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Image of Original Chapter Charter Dated 1st day of
February 1942
Our History Page is currently under construction.
In the near future, we plan to present a written record of our Chapter. We
appreciate your patience as we construct a quality site for our members and the
general public.
| In 1986, Buffalo Chapter of the National Railway
Historical Society published a scrap book entitled "History of Buffalo
Chapter National Railway Historical Society - 1938 to 1974" by Harold J.
Ahlstrom - Chapter Historian.
The following excerpts are based on this
publication - Copyright 1986 by the Buffalo Chapter (renamed the Niagara
Frontier Chapter NRHS Inc). |
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| The strong leader and founder of the Buffalo Chapter, and for many
years until his death in 1946, was Russell H. Shapely. John Prophet
III, charter member, is the source of information for this page.
Mr.Shapely convened a meeting at his home on April 8, 1938 of people he knew
might be interested. Russell at this time had a job as collector for a
credit clothing store and covered the east and south sides of the Buffalo
area. Here he found former and present railroad men, or men who were
just interested in railroads. At this first meeting a group of 16
people formed a division of the Railroad Enthusiasts, a national railfan
organization. |
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| Meetings were held every week at his home and in May of that year a trip
was run on the New York Central to Cleveland. The Central had an
excursion fare every week and created a lot of publicity for these trips.
Through the efforts of Russ, two extra cars were attached to the regular
train out of Buffalo. these being taken off at the Collingwood Shops were an
inspection was held. Later, an electric engine took these cars into
Cleveland. With the help of the railroad, the 16 founding
members ended up with about 70 passengers on this first fantrip of the
Chapter. |
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| This started a schedule of monthly trips. In June they operated a
special train on the Arcade and Attica Railroad. In July, via New York
Central to Westfield with chartered cars on the Jamestown Westfield and
Northwestern interurban line. August saw special cars on the Niagara,
St. Catherines, and Toronto interurban system, and October special cars on
the Pennsylvania Railroad day train to Emporium and return. In May 1939
the Collingwood trip was repeated. Also in 1939, Albert D. Kerr.
Charles Erler, Lawrence Burke. and Harold Ahlstrom appeared on the chapter
fan trips, joining the chapter in 1939 and 1940. |
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Visit our Year By Year Chapter History Pages:
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