Title
Weekly News July 2, 2007Description
The stories are deteriorating; here are some of my favorite ditties from the 1930’s:
“They missed the turn,
Car was wizzin’,
Fault was her’n,
Funeral his’n.” -Burma Shave
There was a young man from Wheeling
Who walked upside down on the ceiling.
When he fell on his neck
He hollered like heck
“That was a peculiar feeling”.
I’m Pop-Eye the sailor man,
I’m Pop-Eye the sailor man,
I fight to the finish
‘Cause I eat my spinach,
I’m Pop-Eye the sailor man.
When the One Great Scorer
Comes to write against your name,
He writes not that you won or lost,
But how you played the game.
I promise a better story next week.
The week past has been another busy one. Many letters and E-mails have come in saying how much our visitors enjoyed the Steam Car Tour. While on the subject of the recent Tour, we are assembling good pictures taken during the week for use in our summer edition of the “Herald”, and especially ones when the cars were at Granogue, as we want to assemble a nice album or something similar to present to our hosts. If you have some you will share for these purposes, please notify Bob Reilly, Rob Robison, or myself. Many thanks. Tonight Channel 6 aired Don Polec’s segment taken north of Unionville on Friday, June 22. I hope you caught it.
Getting over the tour, we cleaned up for our July 1 public event just past, and for the June 30 Wilmington & Western celebration at Hockessin, where we had 4 steamers and the electric car. Bill Rule and I delivered Allen Blazick’s 1914 Stanley to Daryl Kendall in Chambersburg on Wednesday, where Daryl will do some repair work for him. With excellent weather, we had a very good Sunday, selling 352 adult tickets, 102 children’s, and 25 complimentaries. I have counted 49 volunteers who worked that day (there may have been even more). The special band on the front lawn arranged by Richard Bernard was very popular, our gift shop sold over $500 in merchandise plus 3 memberships, and Brent McDougall is to be congratulated for a very successful event. Thanks, Anne Cleary, for getting Brent to do this job for us. It’s not possible to mention the individual contributions from volunteers, but all departments were handled superbly: parking, museum, popcorn, ticket sales, gift shop, grounds, and mechanical things. As usual, many happy people left after their visit. Felix Connolly, a long-time local friend who attended on Sunday, found a small wallet with $61 on the ground. If anyone can claim this, please contact our office, 239-2385. Thanks to all!
Two days from now, we hope to participate in the July 4 parade in Hockessin. We know of about 5 drivers who would like to take cars, and probably there are several more. Please let Anne know by Tuesday night (if not sooner) if you hope to drive one of our cars, and she will advise the parade chairman, Ken Wynn. Line up time is 2:15 – 2:30 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church off Route 41 in Hockessin, with the parade beginning at 3:00. Following our slow-paced parade down hill on Old Lancaster Pike, we will go to Mitchell’s Woodside Farm for ice cream (not mandatory). The Mountain Wagon and the Model 87 are expected to go, so there will be plenty of seats if you wish to ride along. It’s nice if you can wear appropriate patriotic costumes. Be at Auburn Heights not later than 1:30.
Work projects for the current week are cleaning up the locomotives from Sunday’s runs, repairing the brake line and cylinder from passenger car #885 (and checking the others to see that they are firmly affixed), making some minor track repairs, moving ahead with our signal project, and preparations for painting the museum floor on the west side. We may also paint the garage floor on the half toward the shop. Virgil Engel is expected here this week or next to modify the tunnel portals, and a proposal is still supposed to be coming for stabilizing the bank between the turntable and the museum. Except for a visit from a small group of seniors on Wednesday, July 11, from 6:00 to 7:30 P.M. (when we may run the Mountain Wagon), we have nothing public planned for Auburn Heights until Sept. 2, so we have a 2-month “window” to make a number of improvements.
I hope we can work in a couple more ice cream runs in July or early August while the days stay long. Perhaps one of them (in lieu of ice cream) would be a run to Granogue to inspect Irenee duPont’s water tower and possibly drive along the Brandywine on the private road between Smith’s and Thompson’s Bridges. Both have been offered but not cleared with the duPonts as yet. Our Granogue host has hinted that he has not yet had enough of the steam cars. Let me know if you have an interest.
Finally, I am pleased to tell you that an orderly transfer of power was achieved on July 1, when Mike May became the new president of our Board of Directors, replacing an elderly character who has held the job for 2-1/2 years. Steve Bryce was also elected to the Board, and he and Jerry Novak will be attending their first Board meeting on August 9. Congratulations to the three of you. Tom
