Archive for year: 2022

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8/7: NER’s Annual Summer Party is Back!

Join NER and Porsche Norwell on Sunday August 7st for the 5th Annual Summer Party!

If you are already a member, thinking about joining or simply want to know why all these people are crazy about about Porsches, this is one of our best events of the year and you should come hang with your friends or make new ones!

Date/Time
Date(s) – 08/07/2022
11:00 am – 4:00 pm

Learn more and sign up here!

Summer Party Sign Up

 

We’ll have 

  • An eclectic Porsche car show of course ( expecting 75-100 cars, and more when you sign up and bring yours!)
  • A deliciously catered lunch accompanied by an awesome live band 
  • A full outdoor bar serving locally crafted beverages (try the Blueberry ale while you’re there)
  • The world famous NER cornhole tournament (try your skill to take the crown from the region’s reigning champ and 1970’s legend, Bill Seymour!) Bonds have been made and rivals have been born at this tournament so be sure to sign up!
  • SIM racing machine try outs and learn from our SIM pro Anker. While you are there also check out the rad Robotics exhibit put on by Mechanical Advantage

 

See you there and thank you to our sponsor Porsche Norwell!

NER Autocross Presented by PCANER and Porsche Norwell

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July NER Events

Open your garage and experience the summer through the July NER events. There is something for everyone to enjoy whether it’s the adrenaline of autocross or relaxing at one of the cars and coffee events. 

Photo Credits: Owen Coonahan

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7/10: SoBo @ Sweet Berry Farm

Date/Time
Date(s) – 07/10/2022
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

The July 2022 SoBo event will be on Sunday the10th from 10am to 12pm at Sweet Berry Farm, 915 Mitchell’s Lane, Middletown, RI 02842. 

 

More info here: https://porschenet.com/events/sobo-at-sweet-berry-farm-jul22/

 

 

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Southern Roads & Museums: Part 7

Cold, Fog and Sleet, Oh My!!

Remember my dread of forcing Miss P to drive in the rain?  Well, this morning, on the 7th day of our road trip, it happened again.  We wake up and look out the window and it is raining…again.  Linda had warned me of this the night before but I paid no heed.  This was the first of multiple mistakes I would make over the course of the next several hours. 

This is not a good way to start the day.  But one fact this intrepid driver NEVER took into consideration is that when you start going UP in the mountains it starts getting colder. 

After a brief (free) breakfast we gas up and hit the road.   Retracing our steps Linda and I are back on the Blue Ridge Parkway within 45 minutes, heading south, destination Blowing Rock about 100 miles away.  The goal today is to “double up” on the mileage and eventually arrive in Asheville, North Carolina in the late afternoon having traveled perhaps 190 miles.  190 miles in maybe 6 hours.  That’s something like 30 miles an hour.  How hard can it be?? 

I had seen signs posted at every “entrance” to the Parkway warning “Be Aware of Fog”.  Ok, sure, what’s a little fog?  Well, when you are in the mountains … often at or above 3000 feet, and it’s raining, there can be plenty of fog and/or clouds.  Plus, on a mid-April day the temperature in the mountains can rapidly approach 32 degrees.  Naturally we all know what happens at this temperature, correct?  Yep, snow!!!

None of this initially made any kind of impression on my pig-headed brain.  I had broached the idea to Linda of “doubling up the mileage” and now it was necessary to follow through.   So, we climb into the mountains and I am watching the outside temperature indicator on the Porsche instrument cluster.  Down in Mount Airy it is about 40 degrees or so.  Soon it is 38, then 36, then 34 as we continue climbing.

Just as we cross into North Carolina from Virginia I note that the outside temp is now 33 degrees.  We stop to take a photo at the North Carolina State Line and while outside (wearing my warm winter coat… thankful we had brought this along) I note the roads are beginning to get just SLIGHTY sleet covered.  There are white dots of rain on the windshield which tells me it is changing over from sleet and rain to snow.  Linda has the Porsche seat heat on full blast.  Not a good sign.

But do I stop (and think) for a moment?  Do I perhaps reconsider and alter the plan?  Perhaps climb down out of the mountains (and off my high horse) and retreat back to the lowlands? 

NO… not me! I’m the man in charge!  This was my idea and by golly we are going to complete the assigned task!  Linda will tell you this is NOT one of my endearing qualities.  “Raymond, sometimes you can be a bit stubborn you know”.  “Yes, I know dear… but you married me anyway.”  We all have faults and this is one of mine.

