10/01/99
To all of you purchased my Subway Calendar or at least seen it,thanks for you input and kind words. The Subway Calendar idea was born on May of 1992 at my friends house. I was introduced to john J.Scala of Weekend Chief Publishing,who publishes my calendar. I was always interested in full color railroad calendars and wondered out loud,why not NYC Subways? Well after some talking and some action,the 1993 New City Subway Calendar (no longer available) was born. I took the biggest gamble of my life by investing about five thousand dollars in this project not knowing the market for such a calendar. The first calendar's pictures were all mine,a photographic exhibition of sorts. The '93,'94 and '95 editions were 81/2 X 11. By 1995 I decided that this calendar needed a shot in the arm! So I increased the size to 9 X 12 and inlisted the help of my long time friend Don Harold and with his blessing,used his rarely seen 35mm photography. The cover shot was not his but my shot of Hammels Wye with the museum low v's and the R-110A's and 110B's. It worked and each year the popularity of this item has increased and so has my determination to make the new calendar better than the previous one.
I'm very particular of what chromes go into the calendar and try to make it as interesting as possible. This year there is the first price increase in about six years. This came about when the printer warned us about the price of paper going up. Although the first editions (93-94-95) sold for $7.95,if they were produced in the 9 x 12 size they would have sold for $8.95,which was what the 96-97-97-98 & 99 editions sold for. So one price adjustment in 6 years ain't all that bad. I try my best to satisfy everybody and enjoy creating this product every year,although it is hard work. Thanks to all and let's all forge ahead into the new millenium !
BILL NEWKIRK