Horseshoe Curve, NRHS - Chapter Activities and Events

CRHS 2008 CONVENTION ANNOUNCEMENT - www.TheCRHS.org

April 1, 2008, 32 years after Conrail was created, the Conrail Historical Society is proud to announce our 2008 Convention! Alto '08 will be held October 24th through the 26th, 2008 deep in the heart of Conrail country, Altoona, PA. The convention kicks off Friday in the hospitality room at our hotel the "Conrail Quality Inn", 2915 Pleasant Valley Boulevard, Altoona, PA 16602. Transportation to the hotel will be provided for any Convention attendees that arrive on Amtrak or fly into the Blair County Regional Airport (Airport code AOO Martinsburg, PA). An open slide projector will be available for
presentations, and videos will be playing throughout the day on Friday. Members are welcome to bring any Conrail related items they wish to offer for sale and are also encouraged to bring other items that they would like to simply display on the Member Collection's tables. Our 4th quarter membership meeting will begin at 5pm in the hospitality room as well. The night will conclude with a 21165 N7E Bay Window Caboose media presentation, night photography set up at three locations and an open slide projector upon return to the hotel.

Our first photography location will be at the Altoona Railroader's Memorial Museum (ARMM) outdoors on the museum grounds using the Conrail Wreck Derrick 45215. This derrick was built for the New York Central Railroad, transferred to Penn Central and then to Conrail, before being retired in the early 1990's when it was acquired by the ARMM from Conrail's Chicago Division, Elkhart IN.. It is a self-propelled, diesel powered derrick built in 1941 by Industrial Brownhoist and is capable of lifting 250 tons. The crane was put back into service by Museum volunteer Neil Myers. A night scene depiction of a wreck site using the crane, CRHS member Ed Lewis' restored Conrail Hi-Rail truck and other pieces of equipment will be lit up for photographers.

The night photography parade will then depart for Coburn Road, or better known as "The Brickyard" for more unique photographs and conclude with fantastic lighting in place illuminating the Gallitzin Tunnels. The restored PRR caboose and gift shop will be open to convention attendees upon arrival. Transportation will be provided for all night photographers from the hotel to the three locations. Again, we will be leaving the hotel at 7pm and should return back to the hotel around 11pm.

Saturday morning we will have a continental breakfast in the hotel at 7am. Convention vans will then depart the hotel at 8am for our guided tour of Conrail's Allegheny crossing. Attendees will receive Commemorative Trip Books that are loaded with tons of useful information. You won't want to be caught railfanning Altoona and the West Slope again without it! An audio tour will also help explain some of the area and it's history as we travel to several famous hot spots such as South Fork (home of the SD80MAC's), Summerhill, Cassandra, Lilly, Cresson, Gallitzin, Altoona and Horseshoe Curve. Lunch will be provided on the overlook at Cassandra. John Shuniak, the Mayor of Cassandra will have the Cassandra Overlook Motel gift shop open and also provide our guests with restroom facilities. Our tour of the West Slope will continue moving east as we follow freight traffic to new locations. We expect to return to our hotel by 5:00pm allowing people the chance to clean up for the evening activities.

Our Saturday evening banquet begins at 6pm at our Convention Hotel with a social hour. Dinner will be served at 7pm, followed by our evening's Guest Speaker, unannounced at this time. The group will then enjoy two fabulous slide presentations. Conrail Locomotive Engineer, Roger Durfee's presentation, "Conrail's Rainbow Turns to Blue" will showcase Conrail from the early rainbow years through the highly profitable final years. Conrail Scale Inspector, John Durant's presentation will then feature "Conrail's Scale Car Department through the eyes of an Inspector". An open slide projector will again be available to any members wishing to share their photography to conclude the evening.

David Seidel, Founding Officer and current Historian with the Horseshoe Curve Chapter of the NRHS and Author of the new book published by Arcadia Publishing, "Horseshoe Curve" will be offering a book signing during the evening. The book, carried not only locally by the Altoona Railroader's Memorial Museum and Horseshoe Curve gift shops but as well as Barnes & Noble is a great book. Dave has assigned all royalties from the book to benefit the Railroader's Memorial Museum.

Sunday morning's continental breakfast in the hotel at 7am will kick off an exclusive opportunity for CRHS members. Ten years after Norfolk Southern took over operations of Conrail's Juniata Locomotive Shop, the Thoroughbred of Transportation has tentatively approved plans to allow CRHS Convention Attendees a tour of the Juniata Locomotive Facility! To our knowledge, this is the first time since the Conrail split that an organization has been able to tour the facility.

Lunch will be provided at the Altoona Railroader's Memorial Museum. Tours will then be given of the museum as well as inside several pieces of equipment such as the Mountain View and Charles Schwab's private car "Loretto". We will also participate in a very unique experience on the Museum grounds where a live demonstration using the Conrail Wreck Derrick will be given.

Other events and activities yet to be confirmed will be announced in the near future. Look for complete details to be in the mail shortly along with a travel guide loaded with discounts and coupons to area attractions for the family to enjoy while you're busy singing the Blues as you're fed, shuttled and entertained during a fun-filled, non-stop three day weekend in Altoona, PA!

Convention attendees must make their own hotel arrangements. A special rate of $69.00 per night has been secured for us and reservations can be made by calling the Quality Inn at (814) 944-4581 and mentioning the Conrail Historical Society Group Account. Hotel amenities include an onsite restaurant with entertainment (our rooms are on the opposite corner of the property), exercise room, free high speed internet, in-room safes, outdoor garden café, on-site laundry, copy/fax services, hair dryer, whirlpool suites and an outdoor heated pool. The Quality Inn is conveniently located off Interstate 99, exit 32 Frankstown Road.

In connection with Altoona 2008, we are extremely proud to release another first! As shown below, this run of 100 custom freight cars in HO scale are based on the ACF CenterFlow ™ design delivered to the Erie Lackawanna Railroad in 1968. The cars were turned over to Conrail in 1976. Shortly after, they were stenciled and lettered for Conrail, with the exception of the EL "diamond" logo. Fifty-two of these cars were transferred to Conrail, and the numbers of our cars reflect the actual road numbers.

Our cars are Accurail 2000 series cars, custom decorated by Accurail, and custom numbered to reflect actual road numbers. Two of each road number are available, for a total of 50 different accurate road numbers. Cars are assembled and feature Kadee™ #58 scale knuckle couplers. These 100 cars are being offered by the Conrail Historical Society as the show car at our 2008 Annual Convention in Altoona, PA on a first come, first serve basis. At the conclusion of the convention, any cars still available will then be made available to members who could not attend and the general public via the Conrail Shoppe.

The Conrail Historical Society, Inc.'s 2008 Altoona, PA Convention is being sponsored by Brian's Model Trains, Herr's Potato Chips, RSC Equipment Rental, Pepsi-Cola Bottling, Horseshoe Curve Chapter NRHS, Dick's Train Store, Cassandra Overlook Motel and RailPace Company.