This tour page begins where the railroads enter near the top right corner and proceeds generally west and southwest through Ivy City and most of Washington Terminal toward Union Station. Per this map, Washington Terminal's landowner was/is The Real Estate & Improvement Company of Baltimore.

Link: LoC source image

Northbound AMTK 2024 is speeding toward the Quality Inn near New York Avenue and 16th Street NE where during the early 1900s former railroad foes B&O and PRR met to share a then-new route into downtown Washington, DC (behind the photographer); for MARC commuters the two lines that met now go by the names Camden and Penn.

Initially, B&O enjoyed a monopoly on railroad service to Washington, but eventually Pennsy muscled in. Each RR had its own DC station, making the downtown area and Mall busy with steam engines, unsightly steam engines according to the politicians.

In 1903 they "encouraged" the railroads to build a single, joint station, and in 1907 Union Station opened. Under the auspices of Washington Terminal Company, B&O and Pennsy constructed a new approach to the station, and for the next 3 or so miles tracks originating with the two competitors still mingle.

On the left is the eastern limit of railroad maitenance facilities known as Ivy City Yard.

Link: 1975

Southbound AMTK 2000 is rolling away from the camera as it passes Amtrak's Ivy City maintenance shops. The facility dates to 1901 as a joint project of B&O and PRR during the period when PRR owned enough B&O stock to control it. The two railroads formed a third, the Washington Terminal Company, to oversee the operations in Washington, including at a Union Station that had not yet been constructed.

The containers adjacent New York Avenue at bottom left of the main photo are part of "Hecht Town", essentially a publicity stunt to promote the redevelopment of the former Hecht Company warehouse on the south side of New York Avenue.

At the right had been two roundhouses and two engine turntables.

Ivy City's dual roundhouses had room for dozens of engines and other rolling stock. The near roundhouse was demolished during the 1950s, the far one lasted into the 1980s. Both were built on what had been the infield of Ivy City horse racing track, a casualty of the temperance movement of the 1890s that put it out of business. As of 2019 only one turntable remains extant.

Links: LoC source photo, twin, Shorpy

From the post card, "A Pennsylvania GG-1 electric, a Chesapeake and Ohio Hudson, a Baltimore and Ohio early EMD Diesel, and a B&O Pacific type steam locomotive. Photographed at Washington Terminal's Ivy City coaling station. Washington, D.C., 1950. Photograph by Leonard W. Rice."

Before being demolished during the mid-1950s, this coaling tower had stood just west of the roundhouses at a location now occupied by the southernmost bays of Ivy City's maintenance shops.

Links: DDOT source photo, Amtrak

Amtrak switchers 758 and 558 hide part of the Hecht Company warehouse built in Streamline Moderne style during 1937. The Hecht Company was founded in Baltimore during 1857, and became one of the area's major department store chains. During the month after this photo, the Hecht chain was purchased and many stores were soon renamed Macy's. Hecht's New York Avenue warehouse fell into disuse at that time, then sat vacant about a decade until repurposed into a mixed-use retail and residential complex.

With its distinctive shape and rooftop water tank, the Hecht building is a handy reference point in photos all around Ivy City, such as this DDOT one at Save More Gas along New York Avenue circa 1960, the last era gasoline prices were under 30 cents per gallon.

Link: DDOT source photo

AMTK 907 gets reinvigorated at Ivy City's train spa.

This view looks back into the yard from the 9th Street overpass. Amtrak can access it only by crossing over the ex-B&O line, something done just north of Washington's Union Station.

The 9th Street overpass offers enough views to make any railfan's mouth water, but there is a reason this area is called the "holy grail of railfanning". Lots of trains, yes, but no place to park, a rough neighborhood, and if that wasn't enough, a once anthrax-contaminated post office (yes, this is where you can find the infamous Brentwood Postal Facility).

Link: Ivy City Yard

While under repair, AMTK 2036 does its best grasshopper imitation. This is the same train seen at the left of the prior photo.

Link: 1956

That white arm at one door reveals this to have been a mail car, one likely belonging to PRR. During 1838 the United States Congress declared all railroads to be official postal routes. A contract to carry mail was so lucrative that some smaller railroads were able to stay in business only because of it.

