GM&OHS Spring 2006 Switchlist 34-1

Spring 2006 Vol. XXXIV, No.1

Messages from President Joe Petric... As we "wing" our way into the new year, I wish to thank everyone who has renewed for 2006. The Society consistently strives to provide our members with the best in publications and models and your dues enable us to continue these important efforts. For those of you that have still not renewed, please consider the continued benefits of membership in the Society. We have some dynamite issues planned for this year as well as several outstanding models. You will not want to miss any of these fine offerings. While you are at it, encourage a friend to join or better yet, enroll them with a 2006 membership as a gift!!!

Since we are always seeking new members, the Society tries to have a presence at as many train shows (model and railroadiana) as possible. This gives us a chance to enroll new members, sell back issues of the NEWS and our various limited edition car projects and most importantly promote our own upcoming events such as the Annual Meeting. If any member has a desire to help us by working at the Society's tables at an upcoming event, please contact Secretary Marc Liberta who can give you information on what shows we will be attending. This is a great way to meet railfans, modelers and others that share your interest in the GM&O.

Speaking of upcoming events... The 34th Annual Meeting of the Society will be held on the weekend of October 20-22, 2006 at the Ramada Inn-East in Montgomery, AL. Montgomery is the furthest East that the GM&O operated and is the last major city in the Southern Region to host an Annual Meeting. Member Patrick Hayes is this year's Annual Meeting Chairman and has done a great job organizing this event. Mark your calendars and keep an eye open for additional information in the next Society mailing in June. As always, your attendance and support is greatly appreciated.

As many of you know and realize, the GM&O Railroad has played an important part in the lives of many of us, whether as an employee or as a railfan. The GM&O Historical Society has become part of that extended family. We are also beginning to see signs of the GM&O gaining notoriety in railroad history. The ride on Ike Tigrett’s business car no. 50 last November may be leading to a feature on the Discovery Channel. A researcher has contacted the Society for additional information after reading my account of the trip. I have been notified that plans are underway to take a short tri p on the car and film it for the documentary series "What's That About?" More on this story as it develops.

Notes from Secretary Marc Liberta... A huge "thank you" to all the members that have renewed for 2006! A special note of thanks is given to the many individuals that have opted to increase their support of the Society by "stepping up" in membership status by moving from the Regular to Sustaining Member level. New membership cards have been included with this mailing. To complete your card, please write in your membership number (which can be found on your mailing label) in the appropriate space on the card.

For those of you that have yet to renew for 2006, we encourage you to do so as this mailing completes the Society's obligation for 2005. Please use the enclosed reminder form rather than the previous one provided with the December mailing. There are several corrections to this form including our new Post Office Box, international postage requirements and most importantly the restoration of our Senior Membership level which was erroneously left off the previous form.

Due to the aforementioned Senior Membership oversight, we apologize to those members who were at the Senior Membership level in 2005 and then renewed at the Regular level in 2006. You will be receiving a $5.00 refund check from the Society in the near future to correct this error. Note; Senior Membership level is designated by the suffix "E" in the membership number on your mailing label.

A reminder that renewals and all other currently available items from the Society can be paid for by utilizing PayPal through the Society's website, www.gmohs.org. Though listed on several current Society forms, please make a note of our new address; GM&OHS, P.O. Box 1753. Marion, IL. 62959.

Publications Committee Report by Ken Donnelly... At last, Issue 110 is in your hands thus fulfilling the Society's obligation of providing 80 pages of the NEWS for 2005. We apologize for the tardiness of this magazine and we will make every effort to get 2006 started on the "right track". Once again this year your membership entitles you to 80 pages of NEWS however this year you will receive two 40 page magazines numbered as Double Issues 111-112 and 113-114. The former is scheduled for mailing in late June with your Summer Switchlist and Annual Meeting information and the latter issue is scheduled for mailing in December along with your Winter Switchlist. So please send in your renewals as soon as possible so that you can avoid missing any of the great articles and photographs slated for these upcoming publications.

Support the 2007 calendar... As you are aware the Society did not offer a calendar for 2006. This was due to the poor response to the previous all color calendars offered from 2003 through 2005.

These 13 month calendars were very reasonably priced and full of great GM&O photos and information. The sad fact however is that of the 500 pieces produced each year only 350 or so calendars were purchased by a membership of nearly 700 individuals! A program such as this needs 100 percent membership support to be successful. Whether black and white or color, a calendar is very expensive to produce and the Society simply can not afford to lose money on this or any other similar project. We will make every effort to produce another all color calendar for 2007, however in the meantime please show your support by sending a brief note or postcard to GM&OHS Calendars, P.O. Box 1753, Marion, IL. 62959. This will allow us to gauge just how much interest there truly is for this project. Thanks!

Modeling Committee Report by the staff... We are pleased to announce that Kevin Kiper of Monterrey, CA. has succeeded Ken Donnelly as Modeling Committee Chairman. As you know, Ken has stepped down to devote his full energy to the Publications Committee. We want to

thank Kenny for his tireless efforts on behalf of the Society's modelers and welcome Kevin aboard who, we are sure, will continue this fine tradition.

