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.
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.
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