Board of Directors

B.A. (Brad) Black has been a member of the RPCA since 1988, and a board member since 1998. He served as President from 2012-2015. He also serves as the Chairman of the By-Laws Committee. He was a member of the RPCA Educational Foundation, where he served as an Advisor and Air Brake Instructor. From 2012 through 2018 he served as the RPCA’s voting member on the FRA Railroad Safety Advisory Committee and continues his involvement in the RSAC Working Groups. He is also an Amtrak Private Car Inspector.

Brad has a long history of interest and experience with railway passenger cars beginning at the age of 15 in Southern California, where he was an active member of the Pacific Railroad Society Private Car Committee. Over the ensuing years Brad and his partners owned more than 43 private cars. Brad founded Silver Peak Railroad Resources, which provides Amtrak Private Car Inspection services and technical support to private railroad car owners.

Professionally, Brad has been employed in the rail industry since 1980, when he joined the Ventura County Railway Company as a signal maintainer. Since then he has worked for Northern Railcar Corp., Morrison-Knudsen Rail Systems Group, Quad Graphics, and the Maryland Transit Administration MARC Train Service, where he was an Assistant Chief Mechanical Officer.

Brad is currently the Senior Vice President of Virginkar & Associates, Inc., a transit industry management consulting firm that specializes in the specification development , procurement and Quality Assurance of passenger rail vehicles, systems and equipment. He has served on both the AAR and APTA Mechanical Standards Committees that have developed many current industry standards, including the current Code of Single Car Tests for 26C Passenger Air Brakes.

Mr. Wullich is a native of Batavia, NY and is a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in New York and Virginia. An Eagle Scout and graduate of St. Bonaventure University, he has owned over 26 pieces of historic rail equipment throughout his preservation efforts, including the former California Zephyr dome-observation car “Silver Solarium” until recently sold.

Like many people, Roy’s interests with trains began with a Lionel train set around the Christmas tree. Mr. Wullich started working with the Western New York Railway Historical Society in Buffalo, NY with railcar preservation and excursion operations in 1982. Roy has continued working with various excursion, charter and special trains; historical preservation projects; as well as various roles in both museum and operations management. He has also been a contractor to several Class One railroads including eight years with Canadian Pacific’s 2816 steam program and Holiday Train. Roy is a member and has served, and continues to serve, as an Officer of and on the Boards of several non-profit organizations, private Foundations and railroad preservation organizations.

Mr. Wullich has also held various senior management positions at several international companies including Intel, KPMG and Price Waterhouse. A member of the Railroad Passenger Car Alliance since 1988, Mr. Wullich was President of the Railway Passenger Car Alliance (RPCA) from January 2008-January 2012 and continues to serve as an active RPCA Board Member for over 25 years. During his tenure as President significantly increased the visibility of the Organization at the national level within the rail industry and has added several Class One railroads and key suppliers to the membership through his personal and professional relationships.

Additionally, Mr. Wullich serves both as Corporate Secretary and as a Board Member of the Tom E. Dailey Foundation. The Foundation, awards grants in several eligible categories including rail preservation. Since its creation in 2013, the Foundation has awarded over $925,000 in grants.

Mr. Wullich resides in Quinton, VA and is a CPA with Virginia based ProSport CPA, a boutique accounting firm specializing in personal tax and financial matters for Professional Athletes and Entertainers worldwide.

Bill has been a longtime private car owner and RPCA member. His first RPCA meeting was in Pittsburgh.  He has also attended Amtrak HEP Class at Ivy City and the Truck & Wheel Class at Beech Grove.

His company Pennsylvania Pullmans Inc. currently leases locomotives and operates Pullman Sleeper Lounge Obs car BLUE RIDGE CLUB (800224) in Amtrak Service with nearly 40,000 miles of travel in 2022.

He also has an ownership interest and serves as a Director for two shortline railroads.

Bill spent 35 years as a pilot instructor for US Airways and American Airlines. During his airline career he served 27 years as Local President for the Transport Workers Union representing Pilot Instructors and Flight Simulator Engineers. This tenure including extensive work on Capitol Hill representing airline workers during bankruptcies and mergers.

Bill is interested in joining the other RPCA Board Members and car owners to preserve and expand access to the Amtrak network.

Lewis Foster was born and raised in the area around Roanoke, VA. He is a software development professional and graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He currently lives in Blacksburg, Virginia and works as a Software Architect for several education-oriented software applications for Public Consulting Group. He caught the “railroad bug” from his father, who worked for Norfolk & Western and Norfolk Southern.

Along with his father, Lewis owns the “Minneapolis Club,” a former Northern Pacific / Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy 4 double bedroom, compartment, buffet, round-end observation car. Since they both enjoy traveling by train, they decided that this would be a fun (and challenging) project to take on together. The car is currently being refurbished and upgraded for Amtrak certification. Once this work is complete, they plan to make the car available for charter and lease.

Lewis also volunteers with the Roanoke Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. For the past three years he has served as a member of the Chapter’s Board and as Secretary of the organization for the past two. He also works with the Chapter Mechanical Committee, helping to maintain and restore the Chapter’s collection of passenger and freight rolling stock and its two operating locomotives.

Michael operates Digital Facilities Management (DigitalFM), a website design and custom web application company since 1998. I established Dynamic Ticket Solutions (DTS) when a tourist railroad customer of DigitalFM asked for an online reservations software solution and aid with solving overbooking issues. I provided a solution that allowed the railroad to sell tickets and more importantly, resolved their overbooking issues, while at the same time freeing up staff resources. Realizing other railroads may have the same problems or similar needs; DTS was introduced to the industry in 2005. Today, more than 40 railroads nationwide depend on DTS to manage reservations, staff, gift shops, and so much more. As a result, DTS has quickly become the standard in the Tourist Railroad Industry for online ticket sales and railroad management. DTS now has offices in Philadelphia, PA, and Chicago, IL. DTS has been a member of the RPCA since 2009.

