The building seen here which was located in Bethesda just North of the River Road crossing is no more. Nothing remains but the tracks in the pavement and a big hole where it once was. They’ll probably put up a Starbucks or a CVS. According to various maps and references I have, this was once an auto parts warehouse. Tracks served it on the right side.
I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted here, but I wanted to give a quick update. The area of the Georgetown Waterfront where the yards once were is now a dirt lot. All of the parking area has been removed and they are currently grading and rebuilding the wharf walls along the water. This is going to be parkland and will be nice when it’s done. I just hope they can remember what it once was.
From the B&ORR Yahoo Group:
It is with regret that I must pass on the news of the passing of William W. “Bill” Duvall of Chevy Chase, MD on June 13, 2007. Mr. Duvall was a member of the NRHS and contributed many photographs to the B&ORRHS 2007 Color Calendar.
Friends will be received at Pumphrey’s Bethesda Chevy-Chase Funeral Home June 16, 2007 from 3pm to 5pm. You can view and sign the family guest book at http://www.pumphreyfuneralhome.com
There are many of Bill’s photos up on my website in the gallery. He was a kind, generous fellow, very welcoming and supportive of what I was doing. He openly lent me access to his original slides so that I might scan them and post them online to share with everyone. He had a real knack for photography and when I visited him he gave me a slideshow or two of some of his best work. The shots I saw were jaw-droppingly awesome from a railfan’s perspective. Thank you Bill, you will be missed.
I have another more personal-centric blog and over the last year or so I’ve posted a couple entries related to my GB construction progress. They won’t be linked directly here, but you can browse the Railroad category on the blog and see the entries there.
Greetings and salutations. Thanks for visiting the new Georgetown Branch blog. I’ve set this up as part of a massive redesign of my GB online efforts so that I might translate my progress to the online community more effectively. Programming in HTML can be tedious and when I’ve got little tidbits of news and info to share, I often will divert my attention elsewhere instead of posting updates to the site. So, I’m implementing this new blog, an updated Gallery and a revamped website. All of which will go live very soon. So stay tuned and keep sending me your stories and photos!
ps. Don’t be creeped out if you see old entries here on this new blog! I’m migrating all my old journal entries to the blog so they will be viewable and searchable.
Well, it’s been a long, long time (once again) since my last update here. If you’re regularly checking the Gallery page then you know that I’ve been posting some progress photos of the layout construction. I’m about half way done with the helix but it’s slow going. Mainly due to the addition to my family- a new baby girl! Born on 7/5/06.
In the meantime, I’ve done a couple other things GB related. I was lucky enough to gain access to a wonderful collection of old GB photos and documents which has helped greatly in my research. I also took a tour of the Georgetown Waterfront to document all the changes that are occuring there. And, I’ve posted a couple photos from a site visitor in the Gallery.
Had a chance this past weekend to work on the helix for a few hours and made great progress. Drilled holes in the risers for the threaded rod. Installed one half section and got it calibrated. Looks great and was a lot smoother intstall than I thought.
Pics are up in the Main Gallery.
Check the Layout & Gallery sections. *NOTE: I will probably be posting more and more photos to my main Gallery page due to its ease of use.
Got some work done on the benchwork and the Helix – pics are up in the Gallery.
Well, to whoever reads this, you may be wondering where I’ve been. Last update was back in April and a lot has happened since then. First of all, I’m a DADDY! His name is Kyle Thomas and he weighed in at 8lbs 5oz, 21″ long and was born on 6/23/04. Mom & Baby are both currently doing fine. We’ve been spending all our time with baby so no time for layout work, really. We also just got back from an annual trip up North to Cape Cod and are just now getting back into the swing of things.Which means, I will finally have a little time for the layout. So, progress report: I have updated some of my trackp plan, a new version coming soon online. I’m desperately searching for a Precision Scale brass model of a B&O Q-1c 2-8-2 which is the class of #4320 which ran the GB local often email me if you have one for sale! I explored deeply the possibly of using an Athearn USRA Light Mikado as a starting point for a Q-1c, and thanks to many on the Yahoo B&O list, I’ve decided not to do it. Just too much work for me at this point. The model and the prototype are so different in several key areas, most notably the boiler jacket which has 5 courses on the Q-1c and 6 on the Q-4 (which the Athearn is most like). I’m tidying up a few things here and there around the site, like adding some more sources to the History page, etc. I’m saving up to purchase the DCC system and preparing to get down to the basement to get that benchwork going! Check back soon for more updates.