Another absolute gem from the National Archives is this aerial view of the Columbia Country Club, which the Georgetown Branch bisected. Visible in the upper-right corner is where the GB crossed Connecticut Ave and served a few industries including T.W. Perry and the Capitol Traction powerhouse, barely visible on the far right edge. It is interesting to see how T.W. Perry was configured at this time; the lumber shed is visible as is the coal trestle behind it. The large Capitol Traction car barn and Rock Creek Ry. station are both visible as well. Not yet built is the large water tower which sat next to the car barn and the well-known Chevy Chase Lake swimming pool. This was only 11 years after the line had been extended from this point down Georgetown. Chevy Chase Lake was the terminus of the branch from ca 1892 until 1910.

I have oft wondered what methods the folks at Wilkins Rogers Milling used over the years to offload/load grain and other materials at their mill. I have seen photos showing boxcars but never covered hoppers, until now. Most of the time there are various boxcars sitting at the loading dock. Some showing grain doors indicating bulk loadings and others without, indicating bagged loadings. Both are reasonable. But I’d never seen a covered hopper of any kind there in the older photos I have, which is not too many good ones.

Perusing the DDoT DC archives page (which is great!) I stumbled on some photos from the flooding in Georgetown during Hurricane Agnes in late June, 1972. In one image, showing the mill, sitting on the siding at Wilkins Rogers are four cars; three boxcars (one, oddly enough, from the UP, apparently!) and one cylindrical covered hopper!

I can’t make out any reporting marks and I’m not an expert on these sorts of cars, but it seems there is an air hose connected to one end, draped up to a valve, most likely, which would be assisting in the unloading of whatever grain was inside. *EDIT- Matt R. says: Probably an ACF 3500 CuFt covered hopper. Atlas makes the model. Dates to early 60’s. Many different owners as well as ACF’s own lease fleet.

General American developed the “Airslide” covered hopper, which used air and a special membrane to move materials out of the car chutes with ease. These types of cars are new for me, as I haven’t really studied them. A quick search turned up a site with some great history and back story on these cars. As it seems they started showing up in 1954, I can include them on my layout, which really is delightful. It seems that Con-Cor produced a model of this car, which is close to what I would use. More research is in order.