The Chesapeake Division

Make 'n Keep Clinic: Loads for Open-Top Cars
2021-06-18 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual
The Division will hold a virtual Make ‘n Keep Clinic, via Zoom. The clinicians will guide us through the process of making several different types of loads for our open-top cars: (1) scrap wheels, (2) baled scrap metal, (3) and pulpwood for our gondolas and (4) coal for our open hoppers.

2021 MER Convention
2021-10-21 12:00 - 2021-10-24 17:00 | Delta Hotels Baltimore Hunt Valley, 245 Shawan Road, Hunt Valley, MD, 21030, United States
Join us at the Mount Clare Junction convention hosted by the Chesapeake Division.
The convention will be held Oct. 21 – 24, 2021 at the Delta by Marriott Hunt Valley Inn, Hunt Valley, MD 21030
Click the link for more details!

Annual General Meeting
2021-11-06 10:00 - 12:00 | B&O Railroad Historical Society, 5745 Bartholow Road, Eldersburg, MD, 21784, United States
The agenda will include:

Election of New Officers

Paymaster
Clerk

Mini-Clinic(s)
Show and Tell

2 and-a-Half D CAD Using PowerPoint
2022-01-21 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Dave Ackmann of the NMRA’s Mid-Continent Region Gateway Division will conduct a clinic introducing CAD using PowerPoint. Following is a description of the material to be covered.
For a 3D printing Newbie, using 3D design software can be a bit intimidating, so let’s simplify things and start learning Computer Aided Design with software we may already know, namely PowerPoint, and a technique I call 2 and-a-Half D CAD. You will learn how to use advanced PowerPoint drawing tools like bezier curve manipulation and shape subtraction to create useful 2D shapes, including board-and-batten siding, clapboard siding, corrugated roofing, windows, fences, railings, sign supports and more. We will cover how to export PowerPoint pages as PDFs, and convert the PDFs into Stereo Lithography files for 3D printing using the ANYCONV.COM. web site. Finally, we will cover just a few simple object manipulation tricks in TinkerCAD and CURA to manipulate simple objects into more complex ones.
For further information about the clinic, please see Dave’s web site at: https://daackm.github.io
A link to the virtual meeting, to be held via Zoom, will be sent to the membership one week in advance of the meeting.

NERx Virtual Convention
2022-03-21 18:30 - 22:00, 2022-03-22 18:30 - 22:00, 2022-03-23 18:30 - 22:00, 2022-03-24 18:30 - 22:00 | Virtual

South Mountain Division Mini-Con
2022-04-23 09:00 - 16:00 | Blue Ridge Fire Hall, 13063 Monterey Ln., Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 13063 Monterey Ln, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 17214, United States
NMRA,MER South Mountain Division (SMD) and Mainline Hobby Supply host the SMD 8th annual Mini-Con at the Blue Ridge Fire Hall, 13063 Monterey Ln., Blue Ridge Summit, PA, located one block north of Main Line Hobby Supply. Come interact with your fellow hobbyists, beginner to Master Model Railroader, and enjoy prototype and modeling presentations, formal and informal clinics, and modular displays. This educational event is open to the public for the promotion of the hobby of Model Railroading. There is no admission charge. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

NMRAx Quarterly Convention
2022-04-23 10:00 - 21:00 | Virtual
NMRAx Quarterly Convention: 8 new Clinics!
From 10 am EST, till 2 pm, a small break and again 5 pm till 9 pm. 8 clinics, with breakout rooms to dicuss the clinic with the clinician after each clinic.
Live on the NMRA Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nmragroup/
Or just watch along without a Facebook account here: https://www.facebook.com/NMRA.org,
Or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHw-7-1FWB5zQgTM0ZVY-Yw

Division Meeting
2022-06-12 14:00 - 16:00 | Western Maryland Railway Historical Society, 41 N Main St MD, Union Bridge, MD, 21791, United States
The Division is planning a visit to the Western Maryland Railway Historical Society in Union Bridge, MD. Their Sunday hours are from 1-4, we are looking to gather as a Division at 2pm.

