The WHEELS Museum
New Year 2024 Quarterly Newsletter
Happy New Year!
Coming Events:
Friday, January 19
Shabbat Dinner
The evening will feature ritual, song, learning, and joyful relaxation led by Rabbi Dov Gartenberg, the Convener of Shabbat with Friends. Here is the flow of the evening.
5-6pm. The doors open at 5pm for a custom tour of the museum by the founder, Leba Freed.
6-7pm. A Shabbat potluck feast opened by the Shabbat table rituals.
7-8pm. Sitting in a circle we will have a special musical and group singing hour with a special offering of Passover songs of the Seder and selected table music melodies led by the SWF Oneg Shabbos (Joy of Shabbat) Ensemble.
This gathering is open to the community. All our gatherings are intergenerational and kid friendly. It is a wonderful event for children who will be captivated by the exhibit and the model trains. The Wheels Museum is located at 1100 2nd SW between Pacific and Cromwell. There is ample free parking.
Pre-Registration is required to attend. Sign up early to guarantee a place. As part of preregistration, we will provide information about the potluck signup and invite you to make a small donation to support both the museum and Shabbat with Friends. To preregister, call 505-243-6269 or email to Leba4@aol.com
Saturday, January 27. WHEELS Speaker Event
Pace VanDevender, PhD Physics
Principal Investigator, MQN Collaboration
“From Extreme Ball Lightning to Magnetized
Quark Nugget Dark Matter “ or
“Well, that didn’t work, until it did.”
2:00 to 3:00 PM
1100 2nd St. SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102
Admission Fee: Free. Donations Encouraged
This is the story of an adventure that began with a phone call from Albuquerque High School English teacher John Tricota in 1997. It disrupted the career of Sandia Labs CTO and Vice President of Science and Technology Pace VanDevender. The call led to Pace examining Extreme Ball Lightning, which is observed as a glowing ball of light that can last up to 20 minutes in clear weather while moving over 100 tons of material. By 2005, Pace was convinced that the phenomenon was real and potentially important. He retired from Sandia to research its cause. The period of 1997 to 2012 was full of experiments and theories that did not work but did eliminate bad ideas. A breakthrough occurred in 2012 that connected Extreme Ball Lightning to Magnetized Quark Nuggets (MQN) and Dark Matter, the mysterious stuff holding galaxies together. Since then, the MQN collaboration has published 6 papers in the international refereed literature and collected the best evidence yet pointing to the nature of dark matter. However, it is still possible that some unknown physics produces the observations, not MQNs. So the next goal is to collect an MQN and use it to build the core of a thermonuclear fusion reactor.
WHEELS Museum Author/Speaker event
“Walter steps up to the plate” A book for children and teens;
Speaker: Sue Houser, Author
Saturday, February 3, 2023, at 10 AM
WHEELS Museum, 1100 Second St. SW
Admission Fee: Free. Donations Encouraged
YOU ARE INVITED to “Stories from New Mexico’s Early Days” when Sue Houser will showcase her latest book, WALTER STEPS UP TO THE PLATE. Twelve-year-old Walter accompanies his tuberculosis-stricken mother on the Santa Fe Chief from Dearborn Station in Chicago to Albuquerque in 1927. Walter does everything he can to help his mother get well. Will that include accepting money from Al Capone?
Twelve-year-old Walter wants to spend the summer of 1927 watching his beloved Chicago Cubs play baseball. Instead, his life is upended when his mother is diagnosed with tuberculosis. Walter must leave everything he knows and loves to accompany his mother to Albuquerque, New Mexico, a place he has never been to live with relatives he has never met. To help with expenses, Walter gets a paper route. But the situation gets worse when his mother is admitted to a sanatorium and needs expensive surgery. A chance encounter with the gangster, Al “ Scarface” Capone might change his mother' s fortunes and get her the surgery his mother needs.
WHEELS Music Event
Bob Bovee
Western/Folk/Stories/
Banjo/Guitar/Harmonica/
Singing/Dance Music
Thursday, February 8
11 am to noon
Location: WHEELS Museum
1100 2nd Street, SW
Bob has performed on The Prairie Home Companion, and is the mastermind behind the
Bluff County Gathering.
“No one handles old-time cowboy and humorous songs better than Bob. His vocals are
hauntingly rough. His guitar and harmonica are as good as you will ever hear.” Don Stevens, “All
Music Guide”
WHEELS History Speaker Event
Ronn Perea, author and historian
“82nd Anniversary of the Bataan Death March:
what it meant for New Mexico”
Save the Date: April 13, 11:00 AM
More information to follow
WHEELS Annual RailFan Tour
Kansas City Getaway
September 21-24, 2024 Albuquerque.
