CENTRAL ELECTRIC RAILFANS' ASSOCIATION

A not-for-profit technical & educational society, established in 1938

Upcoming Programs

IN MEMORIAM

Walter Collins, long time CTA Motorman and CERA member passed away on July 5. He was from Boston and never lost his Boston accent. Walter started at CTA in 1960 as a Conductor and advanced to Motorman  and is best remembered for picking Evanston Express runs since they had 4000’s which he loved to run, right up to their last day of service on November 8, 1973 and after that he stayed in the Evanston pretty much to his retirement. He also was a union officer in Amalgamated Transit Union Division 308 for many years including Vice President. He was also a long time member of CERA and also served as a board member.
He was a great guy with many good stories to tell and always had time to talk and answer any questions you might have. He was a mentor to some of the young fans and will truly be missed. He had two daughters and two sons and a grandson.

                                                                                                                               Irwin W. Davis


What's new at CERA?


CERA 2nd Friday Zoom Presentation

CERA’s August 14, 2026 Zoom Presentation

Newer Short Link to Zoom

https://tinyurl.com/2ndFridayCERA 

Link to Zoom Meeting

HARVEY LANER

Four Amazing RDC Rides

Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, most being retired by the 1980s. This Harvey Laner produced program features four rail operations that employed RDCs late in the unique car’s history. 

Trinity Railway Express -TRE opened the first segment of a commuter rail line in the in the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex. To prepare for the service, in 1993 DART purchased 13 RDCs from VIA Rail Canada.

Portland & Western - In early 2003:  The excursion train operated 4 days per week during the spring and summer seasons for three years until the end of the Lewis & Clark Exploration anniversary celebration on October 5 th , 2005.

Cuba - The group visited 14 Cuban sugar mills spread over a large geographic portion of the island nation. Travel over these long-distance routes was on a charter two-car train of former VIA Canada Budd RDC cars. 

BC Rail –  On June 6, 1992, Harvey Laner rode BC Rail’s RDCs from North Vancouver to Whistler BC and captured on video an exciting mix of beautiful scenery and interesting railroad operations, viewed from the cab.

Older Longer Link to Zoom:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88929318526?pwd=ICg6ZpFwsa6fpHIQ7PDvgowdyzD1HV.1 

Meeting Number 889 2931 8526  Passcode  022656


There will also be a short In The News program preceding the regular program.

This program is open to all CERA members, their guests and the public.

Mark this date on your calendar!


If you have not yet paid your 2026 CERA Membership dues please do soon or contact me

for more information: Elmer Haneberg

elmer@corpevent.com

(773) 972-0470

DONATE

RENEW NOW

2026

Click  2026 Membership Renewal Form.docx to get a hard copy of the 2026 Membership Form for mailing


Click   2026 Membership Renewal On Line Credit Card to renew with a credit card


Please consider donating to CERA. Our members and non-members alike help us keep providing monthly programming, annual books, periodic trips and events and more. Simply click on the donate button.


JOIN OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY

Renew Membership On Line Here

Renew at above link

Year In Review: Since 1938,  Central Electric Railfans’ Association has presented programs, published books, and hosted fan trips. In 2025 CERA Published B153, The Illini Trai, and continued its successful online programs on Zoom, offering both “open-to-all” Zoom programs and programs marketed exclusively to members and prospective members. We also returned to our in-person programming at a new location and hosted a fan trip to the Minneapolis St. Paul, Minnesota where we had personal guided tours of two Trolley Museums and conducted our Fourth Friday In Person meeting and dinner. In On June 6, 2026 we have a Fan Trip planned for the East Troy Railroad Museum.

Publications: Since falling behind schedule in 2020 due to the Corona virus issues, we have been strenuously  striving to get caught up with our membership entitlements issuing B153, The Illini Trail, to our 2020 Membership, distributing three Shore Line Dispatches (a $90 value) to our 2021 Members and publishing B154, The Pittsburgh Harmony Line for our 2025 Members, scheduled to be mailed out in early 2026 and yet another entitlement for our 2022 Members before September of 2026.  That means we will have made FOUR entitlement commitments in the space of less than a year.

Historical Slides: The board has authorized exploring digitizing our extensive CERA Historical slide collection at considerable expense. Please consider an extra donation to help cover this or consider a one year bump up in your membership level .















B153 The Illini Trail

available now

CLICK HERE



Copyright 2018 Central Electric Railfans' Association. All Right Reserved 

Central Electric Railfans' Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.  P.O. Box 503, Chicago, IL  60690

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