2022 MER Convention
2022-10-20 12:00 - 2022-10-23 17:00 | Hilton Charlotte University Place, 8629 JM Keynes Drive, Charlotte, NC, 28262, United States
Carolina Special Look South in 2022
The Carolina Southern Division is proud to be the sponsor of the 2022 Convention of the Mid-Eastern Region of the National Model Railroad Association called the CAROLINA SPECIAL which will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina. This annual event provides a venue for NMRA Model Railroaders from Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia, plus parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and North and South Carolina to gather and share their craftsmanship and skill, enjoy the fellowship of fellow ferroequinologists, visit local layouts and prototype rail operations, and to generally have a good time.

Annual General Meeting
2022-11-12 09:00 - 12:00 | B&O Railroad Historical Society, 5745 Bartholow Road, Eldersburg, MD, 21784, United States
The Division will hold its annual general meeting at the B&O Railroad Historical Society. Doors will open at 9am. We will have an opportunity to socialize from 9 – 10am. We will convene a short business meeting at 10am, after which we will hold a couple of presentations. The Division layout will also be on display.

Greenberg's Great Train & Toy Show
2022-12-03 10:00 - 16:00, 2022-12-04 10:00 - 16:00 | Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road, Tomonium, MD, 21093, United States

Division Meeting: Iron Horse Rambles
2022-12-09 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
We will have a guest speaker, George Johnson, at our upcoming Division meeting. George is a member of the Meade Area Railroad Society (MARRS) modular model railroad club, and a long-time amateur railroad photographer. A former resident of Columbia, Maryland, he moved to Pennsylvania after retiring from Fort Meade. George currently volunteers at the Cumberland County Historical Society (CCHS) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where, as a volunteer, he is cataloging a significant photography collection donated by local professional photographer and life-long railfan, Jim Bradley. He recently published the first book based on the collection for the CCHS: “Iron Horse Rambles – as seen through the lens of Jim Bradley.”
George’s presentation will focus on Jim Bradley’s photo documentation of the Iron Horse Rambles – a series of steam locomotive excursions operated by the Reading Railroad. The “stars” of the Iron Horse Rambles were the four heavy-duty 4-8-4 steam locomotives the Reading Company took out of storage solely for the purpose of pulling the excursions.

Division Meeting
2023-01-27 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
We will hold a Division meeting Friday, January 27, at 7:30 pm via Zoom. If you are a Division member, you should have received the link to the Zoom meeting via email. If you did not, and would like to join us, please email the Division Superintendent. You will find a link to email him on the Division Officers & Staff tab of this website.
During our meeting we will view a couple of model railroading videos together, and have some discussion about each. The videos planned are as follows.
Joe Fugate’s Siskiyou Line Lessons Learned (44 minutes): January of 2017, Joe Fugate announced in MRH magazine that he elected to dismantle his then-current Siskiyou Line. In this video, find out why Joe made this decision, and learn about the new Siskiyou Line 2 that will replace the old layout. Joe candidly talks about the good, the bad, and the ugly of his old layout, and how the new modular SL2 will improve upon it.
Ron’s Trains ‘n Things – Operations: Model Railroad Yard Operations – What They Do And Why They Do It (17 minutes). In this video Ron discusses model railroad yard operations – what they do and why they do it. Many people are interested in railroad yards – all of those tracks and cars – but many people don’t know what they do and why they do it. Ron will show us the basics of yard operations as it fits into the total work of the railroad.
We have a little over an hour of content planned, and will also allow time for socializing and discussion, so we will probably wrap up around 9:00 pm. Of course, we can keep going as long as we’re having fun.

Great Scale Model Train Show
2023-02-04 09:00 - 17:00, 2023-02-05 10:00 - 16:00

South Mountain Division Mini Con
2023-04-08 09:00 - 15:00 | Blue Ridge Fire Hall, 13063 Monterey Ln, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 17214, United States
The NMRA/MER South Mountain Division and Mainline Hobby Supply will host their 9th annual Mini Con at the Blue Ridge Fire Hall, 13063 Monterey Ln., Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214. You are invited to enjoy this one-day free event, one block north of Main Line Hobby Supply. The Mini Con will consist of prototype and modeling presentations, formal and informal clinics, modular displays, interaction with fellow hobbyists and beginners, and a 10% discount at Mainline Hobby Supply. There is no charge for admission, and the facility is wheelchair accessible and open to the public for promotion of the hobby of Model Railroading.

Strasburg 2Rail O Scale Train Show & Swap Meet
2023-04-15 09:00 - 13:00 | Strasburg PA Fire Company, 203 W Franklin St, Strasburg, PA, 17579, United States
Strasburg 2Rail O SCALE Train Show & Swap Meet, to be held at the Strasburg PA Fire Company, 203 W Franklin St, Strasburg, PA 17579.

