This might be posted elsewhere, I didn't see anything on it here so let me mention this. Just saw a message from a friend who was on the Western MD Scenic Ry. late last week. The barn in the middle of Helmstetter's Curve, belonging, of course, to Mr. Helmstetter, burned to the ground late last week. Mr. Helmstetter was injured, but treated and released, trying to rescue his dog and 12 cows, which he was unsuccessful at doing. No cause for the fire has been announced yet.

I mention this because the Helmstetter farm and barn has been a central part of many photos taken on the curve since steam days, and especially in the past 20 years as part of photo charters on the WMSR. Mr. Helmstetter was always gracious and cooperative with advance notice, if probably somewhat bemused by the fans. He also has allowed a certain amount of "landscaping" of his fields around the railroad to open up different photo angles.

There is talk of establishing a fund to help Mr. Helmstetter rebuild this 100 year old barn and assist in replacing his lost livestock. Those interested in helping might want to keep a look out for further announcements.

EDIT: photo deleted by request

That's terrible... what a loss...

It was a beautiful Red Barn. Here's a photo of it from Rail pictures.
Len.

Regarding donations: the matter of a donation to the barn reconstruction fund was discussed at an NRHS Chapter meeting tonight, but the verdict was that a 501(c)3 non-profit would have serious problems "donating" to a private individual. It is unlikely that any reconstruction fund would manage to get set up as a proper nonprofit corporation, so as much as the heart may be in it from at least one NRHS chapter, the donations will have to come out of private funds.

EDIT: Someone has raised the issue of whether 501(c)3 orgs can indeed donate to a private fund such as this. Anyone know?

Len,
Thanks for the photographic reminder of what was. I tried to find it in the RailPictures database and could not. Is it your work? If not, its important to at minimum acknowledge the owner of the picture. If this picture is from RailPictures.net and not yours, then you must have cropped their name off the bottom. Could you please provide us with the photogapher's name so that he/she may be properly acknowledged for their work?
Scott Markloff

It was taken by Ed Mullan on Flickr.com
I thought I got it off railpictures.

Len.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/western_maryland_scenic_railroad/with/3623028456/

Thanks, Len.

Here's a photo from the Western Maryland Railroad Historical Website


The above photo is said to be dated 1906. It is a construction photo of the right-of-way here at the Helmstetter Farm. The same barn in the photo still stands today. As you can see in the photo a trestle was built first before the fill. Track was laid and as the cuts were made fill was dumped over the side of the trestle to create the fill. The same construction process was done prior at the 3rd Potomac Crossing on the West Sub. A similar photo is on that page as well. Thanks to Sam Wilson for this photo.

http://www.wmwestsub.com/connellsvillesub/helmstetterscurve.htm
http://www.wmwestsub.com/

Len.

Building on the theme of what, if anything, can/should be done-thanks, ADM4, for looking into the NRHS/501(c)3 side of things.

I'd like to float a trial balloon of sorts.

While wanting to help rebuild the barn isn't "railroad preservation", I think some portion of the railfan and railroad preservation communities have benefitted from the Helmstetter family's friendliness and generosity. No doubt pictures taken at the farm have appeared in TRAINS, Railfan and Railroad, Railpace, and other publications.

Could these publications be the start of a venue for railfans and rail preservations to make a contribution to the family? Helping the family sures seems like the right thing to do, and some kind of gesture from the rail community would seem appropriate....a way of saying "thanks", perhaps.

After an irate call from someone who purports to be behind fundraising for this effort, I wash my hands of the matter. There's apparently no pleasing some folks. They can post updates themselves.

More information on fundraising:

http://www.helmstetterfarm.org/

Here's a shot of the barn while it was on fire.

http://mysite.verizon.net/imagelib/site ... lx_pic7isy