CENTRAL ELECTRIC RAILFANS' ASSOCIATION

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

Upcoming Programs

  • Friday, August 9, 2024, 7:00 PM CT Harvey Laner's Midwest Traction Review; Friday, September 11, 2024, 7:00 PM CT; Friday, September 27, 2024 In Person and on Zoom, 7:00 PM

IN MEMORIAM:

Paul Willer: From his daughter, Dianne Willer-Sly

I want to share with CERA members that my father, Paul Willer, 91 years old, died peacefully on July 7th, 2025 in Oakdale, Minnesota at his apartment there.  He was a very long time CERA member. I remember attending meetings with him when I was 12 years old and I am now in my 60s!

His health prevented him from attending meetings in person the last number of years. I would often connect my laptop to the TV in his assisted living room so that he could watch many of the online presentations.

Paul was born and resided in Ft Wayne, Indiana until 1972.  He then moved to Sodus, Michigan. That put him closer to the South Shore line that he enjoyed “chasing”. He was a big fan of old  Indiana interurban lines and would explore abandoned right of ways with his buddies. His favorite type of rail cars were trolley cars. He was often referred to as “Trolley Paul”.

Paul moved to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in 2022 to be closer to family. 

My favorite memory was a trip we took together in 2010 to Portland Oregon and San Francisco to ride street cars and cable cars. We traveled on Amtrak there and back from Chicago. 

Paul will be cremated and buried at Lindenwood Cemetary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

We are asking that any memorial donations, be given to CERA. Memorial services are pending. See Simple Traditions by Bradshaw funeral home for details in a week or so. https://www.simpletraditions.com/obituaries

Please share the above information with your members. 

Dianne Willer-Sly




What's new at CERA?

CERA’s Second Friday

Zoom Program

https://tinyurl.com/CERAthe2ndFriday

Meeting Number 814 9251 7167  Passcode  880028

TINY URL BUTTON

Presenter and Topic to be Announced Soon

Friday, August 8, 2025, at 7:00 P.M. CDT


NO  CERA 4th Friday July or August

In Person or Zoom Presentation


If you have not yet paid your 2025 CERA Membership dues please do soon or contact me

for more information: Elmer Haneberg

elmer@corpevent.com

(773) 972-0470

Let us know by email if you have questions at:

For more railfan programming listings, visit:http://www.railcc.org/events.html

 





RENEW NOW

2025

Click above RENEW NOW to go to

Membership Renewal Site



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

https://cera-chicago.org/sys/website/?pageId=7743

Renew at above link

Since 1938, Central Electric Railfans’ Association has presented programs, published books, and hosted fan trips.

In 2024 CERA 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 Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

We very proudly edited, published and produced the critically received Transit in the Triangle, Volume 2 which was mailed to all of our 2019 Members. Our goal now is to get out two books in the next 16 months to 2020 and 2021 members!! 

We plan on making 2025 even better. Look forward to new things on Zoom and in our in-person programming, news on upcoming CERA-penned books and other featured products in our store and special deals on older titles in our inventory.

Please consider contributing to these efforts by renewing your membership, or becoming a new member. You can pay for your membership by check or credit card and online via our web site: www.cera-chicago.org/join. We accept PayPal.

CERA 2025 members will receive a hardbound book on an electric railway subject as a membership benefit. You can count on our publications to continue a long tradition of excellence in historical and contemporary electric railway research, while also being both informative and entertaining.













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

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software