WGRF 2008 will be held in Southern Pines, NC
Host: Bob Graham
Place: Southern Pines, NC.
Dates: Thursday Oct 16 through Saturday Oct 18, checking out Sunday Oct 19
Our hotel will be the Days Inn Conference Center Southern Pines/Pinehurst, located on US 1 at the Morganton Road exit.
We have a very attractive room rate of $72 + 9.75% tax, which includes 2 hot breakfast buffet tickets per room. I have secured a block of 40 rooms; you will have to call the hotel to make your individual room reservations. Make sure you mention our reservation group code: CGWGRF. Call the Days Inn directly at toll-free 1-800 262-5737 or 1-910 692-8585 to make your reservations. The hotel has nice conference rooms on site and we will have an exclusive trading room for all 3 nights.
Southern Pines is about 70 miles south of Raleigh (RDU airport), 70 miles southeast of Greensboro (PTI airport) and 90 miles est of Charlotte (Charlotte Douglass Airport) and an easy drive from all 3 places. Southern Pines has an airport with commercial service, but I expect rates will be better to one of the 3 larger airports. For those wishing to travel by train, Southern Pines is served by Amtrak daily (Silver Star, tr #81-82), with early morning arrival from the south and late evening arrival from the north, if on time. Unfortunately, gas prices are no better here, with regular unleaded currently at $3.59 locally. Southern Pines is centrally located to many of NC/SC's RR attractions that we're hoping and planning to visit. Nothing firm at this point to report, but it should be a good meet. For those who play golf, Pinehurst/Southern Pines is the golf capital of NC, with the nearby world-famous Pinehurst #2 course having twice hosted the men's PGA US Open in the past 12 years and the women's LPGA US Open as well. There are boundless opportunities to play, so bring your goofy sticks, if you're so inclined.
Hello. I hope y'all are having a great summer. Weather here in NC has been very hot and dry, but it has been unusually clear and sunny most days without the characteristic haze.
This is a great time of year in NC, with the summer heat usually subsided, bug season ending and the characteristic Carolina haze replazed by azure skies. These dates will allow for all-day shooting and still give us reasonably long days. Fall is the consistently best weather in the Carolinas, dry and usually sunny (barring hurricanes). For those of you so inclined, North Carolina has a spectacular Autumn leaf season, especially in the northern and western sections of the state, that begins about when we'll be gathering and lasts well into November. So, plan some extra time down here.
I have made arrangements for a Saturday night NC barbeque buffet as our banquet. The menu will consist of NC-style pork barbeque, BBQ chicken, and BBQ Texas -style ribs with traditional NC style side dishes plus cobbler desert. Cost per person is $22. Please let me know by Oct. 7 if you plan to eat the barbeque buffet, as I will have to have a head count to the hotel the week prior to our meet. You can either mail me a check or pay at the door, but I MUST have your intentions by Oct. 7. We will have the traditional after-dinner slide show Saturday evening for those who like to participate in that. Please keep your program to no more than a traditional slide box (36-40 slides).
I'm continuing to work on our intinerary and hope to have an interesting and varied tableau of subjects to visit. This part of North Carolina and northern South Carolina is centrally located to a surprisingly wide variety of mainline, shortline and industrial subjects. Gas prices here are currently around $3.95 per gallon for regular unleaded. Travel costs are becoming an even more significant expense. Unfortunately, our likely intinerary will require a significant amount of driving. I have considered chartering a bus for some of the arranged tours, but I'm aware this will incur significant additional expense and would require the participation of a majority of attendees. I know many of you prefer the freedom to "split off at will" during "tours", so please get back to me with your willingness or objections to a bus charter. My preference is to NOT do a charter, but I want to make the option available. Please let me know by August 20 your preference. Return email is fine.
Several of our proposed visits WILL REQUIRE traditional safety gear (hard hat, safety glasses, sturdy, leather upper hard-sole shoes), so make sure you bring your own. Some facilities might not have personal safety equipment available and those without it might not be able to participate without their own. So, avoid disappoointment and be sure you bring proper personal safety equipment. In addition, personal orange safety vests are increasingly being required (my employer required all visitors to wear them); I don't know we'll need them, but if you have one, bring it.
Lastly, bring your always great slides to trade and plenty of good lies to swap. Feel free to contact me directly with any questions and I'll do my best to help you out. See y'all in Carolina in about 3 months.
Bob Graham
Links to Railroad Sites on the Internet
We are open to any suggestions for ideas for inclusion on these pages. If you have any, please email your suggestions to the address below. Thanks!
Send
mail to us at: larryrussell@telus.net
Last updated July 22, 2008
