CRHS 2009 CONVENTION ANNOUNCEMENT - http://www.TheCRHS.org
Today, on Conrail’s 33rd birthday, we are excited to announce our second annual convention. Our 2009 convention will be held in Conrail’s home city of Philadelphia, PA from October 16th-18th. Registration will begin at 12 PM on Friday, October 16th in the hospitality room at our hotel, the Ramada Philadelphia Airport, located at 76 Industrial Highway, Essington, PA 19029. The Ramada has recently undergone a multi-million dollar renovation, is giving us ample space to mingle and hold our events. Conventioneers will have the chance to socialize as Conrail videos are played. An open slide projector will be available, and members are encouraged to bring Conrail items and memorabilia for sale or display.
At 4:30 Friday, we will call our third-quarter membership meeting to order. At 6:30, dinner will be served. This year we have arranged for a buffet featuring entrees of fish, chicken, beef, and pasta, as well as salad and a cheesecake dessert. Following dinner, we will hear from our guest speaker, who is to be announced. The evening will conclude with a pair of slide presentations. Bruce Kerr will show slides taken from both his hobbyist time, as well as during his years of service all over Conrail’s system in eastern PA, Maryland, and Delaware. Bruce is one of the most entertaining and comedic slide presenters out there, and his shows are always a thrill. The other slide presenter will be determined at a later date.
The relaxing and low-key Friday night simply leads up to our main event on Saturday. At 8 AM, our buses will depart for Amtrak’s 30th St. Station. The CRHS has been working with Amtrak, SEPTA, and the Juniata Terminal Railroad to bring you our first-ever passenger excursion! Using the beautifully-restored PRR E8s, the Conrail Express will depart 30th St. Station at 8:30 to give our members an up-close look at three of Conrail’s former freight routes in eastern PA, Delaware, and Maryland. We will depart south from 30th St. Station on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, former home of Conrail’s electric motors. Upon reaching Perryville, MD, the train will turn north for a rare-mileage trip up the Port Road Branch, Conrail’s preferred route for reaching Baltimore. The Express will go through three tunnels and cross the Shocks Mills Bridge as we wind our way up the scenic Susquehanna River valley. The train will pass through Enola Yard, once the largest freight classification yard in the world, before turning east to cross the Susquehanna once again on the world-famous Rockville Bridge. After passing through Harrisburg, the Express will live up to its name as it enters Amtrak’s Harrisburg Line for a high-speed sprint back to Philadelphia. Members who choose to ride in true style will have the option of upgrading to first-class seats inside the beautifully-restored Warrior Ridge private car.
After returning to the hotel, guests will have a bit of time to relax and shower before meeting in the hospitality room for a brief pizza dinner. At 7PM, those who choose to attend our night photography session will board the buses, bound for a location to be confirmed. The night photo sessions will conclude around 10:30 and we will arrive back at the hotels approximately 11PM.
Sunday morning will see the buses depart from the hotel at 45-minute intervals starting at 8AM. The day’s events will begin upon arrival at Ken McCorry’s incredible Buffalo Line layout. Ken’s layout depicts the entire Buffalo Line from Harrisburg to Buffalo in HO scale, and his trains actually require helpers as they try to tackle his model of Keating Summit. The buses will depart Ken’s after approximately one hour, and depart for North Philadelphia, where the Juniata Terminal will have an equipment display for us. This will give our members a chance to get up-close and personal with the locomotives that powered our excursion. The entire group will reconvene here for lunch and the group photograph with PRR 5809 and 5711, former Conrail OCS units 4020 and 4021, respectively. After the photo and lunch of hoagies, the group will be off to events that are currently in the planning stages at Conrail, and will be firmed up in the near future.
We plan on having full pricing and registration details available within a month. Other events and activities are in the works and will be announced as they are confirmed. To make sure you get pricing and activity updates as soon as they happen, send an e-mail to [email protected] to be added to the convention updates list. More information can also be found on our website at http://www.thecrhs.org, by clicking on the convention link.
As with last year, attendees are responsible for making their own hotel arrangements, the convention registration price does not include two night’s hotel accommodations. A block of rooms has been reserved for us at the Ramada at a special rate of $82.00 per night, plus tax for a room with two double beds. The hotel does not, unfortunately, include a continental breakfast with the room rental. Breakfasts are available in the on-site Gabriella’s Restaurant starting at 6AM. Reservations can be made by calling the Ramada at 610-521-9600 and mentioning the Conrail Historical Society’s block. The hotel offers amenities like 24 hour room service, on-site restaurant, on-site lounge, Olympic-sized outdoor heated pool, private balconies on all rooms, free high-speed internet and cable with HBO, and fitness center. The Ramada also offers complementary 24-hour airport shuttles. The hotel is located minutes from Interstates 76, 476, and 95, and is within easy driving distance of Amtrak’s 30th St. Station.
We are also happy to announce that our second annual convention is also going to have a second annual convention car to go with it. This year’s selection is a Penn Central class X71 ACF 50’ boxcar with PCA reporting marks, painted out as per early Conrail practice. The car will be offered in a single road number, but will come with a small sheet of number decals so modelers who desire multiples can easily remove an existing number with Solvaset and change a digit. With the success of last year’s car, this year we are having 150 produced. The cars are Accurail 5600-series boxcars, and will come fully assembled with Kadee #58 scale couplers. They will be available to convention attendees on a first-come, first-serve basis, with any remains offered to the public after the convention.
