Home

Image description
Upper Hack lift bridge between Secaucus and Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Photo by Noah Caplin (December 1997)

Active ERA members for 2023 are invited to attend the first of two in-person meetings this year at Manducatis Restaurant, located at 13-27 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens (directions here). This meeting will include a cash bar at 6:30 p.m., complimentary dinner at 7 p.m., and a slide presentation afterward by longtime member and acclaimed traction photographer Noah Caplin. Noah’s presentation will include aerial images of subway and railroad locations in the New York City region.

We can accommodate a total of 50 ERA members. Each member may bring one guest. So register ASAP by completing the online registration form (reservation button below). Reservations close on July 21 at 11:59 p.m. or when space is filled up, whichever comes first. See you on July 28! Read More

Reserve

Our June Zoom program, Ralph Cantos’ 1966 Eastern Traction Odyssey, takes us on a most memorable eastern traction adventure as it existed over 56 years ago. For three weeks, armed with a vintage 16mm movie camera and lots of film, Cantos rode and filmed rail transit in and around Chicago, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Newark, and Boston. His historic 16mm film was edited and transferred to video by Harvey Laner and will be narrated by both men. This show will not be recorded, so don’t miss it! Read More

June 2023 Meeting Notice

Seattle Streetcar with monorail in background. Mike Glikin photo (September 3, 2010)

For its 2023 Annual Convention, the ERA returns to the dynamic Pacific Northwest, anchored by our two primary destinations: Portland and Seattle. These two spectacular cities are, respectively, the nation’s 22nd and 15th most populous metro regions.

The combination of a 60-mile light rail network, local streetcar, commuter rail system, and high-frequency grid bus system have earned Portland the title of one of the best transit networks in the U.S. Seattle is the metro area most committed to developing urban transit, with $54 billion earmarked for transit in 2016, more than any other U.S. city. Read More

2023 Convention Flyer

Image description
Exterior of the new Staten Island Railway Clifton Maintenance Shop on opening day. MTA photo by Marc A. Hermann (Dec 7, 2022)

The ERA is pleased to announce a tour of Staten Island Railway’s new Clifton Maintenance Shop, our first trip to an MTA railcar maintenance facility since we visited the LIRR’s Hillside Maintenance Complex in May 2019. SIR’s $165 million facility opened on December 7, 2022, replacing the previous shop which suffered severe damage during Hurricane Sandy.

All dates are the third Friday of each month except September 22, the fourth Friday, since the third Friday is Rosh Hashanah.There will be no meetings in July and August.

The Elevated Railways of Brooklyn and the BMT Subway, Volume One: 1864-1940. Sandy Campbell composite photo

Extra copies of Eric Oszustowicz’s The Elevated Railways of Brooklyn and the BMT Subway, Volume One: 1864-1940 are still available for sale on our Publication Sales page. This incredible 436-page book counted as the 2019 and 2020 issues of Headlights.

Order

Join

Members, feel free to share this page with your friends. If they enjoy our Zoom programs, your friends can join the ERA for 2023 right now using our New Member Application Form.

Digital dues are $60 and members receive the monthly Bulletin via email. All-print dues are $110 per year. Those under 30 years are eligible for $30 youth dues. All three memberships include either an annual print copy of the color Headlights magazine or a book every two years.

Renew

You can now renew your ERA membership for 2023. Please take a moment to complete our Dues Renewal Form.

ERA greatly appreciates your prompt membership renewals and your donations. It’s our primary source of income and makes possible the monthly programming, Bulletin issues and Headlights magazine that we all count on and enjoy!

Donate

Thank you very much to those of you who have already made generous contributions to support our programs in 2022. The membership’s response to our fund drive has been outstanding! If you have not already done so, please consider a donation this year to help ERA continue its nearly 90-year record of traction education and entertainment. Our Donation Form makes it much easier to contribute!

Donations are tax deductible: The ERA is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt corporation. Your donations are fully tax deductible and can be made using the new donation form on our website.

We’re proud to announce the 2023 ERA Membership Card, photographed in 1990 by Bulletin Editor-in-Chief Jeff Erlitz from his Headlights 2021 article on East German Traction. Our membership cards are now digital. Upload them to your phone for easy access, or print them if you want to add your name and membership number. The complete set of 2016-2023 membership cards is available as high-res PDFs, suitable for printing and framing. Click an image to enlarge; click a caption to download the PDF.

2023 PDF

2022 PDF

2021 PDF

2020 PDF

2019 PDF

2018 PDF

2017 PDF

2016 PDF

Vintage Collection

When Ray Berger passed away in 2016, he left a trove of transportation memorabilia he had been collecting for decades. Jeff Erlitz and Noah Caplin have been hard at work sorting through these archives. Jeff has scanned a bunch of the vintage items they found, presented here for our members to enjoy.

card-horizontal-image

Facebook

Created in 2011 by Philip Hom, our Facebook page is the place to go for the latest news from ERA members.

Twitter

Our frequently updated Twitter feed is written by Alexander ‘Sasha’ Ivanoff, a contributing editor to the Bulletin.

YouTube

Fascinating member videos, including some of our monthly meetings, can be watched on our YouTube channel.

Issuu

Every back issue since 2002 of the Bulletin and previews of Headlights since 1996 can be found on our Issuu page.

Search