B&O Washington Branch Photo Tour

B&O Washington Branch Modern day photo tour
Accompanying each photo below are:

Mile - the milepost distance roughly from Camden Station in Baltimore, Maryland
Ease - difficulty level to reach the photographer's location (A = easiest, F = toughest)
Area - estimate of safety level of area (A = safest, F = worst)
Map - ADC brand street map coordinates; notation is: county, page, grid
Date - date of photograph
View - compass direction of view
IC2 - page reference to similar, usually historic, photo in Herbert Harwood's excellent book Impossible Challenge II
Topographic Map - link to US Geological survey map centered on location

Click a photo to see a larger view. Please send your comments and corrections to Steve.

Just Trains

Photo courtesy William Thurston Collection

SRS 121
Mile: 9.0	Date: 1939
Ease: A	View: N
Area: A	IC2:
Map: Ba 41 H 12	Topographic Maps

SRS 121 (a 1930-built Brill Model 55 self-powered car, sometimes called a doodlebug) checks the Washington Branch track in the shadow of the B&O's Viaduct Hotel in Relay. Today many railroads still employ the Sperry company to examine and fine-tune their trackage.

As you might guess, Sperry no longer uses this car, but you may be surprised to learn it survives, and has been restored for tourist operation under the name The Delaware Turtle.

Links: 1930s, Sperry Roster, Ride the Delaware Turtle, Sperry's web site

CSX 557
Mile: 10.8	Date: Oct 2004
Ease: A	View: SW
Area: B	IC2:
Map: Ho 17 J 9	Topographic Maps

Oh, the engineers used to see him sitting in the shade,
Strumming to the rhythm that the drivers made.

CSX 8777
Mile: 13.2	Date: Feb 2000
Ease: B	View: N
Area: B	IC2:
Map: AA 1 B 12, Ho 17 D 12	Topographic Maps

I'm pickin' up good vibrations

CSX 666
Mile: 14.5	Date: May 2002
Ease: B+	View: SE
Area: B	IC2:
Map: AA 5 K 1, Ho 20 E 12	Topographic Maps

Please allow me to introduce myself...

CSX 682
Mile: 15.8	Date: Sep 2000
Ease: B	View: NE
Area: C+	IC2:
Map: AA 5 G 4, Ho 20 K 5	Topographic Maps

Excuse me while I kiss the sky

CSX 647
Mile: 15.8	Date: Sep 2003
Ease: A	View: SW
Area: B+	IC2:
Map: AA 5 G 4, Ho 20 K 5	Topographic Maps

So come on Virginia, show me a sign,
Send up a signal, I'll throw you a line

Dover Harbor
Mile: 16.3	Date: Mar 2003
Ease: A	View: E
Area: B+	IC2:
Map: Ho 20 F 5	Topographic Maps

Sitting on the dock of the bay...

CSX 2299
Mile: 16.8	Date: Apr 2002
Ease: B	View: NE
Area: B	IC2:
Map: Ho 20 H 7	Topographic Maps

C'mon baby, do the Loco-motion

CEFX 3169 and CSX 8804
Mile: 16.8	Date: Nov 2003
Ease: A	View: NE
Area: B	IC2:
Map: Ho 20 H 7	Topographic Maps

'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run...

CSXT 9467
Mile: 16.8	Date: Jun 2004
Ease: A	View: SE
Area: B	IC2:
Map: Ho 20 H 7	Topographic Maps

Very new to CSX at photo time is this remote controlled platform made from a flatcar. It is typically paired with an engine that can be operated from the platform.Such platforms are often used when more visibility is needed than can be obtained from the engine. It can also be placed on the front end of a short train that is being pushed by an engine.

FURX 3042
Mile: 16.8	Date: 2002
Ease: B	View: E
Area: B	IC2:
Map: Ho 20 H 7	Topographic Maps

Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?

TRI 9611
Mile: 16.8	Date: Mar 2005
Ease: B	View: NE
Area: B	IC2:
Map: Ho 20 H 7	Topographic Maps

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down

Solid Gold
Mile: 16.8	Date: Jun 2001
Ease: B	View: NW
Area: B	IC2:
Map: Ho 20 H 7	Topographic Maps

It's better to burn out than it is to rust.

FGE stood for Fruit Growers Express, a railroad refrigerator car leasing company.

Link: FGE Solid Gold when newer

UP 4805
Mile: 16.8	Date: Oct 2005
Ease: B	View: NE
Area: B	IC2:
Map: Ho 20 H 7	Topographic Maps

Some folks are born made to wave the flag

HLCX 6062
Mile: 17.9	Date: Oct 2003
Ease: A	View: E
Area: B	IC2:
Map: AA 5 E 9, Ho 20 H 9	Topographic Maps

Talkin' 'bout my generation

MARC 7748
Mile: 18.1	Date: Jun 2004
Ease: A	View: NE
Area: A	IC2:
Map: Ho 20 G 10, AA 5 E 9	Topographic Maps

Catch a Cannonball, now, to take me down the line

CSX 8769
Mile: 21.3	Date: 2000
Ease: A	View: NE
Area: A	IC2:
Map: PG 4 J 3, Ho 19 K 13	Topographic Maps

Casey Jones, you better watch your speed

Photo courtesy Dave Hiteshew

CSX 8752
Mile: 23.8	Date: Feb 2008
Ease: B	View: N
Area: A	IC2:
Map: PG 4 E 8	Topographic Maps

But she was blinded by the light...

Photo courtesy Dave Hiteshew

CSX 5911
Mile: 25.0	Date: Oct 2007
Ease: B	View: NE
Area: A	IC2:
Map: PG 4 B 10	Topographic Maps

Roll, roll me away, won't you roll me away tonight

Photo courtesy Dave Hiteshew

CSX 5418
Mile: 27.2	Date: Mar 2008
Ease: B+	View: S
Area: B+	IC2:
Map: PG 7 J 2	Topographic Maps

Like a bridge over troubled water

Metro
Mile: 29.0	Date: Dec 2003
Ease: B+	View: N
Area: B	IC2:
Map: PG 7 H 7	Topographic Maps

...and she's buying a stairway to heaven

MARC 68
Mile: 32.8	Date: Apr 2004
Ease: B+	View: S
Area: C	IC2:
Map: PG 12 E 3	Topographic Maps

With the lights out, it's less dangerous

CPL Last Stand
Mile: 33.6	Date: Apr 2004
Ease: A	View: SW
Area: B	IC2:
Map: PG 12 C 5	Topographic Maps

Now stand in the place where you work
Now face west
Think about the place where you live
Wonder why you haven't before

Amtrak 941
Mile: 38.8	Date: Jun 1999
Ease: B	View: S
Area: A	IC2:
Map: DC Dwn 9 A, PG 17 D 1	Topographic Maps

Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine
Bet I'd move on over a little farther down the line
Far from Folsom Prison, that's where I want to stay
And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away

Thanks for looking.

Metrolyrics has Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 500 Songs

Return to main page

Copyright Notice