Attended the WP Historical Convention and they sure ran an excellent program. Also chatted with wpsteave and jetrock, neat guys.
It may be held in Livermore next year, if you can make it …go…
I’m mainly a Rio Grande modeler, but this means I just gotta have some WP rolling stock around. Is there anything new to report in terms of either new products or special runs of WP rolling stock we should know about?
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
The WP Conventions are always great.
Anyone have any links to pictures of the models or anything else of Interest they could post.
I had planned to go, but was unable to. I broke my ankle a couble days before.
JWar: I should have gone, instead of taking the Feather River excursion train. Turned out to be a major BUMMER of a trip, got held up by Union Pacific westbounds all day, got into Portola 5 hours late, sat on a bus for another hour waiting to go into Reno, got into Reno, decided the Hell with it, I came back to Sacramento on an Amtrak bus the next morning. I would have had MUCH more fun running into you guys in Chico and observing the WP. Any neat WP products that I should be keeping my eye out for (like a 251 2-8-8-2 in HO, for instance?).
Glad it went well. If it’s in Livermore next year, I’m GOING!!
Tom
Hi Don, hope the ankle heals quickley. I allmost didnt go myself, was under a bad flu bug then remembered my Doctor was also going to the Convention, and called his office for some meds. Went to bed thinking I wasnt going, woke up and knew I wasnent going to miss it. Don someday we will meet, was a few hours behind you at the hobby shop in YC a while back.
Tom, Sorry about the down side of your trip, but the Canyon ride must have been great. In the early sixtys, I got round trip tickets ($2.50) from Oroville to Salt Lake. My late wife and I loved the ride but the Salt Lake end was a bummer,
As far as new products, hard to tell you as it was a four way conversation, a guy chatting in the hall that was very knowelegable about it, me trying to chat to new modeling friend that lives down the street, another guy chatting with me about a guy we both knew,
They had a model display and I entered my Keddie bridge, if not just for the giggles of it…
Was chatting with WPsteave about having a clinic on the old WP Rounhouse in Oroville. at the Livermoore Convention next year…May do it…should be a few chuckles…
If you guys get up to Oroville, the coffees always on, just a few blocks from the Depot…John
It was indeed a lot of fun, I played hooky from the con for a while to go poke around in Chico. There wasn’t a whole lot of “industry news” other than the items for sale.
Scuttlebut is that the 2007 one will be somewhere around Livermore, and the 2008 con in Sacramento. I will most likely do a presentation in '08, and probably drag out a couple of my modules for public display too…should be fun.
Could any of you WP fans help me, please? I live way out on the Olympic peninsula in Port Townsend, WA. and am a 24/7 caregiver. I would appreciate any information or track/ facility plans for the interchange of WP/GN at Beiber, CA.in the late '40’s, early '50’s, including any information on the typical daily operations there. Also any info on industries/depots there and down the highline. Thanks, jc5729
John–the canyon would have been spectacular, but the people who planned this trip also forgot to wa***he windows!! Had to get into the smoking car to see any scenery at all–not that I mind smoking–but I was followed by some Yuppie Scum that complained about the smoking while seated at a table while they consumed a CASE of wine during the trip–that’s three bottles apiece–and commented that the rest of us were obviously not of their Class–whatever that was. Between them and the UP freights, I was ready to jump out the vestibule, if it had been open. Sorry, the next trip up the canyon will be by car so that I can WATCH trains, not be on them. Always loved the WP, but UP sending so many freights up and down a single-track line while ignoring Donner Pass, ostensibly because of its grades (how chicken can UP get?) just makes me wonder. We ran into more than congestion, it was Deadlock. Too bad, because I have wonderful memories of the Canyon on the California Zephyr back in the mid-sixties.
Anyway, I promise to be at next years WP convention.
Tom
Livermore is pretty convenient for us Sacramentans, although 2008 will literally be right in town! Maybe we’ll have to set up a WP/SN walking tour in town, weather permitting…
It was great talking with the guys at the convention ( never did find Jetrock)
After the convention Norma and I headed up to Norm Holme’s to pick up some depot slides and then out into the desert. We stopped at every old depot location from Portola to Winnemmuca. Found one foundationfor the depot book. Did some research in Winnemucca then back to Reno and a bit more research. Never really had any rain, the news said the folks on the west side were swimming. We just hit it right.
Hope to see you all in Livermore and Sacramento. For those that promise me material on the depots I’m ready [[:D]
WP Steve
What sort of thing are you looking for, wpsteve?
Steve, sounds like a great trip and at least the weather was better in Nev then here, Tornadoes, large hail, local flooding and worst of all cabin fever[sigh]
Check out Jetrocks Bio, his picture is posted without the numbers,[:D]you may remember seeing him.
Would like to do an hour on what went on in a diesel roundhouse by the different crafts, locomotive inspectorsamd various turn crews working off the call board, , and a few practical jokes that happened. If you think it would be interesting for the next convention I would gladley do it…John
anything about the WP depots
Wpsteve
okay then…maybe I should have Tom talk to the Old Spaghetti Factory about having a group lunch there, since it was the WP depot–a great excuse for lots of interior photographs!
Either that or a group trip up to Rio Linda to photograph the replicated SN passenger/freight depot on the former SN “rails to trails” line.
Chico was very cool indeed.
Great minds … etc etc… some kind of extra curricular trip to Old Spaghetti Factory is on my list of things to try to put together for the 2008 convention.
Don - wow. Sorry to hear about your ankle!
Tom Campbell
2008 WPRRHS Convention Chair
We all go out on Friday night looking for somewhere to eat… Maybe they could set aside a room or something… I would let us order off the menu so you have nothing to do except tell us where the place is and that they will try to seat us all together in a room ( not a table)… I’d be afraid of anything more structured ! extra charges etc. Sound cool…
WP Steve