Trip Report by Mark J. Redmond

ARM 30th anniversary celebration

By Mark J. Redmond

To celebrate the Museum's 30th anniversary we moved our big open house event to March 1st so we could see about getting more people to attend. With that in mind we decided to see if we could get the Amtrak Exhibit Train to our event. As luck would have it Amtrak was happy to accommodate us and our biggest open house was all set. Everything was all set, except for the weather. Yep, the one thing we could not control was the weather. However, Mother Nature must love rail fans as all the rain that hit much of the Valley went around us and we wound up with 2440 visitors Saturday and 388 Sunday setting a attendance record for a weekend. As promised here are pictures of our event.

The Amtrak Exhibit Train arrives February 28, 2014

Sunrise Friday.	The sun rise and the PCC 4607 trolley.	The Amtrak train comes down the Chandler branch line.	Amtrak reaches the switch.	Amtrak entering our track.	Getting closer.

The excitement is building as the Exhibit Train enters the ladder track.	Click on the ARM logo above and you can watch a video I took of the train coming in.	The Exhibit Train goes onto track 5.	Amtrak 822 along side the Diablo Canyon, Vista Canyon and ATSF 504.	Another view of Amtrak 822 the Vista Canyon and ATSF 504 Plaza Taos.	The Exhibit Train parked on track 5.

Amtrak locomotive 822.	Amtrak 822, Plaza Taos and the Jane Marie to the far right.	The SP 4710 caboose.	.	.	Looking down the ladder tracks.

A clearer picture of the Exhibit Train on track 5.	Amtrak HEP power locomotive 406.	Photo by Mark Lipcznski from his drone.	Photo by Mark Lipcznski from his drone.	Photo by Mark Lipcznski from his drone.	Photo by Mark Lipcznski from his drone.

This year I finally got smart and got one of the volunteers to be a full time photographer. I asked my nephew Colby Redmond who is the photographer in all pictures below unless mentioned otherwise.

Mark does a radio check while working with the greeting table.	Dan Melucci and Bob Leivian on the TC&GB #15 caboose.	Mariann & Craig Shields walk past the greeting table.	Parking lot is ready. The Explorers are on duty.	Entering the Amtrak Exhibit Train you meet a car attendant from the 70's.	A time line display.

Throughout the Exhibit Train are HO examples of past and current Amtrak trains.	A typical dining set up.	Old advertising.	Here are a few posters used in the past for advertising.

A military discount poster.	Conductor uniforms.	More advertising posters.		1980's advertising.

	The glare was tough but here are some Amtrak police patches.		Buttons to push. Hear the various train horns. No, via a speaker not the horns themselves.

Anyone want to play engineer?	A functional signal display. Turn the switches to the right and change the lights.	Various locomotive models.	Typical seating.	A two person compartment.	A closer view.

Where you wash up.	Typical ticket stamping equipment.	The frame from the center car truck.	A future version of Amtrak?	You can get your Amtrak HO equipment. Reasonable prices too.	Even Yogi the Bear likes Amtrak.

The lounge area where the give-a-ways are handed out.	Steve Whisel and other staff pass the time waiting for the opening.	The head lamp from the SP2355 locomotive from 'Save Our Train".	The steam whistle from the SP2355 locomotive from 'Save Our Train".	Mark, Larry, partially hidden by Craig and Russ wait for the UP presentation in the Regal Phoenix.	The Union Pacific presented the Museum with this framed poster for our 30th anniversary.

Larry Benedict accepts the picture from UP's Zoe Richmond.	The Chandler Police Explorers on duty.	Our first visitors arrive.	The cloud cover offers a chance to see the lighting on the SP 2652.	Again the cloud cover offered this wonderful view of the Indian Chief glass etching in the Denehotso.	The PCC7607 trolley.

The Turquoise Room in the ATSF 504 Astro Dome car.	John Julien and team created this new Lionel/HO scale layout in the TC&GB 304 box car.	The original layout is still there.	A small display track above the Lionel layout.	Visitors arriving on the Chandler Lions Club hay ride.	OH BOY TRAINS!

A little cool but no need for the umbrella. Never really rained.	Gretchen Cook shows visitors where things are on the map.	Joe Debellis and sons head to the ATSF 999741 caboose.	A young visitor.	The Chandler Fire Department arrives.

One of many displays the Winslow Harvey Girls brought.		Peggy Nelson talks to one of the visitors.		One of the displays the Union Pacific brought.

UP's Will Oliver and Zoe Richmond talk to visitors.	A family checks out the fire truck.		No caption needed. Just a great picture.	Visitors in the Vista Canyon lounge.

Cloudy but no rain.	The dining room in the Jane Marie.	One of the compartments in the Silver Star.	A compartment in the Federal.	The upper bunk.	One of the lounges in the Eugene Field.

The Eugene Field kitchen.	The other lounge in the Eugene Field	A painting in the Eugen Field.	Never to old to be a kid. Notice who is wearing an Operation Lifesaver hat.	A line forms at the Baldwin #10.	Two youngsters check out the Rocket.

		Yes, going on a train.			Ominous but no rain.

Is that the sun back there?	The skies start to clear complete with a rainbow.	Winslow Harvey Girls Peggy Nelson, Chris Payne & Janice Stewart pose on the Amtrak Exhibit Train.	Checking out the Amtrak china.	Winslow Harvey Girls Peggy Nelson, Chris Payne & Janice Stewart pose on the Amtrak Exhibit Train.	Janice Stewart and Peggy Nelson.