The Early Years

In approximately 1965, model railroader Russ Cook contacted David Renard through the NMRA Directory and invited him to his home in Bel Air, MD to operate trains on his home layout, the "Laurel, Chistian, and Johnstown Railroad" (named for his children). This was to be a monthly meeting between the two hobbyists on a specified Tuesday. One week, Dave showed up at Russ' house to be greeted by Russ' wife and was told that Russ was in the shower, but to go ahead into the basement anyway. To avoid any further confusion in the future, the two decided to meet every Tuesday night and alternate where they would operate, hence Tuesday nights was born.

While attending a Mid-East Regional NMRA convention in Alexandria, VA, Russ met up with a fellow model railroader from Harford County, Charlie Flichman. Shortly after that, Charlie brought another model railroader that he knew from work, John Kling. These four, along with a few others that were added in the late sixties and seventies formed the foundation for what this group has become. For many years, the group took family vacations together to railroad related sites such as East Broad Top Railroad, Cass Scenic Railroad, and Steamtown USA.

In 1982, Dave Renard, owner of the "Sylvania Central Railroad", was charged with organizing a layout tour for the NMRA convention that was being held in Washington D.C. that year. Through the help of the Tuesday night model railroad group, they arranged for about six layouts in Harford county to be open for visitors. In order to advertise the tour with the NMRA, a name (and acronym) was needed for the convention publications. Dave came up with Harford Associates for Railroad Modeling (HARM), sort of reflective of a group in Staten Island, NY at the time, which referred to themselves as the Staten Island Mafia. The over 100 tour visitors came in three coach busses and were divided into six school busses to visit each of the layouts on display. Friends and family served as tour guides at each layout and were then treated to a luncheon at Bel Air United Methodist church in town. The local group members had a great party at Alan Anderson's house that evening to toast the success of the "HARM" tour.

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Reflections on 50 Years of NMRA Membership

Dave Renard, MMR #35

HARM Members Past & Present

The year next to each name represents the year they first started attending HARM operating sessions. Some dates are estimated. Please contact the webmaster (admin@harm-web.org) if you have any corrections.