While the train was moving the car's arm would snag a sack of mail hanging trackside, then workers inside the car would sort its letters by destination. It was not a job for anyone with a tendency for motion sickness. Those jobs faded during the 1960s as the US Post Office phased out Railway post office (RPO) service in favor of trucks.

Many mail cars shared duty with or were repurposed into baggage cars.

Links: baggage cars, RPO cars

This unit began life in 1988 as a prototype Viewliner sleeper car built in an Amtrak-Budd partnership. During 2014 it was converted to a theater car and renumbered 10004. On paper, Amtrak classifies the car as a Maintenance of Way unit.

Link: American View

Washington Terminal Company livery makes this rebuilt SW1000R stand out as it rolls under 9th Street. Even its exhaust is bluish. Built in 1953, in a previous life "WATC 794" was Montour 83. It's job is to push and pull rail equipment around anywhere within Washington Terminal, and that includes Ivy City. WT Co. is almost wholly owned by Amtrak.

Links: MTR 83, more 794 pics

The uncooperative (for railfanning) 9th Street overpass provides an overhead look back about a mile along the south side of Ivy City yards. In this reverse view the ex-B&O (now CSX) tracks are on the left and the electrified ex-Pennsylvania RR tracks (now Amtrak) are on the right.

At the bottom of the photo, note the pair of ex-B&O tracks bends to the left: they are part of the large wye that now connects with CSX's Metropolitan Subdivision. The switch at the bottom leads a single track into Union Station.

Prior to the Magruder Branch and shared route to Union Station, B&O's right of way had continued across what has become New York Avenue, passing close to the Hecht Company warehouse seen on the right.

Link: 9th Street 1975 rebuild

Looking the opposite direction (west) from the overpass...

The dual PRR tracks are on the left, along with the single B&O track to Union Station. Below is the CSX wye track that connects to the Metropolitan Branch.

Amtrak's Coach Yard is on the right. Yes, that blue sign at left represents a Howard Johnson Inn that as of 2018 still survives along New York Avenue.

The March 1971 DDOT photo at left looks west over the same yard from a vantage point along New York Avenue at 9th Street. Among other things, the photo reveals that HoJos is not an original: in 1971 the motel had been named Congress Inn. Rail passenger service approached its nadir during the early 1970s, hence the dearth of rail equipment in the yard.

Link: DDOT source photo

Ahead the tracks bend toward Union Station.

That's the top of the Washington Monument at the upper left corner.

At center left is an unusual set of signals, as described below.

Behind the motel, the signals facing this direction are of ordinary Pennsylvania RR style, but those opposite are B&O-style Color Position Light (CPL) signals custom crafted from PRR parts (view at left courtesy Todd Sestero). This interesting, perhaps unique, combination arose from the shared route into Union Station. Though the two closest tracks are ex-PRR, now Amtrak, B&O/MARC trains are sometimes switched onto them to facilitate access to all passenger platforms at Union Station.

Note also there are 2 tracks under the signals, but the signals are shifted to one side rather than being back to back. This was a common PRR practice ostensibly to make the signals more visually associated with their corresponding track. That's the 9th Street bridge in the background.

Link: more pics

Back at the 9th Street overpass... the Amtrak Coach Yard occupies the western end of Ivy City. West of that is a DC Metro yard. Switcher AMTK 562 is near photo center, next to a striped Virginia Railway Express engine.

As a location reference, that's the CSX Metropolitan Subdivision wye track at bottom.

For over a century this area has been used to store coaches since there has always been insufficient room closer to Union Station.

Yes, at bottom that's the Met Branch wye connection in its B&O days.

Link: LoC source photo

In this view B&O's wye track is elevated at right. Those dual water tanks were high volume ones that could refill a thirsty tender in one minute. When steam engines went away, so did these tanks. The distant bridge had carried T Street over all the trackage from 1907 until it was demolished during 1974 to make room for DC Metro's Red line.

The smokestack belongs to a power house that supplied steam to various buildings around the yard. It is visible in several photos below.

Links: LoC source photo, 1940, T Street bridge demo 1974, T Street bridge

The (disused?) power house and its stack have remained standing. To the left of it is the only train coaling tower still standing in the region.

The bi-level coaches at distant right belong to Virginia Railway Express.

