Volume 65 – Issue 13 January 1, 2026
From the Brass Hat
Happy New Year! I hope everyone was able to enjoy holiday time with friends and family, or just found a place to chill and recover from what was a busy Santa Train operating season. We typically do well at Christmas, but this year according to Dave Chasco’s statistics, we finished in the top ten all time for holiday visitors. We ended up with 7,050 riders across all of the Santa trains! Some great marketing, and new for us, social media posting by various influencers definitely helped. All together our ridership for the year was almost 18,000. Not too bad!
As I look back, 2025 was an eventful year for the organization. Full of successes as mentioned, but also significant challenges which had to be overcome. We were able to survive a major bridge repair which threatened our holiday ride season and with the help of a dedicated volunteer, get some necessary track work completed. However, there is much more to do in order to keep the line in shape for the coming season. On the museum side, there are some significant projects planned including two new exhibits and work that must occur on the yard electrical system and the Goldston depot. To make all of these happen requires funding. If you were able donate to any of the projects in the recent fund drive, we thank you. We can’t forget that donations also include the valuable resource of time and none of this would be possible without all of the dedicated volunteers who put in long hours to staff the events, or help the museum projects happen.
Thank you to everyone who spent time at Bonsal this past year getting it done. 2026 will be another full year and we will kick it all off with our membership meeting on January 17th. This year the location will be different. We will meet at the Gather Station building located on New Hill Olive Chapel Road at the north end of our line. NCRM recently completed a joint event with them on December 18th and they were very enthusiastic about our organization. Many of you saw the new platform that has been built in New Hill Yard to facilitate this. NCRM plans to partner with Gather Station more in the near future. I hope you will come to learn what we have accomplished in 2025, celebrate our latest Rusty Spike awardees and look forward to 2026. This will be a catered event free to all members and their guest.
Until the 17th…
John Morck
President, NCRM
Get to Know a Member
by Tom Hutchinson
Name: Don Imbriale
How long have you been a member? Since July 2021 (Lifetime Member)
Where are you originally from? I grew up on Long Island, NY. Moved to North Carolina after living and working in New Jersey for over 40 years.
What was your job in real life? Mainframe systems programmer/engineer/architect for Fortune 500 companies.
Where do you live now (City & State only)? Sanford, NC
Any family…Spouse, Kids, grandkids? My wife Meg. No kids.
How did you become interested in trains? My father used to take the Long Island Railroad to New York City. As a teen I would ride it to see the Mets play at Shea stadium. My wife and I spent many weeks riding the trains in Switzerland. My interest in garden railroading began after seeing a segment on HGTV about people and their hobbies.
How did you learn about the New Hope Valley Railway? Probably 20 or so years ago I heard about the place, visited it, rode the Christmas steam train, and said “Some time I’ll join there.” In 2014 I did an OAL on #17. Then during Covid an appeal for volunteers showed up on Facebook.
What has been your favorite activity at the New Hope Valley Railway? Working mostly at the garden railroad, I get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with our guests. I enjoy talking to the kids. And working with the crew is a fulfilling experience.
If you do not receive the operating crew calls, please contact the crew caller (Chris) if you are interested in participating in train operations! We need all the help we can get to keep the trains running safely.
Have you noticed the lineup of food trucks?
by Juli Buker
During our Santa train rides, we hosted three food trucks each day: a “main course” truck, a dessert truck, and a coffee/hot chocolate truck. You might have wondered whether our guests would be hungry enough to keep all three busy—but the answer was a resounding yes! All of the food trucks reported strong sales, and judging by the treats passengers brought aboard, our riders clearly loved having so many delicious options to choose from.
Looking ahead to 2026, we’ll continue offering three food trucks on all special event days and Saturday rides. Entrée vendors will include Boss Burgers, Empanadas and More, Moonrunners, Mr. Cheesesteak, and Will & Pops. Dessert favorites Cheesecake Lady, JAM Ice Cream, Little Halos, Royal Cheesecake, and YoYo Froyo will return, joined by new vendors Kitoko Bites and NC Mini Donut Company. Naha Brews will be back to serve coffee, along with new coffee vendors Bright Beans and Gypsy Wagon Coffee. For our beer events, Thirsty Skull will serve at Star Wars Day, TGI F-Ride Day, and S’mores and Suds, while Hugger Mugger will pour during Boo ’n’ Brew.
