September 2011

SEPTEMBER 2011
VOL 24, #9
REMINDER
The LOCO track will be closed to the public on Sunday Oct 2 so that members can
assist with the Day Out With Thomas event held at the Oklahoma Rail Museum
AROUND THE LOCO TRACK
It has definitely been a sweltering summer at LOCO and the opportunity to accomplish
track work has been limited to working in the early part of the morning and calling it
quits by noon. Even with the heat, we had a great turnout of members ready to help
ballast and lay track over three Saturday’s in August.
AUGUST 13. The crew is out bright and early, the hopper cars are full of ballast and it
is time to finish ballast the next 150 feet of track going up the High Line. In the picture
below, John has the train ready and the tools are also being prepped for the work crew.
By mid-morning, the crew is past the runaway switch and headed up the hill.
By lunch, it is now around 105 degrees outside and the crew finally works up to the
shade.
The picture below is of the High Line track looking south down the hill. Too hot to work
any longer and the crew is putting the tools away.
AUGUST 20. Once again the crew takes advantage of the cooler part of the morning
and continues the track work up the east side of the High Line. Another 80 feet of base
ballast, track and finish ballast is completed in one day.
AUGUST 27. By 9 AM the crew is quickly approaching the yard throat to Fawcett Yard.
Four people on shovels, two people on finish ballast and track leveling, two more on
track laying, one driving the train and another to fill the hopper cars. By the end of the
third work Saturday morning, the crew reached the top of the hill!
Now isn’t that a great sight. The first 475 feet of the High Line is now in place…and
runable for those that want to climb the hill and then back their train down the hill.
TRAIN STOPS
Art has been working his welding magic once again and has created quite a few of the
end-of-track train stops seen in the picture below. These stops definitely work great .
GRAIN INDUSTRY UPGRADE
The pictures below are the next step in upgrading the grain silos industry at the LOCO
track. In the pictures below, the head house has new material on it (awaiting paint) and
the silos are now painted a nice fresh white. A dome cap has been added to the large
silo and the plumbing now connects it to the other silos.
PREZ SAYS
It seems like the blistering heat of this summer would never end. Finally cooler
air moved in and operations at LOCO are getting back to normal. One
example was the September 4 public run day when a large number of the
public turned out to enjoy riding our trains. We received $77 in much needed
donations.
Many of you have already signed up to work on the "Day Out With Thomas"
event, but please check your schedule and see if you can work even more
hours. For each full day worked, LOCO will receive a donation of $62 or $31
for a half day worked. Workers are much needed for the last day of Thomas
which is Sunday, October 2. Since our track will not be open to the public that
day, those that normally haul the public are urged to sign up for Thomas.
Please note that the September 18, fun run will start at 4:00pm after the Pott
County Sheriff's picnic. The days are getting shorter so we plan to get in some
night running.
TRUMAN HEFNER
FROM THE SECRETARY
LOCO Board of Directors Meeting September 3, 2011
Directors Present: Truman Hefner, James Duncan, Susan Carey
Members Present: Joe Fawcett, Tom Herzog, Les Coker
Meeting called to order at 12:25PM
Minutes of the August 6, 2011 board meeting were approved as presented.
Treasurer’s report was presented by James Duncan and approved by the board.
New Business
Les Coker was nominated and approved by the Board of Directors to replace Mike
Rudd as secretary following Mike’s resignation.
Joe Fawcett agreed to head up the nominating committee for the upcoming Board of
Directors elections.
The board authorized the expenditure of up to $200.00 for the purchase of club T-shirts.
This will insure that the minimum quantity requirements for the order will be met.
James Duncan has completed the paperwork necessary to file for a real estate tax
exemption on behalf of LOCO. James will file the application with the county tax
commission.
Booth rental for the train show in December has been paid.
Repairs to the floor in the women’s restroom were discussed and will be implemented
before the Sheriff’s department picnic.
Meeting adjourned at 01:06PM
LES COKER
FROM THE TREASURER
I’m going to keep it simple this month. Here is the condensed financial report.
Start of August total:
$3166.78
Income for the month:
$367.65
Expenditures for August: $662.73
End of the month total: $2,871.70
JAMES DUNCAN
FROM THE EDITOR
SEP 18th Pott County Sheriff’s Department function and LOCO fun run day: On
the 18th of Sept, we will once again host the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s department
at LOCO from 10 AM until 4 PM. We will need a large turnout of members to support
the event, because due to the size of the group, we continuously operate two trains
during that time. As in previous years, the day shift personnel typically are there in the
morning through lunch time with their families, and the evening shift comes in the
afternoon with their families. For those LOCO members helping, the sheriff’s
department typically feeds us for lunch also.
For those at the track last weekend, we’ve also switched from track work to making sure
the track and grounds are spotless again for our guests. Leaf raking and general cleanup after the heat of the summer has taken its toll on the trees is underway. After the
Sheriff’s department folks leave, we then plan on having our club monthly run starting
after our typical pot luck dinner. With the temps being cooler and sunset coming on
earlier, it will be fun to operate both in daylight and into the dark of the evening. We’ve
not experienced night running in some time, and it is actually quite enjoyable. At night,
the track takes on a whole new perspective that is enjoyed by all.
BoD ELECTIONS: Election time is upon us once again, and the board has asked me
to canvas the membership to see who would like to run for one of the seats this year.
The term in question will run from Jan 2012 thru Dec 2013. The current incumbents for
those positions are:
Susan Carey, Carl Bogardus, and Les Coker (note: Les was recently voted onto the
board to replace Mike Rudd who had to resign several months ago. (Les is filling the
position through the end of the term that Mike would have served.) So who would like to
run this year?
To serve on the board, you must be a full member of the club and be voted in by the
majority of the membership. The sequence of events are typically as follows… First the
membership is canvassed top see who would like to run for the three positions up for
election. Second, the names of members that go on the ballot are announced at the
October BoD meeting. Third, ballots are sent out in November which need to be
returned by the Dec meeting. The ballots are then counted and the winners announced.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve taken a little liberty with this since we’ve usually
tied the ballot counting at a general membership meeting just prior to Christmas so that
we could share a family meal with train operations, and then announce the winners. In
order to save on postage, ballots will once again be sent out electronically, and
members can respond electronically or send their ballots in by mail.
ANNUAL TRAIN SHOW: The club has once again decided to put our best foot forward
and participate at the annual train show at the Fairgrounds. You need to mark your
calendars now for the event. Friday evening December 2 nd (drop off and set up) through
Sunday December 4th. LOCO is still looking for a LOCO member to set up and run the
event for us. Marshall and Susan have once again agreed to help the club by taking
pictures of people on Double Aught. Please let any one of the BoD members know if
you can help set up this event. Once a member is selected to run the event for us, Joe
Fawcett has a solid checklist that you can use to get things going.
FUTURE THOUGHT – NEW EXTERIOR BATHROOM: The current trailer bathroom
has served the club well for around ten years now. It was donated by a previous
member and has definitely fulfilled its need. However, it has aged and time and time is
not always kind to structures with an untreated wooden base. We’ve recently begun
some emergency repairs of the floor in the door areas, and have found that the base
wooden structure for the trailer has rotted out and entire sections of wood need to be
replaced. In working these repairs, our thoughts have now gone to thinking that it will be
necessary in the next few years to replace the trailer, with something that will be more
permanent for our club needs. Hence, our thoughts of building a new bathroom facility.
Initial thoughts are to create a new bathroom facility at the same site on a concrete slab,
but create it with a bit more usability. We would still have a men’s room on one side and
a ladies room on the other side, but we are now thinking that we might be able to create
something that looks like a train station, have the rest rooms on either end, but have a
station office in the middle to hand out train riding tickets to our monthly passengers.
This center room would also be used to take up the liability release forms that we
require of our riders.
If anyone has plans or ideas of a nice old fashioned station looking building with a foot
print of 16’ X 34’, now is the time to let us see what you have…
Joe
UPCOMING EVENTS
SEP
OCT
3 – BoD Meeting
1-2 DOWT Event
4 – Public run day
16 – Club Run Day/Potluck Dinner
17 - Birthday Party
18 – Pott County Sheriff’s
18 - Club Run Day/Potluck Dinner (start at 4 PM)
23-25 – DOWT Event
30 Sep – 2 Oct DOWT Event
ABOUT LOCO
Track Address
29626 SE 104th St.
McLoud, OK 74851
Directors
TRUMAN HEFNER
President
CARL BOGARDUS
Vice President
JAMES DUNCAN
Treasurer
SUSAN CAREY
Board Member
MARSHALL LEE
Board Member
LES COKER
Secretary
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS
Resident -- $100
Associate -- $25 (anyone living more than 60 miles from the LOCO facility)