40th Railroad Days breaks records as thousands visit Brunswick

Clara Niel, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
Updated ·3 min read

Oct. 8—Brunswick hosted a record-breaking Railroad Days festival Sunday as thousands came to the city to ride trains, learn about the city's history and spend a nice, fall day with their families.

The event was canceled last year due to rain from Hurricane Ian. The festival was back in full force this year.

The four train rides are a main attraction of the festival and they were all sold out this year. That's never happened before, Brunswick Mayor Nathan Brown said.

The MARC train parking lot was full, forcing people to park on side streets.

The festival had over 120 vendors, Brown said. At previous Railroad Days, the city has hosted up to 100 vendors. The city wanted to have more vendors this year but didn't have space due to construction downtown.

This was also the first year the city organized an after-party, Brown said. It was to celebrate the 40th anniversary, and the Brunswick History Commission collected photos and memories from past Railroad Days.

"This was the first time we did the after-party, and we had a band at Cannon's above Smoketown and that was a very heavily attended event last night as well. So we were really excited about that," he said.

While some people come to the festival due to their love for trains, others like to come for an afternoon of family fun.

Ronnie and Terry Wenner were walking along West Potomac Street with their grandchildren, Owen and Teddy. The grandchildren don't live in Brunswick, so they cherish every moment spent with them.

The Wenners had just bought tickets for the train rides. It was going to be Owen's second time and Teddy's first time on the train.

Owen said he liked going on the train because they're fast. When asked how fast he thinks the train goes, he said: "20 miles per hour."

Especially considering that cancellation from last year, Terry Wenner said that the energy has been returning with the festivals. "It's getting back to the way it was. It really went down for a couple of years," she said.

James Castle, the president of the Brunswick Heritage Museum, said that he's been around for 34 of the 40 years of Railroad Days. He find it a great time to connect with people he hasn't seen in a while.

But Brunswick is also at a crossroads right now, he said, and the city is starting to develop and boom. The festival allows Brunswick citizens to reflect on that.

"I think Railroad Days is a good opportunity to celebrate all the good about Brunswick. We will always be proud of the past and we're also trying to figure out a direction for the future but it's kind of a place where all of that can come together" he said.

At the MARC train parking lot, a group of boys were keeping an eye out on the train tracks. They had tripods that held phones, video recorders and other devices. One boy had a laptop open to track trains around the United States.

Most of the boys were meeting for the first time, but were united under their fascination for trains. They all came with their own desire to watch and videotape trains, and noticed others were trying to do the same thing.

They joined forces.

Maybe, they would be able to catch a rare train on tape, they said.

"We're just like hanging out with other rail fans," one of the boys said.

And when the level crossing signals starting ringing and flashing, they all picked up their tripods and ran to the tracks, trying to catch the MARC train pulling into the station.