| Railway Preservation News https://www.rypn.org/forums/ |
|
| Reaching out: "Next Stop Silver Spring" https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24945 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | PaulWWoodring [ Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:16 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Reaching out: "Next Stop Silver Spring" |
Occasionally, local railfan/preservation groups can play a role in helping to educate the public about railroad history and it's connection to the lives of the greater population. Such was the case last night in the Washington, DC area. For two hours last night during PBS station WETA-TV's (home of such programing as "The Kennedy Center Presents", "The News Hour", and "The American Experience") Spring pledge drive, Washington area residents got a lesson in local railroad history and it's connection to their lives in the documentary "Next Stop Silver Spring", the history of the B&O in Silver Spring, MD, and the preservation and restoration of it's post-WWII passenger station. The project started as an off-shoot of an earlier documentary on the City of Silver Spring by local documentary producer Walter J. Gottlieb. Having called upon the Potomac Chapter, NRHS for information and photographs of the station and B&O for that project, he came back to us for more information and funding assistance for the station documentary. The chapter decided to use this opportunity to fulfill part of our mission statement of engaging in community education about local railroad history. We also decided to raise our profile locally by contributing enough money to the production to be included in the "Major funding provided by..." credits for the film (somewhere North of $5,000, I can't remember the exact figure). The chapter had previously given a significant contribution to the station restoration efforts, and is named on the rededication plaque on the building. Several Chapter members contributed photos and home movies of the station and the B&O in the area. Chapter members Bill Hopkins, Ara Messarobian, Sydney Earle, and John Sery appear in the production, sharing memories of the B&O and the station, and talking about the photos and movies they loaned to the project. (John Sery also served as a production consultant on the film.) We also helped track down other people connected to the station, like the daughter of the longest serving station agent, and the last agent at the station, who appeared in the film, as well as contacts at CSX that helped get them access to WB Tower in Brunswick, interviewing one of the last operators in the area (and getting some really cool footage of the "Capitol Limited" passing through town from inside the tower). The Washington, DC chapter also contributed to the production, by allowing filming inside their fully restored Pullman, "Dover Harbor", which was stored on the team tracks next to the station for many years. An old friend of railroad preservation (and many on this site), Bill Withuhn from the Smithsonian, also appeared on camera. Our participation in the production helped ensure accuracy in most of the information provided (although I did catch a couple of minor date problems). Overall, I think the Washington, DC area NRHS chapters can be proud of the final result and our participation in it. Hopefully, other railroad preservation groups can find similar projects in their communities that will help to spread awareness of railroad history and their existence. In doing so we hopefully bring in new members and new energy to preservation and the hobby in general. |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|