MARP meeting Nov. 12, 2011

ANNOUNCING
MARP Member Meeting
Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
(Executive Committee will meet at 10:00 a.m.)
Amtrak St. Joseph Station
410 1/2 Vine Street
St. Joseph, MI 49085

Map& Driving Directions

The November 12 membership meeting will be held at the newly remodeled St. Joseph station. This will be the last meeting for 2011, wrapping up a series of meetings held in historic railroad stations. Our meetings coordinator, Jim Wallington, plans to continue this idea in 2012.

The general membership meeting begins at 11 am, but all are welcome to sit in on the Executive Committee meeting beginning at 10 am.

Our guest speaker will be Bob Meyers, Curator of the Courthouse Museum in Berrien Springs and the author of books about railroading in southwest Michigan. He will be talk about the development of the Michigan Central R.R and its importance to the development of St. Joseph.

At the close of the meeting, we will enjoy a pizza buffet lunch in the adjoining Silver Beach Pizza Restaurant. The cost of pizza and beverage (coffee, soft drink, water) will be $5 per person. I’ve been told that the freight engineers call ahead and make a brief stop at SJM to pick up a pizza. That may be apocryphal, but the pizza is that good!

For those of you who like to ride the train, the Pere Marquette morning train out of Grand Rapids arrives in St. Joe around 9:45 am. The evening train goes back to Grand Rapids at 8:00 pm.

Plan to spend the afternoon in St. Joseph. The beautiful Silver Beach Carousel, just across the tracks, will be running until 5 pm. The Curious Kids Museum is nearby – we’re all kids at heart, aren’t we? The Krasl Art Center is reknown for its sculpture collection. Or shop the Box Factory for the Artsfor items made by local artists. For more ideas, see Visitor Information

This will be a fun wrap-up to our MARP year of great meetings in great stations.
Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers