Reamer Club
Purdue Reamer club is a very popular club here on Purdue’s campus known for keeping the Purdue school spirit alive. It is made up of highly spirited and dedicated students. The club supports all of our Purdue athletic sport’s teams. They take care of, maintain, and are the official drivers of the Boilermaker Special and the Xtra Special. They cheer loud at all the school sporting events, they sponsor scholarships, and take part in many philanthropic events. It is easily agreeable that the Purdue Reamer Club is the Spirit of Purdue University.
We had the privilege of interviewing a member of the Purdue Reamer Club. Kate Manning is a senior at Purdue University and gave us the inside scoop of the Reamer Club.
Do you have to apply to be a member of the club? If so what is the application
process?
We have callouts at the beginning of every semester. After callouts, we hold 2-3 prospective events where those who came to callouts are invited to hang out with the active members of the club doing various things from playing board games to basketball at the Co-Rec. When prospective events are over, members of the club decide who to choose for the pledge class based on the people who attended prospective events. When a person becomes a pledge, they enter into our pledge process which is eight weeks long. If they successfully complete the pledge process, then they become a member of the club.
What are some of the main things a member of the Reamer club does/takes part in? How often does the club meet?
The club officially meets every Monday evening for our business meetings. Attendance at these meetings is mandatory for all active members. On top of that, we have a set of “Active Requirements” that we pass every semester detailing what events and how many of each you must attend in order to keep your active member status. These events include: attending callouts and prospective events, our initiation weekend events, Lions sing once a week (that thing where we stand in a circle around the Lions fountain and sing), volunteer six hours of philanthropy events, highway cleanup, program sales at Men’s and Women’s basketball games, volleyball rotations (fall only – we shag balls and sweep the floor during volleyball games), and pilot or co-pilot events with the Boilermaker Special. There are only a few people, currently 5 of about 45 members, in the club who can drive the train. We have an extensive process for becoming what we call a pilot of the Boilermaker Special. Everyone else in the club is certified to co-pilot the train and help be a second set of eyes for the pilot. Anytime the train is operating we must have a pilot and co-pilot. That smokestack on the front of the train is the biggest blind spot in the world!
We also used to make and sell buttons to fundraise, but we haven’t done that in years. We still make buttons all the time though (we actually have designated chairperson who makes them each semester), and that’s why you’ll see us still wearing so many on our hats.
The stuff listed above are the minimum requirement for the club, but most, if not all, members go above and beyond. In the fall our biggest commitment is with the football team on game days. We take the train to all home and away games with a crew of ten people. Our days start at 8amand end around 5pm for home games. For away games, we’ll spend the weekend with the football team wherever they may be. We also like to attend at least one game/match for each sport at Purdue (softball, baseball, wrestling, swimming/diving, track, etc.). This is part of our commitment to “support major
and Olympic sports”.
Most people know us as the “train people” or some other affiliation with the Special, and it is our main objective as a club. The train can be rented by anyone for all sorts of occasions, so it has a very busy schedule outside of athletic events. We always need people to fill in to take the train to the events. It can be a bit much sometimes, especially on days where it has 3 to 4 events, but it’s definitely the most fun part of being in the
club!
Outside of required events and extra stuff, we’re a pretty tight knit group of people and spend a lot of time together outside the club.
We had the privilege of interviewing a member of the Purdue Reamer Club. Kate Manning is a senior at Purdue University and gave us the inside scoop of the Reamer Club.
Do you have to apply to be a member of the club? If so what is the application
process?
We have callouts at the beginning of every semester. After callouts, we hold 2-3 prospective events where those who came to callouts are invited to hang out with the active members of the club doing various things from playing board games to basketball at the Co-Rec. When prospective events are over, members of the club decide who to choose for the pledge class based on the people who attended prospective events. When a person becomes a pledge, they enter into our pledge process which is eight weeks long. If they successfully complete the pledge process, then they become a member of the club.
What are some of the main things a member of the Reamer club does/takes part in? How often does the club meet?
The club officially meets every Monday evening for our business meetings. Attendance at these meetings is mandatory for all active members. On top of that, we have a set of “Active Requirements” that we pass every semester detailing what events and how many of each you must attend in order to keep your active member status. These events include: attending callouts and prospective events, our initiation weekend events, Lions sing once a week (that thing where we stand in a circle around the Lions fountain and sing), volunteer six hours of philanthropy events, highway cleanup, program sales at Men’s and Women’s basketball games, volleyball rotations (fall only – we shag balls and sweep the floor during volleyball games), and pilot or co-pilot events with the Boilermaker Special. There are only a few people, currently 5 of about 45 members, in the club who can drive the train. We have an extensive process for becoming what we call a pilot of the Boilermaker Special. Everyone else in the club is certified to co-pilot the train and help be a second set of eyes for the pilot. Anytime the train is operating we must have a pilot and co-pilot. That smokestack on the front of the train is the biggest blind spot in the world!
