All Aboard for the Washington, D.C. Chapter NRHS!

Digital Image Contest
October 17, 2008

Enter Here

 

Trips
Dinner on the Dover
Sunday
October 19, 2008
TIdewater Traveler
Saturday,
October 25, 2008
and
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The Low Country Limited
Thursday
October 30, 2008 to Sunday, November 2, 2008
On behalf of the over 450 members of our Chapter, welcome aboard our web site.  

We are a diverse group of people with a common interest in rail transportation and its rich and storied history.  Membership in our Chapter is fun and is open to all with our  common interest.  We invite you to join our organization.

Over the course of the year, we conduct a wide variety of activities, including public excursions, train trips, tours, as well as private railroad car journeys aboard the DOVER HARBOR, and monthly meetings



Our Classic Pullman DOVER HARBOR
"Once there were thousands, now there is one..." 
- Private Varnish Magazine 

We also have a wide variety of programs, community service projects, and activities with something to interest everyone, including rail equipment restoration and operation, excursion train operations,  community service activities, historical research, photography contests, and railfan outings. With great monuments to railroading such as Washington Union Station, great railfan locations, tourist railroads, museums, Amtrak, and commuter rail, and lots of rail history right here in the local area, the possibilities for Chapter events and informal get together's are endless. One of our major projects is the restoration and operation of the DOVER HARBOR, our classic heavy weight Pullman passenger car.  Built in 1923 and reconfigured in 1934 as a sleeper-buffet-lounge, the car operated in main line passenger service for 43 years and now is the only example of a Pullman Company heavy weight revenue car roaming the main lines of America unrestricted.  We operate the car, often in Amtrak trains, as a living experience of travel during railroading's Golden Age.

Belonging to the Washington, D.C. Chapter NRHS is a  fantastic way to meet, socialize, and network with other people in the railfan and railroad community.  Members  receive our monthly newsletter, The TimeTable, as well as the National Railway Bulletin, which is published by our National organization, in addition to many other benefits and discounts.  If you are interested in membership, contact the Chapter or come to one of our activities, such as our monthly meetings, which are free and open to the public.

The Chapter also operates the Martin F. O'Rourke Memorial Railroad Library. The Library is a free reference Library.

If you are a first-time visitor, please use this opportunity to get know us.  Check the highlights of our site by taking our Web Site Tour, which departs below. Review the Departures Board to see the latest Chapter happenings. And, don't forget to check out the DOVER HARBOR.  Of course, you may use the buttons on the page to navigate the main topics of the site. 

 

Lastly, we invite you to bookmark our site as one of your favorites and come back often and to join our Yahoo New group and share common interest with your fellow railroad fans.

Click here to join Washington_DC_NRHS
Click to join Washington_DC_NRHS

This news group is to facilitate communications among the members and friends of the Washington, D.C. Chapter, Inc., National Railway Historical Society. The Washington, D.C. Chapter, Inc. is a non-profit, 501(c)3 educational organization. Postings to this news group must not concern partisan political campaigning for individuals. Also prohibited are commercial advertising, or "recommendations" for commercial entities of any kind. Postings may concern any activities of the Chapter, the NRHS, or the railroads in general.

Safety Rule of the Month
September

“Employees must be suitably shod to safely perform their duties. Tennis shoes, sandal or similar type shoes are prohibited. The use of footwear unbuckled, or with laces dragging, or with thin loose or cracked soles, is prohibited.”

Rules and Regulations of The Washington Terminal Company, Union Station, Washington, D.C., Rule S-36, August 1, 1968..

 

DEPARTURES BOARD

 No. Date/Time Name      Destination     Special Notes
0920 Sep. 20, 2008 Annual Picnic Bowie, MD Come spend an afternoon watching the trains of the Northeast Corridor . Plan now to attend the Chapter's Annual Picnic on Saturday, September 20th , 2008 at Bowie Tower in Bowie, MD. Our festivities will be cooked up by Chef Elmer Sichert. The Martin F. O'Rourke Memorial Railroad Library will be open during the picnic. If you are not a member of the Chapter, you can join at the picnic. The picnic is officially scheduled from 12:00 PM to whenever the party breaks up (lunch starts at 13:00), but members can arrive early and stay late to watch the action along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and CSX's (formerly Conrail's) Pope's Creek Branch. The Chapter will furnish hamburgers, hot dogs, cheese, rolls, condiments, and sodas. Members are requested to furnish other food dishes and desserts. If you do not bring a food dish or dessert, the picnic fee is $5.00 each for members, guests, and children over five years of age.   Bring a lawn chair! Chapter hotline at 703-273-8440
1017 Oct. 17, 2008 Chapter Meeting Silver Spring B&O Station Annual Photo Contest
1019 Oct 19, 2008 Dinner on the Dover Washington Union Station Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer... except, Dinner on the Dover Harbor! The comfortable elegant classic Pullman ambiance with tables set with white linen and china make a wonderful way to conclude a weekend aboard the car at Washington's Union Station. Savor a fine four-course meal with your choice of tasty Dover Harbor trip favorites-- either Grilled Breast of Chicken; or, New York Strip Steak, prepared right there for you on the car's own Pullman broilers. Soup, salad and dessert courses round out your meal, along with a selection of wines, beer and cocktails to enhance your dining.
1025 Oct 25, 2008 Tidewater Traveler Williamsburg
Newport News
Experience luxurious rail travel aboard the classic 1930's Pullman lounge/sleeper Dover Harbor -- travel to the Tidewater region of Virginia to Williamsburg , the Colonial Capitol of Virginia or to the maritime city of Newport News .
1026 Oct. 26, 2008
1030 Oct. 30 to Sept. 2, 2008 Low Country Limited Charleston Savannah. Join us for a mid-Autumn journey aboard Dover Harbor to the coastal Deep South.
1017 Oct. 17, 2008 Chapter Meeting Silver Spring B&O Station Annual Photo Contest
1121 Nov. 21, 2008 Chapter Meeting The George Washington Masonic National Memorial "2007 in Review" Alex Mayes will present a slide program covering some of the major rail events he attended in 2007. Included in the presentation will be the inaugural runs of Norfolk Southern’s newly overhauled F9s; B&O Museum’s "Steam Days"; the North Carolina Transportation Museum’s "Family Days" at Spencer; excursions at "Altoona Railfest" powered by Bennett Levin’s Pennsy E8s; a trip on the Whitewater Valley Museum’s excursion train over an ex-NYC branch line; a trip to the Indiana State Fair on the "Fair Train"; semaphores on CSX’s ex-Monon lines in Indiana; a trip on Nashville’s new "Music City Star" commuter train; riding the Southern Appalachia Railroad Museum’s "Secret City" excursion train through the former weapons facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; the NRHS convention in Chattanooga; "Railfan Day" on the steam-powered Knoxville & Holston River railroad; excursions powered by ex-Reading FP7s on the Perkiomen Branch; "Lackawanna Railfest" at Steamtown; and a three day chase of the Pennsy E8-powered Susquehanna Limited through Pennsylvania and upstate New York.
1219 Dec. 19, 2008 Chapter Meeting Silver Spring B&O Station Annual Photo Contest Runoff and Railroad "Shorts" Digital Multimedia Show
         

Dispatcher's Note: Unless otherwise noted, all activities listed are open to the public.

Visit
The Martin F. O'Rourke Memorial Railroad Library
at Bowie Tower


Our Mission is "Expanding the public appreciation of railroads and their history through preservation and education."

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Union Station and Life in the Nation's Capital
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