THE TRANSFER TABLE
The Wilmington Chapter NRHS Official Newsletter
Internet Edition

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June 19, 2003 MEETING NOTES

Called to order at 7 PM, the meeting began with the minutes by Secretary Dan Frederick being approved as corrected by Ron Cleaves and Ralph Steven's  Treasurer's report being approved as read. President Phil Snyder once again collected for the B&O Museum Repair Fund (to be matched by the Chapter). National Director Tom Posatko reported that he will be attending the convention in Baltimore.

It was reported that five Chapter Members made the trip to New York City on May 17. Dan Frederick reported seeing a freight train with two locomotives and 45 cars on the Northeast Corridor at 6:45 PM on his way to this meeting. He also reported on his trip to the Station Society Convention in Portland, Maine.  Tom Posatko proposed that the Chapter take on a project to repaint the diesel hydraulic locomotive sitting alongside the Riverwalk near Kahunaville in Wilmington. Frank Ferguson talked about a washout on the Delaware & Lackawanna east of Stroudsburg, PA. He also managed to photograph the Penn Argyle (former Lehigh & New England) roundhouse and turntable. Ed Thornton reported that AMTRAK's Track Laying System (TLS) was between Newark, DE and Iron Hill working on the NE Corridor taking out wood ties and replacing them with concrete.

After a break, Richard Hall's slide presentation opened with views of the B&O crossing Red Mill Road in December 1977. We saw an early Wilmington &  Western engine house (1967), Yorklyn in 1972 and Strasburg in 1967. Among the unusual items we saw ere ice breakers for the railroad tunnels in Wilsmere in August 1965, NP Camp Cars with truss rods, an x-C&O E-unit on the W&W, one of only five Rocky Mountain Observation cars, W&W switcher "Bangy" and #92, plus the x-PRR "Defender".  Richard read from a very detailed and carefully prepared script with a wealth of interesting information. He included slides taken in York, PA of an 0-6-0 tank engine in 1965, 4-6-2 CP #1238, firing #1251, and CP #1286. We saw W&W #92 one half hour after it was delivered by the B&O in 1965. We also saw the Queen Elizabeth II heading up the Delaware River in 1982, Delaware Coach Company equipment in 1966, the Preamble Express in 1974, and the Freedom Train in 1975. For freight car fans, he included such things as wooden tank cars in Modena and cars converted for corn cob shipment! We ran out of time before we could see all of the slides but everyone was delighted at all of the rare and intriguing images Richard was able to share.

NEWS BITS   

 The East Broad Top Railroad will open for it's 2003 season, June 7, 2003. The East Broad Top Railroad is open the first weekend in June until the last weekend in October. The Fall Spectacular is held on the first weekend of October, but the regular season does not end until the last weekend in October.  The East Broad Top does not operate during the week, only on the weekends. Trains depart the Orbisonia depot at 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Visitors to the EBT are welcomed to bring lunch and have a picnic at Colgate Grove. You simply ride one of the earlier trains and catch a later train back, but don't miss it, it's a long walk back! Fall Spectacular is scheduled for October 11th and 12th. Last day of operations = October 26, 2003

    The Reading & Northern will be sponsoring FIVE rail excursions. These usually sell out, so if you're interested, sign up ASAP. http://www.readingnorthern.com/passenger.shtml 2003 PASSENGER EXCURSION SEASON

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Schuylkill Haven Borough Day Saturday, September 27, 2003 During the annual Borough Day festival, passengers will be carried on one hour "mini-trips." Trains depart from the historic Reading Company Passenger Station in downtown Schuylkill Haven, at 11:00am, 1:00pm, and 3:00pm. The trips will travel to Port Clinton and return. Sponsor and ticket information available soon.