We also used to make and sell buttons to fundraise, but we haven’t done that in years. We still make buttons all the time though (we actually have designated chairperson who makes them each semester), and that’s why you’ll see us still wearing so many on our hats.
The stuff listed above are the minimum requirement for the club, but most, if not all, members go above and beyond. In the fall our biggest commitment is with the football team on game days. We take the train to all home and away games with a crew of ten people. Our days start at 8amand end around 5pm for home games. For away games, we’ll spend the weekend with the football team wherever they may be. We also like to attend at least one game/match for each sport at Purdue (softball, baseball, wrestling, swimming/diving, track, etc.). This is part of our commitment to “support major
and Olympic sports”.
Most people know us as the “train people” or some other affiliation with the Special, and it is our main objective as a club. The train can be rented by anyone for all sorts of occasions, so it has a very busy schedule outside of athletic events. We always need people to fill in to take the train to the events. It can be a bit much sometimes, especially on days where it has 3 to 4 events, but it’s definitely the most fun part of being in the
club!
Outside of required events and extra stuff, we’re a pretty tight knit group of people and spend a lot of time together outside the club.
What is the history behind the Boiler Maker Special? How many Boiler Maker Specials are there? What is the up-keep process of the Special?
The Boilermaker Special was the result of a student sending a letter to the editor of the Exponent in 1939 advocating the need for a school mascot. Something“mechanical” was suggested and the idea of a locomotive stuck (Purdue had a huge research center for locomotive engineering/mechanics at the time and was the source of many innovations in the rail industry). The first Boilermaker Special I came to be in 1940. In 1953, it was replaced by the Boilermaker Special II. Only seven years later in 1960, that was replaced by the Boilermaker Special III. In 1979, the first X-tra Special was built (officially named the Boilermaker Special IV). In 1993, the BMS III was replaced by the Boilermaker Special V. After nearly 20 years of existence, the BMSIV was replaced with a new
X-tra Special, the BMSVI. Lastly, the Boilermaker Special VII was introduced in 2011. The VII is the current model of the BMS, and the VI is the current model of X-tra Special. A lot of people seem to think we have multiple Boilermaker Specials since it’s the 7th edition, but all previous trains were scraped or parts were reused on the new ones.
We keep both the BMS and the X-tra special in a garage on campus. It’s up to us to operate and maintain them. Both require quite
a bit of maintenance due to the nature of their construction and their constant use. We typically work with local companies who donated time and resources to help build the train, to continue helping us with the upkeep. Luckily, we also have some very handy people in the club who are able to do simple maintenance. In the fall, we will wash the trains before every football game. For home games, we go to the Purdue Fire Station on Friday nights and wash both. For away games, we wake up early the morning and wash the train outside whatever hotel we’re staying at (and hope they have a hose). A big part of washing the train is polishing all the brass on it which takes forever. We want to make sure the train looks its best especially on game days, so we tend to take washing it seriously.
The Boilermaker Special was the result of a student sending a letter to the editor of the Exponent in 1939 advocating the need for a school mascot. Something“mechanical” was suggested and the idea of a locomotive stuck (Purdue had a huge research center for locomotive engineering/mechanics at the time and was the source of many innovations in the rail industry). The first Boilermaker Special I came to be in 1940. In 1953, it was replaced by the Boilermaker Special II. Only seven years later in 1960, that was replaced by the Boilermaker Special III. In 1979, the first X-tra Special was built (officially named the Boilermaker Special IV). In 1993, the BMS III was replaced by the Boilermaker Special V. After nearly 20 years of existence, the BMSIV was replaced with a new
X-tra Special, the BMSVI. Lastly, the Boilermaker Special VII was introduced in 2011. The VII is the current model of the BMS, and the VI is the current model of X-tra Special. A lot of people seem to think we have multiple Boilermaker Specials since it’s the 7th edition, but all previous trains were scraped or parts were reused on the new ones.
We keep both the BMS and the X-tra special in a garage on campus. It’s up to us to operate and maintain them. Both require quite
a bit of maintenance due to the nature of their construction and their constant use. We typically work with local companies who donated time and resources to help build the train, to continue helping us with the upkeep. Luckily, we also have some very handy people in the club who are able to do simple maintenance. In the fall, we will wash the trains before every football game. For home games, we go to the Purdue Fire Station on Friday nights and wash both. For away games, we wake up early the morning and wash the train outside whatever hotel we’re staying at (and hope they have a hose). A big part of washing the train is polishing all the brass on it which takes forever. We want to make sure the train looks its best especially on game days, so we tend to take washing it seriously.