Rail trail takes center stage on Fun Day in Londonderry | New Hampshire
Londonderry Rail Trails is having a Family Fun Day Saturday, June 20, to celebrate the completion of its second phase: a scenic three-quarter mile stretch from the exit five park and ride to Liberty Drive.
The second section of the trail was actually completed at the end of May and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the town hall and businesses that helped make the addition possible. Pollyann Winslow, who helps with community outreach for Londonderry Rail Trails, said Family Fun Day is to educate the community about the trail.
“That’s what this day is about,” said Winslow. “We have a trail, it’s here, come explore with us.”
The central point of Saturday’s event will be at the park and ride parking lot off Interstate 93 exit 5. There will be free Coca-Cola and water, free hot dogs, and the Stonyfield Yogurt Truck will be passing out free frozen yogurt.
There will also be musical performances and a free yoga class at 10:30 a.m. If you don’t have a yoga mat, no worries, they have extras.
The conservation commission is hosting a nature-themed “seek-and-find,” similar to a scavenger hunt where participants check off the plants and trees they see along the trail. If you return with a completely checked-off list you get a prize, a container of trail mix.
“It’s an educational place and a recreational place,” said Winslow about the rail trail.
Family Fun Day begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m. but the rail trail is open all day, every day, all year round.
The current trail is 1.75-miles long. It begins at the North School Elementary parking lot, crosses Symmes Drive, goes underneath Interstate 93, travels behind Berkshire Hathaway Verani Real Estate and Poor Boy’s Diner, and ends at Liberty Drive behind Irving Gas Station.
“There are people walking, biking, skateboarding — you name it, all day long,” said Giovanni Verani, president of Berkshire Hathaway Verani Real Estate.
Verani said he has both biked and walked the trail and his employees tend to take their lunch break out on the trail. Some will also bring a change of clothes and go out on the trail before or after work, he said.
“They’ve done a really good job on it. It’s really pretty; really scenic,” he said.
via Rail trail takes center stage on Fun Day in Londonderry | New Hampshire.
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country’s armed forces.
The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May, was formerly known as Decoration Day and originated after theAmerican Civil War to commemorate the Union andConfederate soldiers who died in the war. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service.
Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.
A tribute to the men and women who fearlessly defend the freedoms we all enjoy. God bless them.
Eerily Similar Rail Disaster Occurred 72 Years Before At Same Junction
Barreling toward New York, the high-speed electric train click-clicked through Port Richmond, bobbing and weaving at 65 mph, as it powered toward Frankford Junction. And then it derailed.
The date: Sept. 6, 1943.
Labor Day.
Seventy-two years before Tuesday night, when Amtrak Train 188 slid off its tracks, leaving at least five people dead and dozens more injured, a similar train in a similar spot met a deadlier fate: 79 people killed and 116 wounded in one of the worst rail disasters in U.S. History.
The Pennsylvania Railroad train, the Congressional Limited, excited travelers with its advertised unprecedented speed of 65 mph. In Washington, D.C, where it originated (same as Train 188), riders were so eager to take a spin that an extra car was added to accommodate the crowd.
An older, dining car.
Investigators later would say the older car’s axle couldn’t handle the speed and snapped just as it approached Frankford Junction.
As of Wednesday morning, officials aren’t certain how Amtrak Train 188 derailed.
The Amtrak train was carrying 238 passengers at it approached Frankford Junction.
The Limited was carrying 541 passengers as it approached Frankford Junction.
It would take 26 hours before the rail traffic returned to normal in the fall of 1943.
And it would be 72 years before the city would collectively grieve over a deadly train crash again.
From Eerily similar rail disaster occurred 72 years before at same junction.
Amtrak Train Days 2015 | Amtrak Exhibit Train Tour
Amtrak Train Days kick off Saturday, May 9th.
Rail travel’s growing role in American life is reason to celebrate. That’s exactly what train spotters and passengers will be doing in the days and months ahead as 2015’s Amtrak Train Days events roll out. Highlighting the Amtrak Train Days calendar is the Amtrak Exhibit Train which starts its national tour at Chicago Union Station on Saturday, May 9th.
Amtrak celebrated its first National Train Day in 2008. Seven years later the event has expanded from a single National Train Day to an ongoing roster of Amtrak Train Days events in over 100 communities across the country.
Amtrak Train Days events continue through the fall. Community events feature a range of activities and exhibits emphasizing the heritage, benefits, and fun of train travel in the US. The Amtrak Exhibit Train Tour will visit selected train stations across the country.
World War II Victory Capitol Flyover
May 8, 2015
Ceremony 10:30- 11:45 AM
Flyover 12:10-12:50 PM
Live from the World War II Memorial Washington D.C.