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Tamaqua Heritage Day Sunday, October 12, 2003 As above, during the annual Heritage Day festival, passengers will ride on one hour "mini-trips." Trains will board at the historic Phila. & Reading Passenger Station in downtown Tamaqua, at 11:00am, 1:00pm, and 3:00pm. Trips will travel from Tamaqua to Hometown Bridge and return. Sponsor and ticket information available soon. Annual Reading & Northern Fall Foliage Specials Port Clinton to Jim Thorpe and Return Saturdays, October 11 & 18, 2003 The trips originate from our Port Clinton headquarters, departing at 9:00am. The train travels north along the Little Schuylkill River, through beautiful mountain scenery. Next we enter the Anthracite region, pass Tamaqua, through a tunnel and over the Hometown High Bridge. We continue on to our destination: Jim Thorpe, where passengers have 3 and 1/2 hours to tour the historic town. The trip features many opportunities for photographers, including a photo-runby (weather permitting), and returns to Port Clinton around 6:30pm. The trips to Jim Thorpe have traditionally been our best attended, with trains completely sold-out weeks in advance. These trips are sponsored by the railroad.

SCHEDULE NOTES
Notices, announcements, schedules, etc. are provided here as a service to the members. The Chapter has no affiliation with any commercial operation, museum, or tourist line.

Now through June 22, 2003 - Travel by Train: The American Railroad Poster 1870-1950 Exhibition by New York Transit Museum in Gallery Annex in Grand Central Terminal with vintage model trains

Now through December 7, 2003 - On the Road to Paradise: A History of the Strasburg RR An Exhibit at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

July 19-20, 2003 Railroad Kids Days @ Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Sat. 9 AM - 5 PM, Sun. Noon - 5PM Recording artist Andrew Roblin to perform Saturday, July 19, 2003. Known for his fresh and fun musical style, Roblin encourages his audience to sing, clap, yodel, grunt and do the Mummer's strut. He will play railroad, folk and original tunes on the guitar, banjo, mandolin and hammered dulcimer.

August 14 - 17, 2003 Railroad Circus Days @ Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Thursday 9 - 5 Friday 9 - 5 Saturday 9 - 5 Sunday Noon to 5 = It's the fun of the big top in colorful and exact miniature. See scale model replicas of circus trains, equipment and performances, displayed by the David Deacon Blanchfield Ring of the Circus Model Builders International. Regular admission.

August 16-17, 2003 Great Scale Model Train Show - Gettsyburg, 9-4 Saturday, 10-4 Sunday, Gettsyburg College, Gettsyburg, PA

Wednesday, August 20, 2003 B&O Fund-raiser Night at Camden Yards
7:05 PM Baltimore Orioles vs. Tampa Bay, call 410-752-2462 ext. 220 M-F 9:30-4:30 or www.borail.org

August 21-24, 2003 Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railfest-100th Anniversary of Western Films
long list of special events, for info call 1-888-TRAIN-07 or check at www.durangotain.com

Sept 6-7, 2003 Chapter Trolley Trip - Toronto [was June 6-7, 2003] Full details on the trip can be found at http://www.daylightimages.com/streetcar.

October 11-12, 2003 Great Scale Model Train Show - Timonium 9-4 Saturday, 10-4 Sunday, Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, MD. www.gsmts.com

October 19, 2003 Susquehanna Valley NRHS Chapter's 10th Annual Train Show Southern Tier Railfest 10 AM-4 PM, Heritage Country Club, Binghamton, NY call 607-775-1267

October 17-18, 2003 Halloween Events @ Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
October 24-25, 2003 Halloween Events @ Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
Oct. 31- Nov. 1, 2003 Halloween Events @ Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
6:30 - 9:30 PM Treat the entire family to a fun-filled evening of ghostly railroading as you visit the cavernous Railroad Museum and ride the legendary Strasburg Rail Road. Kids and adults come in costume! . Tickets - One ticket covers both the train ride and Museum admission: $17.95 for ages 12 and up and $10.95 for ages 3 to 11. Combined tickets required, must be purchased only from the Strasburg Rail Road -- at their ticket booth, call the SRR at 717 687-7522 or order them on-line at www.strasburgrailroad.com. (This page will also provide details regarding train departure times which you must select, and whether you should plan on visiting the Museum efore or after your train ride. Get your ticket for best time while they last!)

November 8-9, 2003 Troops and Trains @ Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Sat. 9 - 5, Sun. noon- 5 Greet our guys and gals in uniform and experience the role railroads played time and again in the defense of our nation. Fascinating railroad archival exhibits and displays. Regular admission.

November 8-9, 2003 Taking the Swing Train 40s Dance @ RR Museum of Pennsylvania 7 PM Sound of the Roses 18-piece band. Details.

