The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society

To all, The 2020 Annual Meeting for the PRR T&HS just ended and was a huge success! All in all 1411 were in attendance, with one in person and 1410 by proxy vote. The meeting started at 10:03am CDT and ended 11:03am CDT which included the time to count all proxies in hand. No other business was discussed and the meeting ended with pastry and coffee. Proxy results are as follows ... Frank Napoleon board member vote for 1369 vote against 9 vote abstained 33 total 1411 Tim Garner board member vote for 1370 vote against 11 vote abstained 30 total 1411 Vote to approve Altoona Works chapter In favor 1352 against 11 abstained 48 total 1411 Vote for dissolution of Middle Division Chapter in favor 1301 against 61 abstained 49 total 1411 All proxy votes received after close of 2020 annual meeting (11:03 am CDT) are null and void, and will be shredded by the President, PRR T&HS. The 1411 proxy votes will be boxed up and mailed to the Lewistown Station in care of RIch Ader VP and Stationmaster to keep for our records Congrats to our two returning board members, and thanks to all who made this happen. I hope all had a great time (I know I did!) and we look forward to seeing all of you in Dublin Ohio 2021! Respectfully submitted, Steve Staffieri Pres PRR T&HS

Dear members of the PRRT&HS, you will shortly receive an annual meeting proxy ballot in the mail. This is a NEW proxy ballot and replaces that ballots that were sent out prior to our scheduled May, in-person, annual meeting. Even if you returned the earlier proxy, you should also fill out and return this one. As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to change our plans and cancel the in-person meeting. We are required by our by-laws and Pennsylvania State Law to hold a m...eeting this year. In order to conduct required business, this meeting will be held by proxy vote. Thus, it is essential that you return your proxy as soon as you receive it. The only action items on that proxy are the election of members of the Board of Directors, the dissolution of an old, now defunct, chapter, and the creation of a new chapter. You will also be hearing official announcements shortly of an on-line, one day, "meeting" that will consist of multiple PRR-related seminars. This on-line meeting is NOT the official business meeting of the PRRT&HS. Rather, this second meeting is being designed as a way for all of us to get together and share our love of the PRR, just as we do at the Annual Meeting, but safely, in the face of the pandemic. So, please fill in and return your proxy as soon as you get it!

Folks, The Spring, 2020 issue (#112) of The Keystone Modeler is now available on the PRRT&HS web site at: http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/newPRRKeystoneModeler.htm A gentle reminder - If you don't see the issue listed, reload the web page so as to refresh your cache.

Folks, I am pleased to announce that the PRRT&HS' latest book, "First Class to the Nation's Capital: Liberty Limited and Capital Limited" by Frank A. Wrabel, is now available from the PRRT&HS eStore at www.prrths.com or by mail using the attached form.

Folks, For those concerned about the PRRT&HS’ financial obligations, the Penn Stater and PRRT&HS have mutually agreed that the situation is such that holding our meeting would be inappropriate. As a consequence, we have agreed to void the contract and the PRRT&HS has no financial obligation to the Penn Stater. If you have not already heard from the hotel regarding the cancelation of a room reservation for the meeting, you should hear by the end of the week. If you do not hear, contact the Penn Stater and cancel your reservation directly with them.

To all PRR T&HS members. It is with great sadness the I have to inform all our members that the PRR T&HS Annual Meeting planned for May 13-16 2020 has been cancelled. The annual meeting hotel, The Penn Stater has contacted everyone who have already made their reservations, that they have been cancelled. Everyone who already sent in their registration forms will have their original checks returned by the registration committee as soon as they are a...ble. Please be patient. I had high hopes that by mid-April that this situation might be better, and by May we could return to some normality, but that is not to be the case, at least at this writing. According to our by-laws we are required to have some form of annual meeting, and the possibility of meeting later in the year will be looked into. We do have society business to take care of regardless. We have two board positions that need to be voted on, along with two majority vote questions concerning two of our chapters. We will be putting a letter together to be sent out to all current members, along with a self-addressed, stamped post card for you to check off and return. Your participation is important, just like being at the regular general membership meeting. For now, the best thing that we can all do is stay safe and well. Please follow all the recommendations to protect yourselves, and God willing, we will all be together very soon. Steve Staffieri President PRR T&HS See more

We've all been getting an email tonight cancelling our rooms for the 2020 PRRT&HS Annual Meeting at the PennStater Hotel. It appears to be legit and follows Penn State deciding that student will not be returning to campus. While they (and we) have not officially cancelled the meeting, we fully expect them to void the contract since they would be in violation for failing to provide rooms. We will probably have to wait until Monday to officially notify the members of the PRRT&HS that the meeting date has been cancelled. At this point, if you had booked a room, you have no obligation to the PennStater, but we are compelled to have an annual meeting by our bylaws. We may look at rescheduling at a later date. Stay tuned!

To all our members: I want to let you know at this time our 52nd Annual Meeting is still on. Naturally, we all are very concerned about the coronavirus outbreak and our members health is our highest priority. May 13th is two full months off, and a lot can happen in that time. This situation could be much better, or it could get worse (hopefully not). Currently, the Penn Stater is NOT releasing us from our contract. We have a cutoff date of April 12th to make a decis...ion. If we cancel between now and April 12, and the Penn Stater continues to holds us to the contract, we would be responsible for $54,000 or 75% of the agreed contract. After that date it would be 100%. Both figures would be disastrous for the society. So, what I am asking of our members is to go forward and make your plans to attend the annual meeting as you always would. Our registration committee will hold all payments received till a final decision is made. Make your hotel reservations, which can be cancelled up to 24 hours before your arrival date. All funds will be returned if we do have to cancel. We already have a couple dozen members who sent their registrations in and I will be filling mine out today after I send this email out to you. God willing, we will all be meeting in two months and I look forward to seeing all of you again! Sincerely, Steve Staffieri, president

Folks, The Winter, 2020 issue (#111) of The Keystone Modeler is now available on the PRRT&HS web site at: http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/newPRRKeystoneModeler.htm

Folks, The Fall issue (#110) of The Keystone Modeler is now available on the PRRT&HS web site at: http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/newPRRKeystoneModeler.htm

Folks, The Summer issue (#109) of The Keystone Modeler is now available on the PRRT&HS web site at: http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/newPRRKeystoneModeler.htm

One of the latest collaborations between Broadway Limited Imports and the PRRT&HS Modeling Committee is getting closer!

Folks, Railroad Heritage Days 2019. September 7th & 8th At Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Once again the national PRR T&HS will have tables at this year’s Heritage Days event. The national tables will only be present on Saturday the 7th. However any chapter that attends may return on Sunday if they wish to do so. Chapters that want to attend can email Joe Acri ([email protected]) and he will send you the registration forms. ... We hope that we get a good representation of our chapters at this event. Members that wish to volunteer their time at the national tables can email Joe as well.