Price: $1,020*/double ,$1,270*/single
ALLLL ABOARD! JOIN THE WHEELS MUSEUM on a rail trip to Kansas City for a long-weekend get-away. Travel between Albuquerque and Kansas City on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, passing from New Mexico to Colorado to Kansas and Missouri. Visit museums, enjoy local cuisine and sit back while a local guide shows you the sights of this bustling city. Kansas City has many nicknames; you’ll see several throughout the itinerary below in italics.
Day 1: Saturday, September 21 Depart Albuquerque
We begin our journey on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, departing Albuquerque at 11:48am. Settle into your seat and watch the changing scenery out your window as the day turns into night. To pass the time, get acquainted with your fellow travelers who all are supporters of the WHEELS Museum. You are welcome to bring food onboard or purchase food in the train’s Café car; the Diner is only available to passengers in sleepers (roomette or bedroom).
Day 2: Sunday, September 22 Arrive Kansas City-Touring
Amtrak’s scheduled arrival into Kansas City is 6:52am. Our private motor coach will be waiting for our arrival with our first stop being breakfast, included in your cost. Next, a local guide will come onboard to show us the Gateway to the West, provide history of the area, fun facts and more.
After lunch on your own, you have the opportunity to visit a museum. Your choice today is either the Arabia Steamboat Museum or the World War I Museum & Memorial.
We will check into our hotel and freshen up for tonight’s included group dinner.
Day 3: Monday, September 23 Free time-Tour Kansas City-Depart
Following breakfast at the hotel, the morning is free to enjoy as you wish. Try Kansas City’s free light-rail system to get around the city. Meet back at the hotel after lunch on your own for your afternoon museum visit. Today, choose between the National Museum of Toys & Miniatures or the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (special exhibits are an additional cost).
Kansas City is known as The BBQ Capital of the World; for your group dinner tonight you’ll have the opportunity to try some for yourself. After our last group dinner, our local guide will rejoin us as we drive around the City of Fountains to see many of the fountains illuminated.
The time has come to say goodbye to KC. You’ll be taken to Union Station to await the arrival of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief to return you back to Albuquerque; your scheduled departure is 10:42pm.
Day 4: Tuesday, September 24 Arrive Albuquerque
Reminisce with new and old friends about your trip to the Heart of America, Kansas City. We hope you have many good memories of your time away. Amtrak is scheduled to arrive Albuquerque at 3:29pm. Thank you for supporting the WHEELS Museum on this journey.
More information will follow
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WHEELS Holiday/Christmas Event was held on December 16. Over 200 visitors enjoyed the festive atmosphere including tours, train rides and cookie decorating. If you would like to see a short video that appeared on KOB-TV evening news showing WHEELS at its holiday best, watch the following link: https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/wheels-museum-hosts-community-christmas-party/
WHEELS Museum is planning for 2024 to be a year of significant upgrades to our exhibits and visitor experience.
The New Mexico Legislature has provided capital outlay money and the City of Albuquerque has provided support with money for planned:
Modernized restrooms.
Newly paved east side parking lot.
Expanded paved parking on the west side of the museum.
Working to develop the south end of the Railyard to expand the Railyards as an impressive railroad exhibition center.
The Rotary Club of Albuquerque has adopted WHEELS as the subject of a spring charity event to raise money to enhance the educational and cultural impact of the Railyard Workers and Families exhibit and provide a virtual train operation experience for visitors.
The Rio Grande Chapter of the Train Collectors Association has provided funding and expertise to expand our O Gauge (Lionel) train layout and include four operating trains and to include an S Gauge (American Flyer) train around the perimeter of the layout.
A new large scale G Gauge Garden Railroad layout with be added overhead to the welcoming room at the north end of WHEELS.
The Oppenheimer exhibit has received a photo of the Enola Gay B-29 bomber that includes a picture and autograph by pilot Paul Tibbets taken on August 6, 1945 (donated by Mike Langner).
Also being added to the exhibit will be a copy of a now unclassified memo dated July 21, 1945 from Oppenheimer describing his summary of the successful Trinity Site detonation. (donated by DeWitt Miller).
Volunteer News. WHEELS is a nonprofit entity that relies very much on the enthusiastic and committed work of volunteers. Our two volunteers of the quarter were Rich Hansell for his fun filled tours of the model car exhibit and Ronn Perea for his in depth narratives of the Alvarado Hotel.
Rich Hansell and Leba
Ronn Perea