We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia this October!
Today, on Conrail’s 33rd birthday, we are excited to announce our second annual convention. Our 2009 convention will be held in Conrail’s home city of Philadelphia, PA from October 16th-18th. Registration will begin at 12 PM on Friday, October 16th in the hospitality room at our hotel, the Ramada Philadelphia Airport, located at 76 Industrial Highway, Essington, PA 19029. The Ramada has recently undergone a multi-million dollar renovation, is giving us ample space to mingle and hold our events. Conventioneers will have the chance to socialize as Conrail videos are played. An open slide projector will be available, and members are encouraged to bring Conrail items and memorabilia for sale or display.
At 4:30 Friday, we will call our third-quarter membership meeting to order. At 6:30, dinner will be served. This year we have arranged for a buffet featuring entrees of fish, chicken, beef, and pasta, as well as salad and a cheesecake dessert. Following dinner, we will hear from our guest speaker, who is to be announced. The evening will conclude with a pair of slide presentations. Bruce Kerr will show slides taken from both his hobbyist time, as well as during his years of service all over Conrail’s system in eastern PA, Maryland, and Delaware. Bruce is one of the most entertaining and comedic slide presenters out there, and his shows are always a thrill. The other slide presenter will be determined at a later date.
The relaxing and low-key Friday night simply leads up to our main event on Saturday. At 8 AM, our buses will depart for Amtrak’s 30th St. Station. The CRHS has been working with Amtrak, SEPTA, and the Juniata Terminal Railroad to bring you our first-ever passenger excursion! Using the beautifully-restored PRR E8s, the Conrail Express will depart 30th St. Station at 8:30 to give our members an up-close look at three of Conrail’s former freight routes in eastern PA, Delaware, and Maryland. We will depart south from 30th St. Station on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, former home of Conrail’s electric motors. Upon reaching Perryville, MD, the train will turn north for a rare-mileage trip up the Port Road Branch, Conrail’s preferred route for reaching Baltimore. The Express will go through three tunnels and cross the Shocks Mills Bridge as we wind our way up the scenic Susquehanna River valley. The train will pass through Enola Yard, once the largest freight classification yard in the world, before turning east to cross the Susquehanna once again on the world-famous Rockville Bridge. After passing through Harrisburg, the Express will live up to its name as it enters Amtrak’s Harrisburg Line for a high-speed sprint back to Philadelphia. Members who choose to ride in true style will have the option of upgrading to first-class seats inside the beautifully-restored Warrior Ridge private car.
After returning to the hotel, guests will have a bit of time to relax and shower before meeting in the hospitality room for a brief pizza dinner. At 7PM, those who choose to attend our night photography session will board the buses, bound for a location to be confirmed. The night photo sessions will conclude around 10:30 and we will arrive back at the hotels approximately 11PM.
Sunday morning will see the buses depart from the hotel at 45-minute intervals starting at 8AM. The day’s events will begin upon arrival at Ken McCorry’s incredible Buffalo Line layout. Ken’s layout depicts the entire Buffalo Line from Harrisburg to Buffalo in HO scale, and his trains actually require helpers as they try to tackle his model of Keating Summit. The buses will depart Ken’s after approximately one hour, and depart for North Philadelphia, where the Juniata Terminal will have an equipment display for us. This will give our members a chance to get up-close and personal with the locomotives that powered our excursion. The entire group will reconvene here for lunch and the group photograph with PRR 5809 and 5711, former Conrail OCS units 4020 and 4021, respectively. After the photo and lunch of hoagies, the group will be off to events that are currently in the planning stages at Conrail, and will be firmed up in the near future.
We plan on having full pricing and registration details available within a month. Other events and activities are in the works and will be announced as they are confirmed. To make sure you get pricing and activity updates as soon as they happen, send an e-mail to [email protected] to be added to the convention updates list. More information can also be found on our website at http://www.thecrhs.org, by clicking on the convention link.
As with last year, attendees are responsible for making their own hotel arrangements, the convention registration price does not include two night’s hotel accommodations. A block of rooms has been reserved for us at the Ramada at a special rate of $82.00 per night, plus tax for a room with two double beds. The hotel does not, unfortunately, include a continental breakfast with the room rental. Breakfasts are available in the on-site Gabriella’s Restaurant starting at 6AM. Reservations can be made by calling the Ramada at 610-521-9600 and mentioning the Conrail Historical Society’s block. The hotel offers amenities like 24 hour room service, on-site restaurant, on-site lounge, Olympic-sized outdoor heated pool, private balconies on all rooms, free high-speed internet and cable with HBO, and fitness center. The Ramada also offers complementary 24-hour airport shuttles. The hotel is located minutes from Interstates 76, 476, and 95, and is within easy driving distance of Amtrak’s 30th St. Station.
We are also happy to announce that our second annual convention is also going to have a second annual convention car to go with it. This year’s selection is a Penn Central class X71 ACF 50’ boxcar with PCA reporting marks, painted out as per early Conrail practice. The car will be offered in a single road number, but will come with a small sheet of number decals so modelers who desire multiples can easily remove an existing number with Solvaset and change a digit. With the success of last year’s car, this year we are having 150 produced. The cars are Accurail 5600-series boxcars, and will come fully assembled with Kadee #58 scale couplers. They will be available to convention attendees on a first-come, first-serve basis, with any remains offered to the public after the convention.
We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia this October!
