transcribed from Railspot’s Facebook announcement of 8/25/2016:
The official premiere of the new TEXAS ELECTRIC RAILWAY program is Tuesday evening, September 13th at the EVENT 1013 center located at 1013 E. 15th Street in historic Plano, Texas. The premiere starts at 7:30 pm and will feature 31 minutes of color and 20 minutes of rare B&W movies from the collection of Johnnie J. Myers.
As a surprise development Johnnie J. Myers and myself were contacted this weekend by members of the Historic Downtown Plano group and our premiere has now been officially made part of the 2016 Plano Artfest. Although the actual Artfest is the following Saturday, the City of Plano has decided to have a series of programs beginning that Tuesday and leading up to the main part of Artfest that Saturday. So the new DVD featuring the Texas Electric is the opening act for that week’s events!
The program is free and open to the public and I’ve been told that they also plan to provide refreshments.
The program will include viewing the Texas Electric Railway documentary, then will be followed by a short discussion by Robert Haynes, curator of the Plano Interurban Museum and then followed by a Q&A session. The panel will include Johnnie J. Myers, myself and Robert Haynes.
The movies cover the years from 1937 to 1948 and feature the blue & white “Bluebonnet” cars, the red & cream cars, Class C freight motors, Box Motors, streetcars on the Waco Transit, Katy steam at Hillsboro, West and Italy, and even a Rock Island freight behind a 2-8-2 at Red Oak. Classic street running at Waco, West, Hillsboro, Milford, Italy, Richardson and Sherman. Several scenes of the “up and over” bridge over the MKT and B-RI at Waxahachie, crossing the Brazos River in Waco, and activity at the Dallas Interurban Terminal off Wood Street. It’s all here.
I hope that everyone will try to plan on attending that night. I’ve been told that the EVENT 1013 facility is very upscale so it’s incredibly nice that the City of Plano has made it available to us for that evening.
Speaking personally, I do love getting out and doing historical programs like this. I find which each day’s passing that there are fewer and fewer of those who were around during this period of our state’s history to know what “interurbans” are, much less the Texas Electric. So I find myself drawn by the desire to share what I have, photos, movies and knowledge, with as many people as I can while I still can. It’s been a busy summer so far. I did a two hour program for the Allen Public Library back on Saturday, June 11th where I featured “The Passenger Trains of North Texas”. Then on Friday, August 5th I did a program on the Texas Zephyr for the Wichita Falls Rotary Club. Next up will be the Texas Electric program on Tuesday, September 13th, and I’m trying to work out arrangements for an “All Texas & Pacific” program in Marshall or Longview in October. As much fun as I have doing these, the best part is seeing so many friends come and share their time with me.
So don’t be a stranger on September 13th. Set your schedule now and plan on being in Plano that evening for the world premiere for the TEXAS ELECTRIC RAILWAY, from the collection of Johnnie J. Myers.
As PS, if you have a copy of his Texas Electric book, bring it and ask Johnnie to sign it.
–Steve Goen
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