We’re also hopeful to install an additional 240V electrical line during the offseason to better support the power needs of our food truck vendors. Word is spreading within the food vendor community, and new vendors are already reaching out to be part of next year’s events. NHVR is truly a great place to be!
Last Run – Scott McElwaine
Long-time NCRM member Scott McElwaine passed away at the age of 67 on 2 December 2025. He is survived by his wife, Tammy, children Jenifer, Robert and Christopher, his brother, David, sister, Heather Flowers, and aunt, Lova. He was an active church member and youth mentor for decades. Scott joined the NCRM in 2007 and served as a car host/brakeman and parking attendant. He always had a big smile and kind word for all our members he worked with. He was very good with kids and always had time to listen to whatever our younger members wished to share with him. Scott was also a bigtime steam fan, from his HO scale model trains, to live steam (pictured at right) and the full-sized locomotives, like our locomotive 17. He was wellliked and respected and he will be greatly missed around Bonsal.
Gold Star Families Ride With Us
by Juli Buker
On December 11, we were honored to welcome several Gold Star Families aboard our midweek train ride. While we host ride days recognizing Armed Forces members and Veterans, we realized we had not yet created a ride specifically to honor Gold Star families. Harold Boettcher had the wonderful idea to reach out to Amy Dozier, who is actively involved with local Gold Star families. After losing her husband in Iraq, Amy has become a passionate advocate for Gold Star families and, along with the Woody Williams Foundation and the U.S. Veterans Corps, coordinated a group of 40 family members to join us for this special ride.
The families traveled together in Car 100, with Army veteran Gina Casselberry serving as their brakeman. Christmas carols filled the car, bringing joy to everyone aboard, and Amy thoughtfully arranged Christmas gifts for each of the children. The experience was so meaningful that attendees were already discussing plans for a charter next year that would include even more Gold Star families. We are deeply grateful to these families who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms.
Membership Dues Renewal
by Tom Hutchinson
The membership of all annual members who joined prior to last year will expire on December 31, 2025. Our membership system automatically generates e-mail renewal reminder notices (if we have your email address in our system) for annual dues. Renewal reminders occur at year-end and also in late January. Members who have not renewed by the end of February will be placed in a “lapsed” category for further follow-up.
If you are a Lifetime Member, you will not receive these dues reminders.
If your annual membership expires at December 31, 2025, you have several options to renew your membership for 2026. When you receive the dues reminder from the system, it will provide you a link to access your membership record on-line, where you may pay your 2026 dues by credit card. Or you can mail your renewal check to NCRM Membership, PO Box 40, New Hill, NC 27562 and put a note on the “memo” line for the type of dues. Or you can pay your dues the good old-fashioned way in cash to Tom Hutchinson of the Membership Committee. Check or cash can also be used if you do not have an email account and therefore did not receive the automated reminder.
Annual dues for 2026 are the same as for 2025: $20 for Student (high school) and Senior (age 60+), $30 for adult (18-59), $50 for Family (2-4 people) and $100 for Silver Meteor (an adult membership with either tickets to a holiday ride or NRHS membership). If you misplace the membership renewal reminder email from the system (or it went to your Spam folder and was deleted), and you wish to pay for your renewal by credit card, you can also access the membership system and pay your 2026 dues using the following link which will direct you to access your member profile. As sometimes computerized dues renewals can be confusing, if you have any questions or problems, please contact Tom Hutchinson.
New Passenger Platform at the Gather Station
by Chris Tilley
Throughout the last half of November and first half of December, our Curator of History/Strategic Planning Chair, Jim Jatko, designed, procured and led the building of a first-class loading platform for passengers at the Gather Station. This is the building at the north end of our track which strongly resembles a railroad station and is home to another local non-profit community-based organization.
We held a charter ride for them on 18 December, where 27 of their members, all influential business executives, boarded our train at the north end, rode south to tour our Bonsal Yard facilities, and back north to their point of origin. This was the first time in NHV history that passengers were loaded at the north end. Quite a few of our members became a high-speed construction crew, met the short deadline and produced a very sturdy and graceful loading facility in New Hill Yard. The entire structure was built as a kit at Bonsal Yard, transported by road and rail and assembled at New Hill! Kudos to Jim and his crew for dawn-to-dusk work in very cold conditions to get this done in time (almost 24 hours to spare)! More action-oriented photos are in the “Around the Yard” feature below.
