Maryland And Pennsylvania

As grandfathers, fathers and sons commence working on the annual Christmas garden, still a major component of a Baltimore Christmas for many families, ancient orange-colored boxes denoting the Lionel imprimatur or model trains of Ives or American Flyer manufacture have in recent weeks been unpacked from attic and basement storage where they have quietly rested waiting yet another holiday's call to duty.Others will be getting into the hobby for the first time this year. They will be lining up for advice, model locomotives, cars, houses, scenic supplies and a myriad of pieces and parts at M.B. Klein's on Gay Street in Baltimore, which has kept miniature Royal Blues, Broadway Limiteds, Night Owls and slow freights chugging and whistling under Christmas trees and across layouts since 1913.

Her four-story, custom-built house sways, and when the wind rises, Deborah "Susie" Burgers and her family get out. Annalee Francis paid $45,000 for lumber, then had to hire an attorney to settle a lien after her builder failed to forward the money to the lumber company. She and her neighbors spent hundreds of thousands of dollars extra to complete their new homes after their builder abandoned the job. "This was going to be my dream house, and it's cost me a fortune," Francis said. "I have no retirement fund, no savings, and my credit cards are maxed out."

WHEN I first stumbled upon Soldiers Delight in Baltimore County several years ago, I wandered around without a clue as to the nature of the place. Why was its owner, Maryland's Department of Natural Resources, chainsawing acres of forest, leaving whole hills barren? I might as well have been in a foreign land with no knowledge of its language, people or culture. A few years ago, I hiked the 2,000-acre tract again, having learned a bit of its secret. Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area is a rare remnant of the prairie sea that once rolled across tens of thousands of acres in northern Maryland and Pennsylvania.

The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad operated for 80 years, beginning in 1884. The little railroad ran from Baltimore to York twice daily. Stops in Harford County included Forest Hill, Highland, Bel Air and Fallston. With the lack of good roads, the Ma and Pa, as it was called, allowed local businesses and farms to prosper through the barter and sale of their products. The Ma and Pa marked the beginning of a period of prosperity for Harford County. As roads and automobiles improved, the railroad industry suffered.

Her four-story, custom-built house sways, and when the wind rises, Deborah "Susie" Burgers and her family get out. Annalee Francis paid $45,000 for lumber, then had to hire an attorney to settle a lien after her builder failed to forward the money to the lumber company. She and her neighbors spent hundreds of thousands of dollars extra to complete their new homes after their builder abandoned the job. "This was going to be my dream house, and it's cost me a fortune," Francis said. "I have no retirement fund, no savings, and my credit cards are maxed out."

Starting Sunday through June 8, more than 20 area arts and cultural organizations will present activities and events exploring the rich history of maps and map-making. Among the highlights: Mapping Science at the Maryland Science Center explores how maps are used in astronomy, biology, paleontology and earth science, and features planetarium shows and displays about the role of satellite mapping technology in expanding understanding of our place in the universe. Literary Mount Vernon, a self-guided tour sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council, touches on notable writers and artists associated with the neighborhood, including such figures as Edgar Allan Poe, H.L. Mencken and Tupac Shakur.

The last Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train stopped in Bel Air on August 31, 1954. Affectionately known as the Ma & Pa, the railroad connected Baltimore and York, Pa., over a circuitous 77 mile route. Its earliest predecessor, the Maryland Central Railroad, was chartered in Maryland in 1867 for the purpose of building a Baltimore to Philadelphia line via Bel Air and Conowingo but laid no track. The first actual construction on the route of the Ma & Pa began in Pennsylvania with the Peach Bottom Railway which completed a narrow gauge line from York through Red Lion and Delta to Peach Bottom on the Susquehanna River between 1873 and 1876.

The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad operated for 80 years, beginning in 1884. The little railroad ran from Baltimore to York twice daily. Stops in Harford County included Forest Hill, Highland, Bel Air and Fallston. With the lack of good roads, the Ma and Pa, as it was called, allowed local businesses and farms to prosper through the barter and sale of their products. The Ma and Pa marked the beginning of a period of prosperity for Harford County. As roads and automobiles improved, the railroad industry suffered.

Last train service from Bel Air On Aug. 31, 1954, a train on the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad left Bel Air Station for the last time. Known affectionately as the "Ma and Pa," the railroad scaled back operations until 1959, when it folded, ending a railroad that during its 80 years of existence did much for the agricultural and economic development of Harford County. As early as 1867, a company was chartered to build a railroad from Baltimore to Philadelphia through Bel Air and crossing the river at Conowingo.

