NWI CHAPTER
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
October 2026 from
Jerry Pyfer

NWI September Chapter Meeting
Not unexpectedly, we did not have a full house for the meeting. Eleven arrived in person and 10 joined via Zoom. We knew other attractions were vying for attention. They were running the Pioneer Rocket in the Quad Cities with the Centennial UP 6936. Soo Line 2-8-2 #1003 was running up in Wisconsin on a photo special. And it was a pleasant fall day.

Al Baker forged ahead with his Canadian show, which was well received by those in attendance. We learned that Amtrak is not alone with train problems during the winter months. Al’s train departed 10-hours late. We did record it but can’t predict when it might be available. We will let you know.

NWI Chapter Officer and Board of Directors Nominations
Chapter Secretary Norm Hoisington is guiding the nominations. If you have not been solicited and wish to join the Board of Director and officers on the ballot, please contact Norm. If you need to, contact me to forward your request on to him. You may also make your desires known during the nomination process at the October meeting.

The committee will present their nominations at the October 24th meeting.

The Chapter elections will take place during the Annual Business Meeting in November. Terms run for two-years.

Serious NWI Equipment Purge
Several chapter items are still lounging in my basement. These are items we used for traditional multi-media slide shows that more than likely will not be used again.
Items such as slide trays, Port-a-studios which use four-track cassette tapes, stack projector towers and Gemini dissolve units.

At this point, we have no takers. You have until the November meeting to request any of this equipment or it will be donated to a thrift store.

We will keep the Kodak Ektagraphic III slide projectors in the event a presenter wishes to share traditional talkie slide shows.

NWI Chapter show programming requirements
The chapter uses my lap top computer for presenting digital shows. We run with Windows 11. We cannot handle Power Point programming at this time. Please talk to me to make sure your presentation will proceed with minimal challenge.

I thank Gilbert for pulling this one out of the fire last month.

NWI-NRHS Dues renewal Season
The NWI Chapter dues renewal season is about to begin once again. Dues will remain the same for both the NWI ($25.00) as well as NWL subscriptions and the NRHS National dues ($50.00).

Send your NWI portion dues renewal to: NWI-Dues, P.O. Box 5632, Rockford, Illinois 61125-5632

You will send your NRHS dues portion to the National and not the NWI Chapter.

Railfanning is…
Railfanning is shouting at the privileged railfans gathering out in front of the photo-line for their shot. And it is a You Tube video.

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