Potomac Chapter NRHS

Upcoming events

Since COVID-19 our meetings are a mixture of Zoom, in-person, and hybrid. Keep an eye on the schedule below.

April 15, Member Meeting, 8 p.m., via Zoom video conference. Bob Kaplan, Fifty Years of Florida Railroading. Bob's presentation will begin in the mid-1970s with early Amtrak, Florida East Coast and Seaboard Coast Line operations. Moving forward, he will cover rail operations in the Bone Valley phosphate mining area, the sugar cane operations around Okeechobee, Tri Rail commuter trains, CSX, modern FEC activity and Brightline. Plus visits to several shortlines.

April 19, Clay Moritz retirement lunch, 12:30 p.m., National Capital Trolley Museum

May 13, Board Meeting, 8 p.m., via Zoom

May 20, Member Meeting, 8 p.m., in-person, The meeting will be held in the Lecture Hall of the Stella Werner Council Office Building, 100 Maryland Ave, Rockville, MD.
Those unable to attend may view the program via Zoom video conference. We plan to open the Zoom meeting about 8:15 p.m. The program should start by 8:30 p.m.

June 17, Member Meeting, 8 p.m., via Zoom video conference.

July 15, Member Meeting, 8 p.m., in-person.

Programs — Check out our YouTube channel for recent programs.

Renew — You can renew your membership online, using a credit card or PayPal account.

Donate — Help the chapter further its mission.

Internal business:

• Membership meeting minutes
• Board meeting minutes
• Chapter bylaws
• Email voting procedures
• Archives of prior year minutes
• Small grants program

(Clay Moritz and his wife Diane at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum.) After 35 years on the job, Clay has stepped down as editor of Potomac Rail News. October 2024 was his last edition. The newsletter has always been a delight to read. The Potomac Chapter is grateful for Clay's decades of service.

September 2024 program: Fast Trains and Sugar Cane
Available on YouTube. Jim Kleeman presents a look at Florida railroading over the last 15 years. The video features Florida East Coast Railroad, Brightline, Tri-Rail, Florida Central, and U.S. Sugar Corporation.

August 2024 program: Sand Patch Action in the Late 1980s
Available on YouTube. Mike Yuhas, a noted photographer and former Director of Advertising for Trains magazine, shows images of trains on scenic Sand Patch grade on CSX west of Cumberland, MD. A variety of fallen flag color schemes are included.

July 2024 program: Railroading in the Old Dominion and Mountain States
Available on YouTube. Potomac Chapter member Alex Kohler shares images captured on the CSX Cumberland Sub, the RF&P Sub, and the NS Hagerstown line, also some pictures of Buckingham Branch motive power. Railroads include: CSX, NS, Amtrak, and VRE.

June 2024 program: The Newfoundland Railway
Available on YouTube. Tom Nemeth, editor of Railpace Magazine, takes us along for an in-depth look at the scenic and fondly remembered 547-mile narrow-gauge Newfoundland Railway in the 1970s and early 1980s.

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. Sometimes on Zoom. Sometimes in person in downtown Rockville. Check the calendar.

Chapter Information — Learn more about our chapter and how to become a member.

Parking — There are many parking alternatives for the membership meeting. See a map with alternatives.

Photos — See a sample of photos from our chapter.

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

Just for Fun: Wayne Sherwin uses his digital editing skills to create some interesting images.

A thank you for our donors
Aberdeen B&O station
Many thanks to our members who donated to our fund-raising drive to help preserve the B&O Railroad’s only existing station on the Philadelphia Subdivision. We sent $4,400 to the Friends of the Aberdeen B&O Train Station, Inc.

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. You can write to us at:

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