We meet again on Thursday, June 21, 2001 at 07:00 p.m. Our annual awards will be presented at this meeting.

We will still be at the JOHN C. WOOD Municipal Center, which is located at 3730 Old Lee Highway just behind the Fairfax City Police Station. We’ll be in Room #1 and the meeting will start at 07:00 p.m.

2001 - ???
2001 - ???

2000 - Richard Eudy
2000 - Tom Hunter
2000 - Brandon Seyfried

1999 - Rick Hamilton
1999 - Skip Scheetz
1999 - Brandon Seyfried

1998 - Keith Webb
1998 - Tom Hargis
1998 - Jim Jamison

1997 - Gil Baldwin
1997 - Carl Condon
1997 - Jack Frost
1997 - Frank Hale
1997 - John Harper
1997 - Thom McKinney
1997 - Parks Schaefer
1997 - John Zampino

The Golden Spike is presented to members who have advanced the clubs presence during the past year through the innovative design and functionality of their module(s).

The Silver Rail is presented to one member each year who through their involvement and dedication have significantly contributed to the club's success over the past year.

Neither awards have to be presented if there are no qualifying candidates. This year we do have recipients for both awards. They will be announced at the June meeting.

We owe a big thanks to the Train Depot for printing our newsletters and brochures. Stop by their Manassas store for all your train needs and check out their very attractive and extensive Dept. 56 display. While you are there, say thanks to Dennis Driscoll.

-------------------------- 2001 ------------------------

June 02 Manassas Railway Festival, Manassas, VA (NCT is scheduled to appear)

June 08-10 Fairfax County Fair in Fairfax, VA (NCT is scheduled to appear)

July 21 Martinsburg Roundhouse Rail Day (NCT is scheduled to appear)

Aug. 3-4, LOTS convention at the Baltimore Civic Center (NCT is scheduled to appear)

Aug. 12, Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, Fairgrounds (NCT is scheduled to appear)

Aug. 18-19, Greenberg Show at Capital Expo Center in Chantilly, VA (NCT is scheduled to appear)

Sept. 15-16, Culpeper Train Days (NCT is scheduled to appear)

Sept 23, Olde Towne Gaithersburg Day, Gaithersburg, MD (NCT is scheduled to appear)

Sept. 29, Fall for Fairfax at Fairfax Government Center, Fairfax, VA (NCT is scheduled to appear)

Oct. 6-7, Brunswick Railroad Days, Brunswick, MD (NCT is scheduled to appear)

Oct. 19-20, York TCA Meet

Dec. 01-02, Fairfax Station Train Show (NCT is scheduled to appear)

Dec. 22-31, B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore (NCT is scheduled to appear)

Dec. 29-30, Greenberg Show at Capital Expo Center in Chantilly, VA (NCT is scheduled to appear)

-------------------------- 2002 ------------------------

Apr. 19-20, York TCA Meet

Oct. 18-19, York TCA Meet

-------------------------- 2003 ------------------------

Apr. 11-12, York TCA Meet

Oct. 18-19, York TCA Meet

-------------------------- 2004 ------------------------

Apr. 16-17, York TCA Meet

Oct. 15-16, York TCA Meet

The Maryland event for May was the successful Beltsville Day exhibit on May 20th under Trackmaster Brandon Seyfried's leadership. We modified the layout in real-time to a 12 foot by 28 foot configuration composed of modules by Brendan Lynch, Skip Sheetz, Bob Wilson, Ed Beaver, and Rick, Claire, and Valerie Eudy. The Eudy's auto carrier train and Bob's military trains were big hits. We had small, but, interested crowds. Mike Fistere joined us late in the day with his MTH RailKing Yellow-Bird C&O Hudson which did an extraordinary job of pulling 14 Premier Chessie coaches designed for the MTH M-1 steam turbine -- made a fine looking train.

