Steam & Excursion > The 2nd annual Great Smoky Valley Shootout!

It’s that time again! On Saturday October 3, 2015 we’ll be staging our 2nd annual “Great Smoky Valley Shootout”. We've rented the same Greyhound Hall of Fame conference room with plenty of capacity for this year's expected turnout. And like last year, we’ll stage a night photo shoot of the ex Santa Fe 4-6-2 #3415 plus the ex H&N Alco S-4 #4, now painted in A&SV colors. Again, as an added attraction the Abilene & Smoky Valley will be having the 3415 running excursions that weekend (3rd & 4th). NOTE: On Saturday the 3rd these excursions will be shortened to coordinate with Abilene’s local “Chisholm Trail Days”. The runs will be hourly from 10 AM to 3 PM, and will turn back to Abilene short of Enterprise (the eastern end of the A&SV). Regular runs will made on the 4th. Plus, there is plenty of regular railfanning to be had within roughly 90 minutes of Abilene, such as the Kansas Flint Hills, the old Rock Island GSR & UP's Topeka-Marysville mainline are all within a reasonable driving distance from Abilene.

Here is the schedule of events:
8:00-9:00 Registration $10.00 per person
(also register for the “slide show free-for-all”)

9:00 AM to 2:00 PM Slide show “Free-for-all” 15-20 minute blocks of time to show personal slides/images (pre-registering for this event heavily encouraged, total number of time slots may be limited)

10:00 AM to 3:00 PM Hourly runs of the 3415: out & back short of Enterprise.
(last run of the 3415 @ 3:00 PM)

3:00 PM to 7:00 PM Free time (local railfanning, social & eating time)

7:00 PM to (no later than) 8:30 PM Feature Presentation:
Mr Russell Honey from Kansas City will showcase some very fine professional photography!

9:00 to ??? (no later than midnight) Night photo session with ex-AT&SF 3415 & ex H&N #4

For pre-registration, or other information contact:
Bob Helling @ “hell2@cox.net”
or Lance Garrels @ “DJ.SirL@Yahoo.com”
contact Abilene & Smoky Valley @ 785-263-1077

This would be a great chance for you to meet quite a few of the current wanted list of Kansas Gangsters, and we would all look forward to meeting new railfans from out of our area! We'll leave the light on for ya...

Looking forward to a great time!
Bob Helling (PRose)
Lance Garrels (santafe199)