Thus, for the remainder of the day we motor along, struggling to average that 30 MPH … struggling to sometimes see 50 yards ahead.

There are times we can hardly see the yellow line on the road.  The other day I had asked the question, “How many overlooks can you overlook?”  On a day like this the final answer is ZERO.

With the Porsche navigation MAP displayed on the center console Linda sort of guides me along as a co-pilot would on a World Rally segment.  “It looks like a hair pin turn maybe ¼ mile ahead.  After that it looks pretty straight, but I can’t tell if its going uphill or down”.  At least on a World Rally event you get to reconnoiter the route before you begin.  For the Porsche team of Boyer & Boyer, we are “flying blind” (literally) as we forge forward through the fog and sleet covered roads.

It went on like this for the remainder of the day.  There were times when we would come around a bend and things would dramatically improve.  It seemed as if one side of a mountain was in the fog & rain/sleet and the other side was not.  While not exactly sunny, the “good” side of the mountain afforded decent views across valleys cut between the rugged hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Moments like this were encouraging so we would pull over and admire the somewhat muted views.  After each brief pause we would continue on,  hoping the situation would improve with each passing mile.  Sadly, we were to be constantly disappointed.

One of the “high lights” of this trip that I had been looking forward to was the Linn Cove Viaduct, perhaps the most photographed section of the road.   This engineering masterpiece was the last section of the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway to be completed.  The concrete S curve is only 1240 feet long as it snakes around Grandfather Mountain.  It was begun in 1979 and not completed until 1987.  That’s eight years to build 1240 feet of highway.  Amazing! 

I was really looking forward to this “short” part of the trip, hopefully stopping to take a few pictures and visit the museum located at the southern end of the bridge.  Well, I knew we were ON the Viaduct as we were driving.  I could kind of view the basic road and feel the concrete expansion joints through the Porsche steering rack.  But there was nothing to see except fog and the occasional steel guard rail.  The road was completely socked in with thick white goo. 

What NEVER occurred to me was to abandon this “quest” and retreat from the higher elevations.  Why not just come down from the hills and seek solace down in the valleys below?  Surly the situation would not be as “bad” down below. 

The simple answer is that such a thought did not pop up into my feeble brain.  If it had, the day most likely would have been a lot more enjoyable.   As it turned out, from a pleasure point of view, the day was pretty much a bust.  It certainly was an “experience”, but not one that either Linda or I will soon want to repeat. Sure, Miss P and I hate the rain.  But now FOG is something we both detest.

-Ray Boyer

Next Time…

Asheville at Last!

 

 

 

 

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Southern Roads & Museums: Part 6

Part 6    Good Roads and Bad Decisions

If you have a moment, look up the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway on the internet and find a general map of the route.  Linda and I did this during our planning stages.  We did not want to have to “rush” our trip so we set ourselves rather “low” mileage objectives for each day.  

As we perused a map of the Blue Ridge Parkway, we could see certain towns, travel times and distances laid out on the page.    Afton (Waynesboro) to Roanoke 120 miles.   Roanoke to Fancy Gap, (Mount Airy) 80 miles.  Fancy Gap to Blowing Rock 95 miles.  Blowing Rock to Asheville, NC (our ultimate destination) 90 miles. 

For our 6th day on the road, the itinerary is to begin at Roanoke (mile post 120) and meander on down to a place called Fancy Gap (mile post 199).  Notice the word meander… because if you do the math, we were only scheduled to drive 80 miles today.  This rather modest mileage goal would eventually have HUGE consequences in our overall enjoyment of the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway.

 

It is a beautiful sunny day as we set out from Roanoke and searched for the nearest entrance to the Blue Ridge.  Well, low and behold, the nearest section is “closed for construction” and we are detoured at least 15 miles along local roads before we finally hook up onto the “official” Parkway.  At one point Linda and I were SURE we had missed a turn.  We were about to retrace our steps when we came around a bend and saw another detour sign pointing the way.  By 10 am we are back on the Parkway and enjoying the view.

My trusty co-pilot and I are traveling at a speedy 35-40 MPH, stopping at overlooks to read the information signs and in general just enjoying the road.    One of the special sights we wanted to see was Mabry Mill, located at Mile Post 176.  Unfortunately, one item we did NOT note when researching our trip was that this popular spot would not open until April 29.  What day is today?  April 17.  Thus, like almost everything else on the Blue Ridge (and previously on Skyline Drive) the restaurant ….and other facilities…. are all closed. 