December 13, 2003 to April 19, 2004 PAGEANT OF LOCOMOTIVES @ RR Museum of PA Photography From North American Railroad Fairs = No aspect of railroad history can match the splendor of the great North American railroad fairs. Railroad fairs gave companies an opportunity to unveil their latest technologies and display celebrated equipment of the past. This exhibit documents the best known fairs of North America and the excitement generated by each, including, for example, the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia; the 1893 Columbian Exposition, Chicago; the 1904 World's Fair, St. Louis; the 1927 B&O Fair of the Iron Horse, Halethorpe, Maryland; the 1939-40 World's Fair, New York; and the 1948-49 Chicago Railroad Fair.

December 27, 2003 Home for the Holidays @ Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania 9 - 5 Take a nostalgic glimpse at 100 years of holiday rail travel. Meet engineers, conductors, ticket agents and passengers and enjoy seasonal music and festive decorations among our world-class collection of trains. Regular admission.

This copyrighted article was written for the "Transfer Table", the newsletter of the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society by Chapter Member Richard E. Hall © Richard E. Hall 2003

The Pitfalls Of Being An Overworked Editor
~ or ~
That Inaccurate Bridge Article (Again)
By Richard E. Hall

    I know I am sticking my neck out here, no doubt our dear beloved Newsletter Editor will again threaten to make me walk home from the meeting, or even "forget" to pick me up. I wouldn't even think of questioning or suggesting he might be getting senile or absent minded at his relatively young age, but have you ever notice how some of those dedicated workers do seem to be "different" after they have been with "The Company" for any length of time. Perhaps he is overwhelmed by the massive burden of compiling the information, editing it and publishing our newsletter every month, well almost every month. We have to  excuse him when "Uncle Dupie" sends him off to some faraway place and hope they continue to provide him with a round trip ticket when they do tell him to go to, wherever. On the other hand, since he does not read what is printed in the Newsletter anyway, he may not even notice what is written here or the Susquehanna River Bridge article which was a duplication from last month. Of course in all seriousness if we didn't appreciate the fine job he does for us by performing what is all too often a thankless task, and one which not everyone is capable of performing properly, we wouldn't go out of our way to give him a wee bit of a dig on the occasions when he does slip up, or at least some of them.

    The May issue of "The Transfer Table" had an article "The Other Northeast Corridor Susquehanna River Bridge" by Robert Cohen as reprinted from the Washington Chapter "The Timetable" for April 2003. Our June issue had the same "The Other Northeast Corridor Susquehanna River Bridge" article reprinted from the May issue of the "Interchange". One printed in a three column format and the other in a two column format does not make them two different articles. What bothers me is not so much the article being repeated in the newsletter, what concerns me is the article was initially printed with as many inaccuracies or errors as it contains. The basic problems with the article are not those of Mr. Cohen, other than he relied entirely on an article printed in the "Baltimore Sun" back in 1977. We all are subject to making errors when we write, but there just too many in this short article. Otherwise I enjoyed the article very much, it was a subject of interest to me and was good if the errors are overlooked and they come from his limited source of information. The following is not intended as a criticism of Mr. Cohen, but to criticize the "Sun" for printing an article with so many questionable statements in its Magazine section back in 1977.

(1st problem)- There is a question of using the term "The Other Northeast Corridor" in relation to the old PW&B bridge. The term is relatively modern and only came into general use in recent years; it was not applied to the present PB&W bridge until recently which makes it seem inappropriate to apply the term to the PW&B bridge when the bridge was out of existence before the term was coined, or at least before it was applied to the railroad. 

(2nd problem)- Stating the bridge piers "were first used during the American Civil War era". Although some of the piers had been built in the 1850's when the second car ferry "Maryland" was placed in service, the bridge was not built until after the war. Starting with some preliminary work being done in 1852, work was suspended in 1854, not to be resumed until 1862, the piers were completed in 1864. The bridge was completed by November 26, 1866 and opened for service on November 28, 1866.

