Messages from President Joe Petric... By now, the entire membership should have received their copy of Issue 111 of the NEWS which was mailed in late July. Special thanks to Publications Committee Chairman Ken Donnelly, Society Secretary Marc Liberta and member Dave Wagner for handling the stuffing and mailing duties. Well done guys! Please see the Publications Committee report on page three of this newsletter for additional information concerning the NEWS.

Modeling Committee Chairman Kevin Kiper reports that orders for GM&OHS#31, our GM&O and MOW composite side gondolas, continue to roll in on a daily basis. Please see the Modeling Committee report for exciting news pertaining to additional new models for this series.

Enclosed with this Switchlist is your ballot for the election of officers and directors to lead the Society in 2007. It is your right and privilege as a member to be able to cast a vote in this election. To be counted, ballots must be received at the Society’s post office box by October 19, 2006 or you may hand deliver it to the Society’s table anytime before 3:00 PM the day of the Annual Meeting in Montgomery.

Speaking of the Annual Meeting... The 34^th Annual Meeting of the Society will be held on October 20-22, 2006 at the Roadway Inn (formerly the Ramada Inn), 1355 Eastern Blvd., Montgomery, AL. 36109, 334-277-2200. When making your reservations, please remember to mention "railroad convention" to the staff so that you can receive the reduced room rate.

Unfortunately, due to the death of Barry Teague of Montgomery, we must cancel our tour of the former Union Camp paper mill in Prattville, AL. Mister Teague, a retired employee of the mill, was to lead the tour. Without him, the corporation has withdrawn their offer of a visit. We regret the inconvenience but as you can see it is beyond our control.

Regardless, we still have a very exciting time planned for those in attendance at the Annual Meeting weekend. On Friday night, October 20^th, we will have the now traditional GM&OHS Hospitality Suite. This is a very informal get-together for all members and friends. It is free of charge and costs you nothing but your time. We will have soft drinks, snacks and a great time as well as view some very fine slides and movies. If you have friends that are interested in the GM&O, bring them along for the evening. We hope to see you there!

Saturday October 21^st begins with the Society’s Railroadiana Show and Sale. Doors open to the public at 9:00 AM. We have commitments from several "new" dealers and a number of old friends. GM&O items and models as well as artifacts from other railroads will be available for sale. This should make it a great day and just think you might be able to acquire that hard to find model or piece of railroadiana to complete your collection.

Smokey Mountain Rails, a thirty by forty foot HO scale modular 1ayout will also be on the property and operating during the day. Stop by, you may even see a GM&O train on it!

The evening begins at 6:00 PM with the Social Hour. A cash bar will be available for all. This is a nice time to mingle with those in attendance. The Banquet commences at 7:00 PM followed at 8:00 PM by a brief business meeting. After a short break, our speaker will enlighten the crowd about the GM&O in the Montgomery area and then we will be treated to a fascinating slide program.

On Sunday morning October 22^nd, a Board of Directors Meeting will take place at the motel. The exact location will be announced at the prior evening's banquet. We encourage all members to attend and see how your Society is managed.

Please use the following list of items to help you prepare for the Annual Meeting Weekend.

Secretary’s Report by Marc Liberta... I would like to acknowledge the dozens of members that have recently reconnected with the Society, and say "welcome back". It is good to have you with us again.

A newly updated Commissary Car order form is part of this mailing. Members can utilize this easy menu of Society offerings to order currently available items separate from the flyer announcing James Lemly's book reprint which are sure to go quickly. So don't delay, order a copy of this respected tome.

Publications Committee Report by Ken Donnelly... As mentioned in the President's column on page one, all members should have received their copy of Issue 111 of the NEWS by this time. I would like to thank Joe Petric for his fine article on car no. 50 and Gene Glendinning for his outstanding feature on the Chicago and Alton’s composite side gondola fleet. I would also like to extend my thanks to the Mowrer Family for providing valuable information pertaining to the story of the Amtrak wreck at Ocoya.

We have big plans for the next issue which is in the early stages of being assembled and laid out. It will be a 48 page magazine, Double Issue 112-113. It will feature the photography of Walt Peters, one of the great photographers of the C&A, Alton and GM&O eras written by his close friend Dick Wallin. We will also have a piece on when the Rebel visited Chicago as well a story from the Western Division about Louisiana, Mo. We are planning on the first installment of a feature about the GM&O's RS2 and RS3 fleets. An exciting issue to say the least. Scheduled ship date is November 2006.

Information needed... Equipment specialist Curtis Kyger is seeking information on the GM&O's gondola fleet. This includes photos, diagrams, bills of lading indicating what commodities were transported or assignments for any and all gondolas from the early 40 foot American Car and Foundry cars of the 1940’s through the 65 foot mill gondolas from Pressed Steel Corporation.

Curt is also working on a very interesting wreck article. In 1969, the GM&O was involved in an accident at Grain Valley, MO just east of Kansas City. Four F-units were destroyed in this incident. If you have a copy of the Interstate Commerce Commission accident investigation report, photos of the wreck or subsequent damaged equipment movements or first hand information we would like to hear from you.

Please forward any information on the above items to Curt's attention in care of the Society's post office box; GM&OHS, P.O. Box 1753, Marion, IL. 62959. All material will be copied and returned with our thanks.

Modeling Committee Report by the staff... We have less than half a dozen of the rerun of GM&OHS#29, the Con-Cor 15 panel hopper lettered for the GM&O 61500 series. A set of two cars is available for $45.00 postpaid. Remember, if you purchased the original three car set, this rerun contains cars with two new numbers. Please consult the Society's website, www.gmohs.org for additional details.

The deadline is fast approaching for submitting orders for GM&OHS#31, the InterMountain composite side gondolas lettered for GM&O revenue service and GM&O Maintenance of Way service. Each version is available with two different numbers.

We have had sufficient interest about producing the InterMountain composite side gondola in the original Chicago & Alton and later Alton schemes. If you like this idea, please contact Kevin Kiper at thealtonroute@comcast.net and let him know how many cars you might be interested in acquiring. If you do not have access to the internet, you can write Kevin at 326 Euclid Avenue, Monterrey, CA. 93940 (no phone calls please). To make this project work, we will have to receive commitments for at least 40 cars. Okay Alton and C&A fans here is your chance to get a one hundred percent prototypically accurate car. Don't pass up this opportunity!

See you in Montgomery! The Annual Model Contest and Display will be held on Saturday October 21, 2006 during the Railroadiana Show and Sale. Rules are simple; The model must be of a GM&O or predecessor road prototype and must be the work of the entrant. Judging categories will be determined depending upon the number of models entered in the contest. Commercially painted and lettered models can be displayed but can not be entered for judging for obvious reasons. Bring and display all your models. The more, the merrier! So let’s see them all!

Well (that is a deep subject) we spoke too soon. The express box cars from Athearn arrived at most hobby shops in early August. As we mentioned in the Summer Switchlist, the model chosen is not totally accurate but is a fair representation of the prototype. The GM&O version of the car is pretty nice looking in spite of its shortcomings however the Alton version has just one, slight, small, tiny, minuscule, hardly noticeable error; The lettering is the wrong color! It should be red. Athearn printed the car with BLACK lettering.

As a committee, we are dumbfounded by this one. Small manufacturers such as C&BT Shops and Kadee Products can do the job right, custom car producers such as Alton & Rebel Prototype Models and End Cab Models can do the job right. Even the Society can do the job right. Why can't Athearn? Enough said.

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