Freight Car Find: Episode 1 – A New Series

Georgetown Branch related links, History, Model RR, Prototype

I have been spending a really large amount of time lately trying to identify freight cars in old photos of the Georgetown Branch. As a modeler who is striving for authentic representation and operation, I am driven to figure out what traffic on the GB was like; where it came from and where it was going and who was shipping it. I don’t have a collection of train orders or waybills, only some records, maps and photos. Much of my study revolves around the industries that I am familiar with whether through first-hand account, B&O Form 6 data, old maps indicating what industries existed where and when, and photos which show the lay of the land and the freight cars on the rails.

Although seeing a freight car in a photo does not necessarily translate into knowing the details of shipments and carriers, it does provide some detail and context to help guide me as I make up my own model railroad roster and operational narrative. Seeing a Great Northern boxcar on a siding at a lumber yard, one can reasonably assume that it is carrying lumber from the Pacific Northwest. Seeing a tank car sitting on a fuel dealer siding, one can reasonably assume it is carrying fuel oil to be unloaded in a nearby storage tank. Seeing a B&O boxcar on the main line of the branch means very little; but it provides a reference point and a data point for my own model research and acquisition.

So with this new series I am going to take a closer look at the freight cars in the old photos I have and try to identify them as best I can. I am not trying to write a detailed article, but rather make a positive ID and gather some details, and perhaps some references. My end goal is to find HO scale models for these cars so I can represent them on my model railroad. I hope you enjoy.

Kicking it off, let’s start with a fun one.

Aug, 1957, Bethesda, MD. B&O GP7 3400 is pulling in from Georgetown with the other GP in the distance. Note the three freight cars visible in the photo. Photo by Ray Mumford.

Let’s start with the boxcar, furthest away, just in front of GP9 3400:

There happens to be one other shot of it in another photo.

It’s a B&O boxcar (note the “13 Great States” herald on the far right). The car has 4/5 corrugated ends and Youngstown doors. Note the tack board placement on the end and door. From what I can tell this is an M-55 class variant, perhaps an M-55c, which I understand had those distinctive squared-off corrugated 4/5 ends. Ted Culotta has a nice blog post about the M-55a and the B&O RR Historical Society, B&O Modeler, has a nice article about the M-55h in the “orange comet” scheme. I found a few other photos which may give more insight: M-55? (Sentinel Service) 466054, M-55h 467673, M-55c 466350, . Accurail offers an M-55a model. as well as an M-55 trio of “Time Saver” schemes. Not sure of the details on this car. Sunshine Models also produced an M-55h kit, which you can see in the B&ORRHS article linked above. It sounds like National Scale Car has an M-55 kit in the works, which I eagerly await.

Next up is this DL&W hopper. Note, there is a vertical artifact on the photo which appears as two or three vertical stripes. This appears to be an 8-panel hopper. (10, if you count the two end panels where the slope is located.) I know little about DL&W so it makes the challenge even greater. I have spent a good amount of time digging around online and have yet to find some good reference material. A photo on the RR-Fallen Flags site appears to be a close match, but it’s got u-channel ribs at each end, where the car in the photo does not appear to. The paint scheme reveals a number xx6535, perhaps. Note the spacing of the LA | CKA | WAN | NA and the “The Road of Anthracite” herald. Bluford Shops produced an 8-panel, 2-bay hopper which to me VERY closely resembles the prototype in the photo I have. My search for an HO scale representation is ongoing; any help finding a source would be MUCH appreciated!

Last up is this gondola, spotted on the Eisinger Mill & Lumber siding:

The number, to me, looks like 439586.