When not working on DTS or traveling to visit customers, I live in a northwest suburb of Chicago with my wife, 3 step children, 2 cat, a dog and a rabbit. In my spare time I enjoy bowling, golf, and amateur radio.

Bio coming soon....

Judy was elected to the RPCA board at the 2015 Reno meeting.

Judy Gray was born and raised in Indianapolis Indiana. Judy is the third generation of her family with interest in the Railroad industry. She is currently an active member of the Whitewater Valley Railroad in Connersville Indiana and the C. P. Huntington chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society in Huntington West Virginia. At the Whitewater Valley Railroad Judy is a certified brakeman, conductor and engineer. She is also the Railroad Archivist. Judy has been a member of the Day Out with Thomas planning committee for 15 years, she was also the chairperson for the Dinosaur Train committee, and has coordinated many different train show exhibits. At the Huntington Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society she has been an active volunteer on the New River Train. Judy (Clem) Gray is the co-author of the Arcadia book Images of Rail: The Whitewater Valley Railroad. She has been an active member of the Rail Car Passenger Alliance since her first convention in 2010.

Judy graduated with a bachelor’s degree in History from Marian University in Indianapolis Indiana and a Masters in Library Science from Indiana University. She is currently a library branch manager for the Indianapolis Public Library. She resides in Carrollton Indiana with her husband William.

Ray Kammer Jr. Ray was born and raised in Hammond, Indiana and part of family full of railroad history. Ray started to gain experience at a young age in 1989 alongside a family operated tourist operation based out of Monterey, IN. Then in 1997, he worked alongside his father operating excursion trains throughout the state of Michigan. These events covered everything from Dinner Trains to all day Steam Trips. Ray’s official railroad career started in 2007 when he started working for the Cincinnati Railway Company. This experience proved valuable in dealing everything from Amtrak certified private cars to hosting Day Out With Thomas events. In 2012, Ray started working for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, an operation that maintains 25 passenger cars, 7 locomotives, and hauls 200,000 passengers annually. His current position is Director of Railroad Operations and Planning. In past years, Ray has been involved with several other organizations, including the Nickel Plate Railroad Historical & Technical Society and the Ohio Rail Tourism Association. In 2014 he hosted the annual NKPH&TS Convention and was also on the planning committee for TrainExpo in Owosso, MI. Ray currently resides in Akron, OH and enjoys spending his free time away from work by traveling, playing music, and enjoying everything about Chicago sports.

I have been a railroad passenger car fan since I was a teenager. Born and raised in Southern California, in 1976 I joined a Los Angeles-area railroad club that owned and operated their own fleet of lightweight passenger cars, and started learning about them by joining their “Private Car Committee” and working on their cars on weekends. In 1977, I saw an article in the Los Angeles Times about Amtrak selling retired passenger cars at auction and at that point developed a strong interest in owning my own car someday. I started reading about passenger car history and maintenance whenever I could. I bought my first passenger car at an Amtrak auction in 1984 at the age of 24. In 1993, I joined RPCA and have been a member ever since. I attended my first RPCA convention in 1996, and have been to all but 2 of the conventions since then. The RPCA conventions are something I really look forward to each year as there are few other opportunities during the year for people with this rather obscure interest (some might say affliction) to get together and talk shop each year.

I worked for 10 years as a Resident Inspector at various passenger car assembly plants, inspecting new equipment for various transit agencies as their new rolling stock was assembled at companies such as Bombardier in Plattsburg, NY, Alstom in Hornell, NY, and Kawasaki in Lincoln, Nebraska. I would have preferred to have been inspecting new cars at Budd or Pullman-Standard, but I was born too late for that.

I worked part-time for many years on various private car-related projects, and currently work full-time on private cars. I do mechanical work, help customers move cars in freight service, and assist aspiring new car owners with finding cars to purchase that are suitable for what they have in mind. Over the years, I have also moved a total of 18 passenger cars and 2 cabooses by highway from isolated track back to live rail. While based in the Los Angeles area, I frequently travel to various locations in the US for this work. I am also one of the Amtrak Private Car Inspectors.

Vice President & Chief Mechanical Officer of the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway

Dale began his Railroad career in 1986 at the Mid Atlantic Railroad in Chadbourn N.C. Having been in Train Service as a locomotive engineer, he worked his way up to Chief Mechanical Officer. In 1989, he took a job opportunity to work with Railtex at the Georgia South Western where he was responsible for the locomotive and freight car fleet. Then in 1992, he was transfered to the North Carolina & Virginia Properties, where he took care of The Chesapeake and Albemarle Railway and the Virginia Southern railway. In 2005, Dale spearheaded a maintenance contract for the BNSF Railway under Omnitrax, and later became their Chief Mechanical Officer for all OmniTrax railroads in the U.S.

In 2007, Dale joined the Aberdeen Carolina & Western to return to his home state. Dale is currently the Vice President of Mechanical & Chief Mechanical Officer, where he takes on locomotive maintenance as well as passenger car maintenance. With five Passenger Cars to be restored, he takes a lot of pride in returning the fleet to their glory days when travel by train was every child’s dream. He most recently began a mobile maintenance program to service and maintain locomotives throughout North and South Carolina.