Viewing page 263 of 547

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

of discussions by "Brandy" and Don MacLeod of Wright's paper on "Modern Rail Transport" in which he envisioned a real future for electrification thru unification and hence greatly expanded long haul traffic over surviving lines.  It is funny how my nerves get me - although I had only to [[underlined]]read[[/underlined]] three typewritten pages, my knees quaked and my hands trembled when I stood up there.  I wish there were some way to lick that - I guess plenty of practice is the only good answer.
 
The above mentioned crowd gathered for a cocktail before lunch and it was nice to sit there with them all - there was something about [[underlined]]all[[/underlined]] of us being on foreign soil that seemed to enhance the chumminess of the occasion.  Then we went upstairs for lunch - Jay bought the lunch tickets at the desk and upon learning they were $2[[underline]] 00 [[/underline]] each he inquired if they threw in the table.  It was a good lunch - you could eat everything on the menu if you wished and there was plenty.

After lunch, I put in a few perfunctory minutes in the business session while someone held forth on methods of electing Fellows to the Institute, and then I joined Jay and Phil on the porch to have a talk about the New Haven 44 ton proposition. Phil had told us to quote on our standard job and take exception where it did not conform to NH Spec. (written by Phil).  But the boys got a rude awakening when Charlie Painter told them to quote damn quickly on a loco to NH Spec - why did we think the spec was issued with the invitation?  So we had to go thru considerable palaver with Phil to decide how to ease out of that since it is well nigh impossible to conform 100% to NH Spec. without designing a new engine from stem to stern whereas a few well put exceptions would