(3rd problem)- Regarding the tracks built on thick ice one winter. "For those six weeks freight and passenger cars were trans-shipped directly by rail across the river". Between January 15 and February 24, 1852, 1,378 cars with 10,000 tons of freight, baggage and mail were pulled across the ice by horsepower. Ramps supporting a track were built from the ferry slip track down to the track built on the ice, a locomotive with a car would move to a point back from the ramp, uncouple the car, then rapidly accelerate as it pushed the car forward, then stop the locomotive with the steam brake just before reaching the ramp, "kicking" the car to roll free down the ramp and roll out across the ice in the temporary track. When the car stopped rolling, teams of horses pulled the car across the river to the  ramp on the other side where a heavy rope with coupling links was coupled to the car and locomotive to pull the car up the ramp to the track on the other side. 

    Passengers were carried across the ice in bob sleds or wagons, the passenger cars were not moved across the river over the track on the ice. Passenger cars were not even carried across on the ferry until 1862, only baggage, mail and freight cars were carried on the ferry. Prior to then, the passengers left the train  on one side of the river and walked a short distance to the ferry, were carried in a large cabin on the lower deck where there was a dining room, then walked a short distance to board another train on the other side of the river. There were other times when the ice was too thick for the car ferry, but normally it would break up in a couple of days, only once was there a track laid across the river on the ice.

(4th problem)- Regarding the piers and bridge being built during the Civil War is covered above. Incidentally, not all of the piers you see today are the original piers dating back to the Civil War era, one was found to need replacing before the new iron spans were placed on it and the replacement pier dates to the 1870's, two others date to 1909. That is not a typo, two new piers were built in 1909 after the bridge had been taken out of service and partly dismantled, they were necessary to rebuild the bridge and sell it for a highway bridge. The pivot pier and the east rest pier had been removed. The iron through truss draw span which had replaced the wooden truss draw span was replaced with a deck girder span late in 1897. A drawing showing the old bridge and proposed new bridge was published  in October 7, 1904 issue of "The Railroad Gazette" and shows the deck girder bridge contracted for in 1897. Apparently the 1904 illustration has mislead many people to believe a girder span had always been used in the old bridge. .

(5th problem)- This fifth problem is more of a technical point. The PB&W was the successor to the PW&B and the PRR never built or owned a bridge across the Susquehanna River. The second bridge was designed and paid for by the PRR., but it was owned by the PB&W until it was sold in 1909, PRR only had an operating lease on the line, the PB&W continued to own the physical plant. It was a technical point, everything was done as if the PRR owned the line, which for all practical purposes they did, but the PB&W still existed as a subsidiary corporate entity and actually still owned the railroad track, roadbed and structures. The PB&W still had a president and Board of Directors in the 1950's who had to approve such matters as abandonment of facilities and the sale of any land or other assets and issued annual reports.

(6th problem)- The PRR/PB&W had good reason to want to get rid of the bridge. Not only did they sell it for a low price, but when the bridge company was formed, the railroad spent $95,000 getting it in condition to be used for a highway bridge. The terms for building the new 1906 bridge were quite specific,  if the oldbridge could not be sold for a highway wagon bridge, the railroad was obligated to remove all of the superstructure and for all of the piers to be removed down to the bed of the river. In addition, terms from building the original wooden bridge carried over if the old bridge was not used as a wagon bridge. Terms which stipulated the railroad was to provide the residents of Havre de Grace and Perryville free passage between those two towns. The old bridge was offered to Perryville and Havre de Grace, but Perryville lacked the means to take on the project. Havre de Grace was quite willing to accept the bridge, but strictly on their own terms. Just as when the new bridge was ill being planned in the 1904, 1905 era, the Mayor and City Council of Havre de Grace made so many demands to be  entirely at the expense of the railroad and benefit of the city, the railroad decided to begin removing the bridge as was required if it could not be used for a highway bridge.

