A really nice view from the Potomac River side of the C&O Canal bridge looking across shot in 1982 over on Shorpy.com. Fantastic shot!
Daily Archives: January 22, 2014
Kelly’s Georgetown Branch layout updates
My friend Kelly is moving along on his Georgetown Branch layout, making great strides and some impressive progress! My model RR club, RMRRS, visited his layout a couple months ago and were really impressed. He has since completed the “paving” in Georgetown and reworked and scenicked the Georgetown Jct. area. Very cool!
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/212970.aspx
I have some more photos in my gallery: http://gallery.sluggyjunx.com/railroad_and_industrial/2013_rr/Kelly-s-Georgetown-Branch-layout
UPDATE: Unfortunately a couple years ago the layout was dismantled. Kelly is considering a new GB representation in a smaller size.
Article about the Hopfenmaier Rendering Plant
A really neat article from a few years ago that begins with a search for a long-lost sign and ends with a shoebox history of the struggle between one smelly industry and residents (and everyone else) in Georgetown. The Hopfenmaier rendering plant existed at 3300 K St., NW on the waterfront for nearly 100 years, until finally being ousted by fed-up residents and politicians. The rendering process takes leftover animal parts and oils used in food prep and renders them into lubricants, fuels and other uses. It’s an aged process (still in use today) but one that results in a massively horrible odor and residue. I have been told by first-hand accounts that the Whitehurst Fwy. (erected in 1948) had a coating of sooty grease and an odor that on a hot day, many years after the plant had shut down, would be unbearable. I can only imagine. Enjoy!
Layout Construction update
It has been a very, very long time since I posted an update here on the blog about my model RR progress. Let me get things up to speed. The benchwork for the layout is about 95% complete. I have a few odds and ends to do but that hurdle has been crossed. Now I am working on adding the subroadbed, roadbed and connecting bridges and track. I completed construction on the helix and recently constructed the upper bracket and transition to allow the track to transition off the helix and enter the layout room. Remember, my helix is mobile and must be able to detach and roll away from the wall whenever the HVAC is serviced (like today!)
The staging yard was completed and track laid. I also built and installed a hinged swing-up bridge (with neodymium magnets to hold it in the up position) that connects the staging yard and the staging lead going into the layout room. With some assistance from my train club several areas were completed, including the base for Rock Creek, and the lower helix lead entry point through the wall. One member, Tom, came over and helped me figure out how to do the entire Georgetown Jct. area, including the subroadbed and track arrangement. I realized I needed to put in the upper helix lead first, so that is what I am working on currently.
All in all, I have not been terribly busy with the layout. There are many distractions and I have many hobbies so I come back to it when I can. Also, I have spent a good bit of time researching the GB and have many, many materials to go through and add to the catalogs and notes and that takes time, too. I’m having a heck of a lot of fun with it.
As always, I try to keep my Gallery up-to-date where you can see snapshots of my progress. Enjoy! http://gallery.sluggyjunx.com/railroad_and_industrial/georgetownbranch/modelrailroad/2010-11_model_rr
Bethesda Frito-Lay Plant history
I found a brief mention of the Frito-Lay plant in Bethesda today while searching for some info on lineside industries. This was featured in a Q&A section on Bethesda Magazine’s website:
A neighbor who grew up here told me there was a Frito plant on Elm Street and Arlington Road in the 1940s. What was its exact location?
—Susan Rubel, Bethesda
The Frito Capital Company was at 4860 Bethesda Ave.—the current location of the Apple Store—according to a 1949 telephone directory in the Montgomery County Historical Society library.
Frito-Lay spokeswoman Aurora Gonzalez says the plant was purchased by H.W. Lay & Company in the 1950s, and that it made Fritos corn chips until a new plant in Brentwood, Md., replaced it in about 1963.
William M. Offutt, author of Bethesda: A Social History (1995), recalls the plant being served by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. He says the scent of Fritos chips baking “added a very distinct smell to the neighborhood.”