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