If you are reading this, you likely have noticed a few changes! The website has indeed changed, and your eyes do not deceive you!
After a year of exploring various in-house and outshopped alternatives, the Board is pleased to announce we have engaged The Garbely Publishing Company to build and help maintain our new Society website. Normally, we would have rolled out a complete website rebuild all at once. However, when we finally made up our minds, we were just weeks (days) away from the expiration date for our existing web host, so we made arrangements with Garbely Publishing to do a quick and dirty transfer of our current basic content but with the new look. The full rebuild will take 3-4 months, so it will be a while before you see the full scope of our planned revisions and additions.
SCL Modeler:
As we were carrying out the transition, we found that the current edition of the SCL Modeler was… well… messed up, with partial content of two of the articles missing. The new SCL Modeler with corrections should be posted soon.
The New Site:
I would like to thank Curtis Brown in taking the lead to evaluate our options and recommend a course of action. Also, Dean Gordon played a key role in developing the options and Buck Dean was vital in the evaluating the Garbely proposal and carrying out the transfer process. Buck Dean did a great and often thankless job of running our site for many years. He has worked tirelessly this week with Garbely Publishing on the transition and will now pass on the baton. Thanks Buck!!!
Moving forward, we will use The Garbely Publishing Company to help maintain the revised site and assist on some updates. We will also be reaching out to the membership for several members to step up and help out in periodic updates.
So, what will we see later this year? Our plans include the addition of considerable new content, members-only features, and a much-improved company store with new digital products that can be bought online and downloaded. The events calendar will be improved and updated more frequently. There will likely be features we have not even talked about yet!
Bottom line is, these changes are intended to improve our Society’s online presence, improve promotion and recruiting, and to add value to your membership experience.
The Garbely Publishing Company specializes in railroad publishing, and has been producing websites for railway historical societies, real short line railroads, and other interesting organizations since 2012. Take look at their client list on their website when you get a chance. Rudy Garbely, apart from running his company, is also the President of The Conrail Historical Society, so he knows more than a little about what we do. His wife, Carolyn Hoffman, is the Conrail group’s Secretary. Rudy and Carolyn are also two of the three directors for Operation Toy Train, which has recently acquired the last Atlantic Coast Line passenger car to operate on Amtrak, Pullman-built baggage car ACL 152.
So, take a look around our new website, and if you have any suggestions, please test out our contact options and let us know! After all, this website is for you!
So, to all, stay well, and stay positive!
Sincerely,
W. Jim Langston
President ACL & SAL HS