HSUMD ANNUAL HOLIDAY DINNER and MEETING

DINNER TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE AT THE BOOK/GIFT SHOP!    $20 PER PERSON.

ALL ABOARD THE SAGEBRUSH SHORT LINE!

The Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert’s Annual Holiday Dinner Party takes place on Tuesday December 17 at the Historic USO Building, 230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd., A scrumptious dinner will be catered by the amazing Rose Fusco, and her awesome staff, followed by a special presentation of, “… And the Big Kids Love It, Too!…the Story of the Sagebrush Short Line Railroad,”  a video by long-time member Mark Pahuta and Steve Banks. Tickets for the dinner cost $20 per person. The doors will open at 5:30 and dinner will be served at 6:00 p.m. with the video to follow.

For many years a Holiday visit to ride the Railroad was a cherished annual tradition for many local families. To observe this beloved tradition, the HSUMD has participated by selling the Short Line Railroad video and a selection of other Railway-related books. The last Christmas ride was in 2016. This meeting’s video presentation will offer a welcome reminder of the big event.

The video tells the story of a small group of aficionados and volunteers—of machinists and neophyte hobbyists and even some “real” railroad veterans who began building what would become a wonderful small-scale railroad in the backyard of local residents George and Linda Pruitt.

 The Sagebrush Line quickly grew to include new and highly innovative hardware designs and construction methodologies to host its wide variety of resident and visitor locomotives and rolling stock. Based around a rare bi-directional layout, the line is built to 1/8 scale – machines at a scale of 11/2 inches to 1 foot on 71/2 -inch gauge rails. It boasts better than a mile of track with switches and trestles and sidings, a turntable and steaming bays, a scaled-down town with a working water tower, and a couple of man-made mountains. It required a variety of skilled, clever people (many of them veterans of the base) to execute it all.

The video to be presented grew out of an off-hand remark by Pruitt during a retiree interview with base historian Leroy Doig. The ensuing year-long production covered the four annual “meets” at Sagebrush, including the massive Christmas endeavor, along with multiple work parties. Through the years, many local residents have seen the railroad at night, during the Christmas rides. The video will be guests’ opportunity to see it in daylight, and experience a behind-the-scenes peek at the monumental effort to get the Sagebrush Short Line started and to keep it going. The crew conducted on-camera interviews to provide the story and shot many hours of video, supplemented with hundreds of photographs from the Pruitt’s personal albums.  George Pruitt even created some specialized camera-support equipment for the production.

Pruitt and Mark Pahuta will be present at the Holiday meeting, with Pruitt giving a short talk before the video. The video will also be available for purchase. Put on your crazy Christmas sweaters, and come to the meeting for some great food, nostalgia, fellowship, and good cheer!

The Society meets on the third Tuesday of most months. Meetings are free and all are welcome to attend. For more information on this or future meetings, call the HSUMD at 760-375-8456 during Book/Gift Shop hours: Wednesday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.