Alert reader Christopher R. emailed me to share this wonderful view of the waterfront in 1939. Probably the most interesting thing in the photo is the B&O Georgetown local switcher, at work! If you look above the Aqueduct Bridge abutment, you will see the smoke pouring from the smoke stack of the venerable 0-6-0. It appears to be reversing and has just passed the scale house and is passing beneath the footbridge to the Washington Canoe Club. There is a long passing siding that begins  just behind the Club. Other items of interest are the buildings lining the waterfront, beyond the boathouses, Canal Rd./M St., and the old pilings for the Aqueduct Bridge, now gone. About ten years later the pilings would be demolished by the Army Corps of Engineers.

* interesting note: About ten years ago I found this very same photo in the LoC online collection “American Memory” and gleefully posted a zoomed in view of the lower res image from the site: http://gallery.sluggyjunx.com/railroad_and_industrial/georgetownbranch/gb_prototype_photos/g-town_steam_switcher-wide