In the fall of 1954 the National Railway Historic Society put together an excursion train which included a trip down the Georgetown Branch. I recently purchased two prints off of eBay which show the train being mustered in Eckington Yard down in Washington, DC as well as the train at the end of the Branch under the Whitehurst Freeway in Georgetown. Enjoy!
There is an interesting account of this trip in the Washington DC Chapter NRHS publication, “Rail Excursions from Washington, The First 20 Years 1951-1971”:
“Trip No. 9
October 24, 1954
(No Fare)
Baltimore & Ohio
WASHINGTON, D. C.
70 Miles RT 114 Passengers
This was a special trip for Chapter members only and was run to
show appreciation for the hard work and long hours put in by members
and their families to make the Chapter’s part of the National Convention a
success. The 1954 convention proved to be the first large-scale convention
held by the Society.
Arrangements were made with the B&O to run a short special train
on the two branches around D.C., the Georgetown Branch and the
Alexandria Branch to Shepherd’s Landing. To save money by avoiding the
terminal charge al Union Station, the train would run only on B&O right
of way. Accordingly, the train of three B&O coaches (one non-air
conditioned) headed by a GP-7 formed up at the Eckington freight yard
near New York Ave., N.E.
Leaving the yards, the special rumbled up the main through Silver
Spring to Georgetown Junction where it turned down the branch. A stop
was made at Dalecarlia to see the water works and the tunnel under
MacArthur Blvd. At that point, the line went directly over the Cabin John
trolley line. This segment terminated at 29th and K streets in Georgetown.
The engine ran around the train and many photos were taken of the train
under the Whitehurst Freeway. Heading upriver the train stopped at
Fletcher’s Boat House, which operated a scow type ferry across the C&O
canal. A bit of a crowd was attracted and some of the members crossed the
canal on the ferry and look pictures of the special. Joining the main again
the train headed south through Silver Spring, turned on the wye above Ivy
City onto the line to Baltimore, and then turned through Hyattsville and
Kenilworth to the Alexandria Branch.
Quite a bit of attention was attracted as the train ran through
Anacostia and stopped at the junction with the industrial spur to Saint
Elizabeth’s Hospital. At that time, the hospital had a coal-burning
generating plant and used engine #4, a Porter-built 0-4-0 saddle tank
switcher; this was the last product of the Porter works. Arrangements,
including the overtime pay of the crew, were made for #4 to meet the
chapter’s train at the junction. Sure enough, #4 showed up all polished
and newly painted. The train then ran through the Naval Air Station and
Bolling Air Force Base where chain link fence gates acro!iS the tracks had
to be opened and closed for the train. The trip terminated near the sewage
plant in the Blue Plains area.
Because the trip was in thanks to the members no charge was made.
It is interesting to note that the total cost of the trip was only $319. The
late Charles S. Hyer, a long-time member, took an 8mm movie record of
7 the trip which is now held by the Chapter.”
I don’t know the whereabouts of the film mentioned in the last paragraph. There is an accompanying photo of the train at Eckington Yard in the book.
Kevin – THANK YOU! I have read this account before, many years back. I had forgotten all the details. Fun stuff. I have reached out to DC NRHS a few times and they have told me they have no record of the film in their archives, but as with all things, it could be in there but not yet cataloged. The national organization has uploaded many other films of NRHS excursions and there are some really neat ones. Hope some day they find the GB one!! Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQMlhVBjKV17viR_oKrANjw/videos
As a side note, Richard Pearlman’s father was on that fan trip and took many photos. Richard lent the negatives to me to scan and they are posted in my gallery, here: http://gallery.sluggyjunx.com/railroad_and_industrial/georgetownbranch/gb_prototype_photos/rpearlman/Georgetown-Branch-railfan-excursion Enjoy!