Fortunately, the general grounds are open and Linda and I walk around, read the markers and get a real sense of what it was like to live in these mountains and hollows over 100 years ago.  One lasting impression was that life back then was a lot of hard work. 

Around 1905 Ed Mabry began building a grist mill with help from his wife Lizzy and neighbor Newton Hilton.  Initial construction took about 3 years to complete.  Once up and running Ed turned the grist mill operation over to Lizzy.  He then spent another couple of years adding a sawmill, a woodworking shop and finally a blacksmith & wheelwright shop to the building.   By the time he was done Ed Mabry had a thriving operation that was known, and supported, by customers and neighbors from up to 20 miles away.  Talk about grit and determination, this family had it in spades.

 

Since we have so few miles to travel today Linda and I spent more than 2 hours exploring this outdoor museum. 

After our Mabry visit, we continue on.  At one particular overlook in the early afternoon, we pull over and are enjoying another “goldfish lunch”.  Off to the side was a couple sitting at a table enjoying a modest picnic.  I wandered over to their car and noticed the license plate.  They were from New York, but the surround around the license plate caught my eye.  It said “I’d Rather Be Watching the Andy Griffin Show”. 

At first we did not get the significance of the plate… but that would soon change. 

By 3:30 we had completed our allotted 80 miles and we climb down out of the mountains and head for our reservation in Mount Airy, North Carolina.  Mount Airy is the closest town to Fancy Gap with amenities.   As we are driving down out of the mountains I ask Linda if she can tell me a little bit about Mount Airy.  It’s always nice to know a bit about the local history of the area.  She consults the oracle (i Phone) and guess what?  The Andy Griffith Show takes place in a mythical town called Mayberry, USA.   And Mayberry is loosely based on Mount Airy, North Carolina. 

Well, what do you know!   That couple we had seen earlier were probably heading home to New York after a trip to a place they most likely always wanted to visit.  Kind of similar to our desire to see the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. 

By 4pm we are all checked in and killing time until we head out for dinner.  Something had been percolating in the back of my mind all day and I finally express it to Linda. 

“You know, it’s still pretty early and we are already done with our driving for today.  How many miles did we drive today, and how many are we supposed to do for tomorrow?”

Linda consults the “Purple Book”, her loose leave binder with the general plan of attack, including hotel reservations and points of interest.  “Today we did 80 miles, Roanoke to Fancy Gap.  Tomorrow we have about 100 miles scheduled.  That will get us from Fancy Gap to Blowing Rock.  After that its about 90 miles to Asheville.  Why, what’s on your mind?”   She has a sense something is up.

“Well, I’ve been thinking.  I know we don’t want to rush things… but after today, 80 miles a day, or even 100 miles a day doesn’t seem like a lot of miles to cover.” I continue on with my brain storm, hoping to convince the keeper of reservations that we should change our plans. 

“What do you think of the idea of blowing off Blowing Rock”, hoping she gets the pun I just presented, “and we combine the next TWO days of driving into ONE single day.  All together it’s a total of about 190 miles.  Surely, we can cover 190 miles in a single day… and not really miss anything interesting along the way.  Like I said yesterday, how many overlooks can you overlook?”

Linda is not always an easy person to convince.  But eventually, after much discussion, she begins to see the logic of my argument. 

“This will only work if we can change our reservations in Asheville.  If we can’t come in a day EARLY this is a NO GO.   I have a nice place booked at Homewood Suites” … another Hilton chain naturally.  “Let me make a couple of calls and see what they say in Asheville.”

Ah, the joys of having an understanding wife.  Over the years Linda has come to expect my occasional brain storms.   She calls them something else… but we should skip over that for now. 

A few phone calls to confirm an early arrival in at our Destination City, plus cancelling our reservation at Blowing Rock. “No Charge?  Really? Great!” says a relieved Linda and our plans have been changed.

Little did we know that this decision was a major mistake.

Next Time

Bad Mountain Roads 

-Ray Boyer

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South of Boston (SoBo) Porsches and Coffee ​12 June 2022

photo: Larry Levin
photo: Larry Levin
photo: Larry Levin

With many attending other events scheduled today (DE and Porsche Parade at the Poconos) I was surprised that we had nearly 60 Porsches on the freshly cut lawn at Sweet Berry Farm.  The guy helping to park the cars was my younger brother Lou, a California PCA member owning (since new) a 2008 Cayman S.  Lou and his friend Sandi dropped in for about a week after a month in Europe (5 days at the races in Monte Carlo).

