October 16-19, 2025
Crowne Plaza Hotel – King of Prussia, PA
Hosted by the Philadelphia Division
Hosted by the Philadelphia Division
South Mountain Division (SMD) Mini Con/Clinics Day is this coming Saturday, 05 April 2025. Doors open at 9:00 AM at the Blue Ridge Mountain Fire Hall; 13063 Monterey Ln, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214. The event is FREE! Plenty of parking along side the fire hall. Food on-site. On going presentations throughout the morning are informal. Sit and chat with clinicians. Learn something new. Meet new friends. Bring the family.
Bonus for Attendees…
Private layout open houses on Sunday. All Saturday attendees may request addresses for several area layouts. This bonus is for Mini Con attendees only. Request details at the registration table in the hall.
The Virginia Midland Railroad is a large N scale layout that features heavy coal operations with just enough general freight traffic thrown in to make things interesting for the operators. The Virginia Midland brings back memories of the N&W (post Virginian merger) and features long trains of hoppers, multi-engine power consists, and even independently controlled helpers. Even if you are not personally into heavy freight drag operations this layout is worth seeing and fun to operate. This is probably one of the largest N scale layouts in the area. All operations are controlled using CVP (Easy DCC) wireless throttles. Crews will be trained in the basics of train order/ time table controlled railroad operation.
Visit the fully scenicked and operational East Broad Top Railroad without driving to Orbisonia PA. On the Clarke’s basement sized rendition, steam powered brass locomotives haul coal in HOn3 hoppers from the mines in Robertsdale PA to the coal cleaning plant and interchange with the PRR in Mt. Union PA. For added interest, car loads of ganister, iron ore, lumber, agricultural products, and coal move along the Shade Gap Branch between Orbisonia and Neelyton PA.
The railroad was featured in the publication Great Model Railroads. Trains run on TT/TO with a fast clock. Control is Digitrax DCC using radio throttles. Car cards, timetable, instructions, and an operator’s guide let guest operators know how to run trains.
Maryland Junction is a 14 by 20 foot room sized modular layout that was built to travel. It has crossed the pond once since it’s 1999 birth. The railroad reached it’s zenith in 2022 when scenery was 95% complete. It’s been in steady decline since the owner began preparation for the move to a smaller living space. Towards that end, individual structures and dioramas have been removed and are being sold off along with excess rolling stock and locomotive power. There has been some track abandonment and removal. Deconstructions/salvage/sale plans hinge on future hobby space limitations.
Watch steam trains move freight cars between Belfast and Camden and onto the car float/tug operation at Camden Junction. Check out the passenger side-2 wheeler that operates between Deer Island and Camden Junction. Visit this museum quality O scale railroad featuring scratch built locomotives, rolling stock, hand laid track, ships, and structures. There’s also more than a thousand hand-made trees and an operating rotary snowplow. The railroad is featured in the 2025 publication Great Model Railroads.
The railroad is powered by NCE DCC and uses NCE hand held radio throttles.
As a bonus, you can also view a small “portable” HO DC powered logging railroad featuring geared engines and a switchback.
Visit West Virginia in the spring/summer of 1954 and be inspired by the West Virginia Midland Model Railroad. Coal, limestone and lumber are the main source of revenue with a mix of freight from local business. The Midland connects with the B&O at Holly Junction and the Western Maryland at Cherry Falls. The interchanges (staging) represent Grafton (B&O) and Laurel Bank (WM). Midland’s main yard and shop facilities are located in the twin towns of Webster Springs and Cherry Falls, WV.
The main body of the Midland is 12’ x 16’ with an additional 65 feet of around-the-wall running. The scenery is about 95% complete and features discrete scenes that are visually separated by viewing angles and scenic view blocks such as hills and, numerous trees.
