The wye here at Hyattsville allows the Alexandia Branch to split from the Washington Branch and take a more easterly route around downtown Washington, DC. The Alexandria Branch tracks are not seen in this photo, but are off to the right.

This view from within the wye looks northeast back toward the Alt US 1 overpass, as well as the concrete slab on the right where Hyattsville Station had been. The station survived into the 1950s and an adjacent B&O freight house into the 1980s.

Links: 1964

This photo looks the opposite direction to the previous. Here you can see the so-called west leg of the wye (it's on the southeast side of the wye) splitting off to the Alexandria Branch, which is now on the left.

Immediately behind the pine trees on the right is US 1. About a mile in the distance is the overpass of 38th Avenue.

Links: 1940, 1940, 1940

And this view looks along the wye's west leg toward the start of the Alexandria Branch. On the left is the Alt US 1 bridge again, and the concrete slab even farther left is the former location of Hyattsville Station.

CSX removed JD Tower during the 1990s, but left behind this sign that had alerted trains of their approach to the tower.

Red signals at Hyattsville stopped this eastbound train on a spring afternoon. Closest to the camera are defect detectors, then the bridge over Charles Armentrout Drive (newest bridge in the area). Next, where CSX 690 has paused, is the railroad bridge over the Anacostia River's Northwest Branch. About a mile in the distance is 38th Avenue, and even farther Eastern Avenue.

Links: sound recordings (WAV files) of defect detector 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Deep zooming back from Bunker Hill Road's former grade crossing and the site of B&O's Brentwood Station finds enough heat distortion even in winter to make Track 2 appear to be dressed in a bowtie. Milepost 34 is the bright vertical rectangle at left. A B&O list from 1889 puts Highlands Station here. Station renaming complicates the making of a list of all railroad station.

Link: Brentwood Station ~1950

This is what happens when you violate the "keep the sun at your back" rule of photography. With better lighting, this is a nice spot for an overhead view of trains.

Fortunately, there's nothing of railroading significance to try to see through the glare in this view from 38th Avenue. About a half mile ahead, the tracks leave Maryland and cross with little fanfare into Washington, DC near mile marker 35 and the Eastern Avenue bridge glimpsed in the distance.

Eastern Avenue (background) designates the boundary between Maryland and Washington, DC. It's also near mile 35; a beaten-up stone milepost hides in brush on the left.

An 1878 GM Hopkins map puts Reeve's Station on the right just beyond the bend, perhaps at Central Avenue. Another source spells it Rives.

Between Eastern Avenue and Queens Chapel Road, the railroad runs in a slight cut, one deep enough to discourage industry from developing along it.

Given the hillside cut, there probably had not been a grade crossing here before this bridge for South Dakota Avenue arrived in 1920. The bridge has been improved since photo time.

Link: DDOT source photos

Langdon Station had stood in this vicinity. A B&O list from 1889 calls it Mills Station instead.

Link: Langdon Station ~1950

It's quiet here, however as we'll see that changes past the bend and the Queens Chapel Road overpass in the distance.

B&O's Washington Branch track did not have this gentle curve prior to 1907 and the opening of Union Station. The track instead continued straight, and ran along what is now West Virginia Avenue.

An 1878 GM Hopkins map puts Montello Station in the southeast quadrant (right) of the former grade crossing with Queens Chapel Road. A newer bridge has taken the place of this one, but the siding on the left survived into the 2020s.

Link: DDOT source photos

This Baist real estate map of 1907 captures B&O's curving realignment to facilitate access to DC's then-new Union Station. Queens Chapel Road runs diagonally from top toward lower right, where it is simply labelled "Road".

After passing southwest under Queens Chapel Road, B&O had continued straight where the Baltimore & Potomac (marked PB&W here, later Pennsylvania) Railroad crossed at diamonds. Today that location is just east of where Montana Avenue passes under both railroads. On this map, Montana Avenue is labelled Edwin Street, and "(Baltimore)" is now Bryant Street.

The then-new B&O alignment curves west through the area of Montello, where the depicted street grid and housing lots existed only as a plan. Subsequent Baist-brand maps suggest B&O's original, uncurving alignment remained to serve local industry until New York Avenue was extended east to Bladensburg Road during the 1930s. When built, New York Avenue followed a more easterly route than the east-northeasterly plan depicted by this map.

Missing from the Baist map is this creek parallel to and southwest of Queens Chapel Road. As tempting as it is to call this box culvert a Washington Branch original, its location is not quite far enough southeast to match the path of that old alignment. Furthermore, the stone cutting style exhibited is that of the early 1900s, so this was likely a siding built at the time of the track realignment here for Union Station.

Deep zoom past B&O's bridge over Montana Avenue shows where B&O and Pennsylvania Railroads had met to run side-by-side on the way to Union Station. Ironically, the round color-position light (CPL) signals on the left are the ex-Pennsy, now Amtrak ones for its Northeast Corridor, whereas the in-line signals on the right are CSX's replacement for B&O's iconic CPLs.