The railroad had already removed the swing span, the fixed spans on both sides of the draw and the pivot pier and two rest piers were removed down to the river bed before the Mayor and City Council of Havre de Grace acted. I don't know the disposition of the 1897 girder draw span which was removed, but a letter dated April 9, 1910 mentions it was being considered as a replacement for a wooden span at Barnegat Bay on the Amboy Division. The truss swing span was to be  replaced with the girder span by the A&P Roberts Co. who also had a contract to reinforce the floor system of the fixed spans at the same time. The draw span and bridge reinforcement work was to be completed in 1897. Those piers and spans had to be replaced for the highway bridge which is what the $95,000 was  used for.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers required a wider draw opening and relocated in relation to the new bridge because the Tolchester Company had complained about their boats having difficulty with current in the old draw. The new draw span had to be made longer because of the requirement and was made  wider to provide a meeting point for wider highway vehicles. The question of rather one or both rest piers had been removed comes from wording of some documents related to replacing the  draw span and piers. It was necessary to replace the piers which had been removed in new locations for a wider draw opening.

(7th problem)- This is basically correct, there is no disputing the tolls were high, but not surprising considering some of  those involved in the bridge company. During WW I the bridge company really gouged the traveling public with the toll going up to six dollars, considering the wages of the era that was a lot more than most people could afford. There were so many complaints made to state officials the toll was lowered to two dollars, still a lot of money back then. What might be considered a more typical toll was fifty cents during much of the time toll was collected, but even that amount was considered as being rather high.

(8th and 9th problems)- The reference to using tickets is interesting, perhaps different methods were used at different times. Most descriptions of traffic control mention traffic moving in blocks with a baton system to identify the last car in a block which was surrendered at the far side which allowed the next block to move in the other direction. I don't recall reading of a problem with people deliberately causing a disruption of traffic by not surrendering the baton.

(10th problem)- About the idea for double decking the bridge, it was the state, not the old bridge company. The State of  Maryland bought the bridge Feb. 12, 1923 for $690,000. Work on converting the bridge to double deck was started in 1926 and completed with the opening scheduled for Nov. 29, 1927. In  addition to the second deck, they also added a pedestrian walkway along the downstream side of the bridge. The conversion to a second deck was more complicated than meets the eye. Additional land had to be obtained from the railroad on both sides of the river to build the roadway to and from the second deck. The end abutments had to be lowered and the land end of the span lowered and short truss spans built between the new roadway on the shore and upper deck. The walkway was used some, but I don't remember seeing anyone on it other than during the boat races. Coming east across the upper deck provided a good view of all the piling still in the river along the Perry Point shore where there had still been a wharf well into the early 1900's at the same location as the original car ferry slip. On the day the new  Rt. 40 bridge was opened in 1940, my father took a load of tomatoes over the old bridge going to the lower canning house in Havre de Grace. By the time he was unloaded and started home, the old bridge was barricaded and he had to return by the new bridge. In those days at the tail end of "The Great  Depression" he was    lucky he had enough change in his pocket to pay the toll on the new bridge.

(11th problem)- The claim tolls were collected until the State had equaled the cost of the bridge contradicts other old newspaper articles. But newspapers are notorious for not getting the facts correct in what they print so perhaps the article in the old Cecil County paper was in error. If newspapers were accurate, there would not have been any errors in the article Mr. Cohen wrote, they were newspaper errors, not his. He relied on the newspaper article from the "Sun", we'll overlook the fact he did not research other sources, hopefully he will in the future. Sometimes it is not at all easy and at times can be very frustrating

(12th problem)- The draw had to be open to allow river traffic to pass, although there was not much by 1942. There had been an unsuccessful effort to save the bridge, but it failed. Laws enacted in Maryland required the PB&W to keep a tug for use at the Susquehanna River Bridge to assist ships requesting aid in passing through the draw. The requirement was met by having a contract for a tug based in Havre de Grace to be on call as needed. The need for assistance had declined over the years and the railroad made several attempts to have the law repealed to relieve them from an expense of about $5,000 to $6,000 per year, even when there was little or no call for the tug. Figures compiled by the railroad from the tug's log in March of 1943 show the times the tug was called to tow boats through the  draw, 1933 - 40, 1934 - 42, 1935 - 6, 1936 - 22, 1937 - 12, 1938 - 4 1939 - 6, 1940 - 2, the tug was not called in either 1941 or 1942. Space does not permit giving a break down by month of each year. The law was repealed in 1943 and an agreement was reached with the Estate of Murray K. Vandiver, owner of the tug, to cancel the agreement with the payment of a lump sum.