Virginia Railway Express coaches enjoy a quiet siesta before southbound commuters at Union Station pile on for the evening rush home to the Old Dominion State.

Switcher 562 sits idle between the power house and Amtrak's Coach Yard Building. In the distance the Washington Monument stands tall.

Here the yard tracks neck down to squeeze under New York Avenue. This 1966 track-level photo captured the bridge before it was widened. Beyond the bridge supports, the photo also captured C Tower that was demolished around 1970 to make room for Metro.

In their joint control of Washington Terminal Company, PRR had priority in track layout, and B&O with signals. This helps explain why PRR/Amtrak has better access, while the signals even during 2019 employ a B&O Color-Position Light (CPL) style. There are/were dozens/hundreds of dwarf CPLs around the terminal, including some mounted high on poles, as in the zoom at right. Now, security cameras may outnumber the signals in this area.

Links: DDOT source photo, C Tower 1967, B&O Eckington Yard 1923

The overpass widening effort was in full swing a year later. This is the reverse view over the stretch this page has toured so far. In the distance is the power house stack, left of photo center. B&O's Eckington Yard is off photo left, with a corner of its Freight Station making it into the photo.

Link: DDOT source photo

This was the scene about 40 years later, with Ivy City to the right and Metro's Brentwood shops on the left. Between them snakes the ex-B&O now CSX Metropolitan Subdivision as marked by the B&O's signature round-faced CPL signals left of photo center, this side of the power house stack.

All the non-Metro area is considered part of Washington Terminal. Distinctive US&S canister purge valves (CP valves) are found at each pneumatic switch, as illustrated at right.

Link: NEC 1979

Looking forward again... the Penn Line and Camden (CSX Capital Sub) lead to the three nearest tracks. The others come from Amtrak's Coach Yard at Ivy City, CSX's Metropolitan Sub, and DC Metro's Red Line. Note the verdigrised ground wires attached to the road's fence, perhaps needed due to the proximity of catenary.

One can glimpse the Capitol from farther west on the New York Avenue bridge. On the right is Metro's NoMa-Gallaudet U stop, the system's first infill station; NoMA = North of Massachusetts Avenue. The distant tall structures this side of the Capitol belong to Union Station.

At the north end of the Metro station, Florida Avenue scoots under. Lighter color stonework shows the abutments were extended west (left) to support the additions of the Metropolitan Branch Trail, and Metro. Metro stakes its claim via right-of-way disks like that at left.

Above at right, all rail traffic to/from Union Station, not counting Metro, bottlenecks through 4 tracks, the fewest since the east end of Ivy City.

Ordinarily, one might expect an excellent view from that NoMA Metro station to the back of Union Station, but instead this is the cluttered reality. As the tracks approach the station and bifurcate, so does the catenary as it weaves a sea of greening copper wires. Somehow train operators gaze past the wires to signals above.

What's called the H Street signal bridge is actually closer to L Street. Washington Terminal has its own version of B&O Color Position Signals, smaller ones, in fact the CPLs mounted above might be the dwarf variety. It's difficult to be sure without climbing up there to measure, and upon most recent check, for some reason they weren't letting railfans do that.

Link: 1970s

Those signals are/were controlled from K Tower, the primary control point for trains near Union Station. K Tower might not survive the 2020s as real estate developers seek to build here over the tracks.

Link: discussion of track control here

The view from K Tower is sweet, and these days it's even in color. Before the CPL signals, semaphore arms angled every which way.

Links: 1910 NE view, 1914 NE view, 1921 N view

This tangle of tracks was barely 2 years old at photo time. Note the turntable at left.

Links: LoC source photo, turntable 1923

That turntable endured into the 1970s, but not much beyond. At distant center and left is the B&O Freight yard that lasted into the 1980s, and Metro to its right.

Link: LoC source photo

This complex track layout is simpler than it was 100 years prior... one of the old photos linked below was snapped from roughly the same location. That's K Tower near the center.

K Street runs beneath K Tower as one of several grade-separated streets behind Union Station. When this tour resumes we'll look at those streets as well as their railroad-related items, such as streetcars and a Railway Express Agency office, and then proceed into Union Station itself.

Links: 1920, 1920s