Dear Pioneer,
I hope your computer finds a new home somewhere as nice as the one it’s leaving behind. I’m told we have one that we’re using to keep track of our museum members now. I’ve never seen it myself, since you can’t bring them outside, but last month we found ourselves having to account for almost 1,000 members now – and the list is still growing!
Of course, the adding machine is useful in calculating all those membership dues. The museum has all sorts of costs they say I don’t need to worry about, but I know it’s expensive to run any kind of organization, even a not-for-profit one like ours. You can imagine the amount of money needed to send out nearly 1,000 copies of our newsletter every few months. It’s why they don’t mind us being pen-pals. We’d have to spend $35 on stamps anyway.
Solar panels! That’s fantastic! My letter-writer explained how they work as best she could to me and I’ve been thinking about it all week. Of course, we don’t know as much about science as you all do, so she suggested I might direct more of my questions your way. Do you suppose they could power a whole train on solar energy one day? The guys in the shop don’t seem to think much of the idea. A diesel engine wouldn’t get much use out of them, but an electric engine might – don’t you think? Of course, you and I are diesel-electric, so maybe there is a solar future for the lights and air, haha. Venus is asking if I want to put her out of a job, but I think she’s just teasing me.
I’m happy to hear about your Mr. McMaster’s retirement. It’s nice that he’s able to do more outside his work. I understand humans value that sort of thing. Although, as you say, I can’t imagine feeling that way about it myself!
It must be stressful to be a museum president. Our former president, Mr. Hansen, suffered a heart attack like your Mr. Lohr earlier this year, but he’s recovering well now and we’re hoping to have him back at the museum soon! He’s not the president anymore – not because of the heart attack though. Our museum has elections for board membership and he decided not to run again after 9 years of being at the position. I think if he had chosen to, he’d easily have been able to make it a decade.
He was actually the one who advocated for us to come to the museum all those years ago, so me and my train owe him a debt of gratitude. He’s a good man, definitely a “fixture”, and we’re missing him very much.
Shay’s restoration was finished in the spring, and she’s already up and handling operations for the summer season. We didn’t get a chance to see the extent of her cleaning and repainting until the weather got warmer since she’d been in the east barn, but the work they did on her was spectacular! It’s just as well, since Frisco was beginning to clank a bit and when they checked her rod bearings they found she needed a few replaced. She’s back in the shop until they finish making her some new ones.
We’re in the thick of it here as far as attendance goes, I imagine you all are as well. I think that last winter made everyone eager to come out now that the weather’s nice. Even inside we’re making progress on the technical library, though. They’re looking for blueprint cabinets for all the various plans they want to store as reference material for anyone who wants to view them. I’m unsure if a blueprint cabinet is different from a regular filing cabinet. Maybe once we move all our membership paperwork to the computer, we can use them for more technical documents.
Does your museum have a library? I would think it would have to be huge to store all the materials for so many exhibits!
Please keep me posted on the solar panels! I’m very interested in them. Do you suppose they work better in the summer, since it’s always so sunny?
Your friend,
Pilot