Don Baily got my attention (liked the stance) with his 1982 911 SC.  This Porsche has an 87 3.2 Dual Plug with DTS engine Management, and Elephant Racing suspension.  Kind of a “sleeper”.  This is a euro version export and is Don’s first and only Porsche found on Craig’s List and purchased from a dealer in Boston area about five years ago. His first Porsche sensation was the feel of driving.  Don has lightened the car by removing some items such as the large whale tail and the A/C unit.

Don Bailey
Shanny Patel

Another first-time owner of a Porsche was Shanay Patel (known as  Sunney) parking his 1983 Guards Red 944.  Purchased from Luis Rivera, he has done substantial wrenching, including clutch,  top end rebuild and lots of small stuff. When I asked, “why a Porsche”, he replied, “its Iconic”.  His first impression was the drive; “it handles perfectly”.  With 167k on the odometer the original paint shows wear.  Looking at the interior, all the gauges appear to be a pale yellow.

Marilyn Shan Scott Krick received her 2022 911 Carrera in December 2021, although it was scheduled to arrive in February (sinking of the freighter).  Fortunate her order arrived early; this is her first Porsche.  Her husband had first drive; she followed the next day. The driving experience is excellent,  getting, so far,  to 80-90 mph.  The interior’s dash gauges are in red, as well as the seat belts.

John Barros parked his awesome 2022 agate grey GT3 touring with carbon roof and mirrors.  Additionally, it has PCCB brakes and Neodyme wheels, with a Mojave Beige  and exclusive manufacturer interior with deviated stitching. This is John’s second Porsche; his first was a chalk 2017 GT3 with a manual transmission.  Asked why a Porsche, he replied, “ the engineering and the way it drives”.  Driven near the edge, John has come close to bending the needle at 165 MPH.

John Barros

Haley Dantas and family arrived in their Charcoal 2022 Cayenne Hybrid with black interior.  Previously, they purchased a new Taycan Turbo S that did not have much range (just 165 miles) and had to press a button to lower car to load and off load the four kids. Also, the Taycan was too quiet and fast, causing undesirable speeds of 140 MPH.  And today, with high gas prices, they are pleased getting 46 MPG in this 3.5L Hybrid.

Haley Dantas

Mel and Patty Cowher parked their Aventurine Green 2021 Carrera S. This Porsche is highly optioned with Sport Package, Tek seats, stripe package, red gauges (Patty said the red seat belt option was too much), walnut interior with aluminum trim and retro mag wheels.  Mel’s first Porsche was a 1973 911 S when he was just 18 years old that he restored himself..  Later he owned a grey market 85 Carrera 3.0, followed by a 2011 Boxster, and then Patty’s 2016 Macan.  Currently Patty drives a 2017 Cayenne.  Mel says that the fastest he has driven a Porsche is about 160 MPH.

Mel and Patty Cowher

How Mel obtained his current Porsche is quite a tale:  He entered a diabetes sponsored raffle and won a new Porsche.  Then he traded in the new Porsche and his 2013 Carrera S to the upgraded 2021 Porsche that was parked on the lawn.

The next SoBo is scheduled for 10 July (10-Noon) at Sweet Berry Farm, 915 Mitchell’s Ln, Middletown, RI. The event as always is FREE, and no pre-registration is necessary. The only requirement to park on the grass is your Porsche. A Porsche logo sign should be in place directing you to the parking area.  Sweet Berry Farm is child friendly, encouraging small children to enjoy a working farm, so when entering and exiting, drive carefully. And, as always, for any SoBo related questions, please email me at:  [email protected]

Rog Slocum
127 Center Ave.
Middletown, RI 02842
e-mail:  [email protected]

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DE Crier: DE #2 Report – Palmer CW in June

NER’s Second DE of the Year – Palmer CW in June

 

A few days before the event the weather report didn’t look good but your faithful DE Crier called in a few favors and the weather was darn near perfect all three days.  You can thank me later.  As with Thompson, turnout was a bit on the low side – 95 drivers in total. The positive aspect of this was that run groups were combined which allowed longer run sessions.  Plenty of drive time and still not too much traffic.  Everyone behaved nicely and the only incident of the weekend was the idiot DE Crier crashing Kristin Larson’s electric scooter.  Ouch. Thanks for not laughing, Adam.

