Museum commemorates snowbound 1947 train (Put Div)

Nice article in the Journal News:

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 029/NEWS13

An account of the Blizzard of '47 and the stranding of Engine 823 is detailed in Mahopac author Joe Schiavone's new book, "The Old Put…" Schiavone grew up in Granite Springs, and the book is his homage to a lifelong passion for the defunct Putnam line.


Schiavone and Morgia will be on hand at the museum next week for a 60th anniversary commemoration of the event, timed to coincide precisely with Morgia's and Rooney's rescue by conductor Harold "Smitty" Smith.

Thought you'd all want to know.

Hi,

Don't remember too much of the Blizzard of '47, except that school was closed for at least a week, and I and my cronies were living on our sleds. Had a great time and came home with frozen clothes. We stood our clothes up in the corner of the room, and in the morning they were lying on the floor, in a pool of water. Great fun, for those that were still in school. We would come home after dark, so I attached a tail light to the underside of the sled. My Dad liked that idea. Didn't affect the subways much, but the buses suffered.

Sounds like it is going to be a good time at the museum, sure wish I could attend! I let my Dad know about it, and he is pretty excited and is going to try to get there.

Too bad they cant do these things in the evenings when more people could attend...

http://www.yorktownmuseum.org/

Although I could not attend due to being out in Seattle, my Dad was able to make it and really enjoyed the hour-long presentation. He also picked up one of the new Put books along with some photos and CDs.

I attended the presentation given by Joe Schiavone in Yorktown Heights yesterday and I must say it was terrific. Joe is a great storyteller and comes across as an earnest and dedicated historian of the Putnam line. He introduced Jimmy Morgia who was the fireman on the ill-fated blizzard train of 1947. Jimmy is also quite the gentleman and it was fascinating to meet them both. Joe signed copies of his new book "The Old Put" and Jimmy even autographed a photo of him taken in 1948. The "lecture" was very well attended and not just by railfans. The Yorktown museum is selling copies of Joe's book along with two DVD's Joe put together which include some wonderful color film shots of the Putnam line in the 1940's to 1950's. Get them while you can as I understand that it was a limited printing of only 1,500! Joe also mentioned that he is moving ahead with a Putnam line anniversary celebration for next year!

Otto Vondrak wrote:Too bad they cant do these things in the evenings when more people could attend...

http://www.yorktownmuseum.org/

Ditto.

It's funny too because most of Joe's Put presentations have been during evening hours. Maybe he figured that alot of people would be taking the day off from work on the 26th. Maybe the museum wasn't available for evening hours that day. Who knows?

Joe is a great story teller and when you go to one of the presentations you can see how much he really loves the Put.

Jon

The reason why Joe Schiavone's recent presentation at the Yorktown museum was held when it was is made clear in the news stories publicizing the event:

"Schiavone and Morgia will be on hand at the museum next week for a 60th anniversary commemoration of the event, timed to coincide precisely with Morgia's and Rooney's rescue by conductor Harold "Smitty" Smith."

In fact, Joe repeatedly looked up at the clock and referenced the fact that it was exactly at the time that the lecture began, some 60 years ago, that the rescue occurred.

Although a later time would have attracted many others who might have been interested in attending, it probably would have been way too late for the senior citizens who compromised the majority of the audience in attendance (no disrespect intended).

I wonder how much it really mattered that the lecture coincided with that exact moment versus having more attendees at the lecture. Joe's evening presentations are usually well-attended by fans of all ages.

-otto-

Otto, you'd have to ask Joe whether it really mattered since he was the one who gave the lecture, wrote the book and coordinated the whole thing with the Yorktown museum. As I mentioned, since he repeatedly made the point about the timing of the lecture in relation to the event, perhaps it was important to him. In any event, there was not a vacant seat and some people were even in the hallway listening. Owing to the interest in the subject, perhaps Joe can be persuaded to give another presentation on the subject in a different venue which more people could attend. Another thread in the forum relating to the 50th anniversary might be the place to start drumming up some interest. I, for one, would love to hear you also give a talk someday about the subject of your new book and maybe persuade you to sign my copy!

I will gladly sign your copy of the book anytime... as for a talk... what would I talk about? :-) I'd just be showing other people's photos and saying pretty much the same things Joe does... :-)

(Not that I'm against giving a talk... I also don't want to steal any of Joe's thunder)

-otto-