# RailCamp



## norfolkwesternhenry (Jul 1, 2017)

So I just finished RailCamp, and it was great. We learned all about CTEC, CNOC, toured the Wilmington shops, rode in the geometry car, the theatre car, and toured a P42 cab. We also got an Acela car all to ourselves. Theres a facebook page I set up for the camp, (RailCamp2017). (Third Rail I got your hi from the Acela crew). Then we went to strasburg, toured the museum, ran the 15" live steamer, cab rides in 90, and rode a revenue freight with a passenger car on the back. I also got a little dirty.


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## norfolkwesternhenry (Jul 1, 2017)

Also if you have any questions please ask, I didn't include everything in the description. Moderators, if this belongs in the trip report page, please put it there. My phone is not letting me edit posts as well.


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 1, 2017)

Good stuff,thanks for sharing!

And you didn't even have to hire out to find out what life on the Railroad is like!


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## Mystic River Dragon (Jul 1, 2017)

Glad you had such an excellent RailCamp! Thanks for telling us about it!


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## v v (Jul 1, 2017)

Can you explain why it's called a RailCamp to a non American please


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## AmtrakBlue (Jul 1, 2017)

v v said:


> Can you explain why it's called a RailCamp to a non American please


A summer camp all about railroading.


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## v v (Jul 1, 2017)

Summer camps are not a UK thing in the main, so in effect a little like a Rail themed Scout camp?


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## norfolkwesternhenry (Jul 2, 2017)

v v said:


> Summer camps are not a UK thing in the main, so in effect a little like a Rail themed Scout camp?


 you could say that. Summer camps are usually camps designed to keep kids busy during the summer when they're out of school.


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## v v (Jul 2, 2017)

Yes I knew that the US appears to have many summer camps for school aged children, but not camps that were organised around a particular interest. And although there are camps here I don't think it anywhere close to the amount that you have in the US. Most children stay home either with parents or with a responsible? adult but usually at home if not on vacation.

A continental European thing is when the mother or father don't both work fulltime then whole families go off to a vacation place often by the sea. The husband or wife will take the whole family and it's stuff, set the family up for the entire summer school vacation and return to work a few days later. Sometime in the summer vacation the one working will also take some vacation time to be with their family but often it's a 6 -8 week vacation for one parent and the kids, but again not themed.

Thanks for getting back to me, I'm just a person curious about all things in life.


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 2, 2017)

Jaime: Lots of people in the US who can afford it (just like in Europe) especially where the Summers are Hot or Unpleasant, either Own or Rent Cabins,Condos or Houses for the Summer.

The Wife and the Kids,and often extended Family Members, stay for a long period of time while the Husband commutes on Weekends and Holidays, usually via train in the case of the NE.

This is especially popular in places with a Beach,a Lake,a Forest or Mountains.

As for Camps there are literally dozens of Camps of all kinds for kids incling Scout,Music,Sports,Cooking,Cheerleading,Dance,Computers,Ranch ( Horse Ranches are Big in some areas!) etc.


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## Thirdrail7 (Apr 27, 2020)

I was holding out hope but apparently, the plug has already been pulled.





__





RailCamp | National Railway Historical Society, Inc.







nrhs.com








> Effective March 28, 2020: In the interest of clarity and above all else safety for all participants due to the Covid-19 pandemic, both RailCamp East and RailCamp Northwest 2020 have been cancelled.
> 
> We look forward to RailCamp 2021.


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## Woodcut60 (Apr 27, 2020)

This was quite interesting for a non American. Thanks for this post.

@Bob Dylan: I know that the Boy Scouts of America use the _*Southwest Chief*_ to go to their Camp in New Mexico.


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## Seaboard92 (May 2, 2020)

Woodcut60 said:


> This was quite interesting for a non American. Thanks for this post.
> 
> @Bob Dylan: I know that the Boy Scouts of America use the _*Southwest Chief*_ to go to their Camp in New Mexico.




Actually the program in the USA is not the most interesting in the world. In the former Soviet Union and her satellite states there were several "Young Pioneer" Railways. The premise of them was to provide young people training in an industrial sectors. Children between the ages of 10 and 18 work on these railroads with some but fairly limited in the case of Berlin supervision. In Berlin the children provide all of the track maintenance, signal maintenance, station maintenance, conductors, engineers, station staff, work in the mechanical shop, and dispatchers. The adults who supervise are only in the main station for it, and the mechanical shop overseeing the operation. At times there are four trains operating at the same time. 

Berlin's Children's Railway operates 7.5 Killometers of track around Wuhlheide Park, it has an interchange station with the Berlin S Bahn, and the Berlin Tram Network, it operates a primitive form of CTC, services seven stations, and multiple grade crossings (Two with actual road traffic). The park itself if one is ever in Berlin is incredible too. It feels just like the old Soviet Days, run down, neglected and not paid any attention to since the 1980s!!! Oftentimes when I've been there for the Railway there have been more employees of the railroad than passengers. 

As far as equipment goes here is the active roster. 
9-Diesel Electric Locomotives
4-Steam Locomotives (One from 1918)
13-Passenger cars
3-Freight Cars. 

Every time I'm in Berlin I will always pay a visit to my friends at the Children's Railway, and I will donate to them a few times a year to keep the operation running. Such a cool little railroad. 

Budapest also has a unique one as well. Theirs is an 11 KM single track line that actually functions as part of the public transit network. It is also ran entirely by children in the same style as Berlin's. The two railroads even send their students to each other to learn different systems. Budapest sends a train out on each end of the line once an hour between 8:45 AM and 6:00 PM. They operate 9 stations. I have not been on the Budapest one yet. But it is on my to do list. 

Of interesting note Russia still has several, and St. Petersburg has two of them. 

One is a recently rebuilt one that parallels the mainline to Mockbe for a few kilometers. While the other one runs duel gauged with the actual Russian Mainline between Helsinki and St. Petersburg for a portion of it's route. I wan to say the duel gauge section is maybe only a kilometer long, but still rather impressive. Children operating a narrow gauge train over portion of the mainline to Finland with the broad gauged mainline trains. 

I've always thought we should have a Children's Railway in the USA, such creative little railroads, that provide good education. 

Would anyone want me to write a trip report up on the Berlin Children's Railway?


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