Visit Avery, Idaho in the fall of 1973 and board the O scale Hiawatha for the trip over the Bitterroot Mountains to Montana. See first hand the challenges of building a mountain railroad. The single track main line is operational and powered by NCE DCC. Avery yard is the central focus of the railroad; although much compressed trackage generally follows the prototype. Several scratch built landmark buildings that are nearly finished will capture the essence of the area. Five industrial areas with sidings are also under development. Scenery has been started in several places. It is anticipated that one day the railroad will feature through freights, through and local passenger trains, a branch line, and blocking of cars at Avery.
Registration is now open for Piedmont Junction, the 2024 Mid-Eastern Region Convention, in Durham, North Carolina at the Marriott Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle Park the weekend of October 17-20, 2024, with four full days of model railroading activities.
Early Registration rate of $60.00 for NMRA members
through 8/31/2024
Hotel reservations available at our special rate of $79.00 usd
Marriott at Research Triangle Park
4700 Guardian Drive, Durham, NC 27703
Hotel Registration Link: https://mer-nmra.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ff9c9b60a3019d08c05fb8e92&id=fd75eab596&e=8d5e4e9309
Book your group rate for Mid Eastern Region of the National Model Railroad Association
Or telephone 919-941-6200 to get the special rate
See You in October!
Jack Dziadul, Co-Chairman
Kevin O’Connor, Co-Chairman
WHAT: POTOMAC DIVISION IN-PERSON TECHNICAL CLINIC
CLINICIAN’S: GEORGE MEYRICK AND ERNIE LITTLE, MMR
TOPIC: Using JMRI DecoderPro to program decoders
WHEN: SATURDAY, December 9, 2023
TIME: Start at 9 AM and go until conclusion
WHERE: Jerry’s Hobby Barn – 11552 Hereford Court, Hume, VA 22639. (You may need to use Markam, VA for GPS)
PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED BY Emailing Ernie Little the information requested below at: super@potomac-nmra.org.
This is a technical clinic and due to the its nature, only 8 attendees will be accepted to participate. This clinic will provide the attendees with the knowledge of how to program locomotives using DecoderPro and have questions they have about the program answered.
Attendees should bring an individual locomotive they wish to program, or locomotives they wish to speed match to the session. It is requested that the attendee provide the following information about their locomotive(s) when they register:
1. Locomotive Manufacturer – (Atheran, Prototype 2000, etc.)
2. Type of locomotive (steam or diesel) and Name of locomotive (F3, DL-109, AC4400, etc.)
3. Decoder manufacturer and type of decoder installed. (Digitraxx, DH163, etc.)
4. Other information on the locomotive’s properties. (Assigned functions, etc.)
5. What you want to do with the decoder. (Reset address, change CV values, etc.)
6. Any questions you would like to answered or discuss.
9:00 AM -The session will begin with a one-hour briefing, using power point and live demonstration, to present the DecoderPro application’s abilities which include:
1. Creating a roster of locomotive decoder settings.
2. Reading and writing all locomotive properties such as long and short address, lighting setup, and CV values.
3. Change decoder function mapping.
4. Change or reassign decoder addresses.
5. Speed match multiple locomotives.
6. Make changes to decoder settings such as startup voltage, sound, sound level, and other specific changes.
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM – After the conclusion of the briefing attendees will individually use DecoderPro to program a locomotive on a provided HO and N scale programming and test tracks with the assistance of George Meyrick or Ernie Little, MMR.
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – LUNCH on site (There will be a $20.00 fee for this clinic to pay for lunch)
1:00 PM – Conclusion (no later than 4 PM) – Continuation of programming efforts.
The James River and Potomac Division would like to invite the SMD to our annual Minicon joint meet on 4 November 2023. This year there will be seven clinics and four open house layout tours, plus model judging and white elephant tables. Registration starts at 9 AM. Clinics begin at 9:30 and run until 12 PM. Layouts will be open from 1 to 4 PM.
The event is free. We will take a free will offering for the Battlefield Baptist Church (meet location) The church will be sending all funds raised to a hospital that is being constructed in Haiti.
The event program with clinic and layout descriptions can be found on the PD web page. https://potomac-nmra.org/