Well, it is time for a new copy of the Streamliner and that means it is time to share my views and thoughts with you, the members. As President, I hear lots of things from you the members along with your issues from other board members. We at UPHS should be happy to have a live and vibrant operating railroad we love, instead of a defunct fallen flag. Some believe the UPHS era should have ended in 1982. That is impossible with an active railroad. UP recently demolished the historic 1953 water tank at Harriman and that is current history. Some members have suggested that our conventions should be held exclusively in Omaha, North Platte, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, and Ogden. I have been a member for 40 years and visited all those places when they were still intact operationally. Sadly, except for North Platte, none of those places have anything left from their prime, so there is nothing to see or do there. North Platte offers many attractions, including trains, but UP prohibits access to their property there. With all of that said it means that we have to go off the UP mainline to other locations off the mainline and or have conventions with other historical societies to have successful conventions and provide you with the members with things to see and do. Please consider coming to the UPHS 2025 Convention in Silvis IL this September and see what is happening to several UP-steam locomotives, passenger cars and cabooses in the old Rock Island shop facility. In addition, the UP dda40x #6936 is operational there at the yard.
We have a fairly new editor who is really good, and he is putting out a better-quality magazine since we changed over to White River Publications. I know some of you are not happy with the articles that are being published. I am seeking information regarding additional material that was meant to be delivered to your editor upon assuming his position. However, it is not the editors job to create articles for the Streamliner, but rather to take material from you the members and other and turn it into an article, but better yet for you the members to write articles about your favorite UP subject matter and allow our editor to finesse it into a wonderful article in the Streamliner.
The board’s goal is to maintain society’s financial stability, provide members with four issues of Streamliner magazine annually, and organize a convention that offers information on railroad history and the Union Pacific.
We, the board, need your help to do all of these things. We need you to maintain your membership, buy the books we publish and attend the conventions we have.
We are making changes at UPHS, and I hope you will like them. If you have not been to the website lately, I would encourage you to look at it. Major changes are coming soon. We will be posting images via SmugMug on the website and you can purchase them from SmugMug. I am working to get this year’s convention registration to be done online.
As president, I ask your patience, your comments and suggestions and work with the board to make the UPHS be all it can be.
Sincerely,
Larry Tiffany
President UPHS
As always, I would be glad to hear your suggestions about how to improve the Society, just email me at president@uphs.org.