    When you crossed the old double deck highway bridge in the 1930's, quite often there was a tug boat with a red cabin moored at a wharf just upstream from the new railroad bridge on the Havre de Grace side. My questions as to what it was used for brought the answer it towed barges of gasoline for Gilberts  wholesale fuel delivery service. Finding the information about the contract gives me another use for the tug boat with an interesting connection to my favorite railroad.

    A letter dated Oct. 15, 1942, to one of the PRR engineers in the Philadelphia office mentions a representative of the American Bridge Co, had stated the Public Roads Administration of Maryland was requesting bids for "the removal of the old highway bridge over the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville". Locally, an article in the "Journal" dated December 19, 1942 was headed "Bridge Yields to War" and went on to say the Perryville-Havre de Grace bridge was  being torn down to use the iron for the war effort.

    Building the new line in Havre de Grace and taking the old bridge out of service involved much more than removing the track from the old bridge. To begin with, the City Council was divided on accepting the new railroad line being built. They made many demands, some unreasonable, others were things which the railroad was quite willing to do anyway. They objected to the tracks being placed on a fill with the bridges and underpasses for the streets. The railroad countered with the statement they were quite willing to build the line on a steel viaduct if the residents wanted it that way and they didn't mind the extra noise it would make rather than the muted sound with the track on an earthen fill.

    The engineers had settled on the location and drawn up the plans for building the new passenger station at Havre de Grace, but a revision was made. When a Director of the PB&W who lived in Havre de Grace pointed out there was running water available and made a suggestion, the plans for the station were changed and inside toilets were provided rather than the "His" and "Hers" outhouses as were originally planned for the new Havre de Grace passenger station.

    Some people didn't like the location of the station on the fill, the PB&W was willing to move the location if residents wanted Congress St. extended to the new tracks and didn't mind the station being what was then a somewhat out of town location. Because the new line would block some streets, the railroad had expected to realign some and open other new streets, so there was no problem when the City made some of their demands. The City had agreed to accept the new streets, then reneged after they were inspected and approved. The city made new demands including wanting a cash payment. Sounds like a bit like what they call Blackmail, don't it?

    At the abutment for the old single track bridge was a section of rather high fill, a bridge over Union St. and more fill  going toward Adams St. before which the track was at ground level. The tracks were removed as far as the west side of Adams St., beyond which they remained to serve the freight house and serve as public delivery tracks. The Juniata St. track to the canal basin was left in place as was the original line in St Clair St. which had lead to the old ferry slip, but was by then an industrial track serving a couple of businesses. In the 1930's, the track in the area of St. Johns St and Washington St. was also used as a public delivery track for customers without a private siding to unload cars, and also for a storage track.

    One of the tracks near the freight station was often used to spot the camp cars for large track or bridge gangs working on the main line. When Conowingo Dam was being built, the power company built a line along the old canal and connected with the spur which the PW&B had built to the canal basin. A few of us were lucky to have enjoyed the scenic ride along the river on an NRHS sponsored trip powered by the little gas mechanical Plymouth locomotive from Conowingo Dam. 

    Robert Cohen is indeed quite right, the story of those old stone piers in the Susquehanna River is quite fascinating, but like many stories connected with the railroad, its better if you go beyond newspapers to get more information. Odd thing about that, the newspapers of the 1800's printed anything, rumors from "correspondents", somewhat like today's "letter to the editor", as well as legitimate news stories from reporters. At times some of the rumors proved to be more accurate than the stories by the reporters. One thing has been learned over the years, even the preserved records of the PRR and its subsidiaries are not always 100% accurate and there are many typos, especially in the older records. One example of a typo stands out, a clerk typed the last digit of the PRR dynamometer car wrong in a letter, the incorrect number was repeated in four other letters involving other clerks and offices before it was corrected.

    Our sources of information can make an article if they are good, or break an article if they are inaccurate and Mr. Cohen trusted the article in the old issue of the "Sun" to be accurate. I  used to think the "Sun" was a good paper, but of course that  was back before I knew how bad papers in general are, and now TV news is even worse. Many years ago there were few publications for those "odd nuts" who liked railroads and if you did not live in a city there was little chance for you to know of any such publications or other people who liked trains.

