Railway

The Western Maryland Railway was dissolved as a corporate entity in 1983, but its 131-year history remains alive and well at the Western Maryland Railway Historical Society in Union Bridge.And, although Christmas is over and everyone else has dismantled their annual scale model train layouts, the historical society's layout is chugging along from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday through January."It's traditional to have an open house at Christmas, but everybody does that and everybody's busy, so we decided to do it in January," said Gerald Reese, chairman of the open house.

EARLIER this year, the Clinton administration proposed that the government spend $1.3 billion to research and develop the technology for a new high-speed rail system similar to Japan's shinkansen, or bullet train.More recently, the Department of Energy, Army Corps of Engineers and Federal Railroad Administration proposed a multi-billion-dollar system of 300-mph "maglev" passenger trains (trains that "float" along gravity-free fields created by magnetic opposition). The first leg of the system would run between Baltimore and Washington.

Vandals are going to cost the railroad "a lot of money and could have cost a life," said an angry Paul Denton, president of the Maryland Midland Railway, after the derailment Tuesday night of two locomotives and three loaded boxcars in Westminster.Mr. Denton said vandals had broken a lock and a control bar to throw a switch and send the train hurtling off onto a siding.He said the railroad company is offering a $1,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who caused the accident.

More than four decades after the last Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad commuter train chugged through northern Anne Arundel communities built alongside the tracks, passengers returned to the rails once again.Call it a journey back to the future, light rail's opening in North Arundel Friday.But the "Bumble & Amble's" successor bears little resemblance to the clanking old trains that carried 1.7 million passengers a year during the railroad's heyday.The 3,000 passengers expected to ride the southern-spur trains to Opening Day at Camden Yards tomorrow will board sleek, shiny trolleys that silently slice their way through woods, alongside back yards, past towns that grew up to the rhythm of train whistles, then over the Patapsco and into Baltimore.

It's true love, replete with gifts and flowers and talk o perfection.But the object of affection here is a park, the most popular one in Anne Arundel County. It's the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail Park, a 13.3-mile stretch from Glen Burnie to Annapolis, in the roadbed of the old "Bumble and Amble" railroad.Last year, an estimated 500,000 admirers -- some of whom live across the street and some across the country -- set foot, wheels, skis and their horses' hoofs on it."This is the best thing that ever happened to Anne Arundel County," said Ewell Harmon, a music teacher who last year pedaled 4,000 miles on the trail as a patrol volunteer.

UNION BRIDGE -- All aboard as the Western Maryland Railway Historical Society will celebrate its 25th anniversary this weekend in Union Bridge.In honor of the society's silver anniversary, more than 130 members and their families will enjoy activities scheduled through Sunday.Dennis Wertz, the society's president, said the festivities will begin with registration at 1 p.m. Friday at the community center in Union Bridge.At 7 p.m., there will be slide shows and other presentations about the railway, Mr. Wertz said.

Decades ago, the old Parkton Local hustled commuters to the station just up the way, its steel rails ringing. The engineer blew the whistle loud and clear as he passed a track-side sign warning of a road crossing. Up near Bluemount Road, a giant white oak, wonderfully twisted and spreading on its own terms, rustled momentarily as the iron horse shot by.Walk by that big oak today, along the Northern Central Railroad Trail in northern Baltimore County, and only the wind rustles the old tree's still-spreading canopy.

BERLIN -- Herbert the Saw failed to cut train service in Germany yesterday, but police say they are still on their guard.Herbert, the pen name of a saw-wielding extortionist who wants $2.5 million or he will derail trains by cutting out sections of track, set yesterday as the deadline for the railway to agree to his terms.While the railway said it is ready to pay, police refuse to accept Herbert's plan for handing over the money by throwing it out of a train window in a suitcase.During an earlier attempt to give Herbert money, the suitcase hit an oncoming train and sent more than $1 million in deutsche-mark bills wafting through the north German countryside.

BERLIN -- A man called Herbert the Saw, three derailed trains, a bombed-out luggage locker and a million dollars scattered in the air like confetti make up what police say is a bizarre but real threat to Germany's 2.8 million daily rail passengers.As police only now have made public, Herbert the Saw has been trying to blackmail the German railway for 18 months. But due to a series of odd developments, he hasn't received his money. He is still at large, holding the railway hostage and becoming the talk of the nation.

Those who have always wanted to play engineer on a speeding locomotive can realize their ambition, thanks to a five-day course offered by the Fairbourne and Barmouth Steam Railway in Wales.The privately run narrow-gauge steam railroad offers a five-day package course for about $680 that includes accommodations in a local hotel with breakfast and dinner. An intensive one-day course, with a guarantee that each student drives the engine the full three-mile length of the line, costs $85.Trainees learn how to run a steam locomotive, how one works, and safety regulations, an official says.