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By John Walker with photos by Mike Mucklin
The WPRRHS 2000 Convention in Quincy was another great success! Fifty six persons attended. We had guests from as far away as Missouri, Texas, Salt Lake City and several from southern California. A nice selection of models and photos was displayed and sales were brisk at the FRRS gift shop table hosted by Lolli Bryan. Memorabilia displays included WP photos from the Portola Railroad Museum archives, California Zephyr advertising, track diagram books and Sacramento Northern photos from the Yuba City and Marysville area. Presentations were given on several subjects on Friday. These included lectures on the Great Western Power Company and it's railroads by Frank Beavers. The Keddie Wye by Tom Lawler. Modeling WP Steam tenders by Al Wood and the Quincy Railroad by Kent Stephens. After the dinner break, Kent returned with a program on the Railroads of Plumas County and the evenings entertainment concluded with a slide show by BNSF engineer Travis Berryman on BNSF operations on the Inside Gateway. On Saturday morning, our guests began the day by touring the Plumas County Museum in Quincy. Returning to the Plumas County Fairgrounds, presentations were given on the Key Route and Sacramento Northern operations in the East Bay by Clark Frazier and modeling WP stock cars using the Westerfield kit by Tom Lawler.
After a delicious lunch, we had a two hour panel discussion with Bob Larson, Steve Habeck, Roy Lopez and Travis Berryman on what it is like to be a railroad engineer. Steve Habeck then took our guests to a photo session featuring Quincy Railroad diesel engine number 5. Following a fantastic dinner served by Caron Stockton of the Back Door Grill & Catering Company of Quincy, model and photo contest prizes were awarded. Taking top honors this year were:
Outgoing WPRRHS Administrator John Walker then spoke to the guests. John recounted the history of the WPRRHS, how it was formed, what it had set out to do, what it had accomplished and what may be on the horizon for the future. John then introduced incoming WPRRHS Administrator Thom Anderson who spoke of his plans for the future and introduced convention site chairman Steve Hayes who announced that the 2001 convention will be held in Modesto and that the 2002 convention would be held in the Marysville/Yuba City area.
The evenings entertainment began with a slide show by Evan Werkama on the history of Stockton Tower. Bob Larson showed us some of the engines and people he had known during his career on the WP. Jim Cooper then shared some vintage WP slides with us from the collection of the late Jerry McQueen of Susanville. Despite a few glitches in the schedule, everyone had a great time and left looking forward to next years convention. Once again, the event covered it's costs and raised an additional $353.61 which will be donated to the Arthur Walter Keddie Railroad Library Fund at the Portola Railroad Museum. Convention Chairman John Walker would like to acknowledge the contributions of Steve and Norma Hayes, Vic Neves, Steve Habeck, Bob Mersereau, Thom Anderson, Lolli Bryan and Scott Lawson and his volunteers from the Plumas County Museum. Special thanks also goes to all of the presenters and people who set up models, photographs and memorabilia for display. |
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