Speaking of MTH, several of our members who had been working there have lost their jobs in a large staff reduction. This unfortunate situation seems to indicate a slow down in the toy train market. Our concerns and best wishes to our members on making a difficult change! Remember that our club's fellowship is interested in your participation in the hobby with us -- not your ex-MTH connections.

Our next Maryland event is the LOTS convention on Friday and Saturday, August 3-4. Trackmaster Brian Turner has been leading the discussions as to how to unload at the Baltimore Convention Center freight dock in a timely manner. Thus far, we have evolved a concept of "platoon unloading" which simply means that we will need non-module-participating Trackers to group on the dock and help unload each module-participating Tracker's vehicle as we quickly cycle each vehicle in and out of the dock area. This means we need help from as many members as possible on the loading dock and the set-up area during both set-up and tear-down. Set-up arrival at the dock is expected to be early morning on Friday; tear-down is early evening on Saturday. Detailed times will be distributed by email and telephone in July.

The next Maryland event is the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair on Sunday, August 12 under Trackmaster Skip Sheetz's direction. This should be a more comfortable, less hallenging event now that we are in a new building.

In the far term, now is the time to begin to signup for Fall events. Ed Beaver is Trackmaster for the Gaithersburg Olde Towne Days on Sunday, September 23 and the Brunswick Railroad Days on Saturday and Sunday, October 6-7. This year, Brunswick is not in conflict with Fall for Fairfax which is on September 30. As usual, the Trackmasters work from prior year participant lists as well as the June business meeting signup sheets -- call early to book your participation. We will especially need help at Brunswick since we lost Rick Hamilton who was a major exhibitor there.

AMTRAK is 30 years old this spring. Ther seems to be a lot of controversy and financial challenges as AMTRAK defines its future. Have you ridden a train lately ?

In the long train department, did you know that the Pennsylvania would often use 4 locomotives in coal drags in the Eastern Mountains? Typically there would be a couple of I-1 2-10-0 Deacopods on the front and another pair of pushers on the rear. Not to be outdone, B&O used triple-headed 2-8-8-4 EM-1s on coal drags in their mountain divisions. Since the Baldwin Sharks had control systems incompatible with EMD, the B&O also used them as helpers on coal drags in the mid 1950s. (M.Schafer, Classic American Railroads, 1996).

In case you think modular design and reuse of products is a modern invention, Pennsy was doing this about 1910 with common boilers between the 2-8-2 Mikados and the 4-6-2 K-4 Pacifics. Later when the modern steam locomotive innovations of the 1930s started in the form of single cast piece engine beds by General Steel Castings, this gave the railroads a chance to modernize steamers in their own shops. They did this by inserting the new frames with renovated running gear, boilers, and cabs such as occurred in the Reading T-1 series, 2100 -2124, of Iron Horse Ramble fame. (J.Boyd, The Steam Locomotive, 2000).

Please review this list of upcoming shows. We need a few more modules for some of them. Please contact the respective trackmaster if you can exhibit in these shows.

The Beltline is not published during the months of July and August. Save this issue for show layouts and roster listing. The next issue will be in September.

If any of the Trackers are in the process of building a layout or starting to build one in the near future then you should consider this offer. I was able to obtain a large amount of Gargraves track. There is over 150' of straight track, and many flex curves (around 50 pieces) along with a large box full of short pieces for fitting adjustments. The track is for sale CHEAP. $200.00 takes it all, a lot of the pieces are brand new and never used. Some has been used on a layout. A member of the Crescent hi-railers had to unload the lot. If you are interested, please contact Bill Buschmeier at 703-266-1655 (work 703-845-3102). This will go fast, first come has it. Sold as a complete lot only.

- Updated rosters are enclosed.

The Beltline is published 10 times a year on a monthly basis excluding the months of July and August. Its purpose is to provide notices of timely events, and information to its members. All inquiries, questions, and submissions should be addressed to the editor at: National Capital Trackers c/o Bill Buschmeier 15145 Wetherburn Dr. Centreville, VA 20120-3925 or e-mail at bush9@erols.com