03/03/2026
FOBNR 2026 Mini-Meet and Membership Meeting
Gillette, Wyoming and Alliance, Nebraska
June 24-27, 2026
The FOBNR Board of Directors has decided to hold a no-cost, mostly railfanning mini-meet this year and return to a full-blown convention in 2027. It will be free to attend, but there will be a limited agenda (no guest speaker, auction, etc.) with a few attractions along the way. Feel free to participate in any (or none) of the scheduled events. A membership and Board of Director's meetings will be held on Friday evening, as required in our bylaws. Just meet up each day at a predetermined location, decide where to go, and head out. If you live close enough, come for the day and go home each night. Attend just one day, two or all three. We'll document our progress and plans on-the-fly on our page and have a cell phone number to call to get the latest status if you don't use Facebook.
We have selected Holiday Inn hotels in Gillette, Wyoming and Alliance, Nebraska to operate from. We recommend you stay at these hotels should you plan on spending the night. Meeting up in the morning will be much easier if most of us stay there than if we are scattered around town. The FOBNR has arranged discounted room rates and the use of a meeting room Friday evening at the Alliance, NE Holiday Inn.
Here's the schedule (rain or shine):
Wednesday, June 24th 6PM: Arrival group dinner at The Railyard, 113 S. Gillette Ave., Gillette, WY. We will order from the menu.
Thursday, June 25th 7AM: Meet at the Holiday Inn Lobby and Railfan the Powder River Basin. We will take a coal mine tour and then drive to Alliance, Nebraska. This will be a four-to-six-hour drive depending on how many stops are made
Friday, June 26th 8AM: Meet at the Holiday Inn Lobby and carpool to the BNSF Alliance shop tour. Afternoon railfan the area around Alliance, NE.
Friday, June 26th 7PM: Membership meeting followed by a BoD Meeting at the Alliance, NE Holiday Inn.
Saturday, June 27th 7:45AM: Meet in the hotel lobby and drive to the Ponderosa Ranch to enjoy private access to BNSF's Crawford Hill area and have catered lunch.
Saturday, June 27th, 6:00PM: Group Dinner. Sam & Louie's Italian Restaurant. 1313 W 3rd St, Alliance, NE. We will order from the menu.
Please let us know in advance if you plan on attending, or if you have any questions, by sending an email to [email protected]. We will reply to confirm your attendance and get a little more information from you.
An update agenda and information sheet can be found at
https://fobnr.org/convention/
We hope to see you this Summer!
PHOTO:
A collection of various BN locomotives of both GE and EMD origin are at Glasgow, MT on July 29th, 1984. Wade Griffis photo, from the FOBNR archives.