As is my usual practice I looked for a new driver and found a very good story.  Steven DiCato, a nice fellow who I had instructed last year at Tamworth (and whose dog was previously featured!), convinced his cousin Chris Costain to attend.  Chris, not wanting to abuse his street ride (an Acura I think – you can see it in the picture), rented one of the Palmer Miatas. (Note:  these are nicely prepared race cars with a full cage that are a blast to drive.  You can rent them and have an instructor provided with Palmer’s “Arrive and Drive” program.) Chris had a blast and was one of the fastest in the Green run group.  Steven immediately went to work on convincing him to buy a Miata that they could share.  But perhaps that will have to wait until Chris’ wedding in September to Tara Gambardella – she was in attendance and probably dismayed as she watched her husband-to-be start the slide down the slippery slope.

I had another nice conversation (at the Saturday night BBQ social) with Jeff Zern of the Riesentoter Region (that’s Eastern Pennsylvania and, yes, there is supposed to be an umlaut over the “o.” According to Google Translate that means “Giant Dead” but they claim it means “Giant Killer” in reference to Porsche slaying cars with greater displacement on the racetrack).  Anyway, Jeff had heard good things about Palmer and wanted to drive it in his Cayman.  He was exceptionally grateful for the help he got from Stan Corbett in registering, getting correctly placed in the White run group and even getting advice on hotels and routes. He also was very complimentary about the event organization and the driver etiquette on track. Nice to have some other region visitors!

As to the BBQ social, thanks to Judy Mansing and Pam Mascetta for setting it up and, once again, having a nice variety of beers to drink (and I presume wines but I can’t speak to that – I enjoyed some Lagunitas IPA and detect the influence of the NCR track chair in that selection).  Note to self:  talk less and line up sooner for BBQ so you get more than two ribs.

Here are the run groups advancements from the Palmer weekend…

Green to Yellow:  Stefan Vondran, Derrick Hedley

Yellow to Blue:  Jim Devol, Arun Ramamurthy, Ray Young, Prakash Iyer, Christopher Necchi, John Januszewski, Scott Stawas

Blue to White:  Thorsten Becker, Richard Pyatt, Todd Shilman

White to Black:  Michael Beers, Brian Nett, James Cooper, Torsten Gross (Note – this is a placement, not an advancement), Mark Hutker

And finally, enjoy the pictures of some notable Palmer Pups!

    

-Bill Seymour

 

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Southern Roads & Museums: Part 5

April 15 is now the 4th day of our trip.  So as not to confuse anyone… it is the FIRST day of our driving on the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway.   The Blue Ridge is quite long, traversing just over 465 total miles.   The road begins (mile post zero) at Waynesboro VA and snakes along the crests of the Blue Ridge Mountains all the way to Cherokee, North Carolina (mile post 469)

Our plan is to cover about 325 miles in 3 days.  Eventually our goal is to end up in Asheville, North Carolina, spend 2 or 3 days in this thriving mountain city and visit the world-famous Biltmore estate.  Linda and I did NOT intend to drive the ENTIRE Blue Ridge.  We figured we would save the last 100 miles or so (from Asheville to Cherokee) for another time. 

We were back on the road in our trusty Miss P (2011 – 911) by 9 am with plenty of time to cover the planned route.  Linda had found some very interesting places to visit in Roanoke VA.   Thus our basic itinerary was to take one day traveling the first 130 miles or so of the Blue Ridge and then stay in Roanoke for 2 nights and 1 full day. 

Much like Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway is a pure delight to drive in a great road car like a Porsche.  Again, since we are traveling in mid-April the roads are practically deserted. Unfortunately, much like Skyline, most of the visitor centers are still not open.  

With limited access to visitor centers and/or places for lunch, this day became what Linda and I call a “goldfish lunch” day.  When we travel, we ALWAYS take along a bag (or 2 or 3) of Goldfish.  So today we enjoy our “goldfish lunch” as we cruise along at a sedate 35 – 40 MPH and enjoy the view.  There are ample places to stop and gaze at the mountains, read the historic markers and just plain luxuriate in having the time to really appreciate this portion of the country.  

