by Anne Murray-Chilton Santa Fe 643 is almost ready for paint. Most of it has had a coat of primer applied to it. Photo by Anne Murray-Chilton Guy Lynn welds the doors closed, to deter vandals, on our RS-3 OKRX3 before it is stored on the school yard siding. Harry Currie and Tom Harrison perform repairs on the Frisco birthday caboose. High winds from a recent storm blew the side of the copola out.
Page 8 The Dispatcher FRA Training School Photos by Bob Hussey A FRA training class was held in Oklahoma City in the first week of December, 2015. The Oklahoma Railway Museum was honored to host the field work portion of the class. Students roamed ORM s track looking for defects as part of their training. Boy Scouts Visit ORM Continued from Page 1 photos by Eric Dilbeck After an outdoor lunch (the Scouts brought sack lunches), Tony and Fred led the Scouts on a tour of the museum grounds where the boys learned first-hand about cab operations, diesel engines, knuckle couplers, etc. In the classroom, they heard more lectures on engines, braking, trucks, train schedules and signals. After a break, Steve discussed model trains and showed the Scouts examples of the various scales. The Scouts were then invited to try their hands at an HO timesaver layout, competing in teams of two. Meanwhile, the Scouts interviewed Fred Jones in order to fulfill one of the merit badge requirements. At the end of the day, Eric Dilbeck broke out the AT&SF handcar. Everyone was given the opportunity to pump their way along the rails inside our yard. The hand car ride was a big hit, even though the small Scouts were actually lifted up by the pump handles! The program concluded with a presentation of awards. All Scouts received a Gary Githens Railroading Merit Badge Program patch designed by Eric Dilbeck. Scouts Nick and A. J. won prizes for the best timesaver performance, while Jathen received an award for displaying the most knowledge about railroads. Scout leaders cooked hamburgers for dinner, and the group camped out at the museum under threatening skies. Sunday morning saw their departure: tired, happy, and hopefully enthusiastic about railroads. Comments by Scout leaders communicated their satisfaction, especially with regard to positive, cheerful and helpful attitudes of ORM staff and volunteers. All in all, a very successful endeavor. Congratulations and many thanks to all who helped!! Steve Kamm
The Dispatcher Page 9 Current Projects By Eric Dilbeck We currently have several projects in progress at the museum. Arrange time on a Saturday to come out and help. Frisco Caboose from the Fair Grounds (in the shop building) We are doing major repairs to get the caboose weather tight. It has suffered from years out in the elements. New siding has been primed and is ready for installation. Santa Fe 643 Steam Engine (in the shop building) We are currently stripping the old paint off and applying primer. Additional repairs are needed to the boiler jacket before we can finish the priming and the painting. Frisco Birthday Caboose (outside on the platform) The siding has been replaced. Repairs are being made on the copola. Next we will finish painting all of the outside of the caboose. Rock Island Caboose (outside on the track) We recieved our new seat cushions and the look great. Currently we are waiting on material to arrive in order to finish the roof walks. CONOCO Tank Car (currently stored on Owanda siding) We are waiting on material to arrive so we can install the walk-ways and finish painting and stenciling. MKT Inspection Car This project is due to start soon. More information to come. Visit the Oklahoma Railway Museum on YouTube at: youtube.com/c/oklahomarailwaymuseumorg Lands End and ORM logo You can now order apparel with an embroidered ORM logo from Lands End at the website below. Once you select the item you want, you will then be able to select the logo and where you want it placed. We will send out emails when Lands End runs a special. Anything on sale in the regular catalog will be on sale on this site as well. ces.landsend.com/oklahoma_railway_museum
Oklahoma Railway Museum, Ltd. 3400 NE Grand Boulevard Oklahoma City, OK 73111-4417 Return Service Requested New website coming soon! There is still time to renew your membership. Dues can be renewed on our website by clicking the link below. oklahomarailwaymuseum.org/membership/ Page 10 Timetable The Dispatcher Oklahoma Railway Museum (ORM) - Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM Closed on major holidays. ORM Train Rides - First and third Saturdays, April through August at 9:15 AM, 11:15 AM, 1:15 PM and 3:15 PM ORM Board Meetings - Last Thursday of every month at Oklahoma Railway Museum - 7:00 PM. Oklahoma N Rail - For information, call Rick Inselman, (405) 412-1552. Central Oklahoma Garden Railroad Society Contact information: Steve Lemcke (405) 703-0209 e-mail steve.lemcke@att.net Marshall Douglas (405) 290-8989 Steve Kamm (405) 685-3755 email skamm@college.occc.edu Passenger Rail Oklahoma - Passenger Rail Oklahoma volunteers provide Amtrak depot hosting for the city of Norman, Oklahoma, most evenings, holidays, and Saturdays and Sundays for the Heartland Flyer in Norman. The depot opens at 7:50 AM. Contact Evan Stair at sfrr@aol.com, www.passengerrailok.org, or (405) 366-8957. Depot volunteer opportunities are available. Oklahoma S.W. Division NMRA - 2nd Saturday each month, 1:00 PM, Goldman Room, Kirkpatrick Center, Jim Heidon, President Yukon s Best Railroad Museum - Thursday/Saturday/Sunday and by appointment. Located 1 block north of Main and UP tracks in Yukon. Call John Knuppel, (405) 354-5079, for times and information. Waynoka Station/Waynoka Historical Society - 202 South Cleveland, Waynoka Call Sandie Olson, (580) 824-1886. Notice: They need help with their model railroad layout. If you could help, call Sandie. Corrections Any changes to the above nformation or articles for the Dispatcher, should be directed to the editor, Eric Dilbeck, at eric@oklahomarailwaymuseum.org. For information on upcoming programs, contact Anne Murray-Chilton at: annem@ oklahomarailwaymuseum.org