Allegheny Energy Inc. said yesterday that fourth-quarter earnings fell 35 percent, largely because of charges related to the deregulation of Maryland and Pennsylvania's power market. The Hagerstown-based company, which operates in Western Maryland as Allegheny Power, reported net income of $24.8 million in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, compared with net income of $38.2 million in 1998. Allegheny Energy made 22 cents per share in the quarter, compared with 31 cents per share in the corresponding period in 1998.

Starting Sunday through June 8, more than 20 area arts and cultural organizations will present activities and events exploring the rich history of maps and map-making. Among the highlights: Mapping Science at the Maryland Science Center explores how maps are used in astronomy, biology, paleontology and earth science, and features planetarium shows and displays about the role of satellite mapping technology in expanding understanding of our place in the universe. Literary Mount Vernon, a self-guided tour sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council, touches on notable writers and artists associated with the neighborhood, including such figures as Edgar Allan Poe, H.L. Mencken and Tupac Shakur.

In the fall of 1736, on the Maryland/Pennsylvania border, there occurred a series of incidents often referred to as Cresap's War. The charters of Maryland and Pennsylvania, granted 50 years apart, had failed to precisely define their border between the colonies. This led to periods of conflict between the neighbors for much of the 1700s. On Nov. 24, 1736, Sheriff Samuel Smith of Lancaster, Pa., and a party of 24 men arrested Thomas Cresap and imprisoned him in Philadelphia. Cresap - a Marylander who settled in Wrightsville, Pa., asserting that the Maryland border ran just north of Philadelphia - caused local unrest, once instigating an incursion of Maryland militia to evict German settlers from around York.

Maryland tobacco farmers receive $13 million settlement Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced yesterday that the state's tobacco farmers received a $13 million settlement resulting from an agreement reached in the wake of the 1998 case against the nation's largest tobacco companies. "This decision protects our farmers from the tobacco companies' efforts to deny them the benefits bargained for in the trust agreement," Gansler said. That trust agreement was formulated to ensure that farmers affected by the settlement against Philip Morris, USA, Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and others would be compensated for their losses.

Donald Griffith Hughes, a retired engineer who operated steam and diesel locomotives on the old Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad, died of cancer Wednesday at his Parkville home. He was 86. Born in Cardiff in northern Harford County, he moved with his family to West 31st Street as a child and attended city public schools. Officials of the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad hired him in 1940 at age 20 - below the normal minimum age of 21 - because his father and father-in-law worked for the line, which operated between Baltimore, Towson, Bel Air and York, Pa. He began as a fireman on steam locomotives and became an engineer in 1947, working both passenger and freight trains.

The last Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train stopped in Bel Air on August 31, 1954. Affectionately known as the Ma & Pa, the railroad connected Baltimore and York, Pa., over a circuitous 77 mile route. Its earliest predecessor, the Maryland Central Railroad, was chartered in Maryland in 1867 for the purpose of building a Baltimore to Philadelphia line via Bel Air and Conowingo but laid no track. The first actual construction on the route of the Ma & Pa began in Pennsylvania with the Peach Bottom Railway which completed a narrow gauge line from York through Red Lion and Delta to Peach Bottom on the Susquehanna River between 1873 and 1876.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Anti-gambling leaders from Maryland met yesterday with their Pennsylvania counterparts, hoping to establish a defensive perimeter against the expansion of gambling in the Mid-Atlantic. "If it passes in Pennsylvania, it's going to pass in Maryland," Del. Curtis S. Anderson, a Baltimore Democrat, said after a two-hour meeting with lawmakers and activists in the state capitol here. "If we can stop it in Pennsylvania, we can stop it again in Maryland as well." The activists hope to form a coalition of states comprising Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania to keep out casino-style gambling.

A Silver Run citizens group, angry at the lack of progress in the cleanup of a nearby landfill suspected of polluting their water, last night demanded that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allow them a voice in the project.About 75 residents -- from the Carroll County and Pennsylvania communities near the Keystone Sanitation Landfill -- attended the sometimes heated meeting with EPA officials at a church in Silver Run."We've been left out of the process," said Susan Hardinger, president of People Against Contamination of the Environment Inc. "We've put ourselves on the line.

MARYLAND'S gambling foes weren't the only ones celebrating when legislators rejected casino-style gambling for the second year in a row. In Pennsylvania, it was welcome news to state Rep. Paul Clymer and other anti-gambling activists engaged in their own fierce fight against proposals to open Maryland's northern neighbor to 12 huge slot machine emporiums. "The victory in Maryland helps us enormously," says Clymer, a Republican. "It allows us to tell our constituents, `Look, Maryland has said they can survive without slots.