Great Scale Model Train Show
2023-04-29 09:00 - 16:00, 2023-04-30 09:00 - 16:00 | Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road, Tomonium, MD, 21093, United States
The Chesapeake and Potomac Divisions will be teaming up to man a table at the April GSMTS. Division members may sign up with the link provided in the monthly email Blast. If you have not received the link and want to join us, please contact the Division Superintendent via email.
Use the following link for a show flyer with discount admission: https://gsmts.com/CourtesyCoupons/Show.jpg

Mid-Central NMRA Regional Convention - Rails to Pittsburgh
2023-05-04 - 2023-05-07 | Doubletree by Hilton at Cranberry, 910 Sheraton Drive, Mars, PA, 16046, United States
The Mid Central NMRA will present their Regional Convention, titled Rails to Pittsburg. Sponsored by the Keystone Division of the NMRA, Mid-Central Region, at the Doubletree by Hilton at Cranberry, 910 Sheraton Drive, Mars, PA, 16046.

Joint Mini Con - Chesapeake & Potomac Divisions
2023-06-10 08:45 - 12:30 | South Columbia Baptist Church, 8814 Guilford Rd, Columbia, MD, 21046, United States
A Joint MiniCon, presented by the Chesapeake and Potomac Divisions, will be held at the South Columbia Baptist Church, from 8:45am – 12:30pm.
We’ll have five clinics and a popular vote contest with “on track” and “off track” categories. Photos of the winning models will be published in the next issue of the Potomac Flyer (the Potomac Division newsletter) and on the Chesapeake Division’s web site. There will be donuts and coffee, tea, and water available for refreshment. So come on out!
The schedule and a description of the clinics follows.
Timetable

8:45 am
Open to Members for Registration
Set Up Display Models for Popular Vote (2 categories: On-Track and Off-Track)
Coffee and Donuts!!!

9:15 am
Greeting and Announcements – Superintendents
Church Representative
Coffee and Donuts!!!

Clinics Set 1

9:30 am
Motive Power (Alex Belida, Potomac Div)
Weathering with Oils (Jeff Burch, Chesapeake Div)

10:10 am
Break for Coffee and Popular Voting

Clinics Set 2

10:20 am
Backdrops (Brian Sheron, Potomac Div)
Weathering with Vallejo Acrylics (Mike Shylanski, Chesapeake Div)

11:00 am
Break for Coffee and Popular Voting

11:10 am
Clinic Set 3
Trash to Treasures (Martin Brechbiel, Potomac Div)

11:50 am
Final Assembly, Popular Vote Results, Close out

12:10 pm
Clean up after conclusion of Final Assembly

12:30–1:00 pm
Potomac Division Board of Directors Meeting

Clinic Descriptions
Clinic 1 Motive Power: Alex Belida, MMR, Potomac, has always been fascinated by early generation locomotives used by some logging operations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. One has long been his favorite—the vertical boiler engine. In working for his NMRA Motive Power certificate, he decided to scratchbuild one. In this clinic, Alex explains the process and decisions he went through.
Clinic 2 Weathering with Oils: Jeff Burch, Chesapeake says oil paints provide a way to weather models in an unrushed manner. They have a long working time in comparison to acrylics. Oil paints can be used to provide a color fade, rust, grime, paint streaks, or even to provide a nice color variance to depict a lightly weathered freight car or locomotive. The following techniques will be demonstrated: light weathering with a dot-filter, heavy rust or grime, fading/bleeding white lettering on a freight car side.
Clinic 3 Backdrops: Brian Sheron, MMR, Potomac, notes that model train layouts are mainly constrained by two factors, limited available space, and accessibility. Both factors inhibit the viewer’s perception of depth when viewing a model railroading scene, unless we can add backdrops to our layouts that will impart the feeling of depth. Brian will describe various techniques that a modeler can use to achieve the perception of depth on their layout.
Clinic 4 Weathering with Vallejo Acrylics: Mike Shylanski, Chesapeake, says versatile Vallejo paints and washes can be very effective at giving your model rolling stock a realistic appearance. This clinic will show examples of how you can hand weather or even hand paint HO freight equipment. Approaches to modeling everything from galvanized car roofs to rust effects will be illustrated. Era-specific weathering will be highlighted.
Clinic 5 Trash to Treasures: Martin Brechbiel, MMR, Potomac, You see these items, models, structures, old half built kits, etc., from what seems an eon past as you wander the aisles of train show and meets, or as you peruse the listings of eBay, shake your head invisibly and think to yourself, “What trash, garbage, rubbish…”. Yet, some of these items are just waiting for you take them home and work a bit of magic on them, rebuilding and/or repurposing them for use on your layout. So, I look for and find the occasional hidden treasure, and take them home for very little cost (free sometimes!) recognizing the inherent play value that lives on waiting to be appreciated. I’ll show you a few examples these and present the processes that I employ for both rolling stock and structures that become scenery vignettes.
Popular Vote: We’re encouraging members to bring models for display at the Joint Meet. We will conduct a popular vote for favorite On-Track model (engines and cars) and for Off-Track model (structures). Everyone who brings a display model should also bring a card or slip of paper on which they should write their name and a description of their model, placing it with the model on a table that will be set up for this purpose. (We’ll have paper for those who may forget to bring it with them.)
Those who want to vote should complete a paper “ballot” (which will be provided at the minicon) and write down the name(s) of the owner(s) of the model(s) they like best for either or both of the categories –- On-Track and Off-Track. Board members of the two Divisions will count the votes and announce the winners in the closing session and their photos will be taken with their winning models. These will appear in the August-September issue of the Potomac Flyer and on the Chesapeake Division web site.

