John McVeigh
Phone: (443) 507-5611
Email kd4vs@comcast.netAnnual dues: $20.(only National dues, there is currently no local dues)
Send dues to: John J. McVeigh, 16230 Falls Road, P.O. Box 63, Butler, Maryland 21023-0063mail list http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/ETE-National-Capital/
National Capital Area
On Sunday, June 26, John McVeigh and Tom Capehart of the National Capital Area Chapter rendezvoused with Eurotrain enthusiasts from the Keystone Chapter and from the Hudson Valley Märklin Club. Among those who ventured South for the meeting were Alan Todd, ETE Board member and a member of the Keystone Chapter, Mark Merclean from Succasunna, New Jersey, Peter Economou of Seacucus, New Jersey, John Hagedorn of Long Island, New York, and Rich Deremer and his wife, Jing, also from Long Island.
The meeting place was the recently refurbished B&O RailRoad Museum in the Mount Clare district of Baltimore, Maryland. The centerpiece of the museum is a magnificent roundhouse that was originally built in the 1880s using cast-iron structural members. Part of the roof structure collapsed under 60 cm of heavy, wet snow and ice on Valentine's Day, 2003. The roof's supporting structure has been completely rebuilt using steel members. Some locomotives and rolling stock that was damaged in the collapse will be rebuild in a newly constructed repair facility.
The museum opened at 12 noon, but the parking lot was opened a bit earlier, so we could walk around and see some of the museum's collection of locomotives and rolling stock that are parked on tracks adjacent to the lot. It was a hot, sunny day, so we were glad to be able to get into the museum's air-conditioned interior when the clock struck twelve. After touring the roundhouse, we took a short ride on a 11 scale train, visited the museum's impressive new HO scale layout, which is housed in a passenger coach, loosed at a Spur-G garden layout, and had a quick lunch. Then we returned to the Roundhouse.
While we were standing in the cab of a Consolidation built in the 1880s, and that ran on the Clinchfield Railroad for many years, we were approached by a museum volunteer guide... Harry Wilgar, a 42-year veteran of the B&O Railroad. Harry gave us a real education in Dampflok technology, maintenance, and operation, and regaled us with stories of his railroad experiences. Harry was clearly as happy to have a rapt audience as we were happy to have happened upon such a personable and knowledgeable source. It was the high point of the day.
After the museum closed, John Hagedorn, John McVeigh, and Alan Todd went to Baltimore's Little Italy for a splendid meal. The rest of the group had to get onto the highways for the long rides home.
If you have never seen the B&O Museum, if you ever find yourself in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area, you owe it to yourself to see one of the preeminent shrines to railroading in the United States.
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/bomuseum/#web
Iwan Blom and his wife Angela, along with airplane-modeling friend Kyle, Gopal Patnaik and his son Mukund, and John McVeigh attended EuroEast 2005 in Marietta, Pennsylvania.
Gopal Patnaik and Steen Jorgensen attended a seminar on the new Marklin Systems mfx digital control system at the Marriott Courtyard near Fort Meade, Maryland on November 5.
Last modified on November 18, 2007