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IERHS 2003 Annual report
The big news in 2004 is that the Spokane Fairgrounds Board informed us that we had to vacate our site at the fair. On Jan 14, we had a meeting with the Manager of the Palouse River & Coulee City Railroad, the owner of the ex-NP/BN track on the north side of our new 30 acres west of Reardan, WA. We need a switch leading into our property to facilitate equipment moves. He felt it would not be a problem getting permission. Also in January, we had our annual banquet. After a short business meeting we had an excellent program on the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad by Dr. Chas. Mutschler from his recently published book.
On February 28th, about 150 persons attended a groundbreaking ceremony at our west Reardan site.
In March, we ran levels and surveys, mapping and planning for track and buildings at the new site. A floor plan and elevation of the Colorado Railroad Museum Building was drawn to show what we might build.
In April, we made several trips to Odessa, WA, to work on a 1949 GMC truck that had not run in many years. Don Bates, who donated the truck, arranged for Bob Yeager to haul the truck to Airway Heights. We worked on the truck for several weeks at Yeager’s shop. Then Al Hinkel towed the truck to Ray’s Truck Service in downtown Spokane. They are now working on it at virtually no cost between paying jobs.
A challenging project for our volunteers was the restoration of an eight-foot long double-sided oak bench from the Cheney, WA, Northern Pacific depot. The bench was outside in the weather for many years. After replacing pieces, gluing, sanding and refinishing, it is now a golden oak and looks great in our Fairgrounds depot.
We worked many weekends all spring and summer pulling up rail, switches, tie plates, rail joiners, spikes and ties, from BNSF, UP and private spurs. Gene Hawk hauled many loads of smaller items to our new site. The rail and some of the ties are waiting for spring and bigger trucks.
The big project in May and June was a fence along our east property line on the 30-acre site. A new 4-wire fence about 1,380 feet long was needed. Gene Hawk hauled and split about 100 posts.
In August we operated our 2-foot gauge train at the Spokane Fairgrounds and had our display train open for Numerica (formerly the Spokane Railway Credit Union) picnic.
The Spokane Fairgrounds management condemned the International 240 tractor that we had exclusive use of for 26 years and repossessed it. Darrin McMackin found a Case backhoe for us to buy and is overhauling it. There will be a lot of work for it at Reardan.
In September, our dedicated members were there to help for the 10 days of the Spokane Interstate Fair. Twenty-six members worked from a few hours to all 10 days. We were pleased to have Gerald Schuler, NRHS VP, and his wife visit during the fair. They were quite pleased to see the equipment, collections and displays accumulated during our 26 years at the Spokane Fairgrounds. Gene Hawk’s project during the fair was building a tool house from NP plans, using mostly salvaged material. After the fair, Roger Rosin moved it to Reardan. Merlin Sorensen made a beautiful pair of signs that we put on the ends proclaiming "West Reardan". This is our first building and a place for our track tools.
After the fair, we put away our displays and resumed work on ex-GN café/coach #974, built by Barney & Smith in 1914. Al Hinkel scraped and painted the roof. Gene Hawk, Stan Troyer, Bruce Juneau and Lee Tillotson worked inside, getting it ready to use as a coach.
Jerry Fey, our Librarian, is making progress cleaning and cataloging our library. Norm Hochhalter is copying our most valuable library materials onto CDs.
We leased our two1914 ex-GN coaches, #960 and #971, and our ex-CB&Q stock car to the Lions Club for trips between Ione and Metaline Falls, WA.
In partnership with the Spokane Model Railroaders, we hosted the Spokane Railroad Show on October 5th at Spokane Community College. The efforts of Jerry Fey, Mike McMackin, and other members helped insure success.
Dale Swant, our new newsletter editor, put out his first edition in time for the Fair. Many of the 10,000, 8-page tabloid size SIDETRACKs were given out during the fair and helped increase donations for our upcoming move.
Lee Tillotson prepared our 2004 Inland Empire Calendar, our 29th, with color cover and 16 historic pictures of northwest railroading. Our leading calendar salesmen are Ken Vogel, Dennie Byram, Stan Troyer and Al Hinkel.
Thanks to the city of Reardan, Lincoln County, the Big Bend Economic Development Council and everyone that helped us. We thank all members for all their hours of hard work. We had a busy and challenging 2003. We are still waiting for permission to install the switch.