I'm here in the hotel in Strasburg after attending my first, and not last, HRA conference. I met several people who I knew online but had never met and had a chance to get to know some people who I've met briefly before. This event is truly a "must attend" for everyone actively engaged in rail preservation and tourist railroading, in my humble opinion.

The seminars were quite informative and addressing very pertinent topics in the industry from how to staff your facility, how to find the person to take over when you leave, how to get young people involved, how to stay compliant with the IRS and several others. I know that before this weekend I was waffling on whether to implement an online ticketing system for Youngstown Steel Heritage, but after seeing a seminar now I'm convinced that not only is it a time saver but also an imperative to appeal to a wider audience.

In this thread, perhaps the RYPN'ers who attended the conference could chime in with your comments about and takeaways from the event.

Great people, great information. I've attended every Fall conference except two since 1992 (first when it was ARM, then ATRRM, now HRA). My attendance at the Spring meetings has been less regular and I didn't make this week's. I plan to be at this Fall's meet in Santa Fe.

I to am here and this is one of the better attended Spring Conferences I have been to. Great people and a huge opportunity to network and share ideas and best practices.

I am sure I probably bumped into you Rick but an terrible at trying to read name tags and greet those I have never met. If that is the case, my apologies and sorry I missed you.

Mike Ramsey

Have they considered doing individual memberships again. I know of one person who was a member of both Train and ARM and with the new group so went his membership. I might be a good idea to be inclusive instead of exclusive?

Robby

It was great seeing everyone at the conference. A special thanks to our hosts at SRR and RRMPA. I was delighted to finally meet some RYPNers in person, like Mike Ramsey, Howard Pincus and Rick Rowlands.

As some of you may know, I’m the new Regulatory Committee Chair, taking over for Bob Opal, who wanted to scale back his involvement in his retirement years. At the fall conference, Mike Ramsey and I will be doing a FRA issues seminar.

The last visit I made to the HRA website, the "Become a Member" link returned an error message, so you could not get any information on membership levels or costs.

By the way, everyone concerned with the future of the RYPN Articles section, please check out the nice work that has been done on the HRA Features Section at the HRA website.

PC

Just happened to stop by, and found three hot locomotives for this event.
Hugh

I concur; I've been to a number of these starting with ARM and this one was good.

I'm local and commuted to East Strasburg.

The Good Humor guy outside RRMPA Sunday is the real thing as is the '67 Ford with the Good Humor cab and freezer. He's there most Summer weekends; a Good Humor bar in the Summer is as refreshing as ever.

On my way home I stopped at the Wawa (Lenape word for goose) in Gap. I had passed a buggy on PA 41; it pulled into the Wawa behind me and went into a parking spot. I looked: that Wawa has a hitching rail for horses on some of its spots.

The Dutch people are real; some really do speak a dialect of German and they came here in William Penn's day because he offered freedom to practice their own religious beliefs.

Phil Mulligan

The Good Humor Man is Mike Venezia, as I found out when I went up to him looking for an ice cream sandwich!

Thanks to all who came, we all had a good time too. I enjoyed making new acquaintances as well. You all lead a charmed life in that the three days of the conference were the only three pleasant weather days we have had all spring.


At the banquet, Craig and Andrea dared each other to eat the white and purple flower garnish that came on every plate, as Linn looks on in disbelief.

Here is a random YouTube I found covering Saturday. He missed the morning freight (seven loads behind #90), though.

Kelly,

THAT is an amazing image. About on a par with some of the "89-gets-wet" photos.

I imagine copies of this will be posted on the shop bulletin board. (they certainly would be if an equivalent event occurred in Connecticut...)

Howard P.

Here is a shot of #90 on the freight thanks to Scott Lindsay.

Preston et al...

Thanks for the tip on the 'join' feature not working (yet) on the new web page, developer aware, fix in process.

This conference, like most in recent memory, has been extraordinary. It's always been a wonderful meet of people and equipment/experiences, but the quality of the experiences has been steadily increasing. I always used to look longingly at the NRHS conferences and trips, and I think these have come up to that level.

Linn really 'put out the dog' not just for us, but the public got a real show on Saturday - a beautiful spring day, the place was packed with people, and we had three hot steam locomotives, the Cagney, LO&S motorcar, HRA specials, you name it. Santa Claus showed up as well as the Good Humor man.

Thanks to everyone who passed on their knowledge and shared their experiences at the conference. This was the first I've attended and feel that I came away completely satisfied with the experience. I appreciated that the conference schedule repeated seminars often enough and had enough times that I was able to experience nearly all of them. Lancaster County also did a nice job of getting the weather right. I hope to bring some of it back to Maine with me.

It was great meeting everyone whom I had the chance to speak with and look forward to seeing you all again, wherever our tracks may cross.

Take care,
Steve Piwowarski

I'd like to thank the Strasburg Railroad for a really great job in assembling and executing this conference. Also, a thank you to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania for opening up the Railroad Hall for our seminar sessions.

The turnout for this conference far exceeded our expectations. As a result, we were a bit crowded at our venue for the Banquet. We considered a venue change but the last minute registrations just didn't provide enough time.

It is encouraging to see more and more of the younger generation taking part in these conferences. Since they are the next generation, it's important for us to welcome them and engage them in our quest for railway preservation.

I'm thinking about asking our next hosts, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, to set-up an evening event for the Next Generation attendees so we can discuss how to get them more actively involved in the HeritageRail Alliance.

Robby had a question regarding individual memberships. HeritageRail is currently set up as a 501(c)6 Trade Association, not a 501(c) charitable organization. Membership is hence restricted to organizations. Having said that, you can still receive newsletters and other mailings by getting on our email distribution list. Drop an email to contact@attrm.org with your request.

G. Mark
President, HeritageRail Alliance