This low-resolution aerial photo from 1951 illustrates this page's tour mileage before Silver Spring evolved into a transit hub. The dashed bright lines mark the northern corner of Washington, DC.

Georgia Avenue is the bright vertical line at lower right; B&O's Silver Spring station can be found where the railroad bridges over. The tracks S-curve very gently from there toward upper left where Brookville Road bridges. Before westbound trains cross under that bridge, they pass a V of B&O's Georgetown Branch that peels west (left).

EL Thompson beautifully captured the timeless practice of greeting loved ones returning home.

A B&O train has just dropped off afternoon passengers returning from Washington, many of whom are serving in the military. They and their families will soon celebrate the end of World War II which is but a month away.

Also note the original eastbound passenger waiting shack of frame construction. It was replaced in 1946 by the brick waiting room shown a few photos above. July 1945 was the wettest July on record in DC, hence the haze.

Link: 1974

A westbound model E8A/E9A exchanges passengers at Silver Spring. This photo's view is much like that of the 1945 photo above, but without Baldwin's station in the background, the scene looks quite different. The trains would look quite different, too, next year because Railpax was coming. Railpax, renamed Amtrak, would take on the long distance passenger routes of B&O and other railroads. Amtrak stopped at Silver Spring from 1971 to 1986.

After a four-month service gap from May to September 1971, Amtrak revived B&O's West Virginian train from Washington, DC to Parkersburg, WV. Service restoration came at the urging of US Representative Harley Orrin Staggers of West Virginia. During 1972 Amtrak assigned one of its two UAC Turbotrains to the service, and rebranded it the Potomac Turbo. The Turbotrain was not a good match for a mountainous route, so was withdrawn after three months.

Note what appears to be a B&O shuttle bus at left, with matching colors and herald. The railroad did not operate regular shuttle service here, so the bus represents either a crew transport, or a way to move passengers around a track blockage.

Links: Railpax as of April 1971, Turbotrain 1972

The closure of B&O's Silver Spring station prompted MARC to open this new station about 1000 feet west.

Under construction is the Paul Sarbanes Transit Center, an oft-delayed, multilevel, multimodal facility incorporating Metrobus, Ride On, Metrorail, MARC train, intercity Greyhound bus, and local taxi services under one roof. Metro's Purple Line is planned to connect to its Red Line here. The site previously hosted a bus and taxi drop-off area for the Metro station.

Link: Transit Center info

At photo time, the off-again on-again Purple Line project was weaving its way through town. Wayne Avenue and Ramsey Avenue meet Colesville Road at the right edge. A Red Line train pauses at left at Metro's Silver Spring station.

Link: project map (PDF)

The MARC (right) and Metro (left) platforms overlap. Though there is also some overlap in service between the two, MARC extends far beyond the DC Metro: passengers from MARC stations such as the one at Martinsburg, West Virginia can commute directly to and from offices at Silver Spring.

The Silver Spring stop, Metro's busiest station in Maryland, sits above Colesville Road, aka US 29.

Penguin Rush Hour, a 100 foot-long mural painted by Sally Callmer, previously graced a wall under the station but was removed during 2005 for eventual restoration at the Paul Sarbanes Transit Center.

Links: Pennies for Penguins, 2017 reinstallation

A westbound B&O diesel passes East-West Highway. That road no longer crosses under the tracks but judging by appearance I believe this is where the penguins above had, and Colesville Road now does. If that's wrong, please let me know.

Metro's milepost 8 is near here too, but along the inside tracks.

From those inside tracks, with luck one can see CSX freights through Metro's railfan window.

Between the Spring and 16th Street overpasses, Metro bears down to scoot under the railroad. Unseen beyond this east leg of Metro's Red Line tunnels and turns to the north (right) to follow below Georgia Avenue. Several miles from here, B&O will meet the west leg of the Red Line.

Silver Spring served as a Metro Red Line terminal from 1978 until 1990 when this extension segment opened to Wheaton. Had plans from the 1960s been fully implemented, the I-70S North Central Freeway would have also weaved along B&O's route.

Link: North Central Freeway

The section house at left stands where Woodside Station previously did. A crew of workers based at such a house would maintain track in their section. Note the ties and track supplies at left. A bridge for 16th Street had not yet been built.

Links: 1948, E.L. "Tommy" Thompson photo set

This was the same view about 60 years later.

A pair of uncommon 8-lamp CPLs watch CSX 7730 and CSX 8779 haul autoracks west at 16th Street where the speed limit jumps to 70 mph.

Overheard at an old but freshly repainted Georgetown Junction control box:

  Foamer Caine: "Strange treasures. How shall I hold them and keep them? Memory?"
  Yardmaster Po: "No, Grasshopper, not in memory, but in your deeds."

Speaking of strange treasures, I've never seen one of these at a crosstie before. It looks like an induction loop to detect a train above. This was the site of 1996's fatal collision between MARC and Amtrak trains.

Link: collision report at Wikipedia

The photog caught B&O 3763 about to cross under 16th Street. As of 2020, this model GP40 locomotive was toiling in Vermont under the GMTX reporting mark.

Culverts are fewer along the Met than the Old Main Line. This one is small but big enough to walk through, so perhaps it should be called a bridge.

Inside, the original 1870s construction is revealed as less exacting than found along the Old Main Line, the interior arch lacking precisely cut granite, perhaps due to the small overall size. As seen here near the entrance, a concrete exterior/extension was added subsequently.

The interior is dark because the culvert's northeast end is enclosed where its tiny stream is sequestered by a parking lot added above.

Before the 1963 affliation with C&O, the vast majority of B&O's diesel locomotives were built by General Motors' Electro-motive division. E and F units like that seen here moved both passenger and freight trains.

This is not the first train the rickety-but-charming single-lane Talbot Avenue bridge had seen. The automobile bridge is a repurposed railroad turntable (!) B&O hauled from Martinsburg, WV and installed here in 1918 when limited resources made recycling the norm. The bridge did not survive Metro's Purple Line construction.

Links: ~1940 color, 2008 photos, MHT entry

This bridge connected disparate classes that had each resided relatively on the other side of the railroad tracks.

Link: 2019 closure

The photog is standing on the Talbot Avenue bridge. Behind him, the tracks on the right connect with the now-disused Georgetown Branch, which has its own photo tour.

Change for: Georgetown Branch photo tour at this site

Links: 1996 collision, Ben's Georgetown Branch (external link)