This is Part 1 of 2. Part 2 is posted below.
After a late Tuesday afternoon arrival at Spencer, the whole festival became
a whirl-wind of activity, getting photos as circumstances allowed, meeting
all the great people at NCMT who were running the show, and preparing our
locomotives for display. As the days morphed together (was at the site from
0730 until usually 11-12 midnight), It became clear to all involved that
this was really the event of a lifetime. Manning the display tables, I got
to see many of the patrons who came to the event. People from Malaysia,
Australia, China, India, England, Japan, and other places across the globe
came to this event. The camaraderie between the various museum groups and
the class-1 railroads that had their equipment there was fantastic, the
information exchanged and the friendships made and renewed, made this truly
a unique experience. The dedicated staff with the Anthracite Railroads
Historical Society distributed over 800 posters to visitors of our
locomotives during the cab tours, as well as countless post cards and other
information. My thanks goes out to all the members who helped make this
such a great event.
