President's Wire by John Baesch

RABO’s Christmas Meeting was just a few months back but it seems so much longer. Winter does that. February is the longest short month imaginable but now we see buds in bloom and more gentle weather. Operating people, like me, live for March, the end of the snow season, frozen switches, frozen air lines and all those things that always seemed to conspire to play havoc with the railroad. Even though I no longer carry a pager or a cell phone, my mind still reacts to the changing seasons according to the way it had been trained for over 30 years.

For safety sake, we cancelled the January meeting in Baltimore because of inclement weather claiming force majeure as freight railroads do now and so it was the end of February before there was the official hand-off from my predecessor Glyn Bailey to me. I can’t thank Glyn enough for his insightful mentoring and his support. It was such a happy occasion when the RABO officers and Executive Committee presented Glyn with a scroll of appreciation. Special thanks go to new Vice President Diane Homberg for her role in both the meeting that wasn’t and the meeting that was.

I have asked Glyn, and he has kindly agreed, to continue managing and disbursing the Baltimore RABO Memorial Fund—more about that a few paragraphs later. I have also asked Glyn to continue his role of reading the names and short biographies of those RABO members recently deceased.

This issue of RABO News & Notes continues to provide articles of the quality you would find in a glossy railroad-oriented magazine, while keeping its character as an internal publication “By Members, For Members, About Members.” The reminiscences of the Greatest Generation in “RABO War Diaries” and “Rails’ Tales” are particularly edifying.

At its heart, RABO is really all about fellowship and relationships. We celebrate the relationships we had on the railroad and carry those relationships off into retirement through the fellowship with those we worked with—and those we didn’t, but still can claim shared experience. It’s more than just lunch (though scallops are important to the Baltimoreans and our crab cake lunches are delicious). That is why there is a whole range of social activities under Glyn Bailey’s organization and direction that you can read about elsewhere in this issue.

RABO, like any passenger station, has its arrivals and departures. In “Marker Lights”, there are appreciations of four men who have died since our last issue. In addition, we received word that Thomas Scott Turnbull of Virginia Beach, Virginia, passed away on October 27, 2009; and just before press time, we learned of additional deaths: Robert W. Anuszkiewicz (some called him “Bob A to Z”) on October 12th of last year; Bill Treadway on March 19, 2011; and Moses Pack on March 22, 2011.

On the arrival side, RABO nominated and confirmed seven men into our organization at the February meeting. The RABO South meetings continue to be a great success as you can read in the RABO South Report.

Looking ahead to future Baltimore meetings, my hope is that some will be “just lunch” where there is no outside speaker but others will feature a speaker or activity related to the B&O or the railroad industry. Special thanks to RABO Member Gordon Mott, who gave an excellent presentation at our February luncheon on the federally-mandated Positive Train Control (PTS) from the perspective of the AAR as industry spokesman.

At the February meeting in Baltimore, we recalled with happy memory, a very special February birthday by honoring those far-sighted citizens of Baltimore: Philip and Evan Thomas, George Brown, and William Patterson, and others who had faith in the practicality of a rail road to the interior. So they obtained a charter for that enterprise from the State of Maryland on February 28, 1827. The birthday of the B&O! The birthday of the railroad era !

Finally, the Memorial Fund. RABO Baltimore has maintained an informal memorial fund for years. When a local Baltimore member dies, RABO sends flowers or a donation in lieu of flowers as requested by the family of the deceased. The way the fund gets replenished is quite literally passing the bread basket at a RABO lunch whenever the funds are depleted, as we did in February. Thanks for the generosity of those who contributed. If anyone else would like to contribute, please slip a few dollars to Glyn or mail a contribution to Glyn Bailey, 8227 Burnleigh Rd, Baltimore, MD 21204.

As we get older, the saying which we knew so well in our railroad days: “Stay Alert! Don’t Get Hurt” applies with renewed force. Happy Spring! Keep it safe.