The attendees were treated to presentations and panel discussion by several notable C&O Historians including Gene Huddleston, Tom Dixon, Bob Hundman, Evert Young, , Todd Hanger, and Al Kresse. The format of the many of the presentations was informal, resembling more of a brain storming session than anything else and everyone had an opportunity to ask questions.

Brian Kidd and Glenn Glassetter presented nice slide shows of their layouts. Gary Burdette showed slides depicting the modeling work of several C&O modelers.

There were many impressive models on display. Unfortunately, the models were removed before I could get photos. I was especially impressed with the HO model of Prince station, two N scale octagonal cabins and a scratchbuilt O scale raised panel hopper. Don Eastman built the hopper, but unfortunately I did not get a chance to note the names of the other model builders. Please let me know who you are, and I'll add you names to this report.

On Saturday many of the attendees visited the Beckley Exhibition mine. Jim, one of the tour guides, was excellent. He really put his heart and soul into his tour. Upon leaving the mine and nearby museum we all had renewed respect for the men that toiled in the incredibly difficult conditions to extract the coal that our beloved railroad hauled with such finesse.

Presentations continued through Sunday morning. In the afternoon, several attendees visited the Hinton Railroad Museum on their ways home. It has a wonderful collection of C&O artifacts including rare paper work such as train sheets and employees records. The Hinton Division CTC Panel is also on dsplay. A montage of 9 photos showing the complete set can be seen here. It is well worth a visit for any C&O modeler.

Chris Wiley did much of the organizing and work preparing for the meet. We are indebted to him for his fine effort.

Below a Former Conrail SD-90 gets sand service at CSX's Clifton Forge's new engine service facility.