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About the Society
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The Society's mission statement (as adopted at the 1st Quarter 2005 meeting):
Membership in the Society:
(Article III, Section 1 of Bylaws, adopted on 5-14-2005)
Dues are payable on a calendar year basis. The Society publishes four issues of the newsletter each year.
No matter when a member joins during the year, the member shall receive the four issues published that year.
Members joining after the Annual meeting, but prior to the end of the calendar year, shall have the option to pay for the following year,
but in such event they will not receive the prior year's issues as a dues benefit.
Payment of dues shall also give the right to vote on all society business, as well as the election ballot in advance of the annual meeting.
The membership application is available online in word format
All applications should be mailed to:
For 2009, dues levels are as follows:
Dues levels for 2009 were set at the 2008 Annual Meeting that was held on 15 November 2008. They remained the same as 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, with
the benefit continuing to be 4 issues in 2009 as it was in 2006, 2007 and 2008, as opposed to the 2 issues of 2005.
The Society meets in person on a quarterly basis. Only the 4th Quarter meeting, the Annual Meeting, is at a fixed location, the
Salem Church Library. The other three quarters are open to meeting elsewhere when the program
requires it.
The meeting RSVP/regrets email address is meeting-rsvp@rfandp.org.
The fixed site of the Annual meeting, and the site of most meetings to date, including the rest of 2009, is the Salem Church Branch of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library on Salem Church Road in
Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
Brief Directions:
The Society publishes a quarterly newsletter. Two issues of Volume 1 were published in 2005, with four issues of Volume 2 published in 2006. Presently, two of four issues for 2007
have been published.
As yet, the newsletter does not have a permanent title. It has carried a railroad phrase to date - "Linking North and South" - as a temporary title.
The publication schedule is such that the newsletter will be in members' hands at least 10 days prior to that Quarter's
on-the-ground meeting.
Details of the Issues and a summary of their contents can be found on the Society Publications Page.
On the web since 1994:
Email List: (1998-2004 on lists.psu.edu; 2004-present on Yahoogroups)
Into the live-meetings of 2004 and 2005:
Bylaws Adoption, Dues Collection & Initial officers:
Incorporation, 501(c)(3) tax exempt status, regular Newsletters & rising membership:
Company Store flourishes
Some notes about returning the ballot:
TO THOSE WHO WILL BE PRESENT AT THE ANNUAL MEETING: You have the option of mailing your ballot ahead of time, or turning in your ballot at the start
of the annual meeting. In person ballots must be in an outer envelope as if mailed.
Mail ballots should be sent to the following address:
The Society received its 501(c)(3) Letter from the IRS on June 9th, 2006, with an effective date of February 2, 2006 - the
date the Virginia State Corporation Commission accepted our Articles of Incorporation. Any contributions since February are covered
under the determination letter, and all prior contributions back to formation date of May 14, 2005, are within the initial period that status
is assumed.
The Society is a not-for-profit corporation, but it still must collect and pay Virginia sales tax on any sales, such as back issues or other
company store items. The Society came on-line with the state in this capacity on May 1, 2006.
The CS debuted on the ground at the 3rd Quarter 2006 Society meeting on August 19th. It was also present at the August 26-27 GTE Show at Chantilly. Developmental details can be found on the Company Store main page. Officer-at-Large Herfurth has volunteered to be "store manager". In that capacity he can be reached at csmanager@rfandp.org.
A preview image of the first offering, the Wilkerson "Governor Thomas Jefferson" print, can be found here.
In addition, shirts with the Society logo are available for purchase by members. Hats and mousepads with RF&P logos are now available, as are back issues of Society Publications.
The Society is a not-for-profit corporation, but it still must collect and pay Virginia sales tax on any sales to Virginia residents or for Virginia delivery. (Orders taken for later delivery out of state do not require tax)
The Archives were authorized by action of the Membership at the May 2005 meeting. The Archives cover all types of items from the RF&P - its current contents are those items that have been given to the Society.
In addition to preservation of items of the Railroad, the Archives will retain the corporate records of the Society.
Russ Dolbear is the Society's Archivist, and he can be reached at archivist@rfandp.org.
More information about the development of the Society Archives can be found on the Archives Page.
By mail (all applications should be sent to this address):
Membership in the Society shall be open to any person with an interest in any aspect of the RF&P.
Dues: Year-basis, applications, amounts:
RF&P Railroad Historical Society, Inc.
ATTN: Membership Chairman
PO Box 9097
Fredericksburg VA 22403-9097
Regular - $20
Any amounts above $30 will be recorded as a donation to the Society. Since the Society is a 501(c)(3) exempt organization, any amount
in excess of the $20 regular dues is a tax-deductible contribution.
Sustaining - $30
Meeting Frequency
Salem Church Library
From I-95, take Exit 130, Route 3 West. Pass through several traffic lights, before turning left just past Salem Church onto Salem Church Road.
The Library is on the left side just past the 2nd traffic light.
Society Publications
A brief history of the Society
The society in its current form can trace its roots back to late 1994, when a page of RF&P photos from 1987 was attached
to a page of the Penn State Model Railroad Club website. These were split off onto
a standalone site in early 1995, then on eec.psu.edu, and grew in size such that quota was exceeded in early 1997, when it
was moved to trainweb.com. Much of the present trainweb.org site owes structure roots to 1997-1998. In 2002,
Trainweb shifted its free space from trainweb.com to trainweb.org. It was this move that led to the registration of the
rfandp.org domain in July 2002, so that a move such as the trainweb to trainweb one would not affect the end user. Early 2005
saw the Society's pages separated and removed from the trainweb.org/rf&p site, (initially
due to a glitch on trainweb that took a few months to solve) and the rfandp.org has
followed the Society pages.
