Brunswick

Head west to find a variety of pleasures to perk up your weekend. The Railroad Days celebration in Brunswick is a reminder of the past, when Brunswick was a B&O Railroad town. Today it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of the Victorian Houses built by the railroad are still standing, along with a vintage passenger station and a 1910 roundhouse.The event, now in its 11th year, is scheduled Saturday and next Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Railroad Square and alongPotomac Street.

Defensively, the New Town boys basketball team came ready to play in Friday's Class 1A state semifinal against Brunswick. When the offense caught up in the third quarter, the No. 9 Titans had the necessary mix to secure a return visit to Saturday's state championship game. Senior Justin Brown scored 23 points and junior Danny Shand finished with 16 as New Town earned a 52-44 win over Brunswick at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center. The duo combined for 15 points in the pivotal third quarter.

FREDERICK -- Brunswick's Joey Lucas scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the seventh to give the Railroaders a 6-5 win over Williamsport of Washington County in the state Class 1A baseball final at McCurdy Field yesterday.With one out in the seventh, Williamsport first baseman Don Trumpower fielded Mark Campbell's soft grounder but threw wildly to the plate, allowing Lucas to slide in safely with the winning run.Matt Domer led the Brunswick (19-4) hitting attack with two home runs to help his team take its second straight state title.

Boatbuilder Brunswick Corp. plans to close its last Maryland plant that makes the Trophy offshore fishing boat and move the production to Tennessee, the company announced yesterday. About 115 workers will lose their jobs when the Cumberland plant closes by the end of the year. The Lake Forest, Ill.-based Brunswick said the plant closure is part of continuing plans to shrink its North American operations as it deals with the economic downturn and the impact on marine sales. "This decision is no reflection upon the Cumberland work force or product, but the result of our need to develop a more efficient manufacturing footprint," Brunswick Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dustan E. McCoy said in a statement.

Francis Scott Key was going up against an awful lot of tradition yesterday morning, not to mention a Brunswick team that already had beaten the Eagles twice in the regular season.The third-seeded Railroaders already had set a state mark with their third straight state title last year and were aiming for an unprecedented fifth consecutive region title entering the Class 1A, Region II final at Dundalk Community College.In the bottom of the third, they showed why they have won three straight state titles.

Ray King bowls in a single league, the Friday Weekender at Brunswick Normandy with his wife, Karen. Even with only one night of bowling, he carries a 185 average.On Nov. 27 he exceeded that average with a near-perfect game of 289; that's still short of his career high game of 298. The series wasn't even close to his career-high 714."We bowl for fun," King said. "It's great way to meet a lot of nice people and have a lot of enjoyment on a night out."King, who lives in Ellicott City, has been bowling for 17 years, and last year, at Kings Point, he carried a 202 average.

A boat maker said yesterday that it will close one of its two plants near Cumberland, a loss of 115 jobs and the second blow in a week for manufacturing-dependent Allegany County. Illinois-based Brunswick Corp. blamed a tough marine-sales environment for its decision to shutter by mid-2007 its Western Maryland plant that makes Bayliner runabouts. A sister plant that produces Trophy fishing boats and employs about 125 will remain open, said Dan Kubera, a spokesman for Brunswick. NewPage Corp.

The Triple Crown award goes to the league bowler who posts the highest figures in three categories: high game, set and average.Of the thousands of female bowlers in this area, only a few will achieve this accomplishment. Two of them competed at Brunswick Normandy in Ellicott City: Debbie Bell and Chris Hollinde.Bell of Dayton carries a 165 average. Tuesday she bowls in the Mixed Fivesome league and on Wednesday in the Queen Bee. It was in the Mixed Fivesome last season that she posted her career high figures.

The American Bowling Congress issued more than 385,000 performance awards during the 1991-1992 season, including 11,894 for bowlers who recorded 11 consecutive strikes. Terry Logan, a Brunswick Normandy Center bowler, collected one of them.Logan, on the first night of the fall season, Sept. 9, in the Funtime/Anytime league, threw 11 consecutive strikes. It was the 12th frame that cost him a perfect game."I was standing on the approach, telling myself not to try to guide the ball," he said.

Boatbuilder Brunswick Corp. plans to close its Eastern Shore plant that manufactures Bayliner and Maxum cruisers in favor of expanding operations in North Carolina, where a newer facility and incentives worth almost $4.4 million beckon. About 180 employees will lose their jobs when the Salisbury plant shuts down next year. The Lake Forest, Ill.-based Brunswick said the marine consumer market has shifted toward bigger boats -- 45 feet and above -- and the new location in Navassa, N.C., near Wilmington, can better accommodate production.