To honor the heroes who fought in the War and those on the home front who produced the tanks, ships, and aircraft that enabled the United States and its Allies to achieve victory, one of the most diverse arrays of World War II aircraft ever assembled will fly above the skies of Washington, D.C. on Friday, May 8, 2015, the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day, as part of the Arsenal of Democracy World War II Victory Capitol Flyover.
The flyover will include dozens of World War II aircraft flying in 15 historically sequenced warbird formations overhead. The formations will represent the War’s major battles, from Pearl Harbor through the final air assault on Japan, and concluding with a missing man formation to “Taps.” Never before has such a collection of WWII aircraft been assembled at one location, to honor the large assemblage of veterans gathered at the WWII Memorial for a ceremony.
On Saturday, May 9, 2015, a selection of the planes will be featured at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport for a one day exhibition. The display will be open to the public 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. No advance tickets are required. Click HERE for details.
“They have given their sons to the military services. They have stoked the furnaces and hurried the factory wheels.
They have made the planes and welded the tanks, riveted the ships and rolled the shells.”
– President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, August 19, 1942
Flyover only
Entire ceremony
America’s Biggest High-Speed Rail Just Broke Ground, But A Lot Of People Still Aren’t Happy About It
It had a low-speed start, but America’s biggest, fastest high-speed rail project finally broke ground Tuesday in Fresno, California, about halfway between the two major cities it hopes to connect by 2029 — if it can cross some longstanding financial and political hurdles.
According to the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the system will run from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin in under three hours at speeds capable of over 200 miles per hour. It will eventually extend to Sacramento and San Diego, totaling 800 miles with up to 24 stations.
Read the entire article here: America’s Biggest High-Speed Rail Just Broke Ground, But A Lot Of People Still Aren’t Happy About It.
2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for the Tom O’Connor Group blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 720 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 12 trips to carry that many people.
Veteran’s Day
Veterans Day is an official United States holiday that honors people who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, also known as veterans.
It is a federal holiday observed on November 11 each year which coincides with other holidays such as Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other parts of the world and also mark the anniversary of the end of World War I (major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect).
The United States also originally observed Armistice Day; it then evolved into the current Veterans Day holiday in 1954.
Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day; Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, while Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving.
Some Positive Ideas and a Living Map of US History
This “Positive Ideas” news letter goes out once a week or so to about 1,000 friends and colleagues around the USA and in various locations overseas.
Click on the link below – it will take you to a “moving” map of the USA, which shows The USA from the beginning of the 13 states through the present. It includes the acquisitions from England and Spain, the Slave states, the Free states, a segment on the Civil war, it includes some mentions of Central and South America, etc.
It also shows the Indian Nations as they were during the Indian Wars: Modac, Miwok, Mujave, Nez Perce, Flat Head, Crow, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Navajo, Apache, Dakota, Sioux, Kiowa, Wichita and Comanche.
Turn on your sound, as the narration is a significant portion of the presentation.
Click on the line below. (Then when it opens,…Just Click on Play at the top.)
http://www.animatedatlas.com/movie.html
________________________________________
- We reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
Ronald Reagan
- That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.
Albert Einstein
- As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.
- This expresses my idea of democracy.
Abraham Lincoln
- A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.
John F. Kennedy
- A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The
noble
one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.
Marcus Aurelius
- An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.
Nothing else in the world… not all the armies… is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.
Victor Hugo
Thanks,
Tom O’Connor
The Tom O’Connor Group
Economic and Management Consultants
A Veteran-Owned Company
781 626 6667 international
7 ideas
This “Positive Ideas” news letter goes out once a week or so
to about 1000 friends and colleagues around the USA and
at various locations in other countries.
Tom O’Connor
The Tom O’Connor Group, LLC
Economic and Management Consultants
A Veteran-Owned Company
Tom
571 332 2349
781 626 6667 international
www.TomOConnorGroup.com
Look for us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest
“Reaching one’s maximum potential is built on respect for the individual, and a commitment to excellence.”
~ Buck Rodgers, IBM …with a few edits
Keep Calm and Carry On
–British World War II poster
“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I was entrusted to take the game winning shot… and I missed. I have failed over and over in my life and then tried again. That’s how I learned to succeed.”
~ Michael Jordan Perennial All Star and Member of the USA Olympic “Dream Team”
If you put off everything till you’re sure of it, you’ll likely never get anything done.
~Norman Vincent Peale 1898-1993, Minister and Author …with a few edits
The most effective way to do it, is to do it.
~Amelia Earhart
Sustained effort – not strength or intelligence –
is the key to realizing our potential.
~Sir Winston Churchill …with a few edits
If you believe in yourself
and have courage, determination, dedication, and competitive drive
and if you are willing to sacrifice for things that are worthwhile,
anything can be done.
– Vince Lombardi …with a few edits