Off photo right is a disused siding. B&O had served many Brentwood-area customers via sidings on both sides of the main.

With New York Avenue a short distance behind, this 1936-dated bridge carried B&O over Montana Avenue on its way to train yards (left).

Link: DDOT source photos

Immediately behind the photog is Pennsylvania Railroad's bridge, which serves the same purpose, but is not nearly as attractive looking.

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

In 1900, they "encouraged" the railroads to build a single, joint station, and in 1907 Union Station opened. Under the name Washington Terminal Company, B&O and PRR jointly constructed a shared alignment to the station, as well as the Ivy City repair shops. The two lines met here, behind what is now a Quality Inn.

Behind the Quality Inn near New York Avenue and 16th Street, the former railroad foes joined to begin sharing the route into downtown; for MARC commuters the two lines go by the names Camden and Penn. Emerging from behind the motel on the Camden Line is CSX 3061 in "Rock Runner" duty. As you might reason, "rock runner" is a generic name for a train that rolls crushed stone from mines to various distribution points.

The Rock Runner illustrates CSX's route through Ivy City, now dominated by Amtrak, MARC, and the Washington, DC Metro. This train is not bound for DC, but rather CSX's Metropolitan Subdivision where it can continue into the hills for a stone refill.

Union Station created the need for railroad support, such as repair shops. Ivy City Yard still serves in that capacity.

The containers adjacent New York Avenue at bottom left 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.

Both ends of the Rock Runner are visible as it crosses over the "waistline" of Ivy City Yard and follows Track 1 toward the CSX Metropolitan Subdivision. That's 9th Street spanning overhead.

The two nearest tracks are ex-PRR, Amtrak. The rightmost two curve to begin CSX's Metropolitan Subdivision at the pair of signals. One track barely visible between allows MARC Camden Line trains to reach Washington Union Station. B&O's F Tower had stood at this photo's right edge, adjacent the 9th Street overpass.

Links: 1974, 1975

The uncooperative (for railfanning) 9th Street overpass provides an overhead look back about a mile long. In this reverse view, the ex-B&O (now CSX) tracks on the left and the electrified ex-Pennsylvania RR tracks (now Amtrak) on the right transition into shared Washington Terminal trackage.

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. B&O's F tower had been here on the left; on page 232 of Impossible Challenge II it can be seen in a photo similar to this that dates from the 1940s.

B&O's right of way prior to the realignment had continued across what has become New York Avenue, passing close to the Hecht Company warehouse seen at upper right.

Link: ~1950

Amtrak's Ivy City repair center is north (left) of the joint RoW. Though this is not an exclusive former B&O operation, the yard is significant enough to warrant the next few photos.

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).

From trackside it looks like Amtrak Acela 2036 has a sore nose. This is the same train seen at the extreme left of the prior photo.

Link: 1956

AMTK 918 gets reinvigorated at the train spa.

Back at the 9th Street overpass vantage point, but this time looking the opposite direction (west)...

The three tracks are left are the direct ones to Union Station. Below is the wye track that connects to the Metropolitan Branch. The 1873-opened Met extends from Washington north-northwest through Rockville and Gaithersburg to meet the Old Main Line at Point of Rocks, Maryland.

The two photos below zoom into the picture, first to the left, then to the right.

Links: 1940, 1940, 1940

The tracks bend toward Union Station ahead. The closest of the three is followed by MARC Camden Line (Cap Sub) trains to Union Station. The empty foreground area was filled with new storage tracks during 2013.

That's the top of the Washington Monument at the extreme left.

Some of Washington Terminal was transferred in 1976 to the then-new DC Metro subway to become their Brentwood Shops. In the distance are several rows of Metro cars.

Reader Dave Manning disagrees with some of the details:

"Eckington was still in service by the B&O in 1976 and NO part of it was ever transferred or used by WMATA. The only yard used to build Brentwood was the old Pullman yard and it was completely built and in service by 1976, along with the first segment of the Red Line. So, the only thing that happened in 1976 relative to Brentwood was that the Metro line here opened for service. In the photo you shot from the 9th St. bridge, Eckington would be between the Metro cars and that red brick warehouse in the center of the shot. The piggyback yard extended perpendicular to the main yard tracks and was off to the left."

Reader Eugene Leache provided some historical background:

"Eckington was the estate of prominent journalist, and D.C. mayor, Joseph Gales. During the Civil War it was the site of a Union Army hospital."

Link: Eckington Yards 1923

Washington Terminal Company livery makes this rebuilt SW1000R stand out as it rolls under 9th Street. Built in 1953, in a previous life "WATC 794" was Montour 83.

Washington Terminal Company is almost wholly owned by Amtrak. Its job is to push and pull rail equipment around Union Station / Washington Terminal.

Links: MTR 83, more 794 pics

For reference, the Hecht warehouse with its water tower is at distant left, and the 1940s version of the 9th Street Overpass runs across the middle. The nearest tracks belong to Pennsylvania RR, the next pair to the right are B&O's Metropolitan Branch, and in the shadow beyond is B&O's Washington Branch.

Link: DDOT source photos