Thomas & Friends products recalled
By Patrick Burns
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal
Jun 21, 2007

STRASBURG, Pa. - Strasburg Rail Road Shops announced Wednesday it has sold products involved in the June 13 recall of 1.5 million Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway sets made by RCS Corp.

The shop last week believed its merchandise was not affected by the recall of the Chinese-made toys, which have surface paints containing lead. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.

In a written statement, the company said: “Consumers should take the recalled toys away from young children immediately and return the affected products.”

Strasburg Rail Road Shops said additional information about the recall “was needed because the lot number and the product code contained similar information, leading to confusion about which products were part of the recall.”

The store has removed all affected Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway products from the shelves and online inventory.

The front of the packaging has the logo “Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway” in the upper left-hand corner. A manufacturing code may be located on the bottom of the product or inside the battery cover. Toys marked with codes containing “WJ” or “AZ” are not included in this recall.

Consumers who purchased the affected products from the shops between June 14 and June 18 may receive a refund by sending the product and a copy of the receipt to: Strasburg Rail Road Shops, PO Box 122, Route 741 East Strasburg, PA 17579.

For additional information, contact RC2 Corp. at 866-725-4407 or visit its Web site, recalls.rc2.com.

To read the entire article, please visit Lancaster Online.

Out On A Choo-Choo Ride
The Patriot News
June 14, 2007

Thomas the Tank Engine has pulled out of the station on the Island of Sodor and will roll into Lancaster County Saturday for his “Day Out With Thomas: All Aboard Tour” at Strasburg Rail Road, Route 741 east, Strasburg.

For the $16 ticket price, Thomas will provide a 22-minute ride and there will be storytelling, videos to view, temporary tattoos and an “Imagination Station.”

Sir Topham Hatt, the chairman of the Railway on the Island of Sodor, also will be making the trip to Strasburg.

Thomas will be working 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday and June 23 and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday through June 24.

For information, call 687-7522 or go to www .strasburgrailroad.com.

The “Thomas & Friends” television show can be seen at 11 a.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. Sundays on WITF Channel 33.

To read the entire article, please visit The Patriot News.

Strasburg Rail Road Marks 175th Birthday
By Cindy Hummel
Lancaster New Era
June 7, 2007

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa - Strasburg Rail Road president Linn Moedinger told a crowd of about 200 people on Wednesday that the railroad, “never did anything in a normal fashion.”

In a re-creation of a whistle stop tour of political campaigns gone by, Moedinger spoke from the back of an observation car after it pulled into East Strasburg Station.

“This year is the 175th birthday,” he explained, “and next year is our 50th.”

Moedinger explained that 175 years have passed since the railroad was incorporated in 1832. The railroad gained its second life in 1958 as a group of 24 people bought it at a sheriff’s sale and brought it back to life.

Although the railroad began in 1832, the economic depression known as the Panic of 1837 prevented much progress from happening until 1859, Moedinger said. After trolley service in Strasburg lured away passenger service around 1900, he explained, the Strasburg Rail Road carried mostly freight. A leader in the industry, Strasburg Rail Road was among the first to get rid of its steam locomotives.

Lenwood Sloan from the Pennsylvania Tourism Office read a proclamation from Gov. Ed Rendell honoring June 9 as the 175th birthday of the Strasburg Rail Road.

“Making it against all odds,” County Commissioner Sharron Nelson told the crowd, “the Strasburg Rail Road is a true legacy.”

The speeches were followed by the Hans Herr Elementary School fourth-grade band’s presentation of the Strasburg Rail Road song, written in 1986 by composer Joe Ambrosia after a visit to the railroad.

Lampeter-Strasburg Superintendent Robert Frick explained that the school district has had a long relationship with the railroad.

Several years ago, Frick said, the railroad donated $10,000 to L-S as well as to the Pequea Valley School District. The train runs through both districts. L-S used the gift as seed money for its fourth-grade strings music program. Since then, Frick said, the railroad has continued to give the district $5,000 per year, which has been used mostly for science equipment.

Millersville resident Michael Kuntz said he was so impressed by how far the students, including his niece Lauren Kuntz, had progressed.

“Most kids,” pointed out Hans Herr principal Andrew Godfrey explained, “were not playing an instrument at the beginning of the year.”

Moedinger invited the crowd to learn more about the last five decades of Strasburg Rail Road history by returning next year for the 50th anniversary.

To read the entire article, please visit Lancaster Online.

Special song to mark RR anniversary
By Cindy Hummel
Lancaster New Era
June 5, 2007

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa - Bill Grager has been working as a conductor on the Strasburg Rail Road for a third of a century.

Grager, now an assistant principal of Lampeter-Strasburg High School, also served as music conductor at the district’s Martin Meylin Middle School for more than 20 years.

In 1986, his dual conducting skills played a role in the development of a song, “The Strasburg Railroad,” by a New York composer who rode the rails.

“It seemed like a natural fit,” Grager explains, “being a conductor there (the railroad) and here (the school district.)”

The song can be heard live during the Strasburg Rail Road’s 175th anniversary celebration, which begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the railroad, along Route 741 east of Strasburg. Hans Herr Elementary School’s fourth-grade band will perform the piece.

Although Gov. Ed Rendell had been slated to read a proclamation at the event, a high-raking official from his office will now take his place, explains Hope Banner, Strasburg Rail Road spokeswoman.

Grager recalls that the song was born from New York composer Joe Ambrosio’s memories of a ride on the railroad during a vacation here. Upon returning home, Ambrosio contacted the late Ellis Bachman, then the railroad’s stationmaster and vice president of administration.

Bachman provided information on the narrative told to riders and served as a contact between Ambrosio and Grager as the song was written. The song’s world premier took place at Martin Meylin Middle School on May 5, 1987.

Students begin the song by making a sound to represent a steam whistle, Grager explains. Then brass players open up a valve for condensation and blow through their instruments.

The conductor, to be played on June 6 by Hans Herr Principal Andrew Godfrey, calls “all aboard,” and welcomes visitors to the Strasburg Rail Road.

Ambrosio’s arrangement replicates the sound of the train starting slowly and gaining speed. The conductor announces a Cherry Hill stop as the tempo slows down. The brass section again replicates steam.

Students recreate a whistle sound on their instruments as the conductor relates the story of another line called, “The Little Old and Slow (Lancaster­Oxford & Southern), which once passed just over the hill from the train’s next stop. A ghost train from that line, the conductor explains, can still be heard today.

Again students make a whistle sound on their instruments. Three muted horns respond with the sound of the ghost train. The music continues to replicate a steam train until it reaches the end of the line in Paradise.

Hans Herr fourth-grade band teacher Robert Shaubach explains his students had been learning the song before plans for the celebration began.

“I do not teach it every year,” Shaubach says, “but I do have the beginners perform it from time to time.”

The song has become a staple of Shaubach’s music library. The song matches beginning students’ abilities, he explains, and the kids enjoy playing it because of the local interest and special effects.

“Third, and of least importance by far,” Shaubach says, “I’m a huge railroad fan - both full size and model. So it is a good fit for the kids, and I enjoy it as well.”

To read the entire article, please visit Lancaster Online.