Using TinkerCAD
2023-07-15 10:00 - 12:30 | Anne Arundel County Library – Odenton Branch, 1325 Annapolis Road, Odenton, MD, 21113, United States
Kurt Thompson, MMR will present a hands-on (computer) session titled “Using TinkerCAD,” a prelude to 3D printing. The clinic will be held in the Computer Room of the Anne Arundel County Library, Odenton Branch, which has limited seating for 19 attendees. Please preregister with Tim Beaty, our Division Clerk (or contact the Division Superintendent at the address listed on our Chesapeake Division Officers & Staff webpage at the Division website).
There should be computers for everyone but if you like, you may bring your own laptop.
There is a simple prerequisite for the clinic: Register as a user at the TinkerCAD website (https://www.tinkercad.com/). User accounts are free.

NMRA National Convention - Texas Express
2023-08-20 - 2023-08-26 | Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX, 76051, United States

Mid-Atlantic Railroad Prototype Modelers
2023-09-14 - 2023-09-17 | Delta Hotels Baltimore Hunt Valley, 245 Shawan Road, Hunt Valley, MD, 21030, United States

Mid-Eastern NMRA Regional Convention - Round the Curve to Altoona
2023-10-19 - 2023-10-22 | Altoona Grand Hotel & Conference Center, 1 Sheraton Drive, Altoona, PA, 16601, United States
The Convention is being hosted by Susquehanna Division 11. As you know, Altoona was the heart of the Pennsylvania Railroad during the heyday of American railroading. The Convention will provide visits to historic railroad facilities, sites, and attractions, and provide educational experiences for all attendees.
Barry Schmitt, the Convention Clinic Chair, is seeking NMRA members who would like to present a clinic at the convention. For those who have never presented at a regional convention, you can earn four (4) points toward the Author Achievement Program. This could be your first step on the path to achieving MMR status. They welcome any topic associated with model railroading or prototype railroading that is related to our model railroading hobby.
The plan is to offer 50+ clinic slots over the four-day convention. A clinic slot is based on a 45-50-minute clinic, 10-15 minutes for Q&A, and 30-minutes for setup, tear down, and break time between clinics. Each of the three (3) clinic rooms will have a full audio/visual setup, tables for model displays or other support material, and a convention clinic team member who will introduce the clinician and provide any assistance needed during the presentation.
For those interested in presenting a clinic or who have questions, kindly contact Barry Schmitt by either phone (717.877.1810) or email (sbschmitt@comcast.net).
Registration will open in mid-April.

Annual Meeting
2023-11-18 09:00 - 11:30 | B&O Railroad Historical Society, 5745 Bartholow Road, Eldersburg, MD, 21784, United States
Doors will open at 9:00 AM. We’ll sign-in and socialize (there will be donuts) until 9:45 AM, at which time our business meeting will commence. Following the business meeting, Mike Shylanski will present a clinic titled “B&O, C&O, and Western Maryland Airslide Covered Hoppers and How to Model them in HO.”
