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.

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

April 2023 program: Ten Years Before and Ten Years After Amtrak
Available on YouTube. May 1, 1971 represented the end of most privately operated passenger trains in the United States. Ira Silverman takes the viewer through the last years of the private passenger train and the first decade of Amtrak.

February 2023 program: NKP 765 videos
Available on YouTube. Alex Koehler showed two videos featuring Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 Berkshire #765. In the first video #765 pulls excursions for Norfolk Southern employees between Enola and Harrisburg, PA, in August 2012. The second video highlights public excursions Memorial Day weekend 2013.

January 2023 program: Montana Rail Link
Available on YouTube. Jim Kleeman looks back at MRL over the last 30 years Their vintage EMD locomotives and the beautiful scenery drew him back to Montana at least a dozen times. When BNSF announced their acquisition plans, he headed west one more time to photograph MRL's last stand.

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.

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 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