Previous R&LHS Meetings

2025 Annual Meeting, Southern California

The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society will hold its 2024 Convention in Southern California.

2024 Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA

The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society will hold its 2024 Convention in Pittsburgh, PA.

2023 Annual Meeting, Reno, NV

The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society will hold its 2023 Convention in Reno, NV.

2022 Annual Meeting, Rochester, New York

The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society will hold its 2022 Convention in Rochester, NY.

2021 Annual Meeting, College Station, TX

The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society will hold its 2021 Convention in College Station, TX.

2019 Annual Meeting, Ogden, Utah

The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society will hold its 2019 Convention in Ogden, Utah, from May 8 to May 12. The convention will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike on the Pacific Railroad. We are planning to participate in this event and there will be tours and a rail excursion on the Heber Valley Railroad as part of the convention.

Gateway Rails: 2018 Annual Meeting, St. Louis, Missouri

For the 2018 Annual Meeting in St. Louis, May 30 to June 3, 121 people from 27 states; British Columbia, Canada; and Sweden were registered. We had 130 Friday for dinner. Members stayed at the historic and newly restored St. Louis Union Station Hotel under a group rate of $139 per night. We visited the Union Pacific Intermodal Facility at Dupo, Illinois; The Museum of Transportation in the western suburbs of St. Louis; and and the Melvin Price Lock & Dam on the Mississippi River. Registration was $395.

Two train trips included the Monticello Railway Museum and a circle tour of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis trackage starting from St. Louis Union Station Hotel. The Terminal trip used two of the three rail crossings of the Mississippi River in St. Louis (if you want to get the hat trick, take the Metrolink over the Eads Bridge). The agenda listed some great presentations during the evenings.

Nutmeg Rails: R&LHS 2017 Annual Meeting

Members took a ride on a historic electic car at the Shore Line Trolley Museum, Branford. Events also included SoNo Tower Museum in Norwalk, Danbury Railway Museum, banquet and mmbers meeting, and the Valley Railroad, Essex. Headquarters for the meeting were at Stamford, Connecticut. Photo by Howard Brown

White Pine Rails: R&LHS 2016 Annual Meeting

Members visited the historic Potlatch, Idaho depot, once the headquarters of the Washington, Idaho & Montana Railway, now renovated to serve the Potlatch community with retail space in the former agent’s office and a “small business incubator” in the upstairs. The blue car displayed outside the building is Bennett Lumber Products Company (BENX) Thrall-Door boxcar #182, owned by the WI&MRyHPG (last of a fleet Bennett operated in the 1970s and 80s). For more about the 2016 meeing, see Quarterly Newsletter Fall 2016. Photo by Tom Burg

Altoona: R&LHS 2015 Annual Meeting

Altoona, the 2015 members meeting, included tours of the Juniata Locomotive Works, East Broad Top shops, and an excursion on the Everett Railroad. About 95 attended.

Silver State Rails: R&LHS 2014 Annual Meeting

Silver State Rails, the 2014 members meeting, was June 5-8 at Ely, Nevada, on the Nevada Northern Railway, a National Historic Landmark.

Badger Rails: R&LHS 2013 Annual Meeting

The 2013 annual meeting was held June 6-9 at Madison, Wisconsin. The Saturday night banquet included a forum about preserving railroad history in the digital age, moderated by Peter Hansen, Railroad History editor. Guest speakers were Jerry Angier with Mike and Sigi Walker; John Gruber; Fred Ash; Robert Holzweiss; and Robert Ristow. The Center for Railroad Photography & Art presented an exhibit of photographs of railroading in the Madison area.

R&LHS 2012 Annual Meeting

The 2012 annual meeting was held May 17-20 at Birmingham, Alabama.

R&LHS 2011 Annual Meeting

The 2011 annual meeting was held June 2-5, 2011 West Virginia Rails Elkins, West Virginia.

R&LHS 2010 Annual Meeting

The 2010 annual meeting was held May 20-23 based at Ft. Worth, Texas.

R&LHS 2009 Annual Meeting

The 2009 Annual Meeting was held in Portland, ME, June 18 to June 21, 2009.

Friday, June 19, we rode the Maine Eastern Railroad from Brunswick to Rockland. Upon arrival in Rockland, we visited the Lighthouse Museum, and then it was off to Sheepscot for a look at and ride on the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington 2 foot narrow gauge with STEAM! This very active all volunteer museum operates over two miles of track on the original WW&F right of way.

Saturday we were off to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport. Then we were off to a quick visit to the Portland Head Light (arguably the most photographed lighthouse in the US) before arriving at the Portland Narrow Gauge Railroad for a tour and visit.

Saturday evening was the annual banquet, at which the speaker was Ed Burkhardt.

R&LHS 2008 Annual Meeting

The 2008 Annual Meeting was held in Strasburg, PA, May 28-June 1, 2008. Featured activities were trips on the Strasburg RR and a shop tour, a visit to the Pennsylvania State Railroad Museum, and a trip on Amtrak to Philadelphia for rides on representative SEPTA lines

R&LHS 2007 Annual Meeting

The 2007 Annual Meeting was held in North Carolina, based in Salisbury, NC, for the North Carolina Transportation Museum at the former Southern Ry. Spencer Shops, June 7-10, 2007. Featured activities were a rare-mileage excursion on part of the original Norfolk Southern Railway (today’s Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Railway), and a tour of Norfolk Southern’s Linwood Yard.

