HARM Members Host Open House Again This Year

Several members of HARM will open their homes and model railroads to the public this year. November is National Model Railroad month and the group from modelrailroadopenhouse.com has again organized and publicized the open houses in the MD, DE, PA, and NJ area. Ken P., Bill M., and Bill F. will all have their HO model train layouts open, while Scott W. will be one of the few N-scale model railroads on display. They are all in various stages of completion, but well worth the stop to see what is new or has changed. All of the owners really enjoy talking model trains and answering visitors’ questions. Bring your family and friends along when you visit, look at all of the details and enjoy the trains, just don’t touch unless invited to do so. We look forward to seeing many returning visitors as well as some new ones.

Ken Poznaniak's New Rail Train

Ken Poznaniak recently added a new train to his Chesapeake, Susquehanna & Western HO scale model railroad. It is a CSX Rail train that is able to easily snake through his layout. This project was completed primarily by Ken with some assistance from a few other HARM members. Phil Balles spent considerable time doing some CADD work for various parts and had the racks that hold the rail in place in each gondola 3D printed, Macon Tucker did some of the original paint work on the model, and Harry Ivory helped tremendously with assembly. I hope you enjoy the video below of the final product, which was shot and edited by Chris Kratzen.

Please take some time to check out the other videos on the HARM YouTube Channel. Feel free to like and subscribe.

HARM Member is Part of "Best in Show" Club

During the weekend ofJanuary 27 & 28, the 50th Anniversary of the Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show attracted thousands of visitors. People that attended the show were treated to several buildings worth of attractions, vendors, and modular model railroads. HArM member, Jeff Dove is also a member of one of the clubs, the Four County Society of Model Engineers. Attendees of the local Great Scale Model Train Show are quite familiar with this groups  fine modeling skills. This year at the Amherst Show, FCSME was awarded "Best in Show" for their superb modeling efforts.

Read the full article from the Carrol County Times here.

 

HARM Members visit Howard Zane's Layout

On November 11, 2017, HARM members Bill McAleese, Bill Freeland, and Scott Wooddell traveled to Columbia, Maryland to visit the home layout of Howard Zane during open house month. We also met up with Jeff Dove while there. Howard models the Piermont Division of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in HO scale. His layout totally consumes an almost 3000 square foot basement of his home and has grown on several occasions over the years. The first thing that strikes you when entering his home are the seemingly never-ending display cases of model railroad locomotives (mostly brass) and rolling stock. we could have spent hours just looking at all of the items on display around the entry, but we knew the real reason we came was for what was in the basement. Coming down the stairs, you enter the layout near one end and are awestruck by the scenery, super detailed structures and railroad equipment in front of you. It is not for a little bit, that you realize that this is just the tip of the iceberg. The layout meanders through several areas of his basement, some of which were added on just for the model railroad. It took us about three hours to make our way through all of the rooms to see the many scratch built and kit bashed structures. Because we were the only ones there at the time, Howard ran a few "special" trains for us to watch. It was really a treat to see such a masterpiece of a model railroad.

2017 Open House Schedule

  

Several members of HARM will have their layouts open to visitors on Sunday, November 26, 2017.  Ken Poznaniak models the Chesapeake, Susquehanna, and Western in HO scale and will be open from noon - 4:30. Bill Freeland will also have his Washington to Pittsburgh B&O line in HO scale open on Nov. 4 from noon - 4:00. Bill Macleese will open from noon - 5:00, featuring his HO scale B&O line through West Virginia. The only N scale offering will be provided by Scott Wooddell as he models the Deer Creek & Susquehanna Railroad in rural Harford County in the 1950s. All four of these layouts are fairly close together which makes it easy to get around to all of them. Come on out with your camera and lots of questions. We all like to talk about our hobby. To check out the full schedule and see a map, click here to go to the website for MD & DE.

See Ya Later Mickey...

One of our members, Mickey Mezzanotte, is moving with his wife to Lincoln, Nebraska in order to pursue other adventures in their lives. He has been a member of HARM for several years and is always around to tell stories about the "MAFIA" and his musician days. Mickey will be missed by most of us. To give him a good sendoff, HARM gathered for dinner at Olive Tree Restaurant in Aberdeen for dinner and good conversation. Nineteen of our members were in attendance.

 

HARM Visits Bill Kachel's PRR Layout

In February, several members of HARM had the distinct pleasure of visiting Bill Kachel's model railroad depicting several portions of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Members were able to operate trains through many portions of the layout, including catenary. Scenes included on the layout include Hell Gate Bridge, the Zoo interlocking in Philadelphia, and of course the famous Horseshoe Curve. Below are some the picture taken by Ken Lewis during their visit. You can find out more information and pictures of Bill's layout at phillynmra.org.