FLYING YANKEE TO RECEIVE INTERNATIONAL AWARD
American Welding Society Selects Flying Yankee To Receive Historic Welded Structure Award
Glen, NH – Officials from the Flying Yankee Restoration Group, located in Glen, NH, announced today that the American Welding Society (AWS),
which is based in Miami, FL, has selected the historic Flying Yankee passenger train to be the sole recipient of the American Welding Society’s
prestigious Historic Welded Structure Award for 2004.
The AWS Historical Welded Structure award honors structures which are at least 35 years of age and have had a significant impact on history.
The award celebrates advances made in welding and the importance the welding played in the development of key products. Other well-known
recipients of this international award include the St. Louis Arch, the Hoover Dam, the Tokyo Tower, the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier, and
the USS Nautilus submarine. The Flying Yankee will become the very first train of any type to receive the American Welding Society’s prestigious
Historic Welded Structure award.
“The AWS Historical Welded Structure award supports and promotes the realization of greater dreams, while reminding the public of the important
role welding has in our lives,” says Jim Greer, AWS president. “Past recipients of the AWS Historical Welded Structure awards depict and
showcase marvels of technology and ingenuity achieved through welding.”
Built in 1935 by the E.G. Budd Company in Philadelphia, PA, engineers and builders of the Flying Yankee introduced Shot Welding to the
manufacturing industry when they fabricated the stainless steel used in constructing the 3-car, diesel-electric passenger train. This
unique Shot Welding technology not only revolutionized the manufacturing industry in 1935, but it is still in use today.
The presentation and celebration of the AWS Historic Welded Structure award will take place over a two-day period. The formal presentation of
the Historic Welded Structure award will take place at the John O. Morton building on Hazen Drive in Concord, NH on Friday, October 8, 2004 at
1pm and will be open to invited guests and the media. Accepting the award on behalf of the owners of the train, the State of New Hampshire,
will be NH Department of Transportation Commissioner Carol Murray. Joining Commissioner Murray in accepting the award will be the President of the
Flying Yankee Restoration Group, Mr. R. Stoning Morrell. Also on hand for the presentation ceremonies in Concord will be AWS officials from
Florida, New Hampshire and Vermont, members of the Flying Yankee Restoration Group, employees of the Claremont Concord Railroad, NHDOT officials,
significant contributors, and invited guests.
Following the formal award presentation ceremony in Concord on Friday, October 8th, will be a public presentation and celebration of the award
on Saturday afternoon, October 9, 2004 at the Claremont Concord Railroad (CCRR). Located on Industrial Boulevard in Claremont, NH, the CCRR
is an active short-line railroad in business for over 120 years, and has been involved with the mechanical restoration of the Flying Yankee
since November 1997. Those interested in attending the public event in Claremont will have the unique opportunity to not only witness the
re-presentation of the AWS Historic Welded Structure award, but enjoy free guided tours the Flying Yankee, a slide presentation on the
history of the Flying Yankee narrated by noted train historian Dick Gassett of Newport, NH, as well as historic train displays and more.
Saturday’s activities will take place at the CCRR from 1pm to 4pm on October 9th and are free to the public.
The restoration of the Flying Yankee is a unique partnership between the State of New Hampshire and the Flying Yankee Restoration Group, Inc.
– a non-profit organization. The mechanical restoration of the Flying Yankee is managed by the NH Department of Transportation – Bureau of
Rail and Transit, while fundraising activities, marketing, public relations, sales of Flying Yankee collectibles and site selection for
eventual operation of the train is managed by the Flying Yankee Restoration Group. Nearly $2.5 million dollars in private and grant
funding have been carefully spent on the restoration over the past seven years, while an estimated $1.5 million dollars will be required
in order to complete the train’s restoration and testing.
Operated jointly by the B&M Railroad and the Maine Central Railroad from 1935 to 1957, the Flying Yankee is one of only three articulated,
3-car passenger trains of this type ever to be manufactured. When restoration of the train is complete, the Flying Yankee will be the only
train of its type to ever operate again, anywhere in the world.
For more information regarding the Flying Yankee restoration or the American Welding Society’s Historic Welded Structure award, visit the
Flying Yankee’s website at
www.flyingyankee.com the AWS’s official web site at
www.aws.org, or contact the Flying Yankee main office in
Glen, NH by calling (603) 383-4186, ext. 117.
Pictures of the Flying Yankee (past and present) *note the different logos on the front of the train*
http://www.flyingyankee.com/photos.html
It takes real skill to choke on air, fall up the stairs and trip over nothing. I have those skills.