Potomac Chapter NRHS

COVID-19 update

We are transitioning back to holding our monthly membership meetings in person. But we are working to make the programs available via Zoom. Keep an eye on this space for developments.

Upcoming events

Help save the Aberdeen (MD) Baltimore & Ohio station.

The Friends of the Aberdeen B&O Train Station, Inc. is dedicated to the history and preservation of the B&O Railroad’s only existing station on the Philadelphia Subdivision. The Potomac Chapter will match all member donations to this effort, up to $5,000. The deadline is July 1, 2022. Click the button below or send your check to Potomac Chapter NRHS, P.O. Box 235, Kensington, MD 20895-0235.

February 2022 program: Pursuing the Reading: One Man's Obsession.
Available on YouTube. Dale Woodland traces his interest in the Road of Anthracite beginning with his trips to Philadelphia in 1946 behind Reading Pacifics to his involvement railroads operating on former Reading trackage now. He is currently Director of Museum Operations at the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, PA.

November 2021 program: Rodney Peterson's All Roads Lead to Chicago.
Available on YouTube. Jim Kleeman drew upon material from Rodney Peterson's extensive slide collection for a nostalgic look at passenger service in Chicago and the Midwest from the 1950s to the 1970s.

October 2021 program: Shortline and Mainline Photo Journeys: 2020 - 2021.
Available on YouTube. Bob Kaplan discussed how he went about railfanning during COVID-19, while trying to stay safe.

September 2021 program: Contemporary California.
Available on YouTube. Alex Mayes took us to the popular locations in the Golden State during visits in 2018 and 2021, including the Surf Line, Cajon Pass, Tehachapi Loop, Frost, Santa Susana Pass, and Donner Pass. Scenes of a few tourist lines and a whale watching cruise off the coast of Monterey are included.

Newsletter — We're very proud of our newsletter, Potomac Rail News.
– See last month's issue.
– Read the issue from two months ago.
– See the issue from three months ago.

Meetings — We meet the third Tuesday of every month at 8:00 p.m. Normally we meet in the auditorium of the Montgomery Country Executive Office Building, 101 Monroe Street, Rockville, MD. We welcome visitors. Get directions.

Visiting our area? — As railfans, we can offer sightseeing suggestions for visitors to the Washington, D.C. area. Sample our collective wisdom.

August 2021 program: 2020 Railroading on Cape Cod.
Available on YouTube. Doug Scott showed a multimedia PowerPoint presentation set to music. Doug will talk only at the beginning and end of the presentation.Railroads covered will be Mass Coastal freight, Bay Colony freight, New Bedford, Cape Cod Central passenger trains and the summer Boston-to-Hyannis CapeFLYER weekend passenger service. The NRHS Cape Cod Chapter runs the former New Haven Railroad West Barnstable train station as an active station and museum.

July 2021 program: Wintertime Steam.
Available on YouTube. Alex Mayes starts with the Cumbres & Toltec line-clearing event with steam-powered snow blower OY February 29 and March 1, 2020. He follows with a Durango & Silverton excursion to Cascade Wye the next weekend. The program then segues to February 2008 with scenes from Winter Steam Spectaculars on the Nevada Northern Railway and the Heber Valley Railroad.

April 2021 program: City of New Orleans: A train, a song, a region.
Available on YouTube. Past Akron Rail Club President Craig Sanders presented a program documenting the origin of the classic song, its namesake train, and railroading in the deep South.

March 2021 program: Railfanning the Western Maryland in the 1970s
Available on YouTube. John King covered the final years of the railroad before it was dissipated by the Chessie System.

February 2021 program: Rodney Peterson's Pennsylvania Railroad
Available on YouTube. Jim Kleeman presented images of the Pennsylvania Railroad taken through lens of the late Rodney Peterson. The program covered scenes from the late 40s to the early 70s.

Golden Spike 150th anniversary celebration
Member Jay Creswell captured these two images at the May 10, 2019 event marking the completion of the transcontinental railroad 150 years earlier. (Click to enlarge.)

Potomac Chapter is a group of railfans based in the National Capital Area. We are chartered as a branch of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS). We seek to increase public awareness of railroads and their history.

Contact us: For more information, you can call Vice President John Sery at (301) 431-0088, Director Carl Franz at (240) 720-8686, or Director Bob Dixon-Gumm at (301) 762-5073. You can write to us at:

    Potomac Chapter NRHS
    P.O. Box 235
    Kensington, MD 20895-0235