    Many long years ago the "Sun" had published a few railroad related articles which were of interest to a kid who liked railroads and had no other source of information or contact with any such characters as today are called railfans. As I recall, the "Sun" brown pages photo section back in the 40's did a nice coverage of the big new WM articulated locomotives, a photo story of a MA & PA cornfield meet near Towson (one was a milk train as I recall) and once had a short but interesting article on what they called the "little" Canton RR one day way back when. 

    A whole new world was opened up when I discovered a hobby shop with model railroad kits in two rather shabby store  fronts somewhere west of Charles St., I don't remember the name but I bought my first two model railroad car kits. Would anyone be surprised if I mention one was a kit for a wreck derrick made by the Ideal Model Co.., a typical wood and cardboard kit of the era. It has been too many years and I don't remember Baltimore that well anymore, but for some reason  Park Ave comes to mind for the street the shop was on. It was soon followed by discovering the nicer "The Spot" hobby shop, I think it was on Fayette St. back then, but I believe they moved. The fellow who had the small store was always nice and quite helpful to a teenager who didn't know much about railroads, real or model, but wanted to learn. I later found another one farther up on North Charles St., if memory is correct it was Lloyd's, when walking out to the PRR Station. Obviously those were all in Baltimore.

    Later on, it was worth the street car fare to go into the District from school to visit Corr's. That was a real hobby shop and I enjoyed seeing the PRR locomotive models displayed. I still remember the beautiful "O" scale model of a PRR N6 in the center of their display window on Ninth St. in the early 1940's. I think I was told it was a scratch built N6b, but with the passage of time I am not sure, it may have been built from a Saginaw N6a kit. I had seen model railroad kits in a counter display when leaving the large "Railroads At Work" model railroad exhibit at the 1939 Worlds Fair but was quickly pulled away before I was even close enough to look at them, "you're are not going to waste money on that stuff".

    Finding the hobby shops was soon followed by seeing a copy of "Railroad Magazine" in a little "hole in the wall" news stand over in Havre de Grace. A lot of news stands were like that back then and I think that one is still there. I had never given it any thought before reading the reprint of Mr. Cohen's Susquehanna River Bridge article in our newsletter, but the articles in "Sun" way back then, and some in the Philadelphia "Inquirer", had helped nurture my interest in railroads, which led to building railroad models, which led to a greater interest in railroads and their equipment, which led to an interest in railroad history, which is how we got to this point.
© 2003, R. E. Hall

CHAPTER EVENTS  

Thursday July 17, 2003 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Bruce Barry

Thursday Aug. 21, 2003 7 PM Chapter Trip Circle Trip to "Yet-To-Be-Determined" Instead of normal monthly meeting - Do-It Yourself - probably Philadelphia - Camden -Trenton

Fri-Sat. Sept. 6-7, 2003 Chapter Trip Toronto Trolley Trip

Thursday Sept. 18, 2003 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Phil Snyder Cross Country Part 3 = AZ to LA to Philadelphia

Thursday Oct. 16, 2003 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Frank Ferguson, Jr. entitled "If Everything Pans Out "

The Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) meets at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month [except August & December] in the Darley Room at the Claymont Community Center on Green Street in Claymont, Delaware.  Visitors are always welcome. Admission to regular meetings is free. Check out our Website, thanks to Russ Fox at:   http://www.WilmingtonNRHS.co

The Transfer Table
   The Transfer Table is published six to ten times per year as the newsletter of the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.  Items in this publication do not represent the official position of either Officers or Members of the Wilmington Chapter or the Editor of this publication.

    Permission to reprint articles and news items appearing herein is granted to NRHS Chapters and other newsletters provided appropriate credit is given.   Contributions are always welcome and should be sent to the editor at SD40GMA@aol.com or send to: P.O. Box 1136, Hockessin, DE 19707-5136. Deadline for entries is the 25th of the month.

    Chapter Officers
    President:   Phil Snyder
    Vice President & Historian:  Ron Cleaves
    Treasurer:   Ralph Stevens, Jr.
    Secretary:   Dan Frederick
    National Director:   Tom Posatko
    Editor:  Greg Ajamian
    Education Fund:   Ed Thornton
    Public Relations:    Frank Ferguson, Jr.
    Trip Director & Event Photographer:  Bruce Barry

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