NWI CHAPTER
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
March 2024 from
Jerry Pyfer

RRVD NMRA Train Show

The Rock River Valley Division of the NMRA will hold their annual Rockford train show the weekend of March 16-17th. This is one week earlier than usual.

NWI Chapter Dues Renewal Season drawing to a Close

The NWI Chapter has embarked on the renewal season for memberships and NWL subscriptions for 2024.

This year and going forward your renewals with the NWI Chapter will be $25.00. After 25-years, increased expenses have required us to raise dues.

You can mail your dues to: NWI Chapter, P.O. Box 5632, Rockford, IL. 61125 or direct to our treasurer: NWI Treasurer Lloyd Rinehart, 522 Bradshaw Street, Dixon, IL. 61021 or bring them to a chapter meeting.

National Railway Historical Society dues portion must be sent directly to the NRHS, which was at the same $50.00 rate as last year.

Red NWL Labels

For those of you with a red mark on your NWL label this month, we still haven’t received your membership/subscription renewal. If there is an error, please contact me to clear up your signals.

Otherwise, this is your last NWL.

Whose consist could this be?

What began as space filler on the back page, has become a on-going little trivia test. I will include a locomotive consist line drawing depicting a locomotive consist of a certain railroad. You have to detect whose consist it was. A locomotive or two will be the deciding clue.

February’s consist was an all Alco lash-up. The lead unit was an RS-27, followed by a C430 and C424/425. This consist would be found on the Green Bay & Western, Penn Central and Conrail.

Depending on the build date, the C424 and C425 looked nearly the same.

Each answer for the previous consist of the month will appear in the President’s Report column.

NWI Meeting to be Zoomed

March’s Chapter meeting will be available on Zoom. Just let me know if you are interested.

You will receive an invite with pass codes imbedded. You must first be registered with Zoom, which is free, to join in.

If you are already signed up for Zoom meetings in the past with the chapter, you can sit back and relax as you are on our list to receive invites.

Otherwise, feel free to request to be placed on the invite list by contacting: jrrchase@comcast.net.

Chapter Get Well Wishes

The NWI Chapter wishes a speedy get well to Gerald Van Alstyne who is and will face serious surgeries.

NWI Chapter’s 55th Anniversary

Plans have already begun for the NWI Chapter’s 55th anniversary celebration at the November Annual Meeting. We have the chapter’s first president Joe Petric, to present the evening’s program.

If you have any ideas to contribute, please let us know.

Thank you

We have the Black Hawk article thanks to Mark Jones. He alerted me to the fact that Valentine’s Day 1974 was Amtrak’s service date through Rockford.

Mark hired out with Amtrak in 1986 working in dining car service. Waiting for the right moment, he transferred into engine service on May 29, 1992.

Currently, Mark works out of Oakland, California variably holding down enginemen positions on the California Zephyr, local passenger service or working switch jobs around the terminal.

For more information about the Chapter, see Meetings and Join.