http://fft3.com/qtwkmjea.php?Fox=d3wL7 Happy New Year to Everyone!! We thank you for all your support over this past year. I will say it started off kind of rough. At the first of January we did a Rail Ranger trip on the Hoosier State and our daughter was sick the whole time. I am still glad we did it, because, not to long after that trip. The Iowa Pacific operated Hoosier State ceased operations. Karri did enjoy what she remembered of the trip and the rest of us had a good time. Fast forward two weeks. Your truly was working on an issue in the Silver Rails Event Center before an event and fell off a ladder. Broke my ankle and shin bone. OUCH. At that time it left everything in the VP’s hands and Amy did fine taking care of things around LaPlata. After I started walking again in late April. The Silver Rails Event Center was put on the market for sale. This building was a money loser and not helping in any way to the longevity and focus of this organization. We got a buyer pretty quick and sold it in September. This was a huge weight lifted off our shoulders and it made us able to focus on what the APRHF really is and not taking care of a picky bride. The money from the sale of the Event Center is being put into investments until it is needed for projects down the road. We wanted our money to work for us and not just sit.
Our Lets Talk Trains show got revamped in October just in time for a new member to come. The main host of the show and his wife had a baby girl in December. Congratulations to Kansas City Nathan. www.letstalktrains.org
Our Rail Rangers group grew this year and had a lot of fun trips. Two notable trips was the Eclipse trip. It was a fun time and everyone got to see what they were hoping to see. The other trip was the annual trip to Galesburg and Hannibal. I got to go take the crew to lunch and goof with them. Both trips were completely sold out. A new program that is just coming out of its test phase is the Rail Rangers on the South Shore Line. This program is done on select weekends and is working very well. We are now gearing up for this year. http://railrangers.org/ for more info.
One new endeavor for us this year was the re-vamping of the old silverrailsshop.com. That used to be our gift shop if you will. It did not do so well. So this year the aprhfstore.com was launched. It is a hobby/gift shop that focuses on APRHF merchandise HO/N scale trains, T-Shirts etc. So far sales have been great! That is very exciting for a first year business.
This year marks our 10th year. WOW. Times flies when you are having fun. I think it is ironic that we are starting to work around and with the two original venues that started the APRHF. The Exhibition of Amtrak History and The Lookout Point. Our goal this year is to get those two things put closer together. Here is the link to our fundraiser for this project that explains it all. https://www.gofundme.com/aprhf-amtrak-exhibit-refurbishment. Yes it is a chunk of change but with every ones help. It is not that bad. We are also sourcing out larger corporate donations etc. If one of those comes in, It will be reported and the money need changed to reflect that. You never know what you will run across. If you have any contact with a possible donor please do not hesitate to share the link with them and /or give them my email address. president@aprhf.org Once this project is done. The cars will look like brand new and be a source of wows and not meh’s.
You will also see our new membership packages rolling out after the first of the year. There is some nice updates that I am sure you will like. The biggest one is opening up another membership level to the NARM association. This puts a whole lot of options to get a more immediate benefit from your membership with us. You can learn more here. https://narmassociation.org/
Happy New Year to everyone and we Thank YOU for your continued support.
