PRRT&HS 58th Annual Meeting Is Open!
Thursday- Saturday May 14-16
The 2026 PRRT&HS annual meeting kicked off yesterday with the first of two tours of the Gettysburg Battlefield. The second tour is taking place this morning, Thursday, May 14, while this afternoon our members will be taking a ride on the Walkersville Southern. There are still of couple of seats open if you are interested.
Meanwhile, vendors are starting to set up their tables, which will open for sales tomorrow (Friday) morning. The meeting registration desk is open today until 9:30 pm, and you can register there if you have not registered yet.
The first of our over 30 presentations take place tonight, as does the meeting of our Board of Directors.
Things begin in earnest Friday morning with registration opening again at 8:00 am, as will the model room, which will fill throughout the day will the PRR in miniature. A full day of three tracks of presentations begins shortly after, at 9:00 am, at which time the vendor room will open for sales. Meanwhile the alternate local tour of the Gettysburg area will have met at 8:15 and will be on their way for a day of fun.
The event site is the Eisenhower Hotel and Convention Center and the adjoining Aspire hotel. The location is ten minutes south of downtown historic Gettysburg, and eight minutes from the National Military Park.
In addition to the Banquet presentation and annual modelling committee open meeting, 18 presentations covering a broad range of subjects will be presented, nearly all twice, using three presentation rooms operating on a relaxed schedule, providing plenty of time to visit the vendor room and the model room, all on one level. Specific PRRT&HS presentations will cover using our new Digital Keystone Collection and an update on recent changes at the Archives.
A rail excursion Thursday on the Walkersville Southern, operating on a portion of the old PRR Frederick branch, layout tours Friday night and Sunday, a sale of surplus used PRR books from our Archives along with member donated models at the society's vendor table, silent auction of brass PRR locomotives, book signings by PRRT&HS authors, and the annual society business meeting Saturday morning round out the PRR related activities.
There is also a lot of history in the immediate area. We have arranged bus tours of Gettysburg battlefield narrated by a noted historian before our meeting starts and an alternate tour of downtown Gettysburg on Friday for those not focused on the PRR. We expect some members will take advantage of the opportunity to visit historic sites before or after our meeting to include a more in depth visit of the Battlefield park, downtown Gettysburg, which includes several smaller museums that may be of interest, and the Eisenhower national historic site, all within ten minutes of our convention site. Our hotel room block rate is available to those wishing to arrive early, or depart later.
Come and join us in Gettysburg!
