There will be a memorial service held for Polly Nelson and Tom Rickson at the club on October 9th(Blow-Down weekend) at 10:30. The day before Byrons Nelsons unfortunate accident, Byron had planted two trees in their memory. All three had been long time PVLS members. If you would like to share you thoughts the location is along the Valley division by the stainless bridge.

The Nelson family has asked that any donations be made to the SmileTrain (www.smiletrain.org) or Church in the Acres. If you would like to send a card to Byrons family, the contact name I have is : Cynthia Tummons(daughter), 119 Pine Valley, Portland Texas 78374.

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To all members - thank you - this is what its all about, sharing the hobby. This is a thank you note, please read below, sent to the clubs website thanking us for a wonderful time. The weather was fantastic and company enjoyable. My hat goes off to all those who helped make this another successful event.

Thank You.

Rick



Dear Pioneer Valley Live Steamers Club,

My family and I visited your club on Saturday, 9/17/11 for the first time. Our grandchildren (ages 2&5) love trains, so we thought we would bring them down from Pittsfield, Ma. and see what it was like.

I work with one of your members and he introduced me to the idea. He is passionate about the club and promoted the whole idea with a flyer etc. He also said there was a "Thomas" train, along with other attractions.

We rode on a variety of different style trains for two straight hours. When we were leaving, my oldest grandson said to me, "I had a great time"! It made my heart melt because it was my idea to go and I wasn't sure what to expect. The only thing that would have made the day better was if we had time for a tour.

I have to tell you that I was very impressed with the whole set up of your grounds. It is obvious that a ton of hard work went in to setting up the tracks etc. The club members put on such a good show and were all friendly.

Thank you for such a great experience for us all!

The Green Light
The Pioneer Valley Live Steamers Newsletter


The opinions expressed in this newsletter are the opinions of the signed authors and the content of which does not necessarily represent the opinions of the Pioneer Valley Live Steamers Inc., its board of directors, officers, or members. Contributions to The Green Light can be mailed to the Pioneer Valley Live Steamers, P.O. Box 105, Southwick, MA, 01077.
Telephone 413-569-0438 Web Site: www.pvls.org ________________

I hope you've all gotten to do some running this year, and even maybe more than you had planned to. Every time I got out was great so, I cannot complain. PVLS had a very well attended Spring Meet, Father's Day, most of the usual runners from here and Canada. Real nice time. Thanks to the crews who mowed and set the track for some good running. The track gang has been busy even in some of the worst heat of the summer, and there was plenty, …reworking the old route from the steaming bays out between the engine houses and out the yard ladder. There is one more stretch of track and a crossover to add in to finish it up, then, we will finally get back to not backing out onto the main from the turntable. All of this work was done while the work weekends were lightly attended. Thanks to Alan and Mark for making some easy to use track gauges, to Don the flying Scotsman for reworking our switch points milling fixture, and making us some nice stuff from them. The August meet was nice with the usual suspects, a pair of pacifics from Jersey, two geared engines from NY, that corn burning guy from the great white north, plus Florida and Nantucket. Where was Jimmy? He must have been paying off the weatherman. A super London Broil dinner spearheaded by Ken Chermak. Well, anyway, the track gang is looking to pull the back straight after the fall meet and lay in new panels that are waiting…as far as I know, and the Highline regulars are starting their building of some new storage doghouses from a copy of one of Don's. We'll see you in a couple of weeks or less at the meet.

Last Runs: Sorry all to bring you up on some sadder notes,..long time member Douglas Anderson passed a short time back, and Byron Nelson left us after grave complications the afternoon of his accident on the way to have lunch with friends from the club a couple of Sundays ago. They are most very certainly already missed.

Nominating Committee: This years three committee members are lead by Rich Hubbard, and included are Ray Juskiewicz, and Arthur Bailey. Thanks guys, and thanks to those who offered but I hadn't finally heard back from in time to assign. Two Board members are up, I hope they stay, and the annual positions of course, all to be voted on at the conclusion of the General Meeting in October.
Paul

Green Light Schedule: In the interest of getting the publication of The Green Light on a regular schedule I will try to hold to the following:
Issue 1 - Mid April
Issue 2 - The end of June
Issue 3 - The end of August
Issue 4 - The end of November

The current issue is a little late due to my having no power, no internet and no phone for much of last week. If you have anything that you want included in a future Green Light, please try to get it to me a week or so before the publication date.
Dennis Sardi

Hurricane Irene:
Amazingly, the club sustained minimal damage from hurricane Irene. There were the usual small branches and leaves down around the grounds but no major trees fell and all of the pop-up campers seem to have survived very well. I imagine this was a great relief to everyone who had equipment here, especially those whose campers are under the big pine trees. Every once in a while you win one.
Dennis Sardi

Miscellaneous announcements:
Paul Gassner has indicated that he would like to have some help in manning the swap table at the fall meet. If anyone is willing to help Paul out by splitting the time with him, please get in touch with me or Rick Michaud before the meet.
Lois Barnes had a porcelain doll with a Lionel train at the sales table and the Lionel train came up missing. If anyone knows what happened to it please contact Lois.
Dennis Sardi