R&LHS 2006 Annual Meeting

The 2006 Annual Meeting was held June 8-11, based in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, featuring trips on the Durango & Silverton and Cumbres & Toltec Scenic railroads. The board meeting was held the evening of June 8. On Friday the group was bussed to Durango for a round-trip excursion to Silverton on the D&S. On Saturday was a bus ride to Antonito, CO for a one-way trip on the C&TS to Chama, NM, where the bus picked up the group for return to Pagosa Springs, and the annual banquet that evening. Sunday morning was the annual membership breakfast meeting. About half the attendees took an excursion later on Sunday on the Santa Fe Southern Railroad. This event was sold out, with 120 registrants.

R&LHS 2005 Annual Meeting

The 2005 Annual Meeting was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, May 19-22. On Friday, a trip was taken on the Whitewater Valley Railroad between Connersville, Indiana and the historic canal town of Metamora. On Saturday, the Indiana Rail Road hosted a trip between Indianapolis and Bloomfield, Indiana, which included the famous Richland Creek Viaduct (also known as the Tulip Trestle), 2,295 feet long and 157 feet high. The annual banquet dinner was held, Saturday evening, and the business meeting after breakfast on Sunday, May 22.

R&LHS 2004 Annual Meeting

Was held in Ogden, Utah, June 10-13, 2004. at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Ogden. Activities included a trip to Promontory Summit for a private reenactment of the Golden Spike Ceremony, preceded by a visit to the locomotive shed, a trip on the usually steam-operated Heber Valley RR out of Park City, Utah, (unfortunately diesel-hauled because of a bad bearing on the 2-8-0 steam locomotive), plus a tour of the TRAX light rail system, including the maintenance shops, as well as trips to other historical locations in the area.

R&LHS 2003 Annual Meeting

Was held in Baltimore, MD June 30-July 6, 2003 (Joint with NRHS). Despite the disappointment of the unavailability of the B&O Historical Museum because of its recent roof collapse, the meeting was well-attended, and participants enjoyed many excursions.

R&LHS 2002 Annual Meeting

The 2002 Annual Meeting & National Convention of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society was held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 6 to 9.
On Friday, June 7, a trip was made to the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. That evening, the group had dinner at Giuseppe’s Old Depot Restaurant, the former Colorado Springs RR passenger station.

Saturday was a day of rail excursions. In the morning it was the Canyon City & Royal Gorge excursion train, through the spectacular scenery of the Royal Gorge. The train was powered by an EMD F-7. In the afternoon it was to the 14,110 ft. summit of Pike’s Peak on the Manitou & Pike’s Peak Cog Railway. That evening the annual banquet was held.Sunday morning was the annual membership breakfast meeting. While annual meetings have traditionally been hosted by an R&LHS Chapter in its home city, this meeting was unusual in that the entire affair was arranged by one couple, Mr. & Mrs. Mike Walker, who received a resounding vote of thanks.

R&LHS 2001 Annual Meeting

The 2001 Annual Meeting & National Convention of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society was held in Jacksonville, Florida, May 31 to June 3. The convention was hosted by the Southeast Chapter, which put together a very fine program.

On Friday, June 1, a field trip was provided to NASA at Cape Kennedy, where the facilities of the NASA railroad were visited, followed by a special tour to areas not normally open to the public, such as the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Following this visit, the group stopped at New Smyrna Beach for a tour of the Florida East Coast locomotive maintenance facility.

On Saturday, June 2, a program of presentations was given, featuring a panel entitled “Is There a Role for Short Lines in the 21st Century.”, with several speakers who provided many interesting insights into the contemporary railroad industry. The afternoon presentations were devoted to the history of passenger service in Florida, featuring a talk by Seth Bramson, well-known as “Mr. FEC History.”

The feature speaker at the Saturday night banquet was Don Phillips, transportation reporter for the Washington Post, who passed along a number of interesting observations about possible future trends in national transportation policy. Sunday morning was the annual membership breakfast meeting.

R&LHS 2000 Annual Meeting

The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Inc. held its Annual Meeting June 2-4, 2000, at the Congress Plaza Hotel and Convention Center in Chicago, hosted by the Chicago Chapter under the leadership of Charles Stats, Chairman, and Don Davis, Secretary. Registrants each received a thick packet including a complete set of commuter timetables of the Metra system, plus CTA rapid transit maps and sightseeing guides.

A meeting of the Board of Directors of R&LHS was held Friday, June 2. That evening, the Chicago Chapter had scheduled its June meeting, which followed the annual banquet. The program was a fine multimedia presentation “Silver Memory–The Original California Zephyr” by Mike Schafer and Jim Popson.

Saturday’s program was a tour of the Illinois Railway Museum, guided by Kevin McCabe, the museum’s president. Included were areas not normally open to the public, including the steam locomotive shop and the street railway equipment restoration shop. After an excellent box lunch, catered by Union, Illinois’ three-star restaurant, members were free to ride various rail equipment, including a 1906 Chicago trolley car and vintage North Shore interurban cars. Saturday evening was a panel presentation on Sources and Techniques in Railroad History.

Sunday morning was the Annual Meeting of Members and breakfast. A program was presented by Mike Blasczak of the Chicago Chapter on the rail corridor development project in the Pacific Northwest.