Linda had seen some road side signs touting something called “Natural Bridge”.  This was not directly on the Blue Ridge, but was perhaps 10 miles off the beaten path.  We made the detour and I must say the road leading to this rocky edifice must have been designed by a former Porsche owner.  It had more switch backs and tight turns than anything we had encounter so far.  You can tell things are about to get exciting when I switch the PDK down into the manual mode and Linda begins to “hang on” to the passenger grab handle as we swing left and right.  I was having a blast…. Linda not so much… as this exciting road was perhaps 7 or 8 miles long.  All too soon the road leveled out and we came upon a big parking lot and the entrance to the Natural Bridge State Park.  After exploring the rather modest “museum & gift shop” … and observing long lines of school age children waiting in line to gain access to “natural bridge”, we decided it was time to hit the road.  Since neither one of us are into hiking, attractions like Natural Bridge hold little appeal. 

Traveling back down the switch back road was as much fun as blasting up it.  How 45-foot-long freight trucks can make it around some of the curves is beyond my comprehension.  But they must do so as there were numerous signs saying “trucks keep right, tight turn ahead”.   Certainly, the road was more fun in a Porsche 911 than an 18-wheeler.

For the remainder of the day we continued to meander along, stopping whenever the mood struck us.   Yet after a while all the overlooks began to seem somewhat the same.   About 3pm or so I said to Linda…
“you know, all these vistas are nice, but how many overlooks can you overlook”.   In the back of my mind I was beginning to form a plan, but I kept this blossoming idea to myself … at least for now.

By 4pm or so we were pulling in to our Home 2 Home Hilton complex in suburban Roanoke.  This would be our base of operation for the next day.  A nice Mexican restaurant was across the parking lot, so we could walk to dinner, have a drink and not have to worry about DUI.  An ideal situation for sure.

Saturday the 16th we spent all day in Roanoke.  After driving downtown and finding a parking spot we explored the central city area.  There was a 5K road race happening and we watched some of the exhausted runners cross the finish.  Linda and I looked at each other with an unspoken glance thinking… “better them than me”.  If hiking is not our thing, certainly RUNNING (in our mind) is even a more outlandish activity.

During her research into Roanoke activities Linda had discovered a listing for the O. Winston Link Museum.  Mr. Link was formally educated as a civil engineer.  Yet his hobby was photography and his passion was trains (kind of like Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory).  The museum dedicated to his photograph work documenting the final days of the Norfolk & Western steam powered rail road is located in the former Roanoke Railroad terminal building.  We had planned to spend perhaps 2 hours there, and then move on just down the street to the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Well as they say… the best laid plans often change.  So it was with the Link Museum.  We arrived about 12:30 and before we even entered the formal gallery there was a great exhibit in the hall.   This hallway display was dedicated to Raymond Loewy, a name well known in the arena of industrial design.  We have all come in contact with some of his work.  For example, Loewy designed the Coca Cola company’s trucks, coolers, vending machines, and soda fountains.  He also designed many famous company logo’s … Exxon being just one of many.

Back when I was just beginning to become interested in cars, one of my favorites was the Studebaker Avanti.   Well, what do you know, Loewy was the designer of that Avanti, along with several other well-known Studebaker models like the Golden Hawk. 

What was his work doing being displayed here?  It seems Mr. Loewy designed a couple of radical (for its time) locomotives, so his work was being featured in the lobby as a precursor to the O. William Link display. 

The Link Museum was a real find.  Linda and I spent well over 3 hours here.  The Black & White photography was outstanding.  Many of the photo’s were taken at night, using a clever arrangement of flash bulbs and rapid shutter speeds.  There is a “knack” to capturing a moving image at speed, especially at night.  In many of the photos the trains are in motion, and yet Link seems to freeze them in time.  Only a few images are in color, most are black and white.  When asked why, Mr. Link’s retort was something like “the trains are black, the steam is white, the sky is black at night…. What do I need color for?”

What indeed.  If you like great photography and you happen to be in the general Roanoke Virginia area, you should plan a pilgrimage to the O. William Link Museum.  The 5-dollar price of admission can’t be beat and the time invested in the experience will be time well spent.

Linda and I we walked away from the museum (again they pushed us out the door at 5pm) with a greater appreciation of the “age of steam” and the roll that Mr. Link played in preserving on film the final days of the Last Steam Railroad in America. 

Next time…

Good Roads & Bad Decisions

-Ray Boyer

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