The History Of The B.R.S.R.

How it all began The Blue Ridge Summit was started as a result of a 1980 live steam meet held at Bill Koster’s track, then in Homestead, Florida. Bob Fink’s wife, Helen, asked if anyone would like to purchase an "A" frame cabin and 3 acres of land, next to their property in North Carolina. Bob, though working in Miami, planned to retire and move to the mountains. Bill viewed this as a chance to have a summer place to go to, to cool off from the Florida summer heat. After several years Bill realized that with Bob & himself in the 7 1/2" gauge size of railroading, they might be able to build a railroad between both properties. Due to the slope of the property, other live steamers scoffed, and said it couldn’t be done. This made them more determined. After a lot of planning, work started at Summit about 1988. After putting in some track, a shop/storage building was constructed. During the next 10 years, most of the spare time of both Bill & Bob was used in building the railroad. The "Golden Screw" (we use screws instead of spikes) was placed in 1998. Since that time work on the railroad has included improvements and maintenance.

How it was built

The railroad was mostly built by Bob & Bill. We probably put in at least 90% of the hours spent on the railroad. In addition, Bob’s son Richard and fellow backyard railroader Bill Farmer have helped at times. Most of the grading from Summit to Mardiat Tunnel was done by back hoe. From there to Whistlestop was done by hand, mostly following the contour of the land. The surveying was done using only a tape and level. The equipment Most of the equipment was scratch built. Some of the equipment was built when Bill had his railroad supply business. Three exceptions are a cattle car, given to Bill by Don Isom, a hopper car built by the late Gill Rittenburg and a hopper car kit purchased from Tom Bee.

Important Notice!!!

In early 2004, Bill Koster,founder of the BRSR, sold the railroad and property to Klaus and Debbie Boehmke. Klaus is committed to continuing and upgrading the BRSR. For information about the railroad please contact Klaus Boehmke.

Visitors

We are always glad to have visitors to our railroad. We ask that you e-mail ahead to Klaus or Bob so you can make sure that we are here. Klaus will be found at the railroad during the summer months while Bob is there year round. When visiting we ask that you practice safety.

Modified Sept. 6, 2004 by Ratfink.