April of 1998 saw the creation of the RF+P-L list on the servers of lists.psu.edu. This list's activity was sporadic at best,
lying dormant for months at a time, before springing to life in early 2004 on the talk of a live-meeting. In April 2004, it was
decided to move the list over to Yahoogroups as a more user-friendly platform. At transfer the list was at 70 subscribers. After
a year on Yahoogroups, the number had grown to almost 200. Activity has been moderate to high since the transfer, and this
growth has fueled the on the ground momentum.
Bill Sheild must be credited for the drive to make a live-meeting really happen. He secured the space,
took RSVP's, provided refreshments, and presided over them. The first one in May of 2004 led to a 2nd one in 2004, in October. That October one
decided twice a year was not enough, and a meeting was scheduled for January 2005. This meeting reviewed and revised a draft set of bylaws,
adopted a mission statement (as seen above), and concluded a Quarterly schedule was best, and reserved dates for the remainder of 2005.
The May 14th (or 2nd Quarter 2005) meeting saw dues set at the draft bylaws minimum ($20 per year), set the sustaining rate
at 50% higher, or $30. It saw the adoption of the bylaws with a few minor changes from the January revisions, adopted unanimously
by the 22 present. After lunch, a list of draftees was made for initial officers to serve until formal elections later in the year.
Fortunately, all draftees accepted nomination and were elected. President, Bill Sheild; Vice President, Jim Musgrove; Secretary, Rob
McKeever; Treasurer, Jack Rizer; Officer-At-Large, Ron Herfurth. George Payne voluteered to be Membership Chairman, while Jim Musgrove
got talked into initial newsletter editor, and Rob McKeever into continuing as webmaster, but with help this time.
Late 2005 saw the Society adopt Articles of Incorporation, hold its first annual elections (all acting officers were elected to full one-year terms),
and saw the Society hit 100 members prior to the end of the calendar year. Early 2006 saw the State Corporation Commission accept the Articles of Incorporation,
and saw the Society apply for and receive a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt determination letter from the IRS. All throughout, Newsletter Editor Musgrove has kept us
informed and on track with a newsletter issue each Quarter, along with informational inserts in with each issue. The 200 member mark was reached by the end
of August 2006.
The Company Store debuted at the August 2006 Greenberg show at Chantilly, with initial offerings of a Wilkerson "Thomas Jefferson" print, Society shirts and back issues.
Added at the 2006 Annual meeting were mousepads, RF&P logo hats and Society sweatshirts.
The 300 member mark was crossed in early 2007.
The Company Store has grown
in offerings, up from the initial ones to include the Society's first commissioned run,
HO scale International wide-vision cabooses #903 and #906 from Atlas in red, and autographed copies of the Paul C. Dietz book "Firing on the Pennsy", and began accepting
paypal as a means of online ordering & payment.
The 400 unique member mark was passed in early 2008, and the paid level for 2008 remains well above 300.
Society Elections Process
The RF&PRRHS conducts officer and director elections by mail prior to each year's annual meeting. Nominations are taken at the 3rd quarter meeting
from the floor, and the nominating committee will solicit the membership. Each of the Executive Committee officers are elected annually, while the directorships
are two-year terms, with three being elected one year, and two the next. The Directors need not hold an Executive Committee office. The first directors from the floor
were elected in 2006. Per the Articles of Incorporation, the existing five Executive Officers are the initial directors until the next annual meeting.
A blank ballot along with that year's detailed instructions will go out with the 4th Quarter issue of the newsletter to all paid members
at the Issue's scheduled mail date. Members who join/pay after the mail-out date may still vote in person at the Annual Meeting.
IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND THE ANNUAL MEETING: Make sure your ballot is returned such that it gets delivered to
the Society Post Office Box by the 1st of November. Ballots that arrive in the box up to the day before the ANnual Meeting will be counted.
It is important you mark the outside of the envelope "Elections" or "Ballot Enclosed" in some fashion.
RF&PRRHS, Inc. Elections
PO BOX 9097
Fredericksburg Va 22403-9097
Please also make sure to mark envelope, "BALLOT ENCLOSED".
501(c)(3) Status and Incorporation
Company Store
Society Archives
Contact the Society
RF&P Railroad Historical Society, Inc.
PO Box 9097
Fredericksburg VA 22403-9097
Addressing your correspondence to the proper department will speed the reply process.
| Elected Officers/Executive Committee | Appointed Offices/Committee Chairmen |
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Note that each of these five are the current directors, with Directors Sheild and Rizer (class 1) next up for election in 2008, while the others (Class 2) are up again in 2009, with the two classes serving offsetting two-year terms. The directorships are not tied to the Executive offices, but happen to be filled by the current EC officers at this time.
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Note that the meeting RSVP/regrets email address is meeting-rsvp@rfandp.org, which is used for both RSVPs and Regrets.
2010 meeting dates will be announced by the 2009 Annual Meeting
| ©1997-2009, RF&P Railroad Historical Society, Inc., unless otherwise noted. | Suggestions to webmaster@rfandp.org |
| Back to RF&P Society Home | Last Updated 9 July 2009 |
