Elizabeth and I arrived at the Days Inn in Corvallis and checked in. I realized that the memory stick that I was going to use to put my Friday night show on did not have enough space so I went to Office Max and bought a 32 gigabyte memory stick which was more than plenty. Later we drove over to Corvallis High School, the site of Winterail and met good friends Steve Barry and Greg Molloy in the lunch area. I gave the memory stick to Justin Franz, Associate Editor of Railfan and Railroad Magazine and then relaxed. Steve Ferrari, our friend and President of the Central Coast Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, arrived and we chatted with him and two friends from Carson City, Nevada who had been involved with the last year's Great Western Steam-Up.
The pizzas arrived late this year but everyone enjoyed them and paid the ten dollars, receiving a wrist band and door prize ticket. At 6:00 PM, the doors to the theatre opened and we took seats in the usual location in the upper seating area. Steve Barry, editor of Railfan and Railroad, welcomed all of us and introduced the first presenter, Bruce Blackadar, whose presentation was "Stepping Back, Looking Back - The First 55 Years". That was followed by Gary Miller and "Drumheller Sub Photography". Steve was third with "Steam in Pennsylvania and Maryland" featuring East Broad Top, Reading and Northern 2102 and Western Maryland 1309. Justin Franz then showed his Montana photography and other locations from the last twelve months.
After a 20 minute break, Jim Thoreau showed "True Steam Sugar", a brief look at the U.S. Sugar Company 4-6-2 148. Next was Randy Nelson with his "Randy's Scrapbook", a look at railroads that he visited in the last year. Greg Molloy then showed his program from his trip to Portugal, which included scenes from fifty years ago when he was last there. The penultimate show of the evening was by Mike Pechner who showed Southern Pacific 4449, Northwestern Pacific and snow in the Sierras. My "A Year of Trains in the Life of Chris Guenzler" was the final program of the night.
All the shows were unique and very well-suited for the Friday night audience. Steve thanked all of us for attending and then the two of us returned to the hotel for the night.
3/18/2023 Elizabeth and I awoke and after doing all of our preparations, went to Elmer's and enjoyed an excellent breakfast then returned to the room before I drove us to the Winterail site of Corvallis High School. We had a short wait and the fellow behind us was carrying a box of books and DVDs which he offered for free to those around him. Elizabeth chose two books and I chose two DVDS, "Montana Rail Link" and "Roseville to Truckee". Once inside I visited the Catenary Video table, buying "The Trains We Missed volume 2 - Logging and Mining Shortlines" and "California North Coast Logging Railroads" DVDs, and at another table, found three Pentrex DVDs, "Mexico Pacifico Railroad", "NdeM Northern Mexico Rails" and "NdeM Central Mexico Railroad Volume 2". I also acquired "Chard Walker's Cajon - Rail Passage to the Pacific". After looking around the rest of the vendors, I started the line into the theater and enjoyed my book. Some time later, Elizabeth joined me, having been very successful. Not only had she picked up several issues of Railroad Magazine from the 1970's to fill in some holes in her magazine collection, but she also acquired "Pacific Electric in Colour Volume 2", "Pullman Company List of Cars 1961", "Illustrated Treasury of Pullman Standard Railway Passenger Cars Since 1945 Volume 1", "Pullman and Private Car Pictorial" and "Car Names, Numbers and Consists".
At 11:15, the theatre doors were opened and the two of us took our usual place in the upper reaches of the theatre. At noon, Vic and Annie Neves gave the pre-show anouncements then at 12:15 PM, the shows started, with Warren Haack showing a portion of his newest DVD, "Trains we Missed Volume 2" from the Catenary Video Production. That was followed at 12:45 by Evan Werkema and his "Merger and Mayhem" before we broke for an hour lunch, during which I walked three-quarters of a mile around the track while Elizabeth attended to some NRHS business.
At 2:15 PM, "Tacoma Rail Mountain Division" was presented by Natt Shedd then at 3:05 PM, "The First 55 Years" by Bruce Blackadar. It was then time for "Three Favorites" which were shown at 4:00. After that, a two hour dinner break during which Elizabeth and, along with Steve Ferrari, went to Shari's for dinner and good conversations were had. The two of us returned to our room with my Pittsburgh Penguins losing to the New York Rangers 6-0 this evening.
We returned to Winterail and the evening's shows were underway at 6:30 PM, with Bruce Barrett's "Yellow Box Moments". That was followed by Steve Barry's "Pennsylvania Steam Railroads", then at 7:25 PM, we all enjoyed "Falling Flags" by Steve Carter. At 7:50 PM, the Photo Contest winners were announced. The Recreational Color winner was Ben Kletzer and Recreational Black and White Holly Engelman. Second Place Recreational Color was Dan Colby. First place Revenue Color Gregory Weirich. Second place Revenue Color Reed Skyllingstad and First Place Revenue Black and White Dale Skyllingstad. The Winterail Hall of Fame Winner was Kirk Baer. At 8:10 PM "Slavic Steam" was shown by Ben Kletzer then at 8:30 PM, the saddest program of the day was by Dave Honan and Jeff Roberston called "Last of the Loggers - Englewood Railway on Vancouver Island" and to finish Winterail, Jeff Mast presented "Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Post 1968 Abandonments -The Magic Continues". Winterail 2023 was now complete and Vic thanked everyone for attending and hoped to see all of us, and new faces, on March 16, 2024.
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