Along those lines, we are happy to report that the Committee has decided to reissue GM&OHS#29, the Con-Cor 70 ton hopper with two new numbers and a pair of unnumbered cars so that the individual modeler can obtain and number as many cars as he desires. This is a great opportunity to add a very unique hopper to your layout. See the enclosed order form for further details!

We have only a dozen or so sets of GM&OHS #127 still available. This is the three-car and/or six car set of GM&O pulpwood cars. These are 100 percent prototypically accurate models and look great on any layout. Additionally, we still have a couple of sets of GM&OHS #30 our three car set of predecessor road boxcars. (Please see the website, www.gmohs.org for details and order forms). The next “new” project for the Society, GM&OHS #31, will be an InterMountain Railway Company outside braced composite gondola. An upcoming Gene Glendinning article in Double Issue 111-112 will give you a full history of these cars and the their availability will coincide with this feature.

Correction... In the last Switchlist (Winter 2005) there was a statement made that “the Society neither endorses nor authenticates any of these products”. This referring to models listed in that particular issue. These ten words really created a furor among GM&OHS modelers. Nearly two dozen phone calls were received in response to this statement. All indicating that they, the member modeler, depend upon the Society's review of new products to gauge authenticity and accuracy. Rest assured, the Modeling Committee will continue to review newly released GM&O models and give you, our members, a fair and honest assessment of each offering.

Along those lines, we will make one final comment about the recently released Athearn GP35. Overall, at a distance, the model does not look bad however there are several things wrong with the paint and lettering. We can not list every single flaw since space does not permit it however the most glaring defect is the poorly drawn ampersand on the carbody. To the Committee, it appears that the art that was used came from a decal set that was produced two decades ago. The artwork was wrong then and it is still wrong now. The really disappointing thing is that we provided Athearn with actual EMD builder’s photos of both sides of a GP35 as well as 20 other slides and prints and an EMD lettering diagram which clearly shows the lettering including the correct placement and size as well as the proper frame and anti-climber striping. It is disturbing that in 2005 Athearn could not do the job correctly but back in 1999 Life-Like produced a near perfect GP30. We're now done whooping on this critter.

Crown Custom Products, P.O Box 273, Woodbury, N.Y., 11797-0273, 631-692-8805 has recently released their outstanding brass model of a modern (nos. 2970-2985) GM&O transfer caboose in HO scale. The prototypes were assembled at Bloomington in 1968 and saw service throughout the GM&O system. Several lasted well into the late 1980’s working for the ICG, new IC and CCP. Three different GM&O lettering schemes are available and even an ICG version is supplied for the masochist in all of us. Painted cabooses are $195.00 each and unpainted versions of each variation are $160.00 each. The models are beautifully done, nicely weighted, with a fine center of gravity affording excellent operations. GM&O nos. 2970, 2973 and 2979 are offered each with a slightly different, but accurate, lettering scheme. The small details such as fuel and water tanks, work boxes and handrails are also correct to the specific road number. Production was very limited on all four versions however at the time of this writing the importer still had a few of each caboose in stock.

Global Outlet Corporation, 5964 N. Northwest Highway, Chicago, Il. 60631, 773-631-4951 (note new address and phone number) has informed the Society that the pilot models of their Ingalls 4S units will be arriving in Chicago from Ajin/Korea around the end of March, beginning of April. We can't wait to see all three schemes, the Ingalls Demonstrator, the original GM&O red and maroon and the solid red version. Owner Darius Lachowicz tells us that we will not be disappointed. Depending upon any changes that need to be made to the pilot models, the production run pieces should be available by early Summer. If your local hobby shop is unable to obtain a model for you, please contact GM&OHS member Charlie Volkar at Al’s Hobby Shop, 630-832-4908 to order yours. Charlie will provide you with specific details. There are only 200 total models being imported covering all three paint schemes, so don’t delay.

There is a new outlet for limited run GM&O models... Alton & Rebel Prototype Models, P.O. Box 2457, Joliet, IL. 60434 will offer limited edition cars painted and pad printed for GM&O as well as other roads. This new venture is aimed at filling the void left by End Cab Models and will also augment the fine series of models offered by the Society. A&RPM is under the control of Ken Donnelly and Dave Wagner. Please see the enclosed flyers for further details of A&RPM's first two projects featuring GM&O MOW equipment. (Please note that A&RPM paid for the enclosed order forms and also made a donation to the Society to offset the cost of enclosing and mailing the flyers.)

INFORMATION WANTED/TRADE TABLE... If you have a new or old listing for this section, please submit it as soon as possible but definitely no later than May 31, 2006. If we don't receive it, we can’t run it in the next Switchlist. Thanks!!!

The Switchlist is a quarterly publication of the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Historical Society, Inc. and is provided as a benefit of membership. The Switchlist is produced for the purpose of increasing communication between members and is edited, except where noted, by Dave Wagner. Members with information suitable for publication the Switchlist should forward it to; GM&OHS Switchlist, P.O. Box 1753, Marion, IL. 62959.