Run Day July 7th, 2013

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   Ride Day Report July 7th, 2013:

It was a beautiful day at the train park, the skies were clear with a light breeze and bright sun.

The gates were open at 10:55 and the station filled up to capacity in a matter of moments. 

The run started with a flag raising ceremony conducted by 9 scouts of Troop 586 from Redondo Beach, CA. The flag ceremony is something new that we just started at SCLS. Every run day we give the opportunity to a local Boy Scout troop to participate in the raising of the colors on our new flag pole. (Bugler  optional.) The flag was then lowered to half staff in remembrance of the 19 firefighters that gave their lives in Arizona.

After the flag ceremony the trains started running, first out was Jim Berryman on the California & Pacific #2 and beautiful RMI Prairie locomotive. Charlie Giordano was his conductor and later acted as engineer, trading places with Jim.

Wyatt Downing (engineer) and his father Tom Downing (conductor)  brought out the clubs F7 with 4 cars and added that to the lineup. 

Rory Hawkins brought out his beautiful Rio Grande SW9 and a batch of riding cars including is really cool looking business car and helped with the glut of passengers.

Howie Hueller brought out his UP 1205 an SW1500, always a crowd pleaser with his car carrier full of cars and his new flat bed car filled with miniature tractors. Alec was his conductor.

Kelly Smith brought out his Metro Blue Line model and drove it around on the inner loop for a while, a real beauty. Meanwhile his son Jeff got their Santa Fe GP ready to run.

Since the crowd was building, Roberta took over conducting for Wyatt on the F7 while Tom took off to get the Western Central 777 SW1500 on line with some remaining passenger cars.

Jeff and Kelly Smith then brought out the Santa Fe 1244 GP with 5 cars to pull more of our public passengers.

It was a very busy day, Phil Cohen ran the station from 11:00 to 1:00 then handed it over to Dave for the remaining run time until 3:00 PM. Robert also help out as dispatcher after he was finished mixing up the lemonade for everyone.

Ben's Lemonade stand was a big smash and we gave out 100 cups of lemonade for a $1.50 donation after the noon heat kicked in. Good job Robert, Tim and Benjamin!!!

We had the "Operation Lifesaver" table set up and running, educating the youngsters about train safety. It was a big success and had lots of freebees to give out to the kids.

At 1:00 PM the folks from Torrance CitiCable arrived ready to shoot SCLS for this weeks episode of "Spotlight on Torrance" which will air on Wednesday. Phil showed them around until 4:00 PM and they filmed everything we had at SCLS and got some great interviews from SCLS members. They took their cameras on a ride around the facility filming and interviewing all the way. It should turn out to be a really nice show. We are all looking forward to seeing it.

Daisy's Bistro cooked us up another great lunch and we all pigged out during the run, and after things were over we pigged out again! Thank you Daisy for taking such good care of us! You even got your 15 minutes of fame on Torrance television! 

We closed down a little after 3:15 PM after the last riders left for a total of 958 riders. 

It was a great day! We cannot wait until July 20th when we get to do it all over again. Hope to see you out there on the tracks.

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administrator Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: Apr 10 2008 Status: Offline Points: 64	Post Options Post Reply Quote administrator Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Run Day July 7th, 2013 Posted: Jul 08 2013 at 6:23pm
	Ride Day Report July 7th, 2013: It was a beautiful day at the train park, the skies were clear with a light breeze and bright sun. The gates were open at 10:55 and the station filled up to capacity in a matter of moments. The run started with a flag raising ceremony conducted by 9 scouts of Troop 586 from Redondo Beach, CA. The flag ceremony is something new that we just started at SCLS. Every run day we give the opportunity to a local Boy Scout troop to participate in the raising of the colors on our new flag pole. (Bugler optional.) The flag was then lowered to half staff in remembrance of the 19 firefighters that gave their lives in Arizona. After the flag ceremony the trains started running, first out was Jim Berryman on the California & Pacific #2 and beautiful RMI Prairie locomotive. Charlie Giordano was his conductor and later acted as engineer, trading places with Jim. Wyatt Downing (engineer) and his father Tom Downing (conductor) brought out the clubs F7 with 4 cars and added that to the lineup. Rory Hawkins brought out his beautiful Rio Grande SW9 and a batch of riding cars including is really cool looking business car and helped with the glut of passengers. Howie Hueller brought out his UP 1205 an SW1500, always a crowd pleaser with his car carrier full of cars and his new flat bed car filled with miniature tractors. Alec was his conductor. Kelly Smith brought out his Metro Blue Line model and drove it around on the inner loop for a while, a real beauty. Meanwhile his son Jeff got their Santa Fe GP ready to run. Since the crowd was building, Roberta took over conducting for Wyatt on the F7 while Tom took off to get the Western Central 777 SW1500 on line with some remaining passenger cars. Jeff and Kelly Smith then brought out the Santa Fe 1244 GP with 5 cars to pull more of our public passengers. It was a very busy day, Phil Cohen ran the station from 11:00 to 1:00 then handed it over to Dave for the remaining run time until 3:00 PM. Robert also help out as dispatcher after he was finished mixing up the lemonade for everyone. Ben's Lemonade stand was a big smash and we gave out 100 cups of lemonade for a $1.50 donation after the noon heat kicked in. Good job Robert, Tim and Benjamin!!! We had the "Operation Lifesaver" table set up and running, educating the youngsters about train safety. It was a big success and had lots of freebees to give out to the kids. At 1:00 PM the folks from Torrance CitiCable arrived ready to shoot SCLS for this weeks episode of "Spotlight on Torrance" which will air on Wednesday. Phil showed them around until 4:00 PM and they filmed everything we had at SCLS and got some great interviews from SCLS members. They took their cameras on a ride around the facility filming and interviewing all the way. It should turn out to be a really nice show. We are all looking forward to seeing it. Daisy's Bistro cooked us up another great lunch and we all pigged out during the run, and after things were over we pigged out again! Thank you Daisy for taking such good care of us! You even got your 15 minutes of fame on Torrance television! We closed down a little after 3:15 PM after the last riders left for a total of 958 riders. It was a great day! We cannot wait until July 20th when we get to do it all over again. Hope to see you out there on the tracks.

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