2026 Rides Are Now On Sale!
by Juli Buker
Thanks to Jim Whitten, our dedicated Ticket Office Manager, all 2026 rides have been loaded and are now available for purchase on Etix.com! As in past years, our special Halloween and Christmas rides will be posted later, in June or July.
For 2026 (excluding Halloween and Christmas), we’re offering 50 total rides, including:
• 18 weekday rides
• 6 Saturday rides
• 4 sensory-friendly rides
• 22 special event rides
Our 22 special event rides feature longtime favorites such as Hop Into Spring and Thomas and Friends in the Garden, along with patriotic-themed rides including Armed Forces Day, Veterans Day, and Happy 250th Birthday, America! We’re also excited to bring back a popular event from several years ago: Working on the Railroad Day, scheduled for April 25. This event will require plenty of planning and volunteer support to create engaging, informative exhibits.
We’ll also need help staffing these exhibits on the day of the event, along with our normal exhibits such as #17, the RPO, and the Goldston Depot. Please mark your calendar and plan to lend a hand! We’ll also be debuting some new events that we hope will turn into annual favorites, with Star Wars Day, TGI F-Ride Day and S’mores and Suds. Star Wars Day will be on May 4th (May the Fourth be with you!) and our Santa Express riders who noticed the poster at the Ticket Office have expressed a lot of excitement about that ride! TGI F-Ride Day on June 5th will be a test to see if an after-work, happy hour-type ride would be interesting to our followers.
Finally, our S’mores and Suds rides will be on November 14th, with each rider receiving a free s’more packet. Finally, we have 52 Operate-A-Loco sessions scheduled for 2026, and as of publication of the Telegrapher, all currently scheduled OALs are SOLD OUT.
Welcome to new members Julia, Greg, McLain and Nick House (family membership), Jeffrey Parker, Judy Parker, Kathryn Adams and Kathryn Parker (family), Jim Pellegrini, new member (Son, Rylan Renski, is an existing youth member), Lydia Allen, and Matthew Kehres, new members. Please welcome them and make them feel at home. Explain what you do for the Museum and teach them how it is done so they get a feel for things. Start their training early!
Cross Training Pays Off
by Chris Tilley
The final week of Santa Trains was nearly a disaster. Our three key “seasonal stars” were all sidelined at the same time by illness or injury. Luckily, three of our dedicated volunteers subbed in at the last moment to make all the kiddies dreams come true. Tom Hutchinson stepped in for Santa Paul, his wife Diana covered Frostie duties and Velinda sprouted pointed ears and a festive costume and filled the role of the Elf. All did a series of fine performances and prevented the crew caller from having a total nervous breakdown. Thanks from Paul, Gina, Jim and myself for saving the day!
Santa Express “Extras” This Year
by Juli Buker
During this year’s Santa Express rides, we offered several special extras to help entertain our passengers while they waited to board. Memory Lab hosted a photo booth on three ride days, complete with train-themed props. Many guests snapped multiple photos with their groups, all available to download and share, capturing some truly fun holiday memories. Four members of the Triangle Sax Ensemble braved the cold to perform festive Christmas carols for our crew and riders.
Their beautiful music filled the rail yard and added a joyful atmosphere to the Santa Express experience. Our Superintendent was especially enthralled while listening—did you know he played the saxophone (the big one on the left) in high school and French horn in college?
Paige King Johnson, an award-winning country musician also joined us, performing beloved Christmas favorites with a country twist, including Lainey Wilson’s “Christmas Cookies.” She even shared her own arrangement of “Santa Train” by Patty Loveless. As the 3:45 train departed, she closed with “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” which felt like the perfect send-off. The incredible individuals who provided these “extras” generously donated their time and talents to our Railway, and we are deeply grateful for their support. As we continue to expand our offerings, we’d love to hear your ideas. Please let me know if you have suggestions for other extras we could schedule in the future.
NCRM Members Visit from Tokyo
Scott and Shiho Tilley dropped into town for a few days from Tokyo, Japan and visited the NCRM for an hour on Christmas Day. They helped pick up some of the evidence of animals playing in our trash cans. They had a good time checking out our improvements since this time last year. Maybe we can actually get them in town when trains are moving!
