Events
Each year Chessie members take part in a number of activities, beginning with our annual observance of Saint Patrick's Day on a weekend in mid-March. Recent years have included trips on Amtrak to the railway station restaurants in Staunton and Charlottesville, Virginia, the Northern Central Railway in New Freedom, Pennsylvania, the Indian Head Central Railway in Indian Head, Maryland, the Wilmington & Western Railroad, and a special Amtrak stop at the Ironhorse Restaurant in Ashland, Virginia. In 2004 we arranged for a special rare mileage trip on the West Chester Railroad all the way from West Chester to Philadelphia and return, with photo stops enroute. For 2005, Chessie members took Amtrak from Washington Union Station to Philadelphia, rode several different SEPTA routes around the city, took a PATCO train over the Delaware River to Camden, and then boarded the New RiverLine to Trenton. There we enjoyed the fine dining offered by Pete Lorenzo's restaurant before catching an Amtrak train back to Washington.
In 2006 we planned to ride Amtrak from Washington Union Station to Ashland, Virginia, where the CSX (ex-RF&P) run through the center of town, to have lunch at the Ironhorse Restaurant. CSX track work led to the cancellation of our trains’ operations only weeks before our trip, so we had to cancel it for the year. We did, however, make the trip on March 17, 2007, with a special stop in Ashland by both our southbound and northbound trains, which ordinarily didn’t make stops in the town. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the restaurant and sipped Irish Coffee at the bar while watching for trains through the restaurant’s plate glass windows. Our layover provided us with the opportunity to shop in the nearby hobby shop, have dessert in the ice cream shop across the street, and then catch our train back to DC.
On March 16, 2008, we celebrated Saint Patrick's Day by taking Amtrak's westbound Cardinal from Washington Union Station to Culpeper, Virginia, a ride of an hour and 25 minutes. Our group of 28 trip participants arrived at the visitors center located in the large redbrick former Southern Railway depot and fanned out to enjoy the various restaurants in town for lunch, dessert, and coffee. While in town we watched as several Norfolk Southern freight trains passed through and then caught the eastbound Cardinal back to Washington in the evening.
The CRA's Saint Patrick's Day Special (a.k.a. Amtrak's westbound Cardinal) ducks under a signal bridge as it rolls down the former Southern Railway main at Clifton, Virginia, on March 16, 2008. Twenty-eight CRA members and guests rode this train to Culpeper, Virginia, on the group's annual Saint Patrick's Day trip, which has been an annual tradition for over 30 years. Amtrak P42DC No. 160 leads three Amfleet coaches, an Amcafe, and a Viewliner sleeper. (Alex Mayes photo)
Sometimes we get together for visits to local rail sites. For example, on June 16, 2007, we arranged a visit to Mirant’s Morgantown Generating Plant in Maryland, at the southern end of the former PRR Pope’s Creek Branch, to see both the power generation facility and railroad equipment. In this picture by Gordon Bjoraker, Chessie member Bill Hopkins poses next to the former Washington Terminal Alco RS1 he maintained as a railway employee years ago.
Each September we hold our annual picnic in conjunction with the Walkersville Southern Railroad in Walkersville, Maryland. This year’s event will take place on September 7 at 1 p.m., so mark your calendar and plan to enjoy it at trackside with fellow rail buffs.