This one is pretty neat. Thankfully, there is a fantastic resource for PRR freight cars: the PRR Freight Car Page. Studying the design of this car; the ribs, their length, the lettering and the shape of the car, I determined this is a PRR class G26 gondola. A personal guess at the number, 439586, matches with the prototype info being part of car nos. 439009-440709, AAR class GB, built in Altoona between 1930-31, measuring 65’6″ inside length, 20 panels. Thankfully, this car was produced in a kit form by the now-defunct Eastern Car Works a number of years ago, and I picked up a very nice completed model via eBay last month that will really go well on my layout (below). As I plan on modeling the construction of the Whitehurst Freeway, there will be plenty of girder loads to be brought down the Branch in this neat car!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this first installment of FCF. I have so many more freight car sleuthing stories to share and welcome any and all input you all may have on helping me solve some of these mysteries.

EDIT: I recently discovered the MyHeritage photo colorizer via Chris Adams’ wonderful Valley Local blog. This is an AI-based tool that does a darn decent job of colorizing black & white images. Now, it’s just for fun and nothing is meant to be perfectly accurate, but sometimes a bit of color helps the brain put things in context. Anyway, here’s what the subject image looks like when run through the colorizer:

eBay Purchase: 1943 Georgetown Jct, “NY-CHI Express” Print

History, News, Prototype
B&O Train no. 9, “NY – Chicago Express”, P-1d 5038, Georgetown Junction, MD, 1:22pm 7-29-43, Bruce Fales

I picked up this print off of eBay last week and was pleased at my purchase. I try my best to scoop up any Georgetown Branch-related photos whenever possible, as they are relatively rare and help me with my research. Even somewhat plain photos like this are helpful, as they show track arrangement, landscape, structures, such as the Talbot Ave. bridge seen in the background. It might seem small, but here I have a nice view of the railings, which I hadn’t seen before. Or had I…

Once I scanned this photo, and looked closely at the caption, a bell began to ring in the back of my mind. I realized that maybe I’d seen this image before. Maybe it wasn’t so long ago. And I was right. Three years ago, to be exact. I even posted about it to this blog:

eBay find: 1943 B&O 5038, train #9 NYC-Chigao express

It seems I purchased a negative of this very photo. Now, here’s where it gets weird. The negative I purchased is in rough shape. It’s a medium format and has tons of scratches. Is it a dupe? Is it a proof of some kind? Note the dust and scratches in the negative, and compare that to the print I picked up this week! Night and day. Is the negative I have an original that was just used and abused? It’s hard for me to say, but it’s an interesting story. I don’t regret buying the new print but I may have been more hesitant. Thankfully, it wasn’t too expensive and I can add it to my collection as a “better” print copy of the Fales (?) negative I already have.

New Purple Line Bridge Installed Across Connecticut Ave

History, Prototype

The B&O crossed Connecticut Ave at grade for nearly 97 years. The Purple Line project recently installed the new bridge across the roadway, which sits atop the original B&O crossing. Avid fans will recall that Connecticut Ave. was the original terminus for what would become the Georgetown Branch, as the railroad served the Rock Creek Ry. power plant and a growing industrial area including T.W. Perry and other merchants.

Here is a photo of unknown origin showing the crossing ca the late 1800s:

From collection of Wm. Duvall. Scanned by me. Photographer is standing on Connecticut Ave, facing North with the B&O tracks crossing Connecticut Ave in the background. A train is visible in the distance. The Rock Creek Ry. car barn is to the right.

I previously posted a time lapse video of this bridge’s installation.

The New Purple Line Bridge Across Rock Creek

News, Prototype

In this view, we get a shot of the new bridge spanning Rock Creek where the long, high B&O trestle once stood. I imagine the worker is standing on the forms for the Capital Crescent Trail pedestrian bridge which will parallel the Purple Line. The bridge is significantly lower than the original B&O trestle, as they have lowered the grade here enough to allow the tracks to pass beneath the nearby Jones Mill Rd.

When Santa Came to Chevy Chase by Train

History, Prototype

I have stumbled over some pretty neat stories pertaining to the Georgetown Branch, but the few Christmas-related ones always delight me. I think it’s really interesting to see how the Railroad viewed these events as public relations stunts, but to the kids who participated in them back then, they were probably awesome examples of Christmas wonder. A while back I reported on the National Christmas tree coming to DC via the Georgetown Branch, where in Georgetown it was met with fanfare before being offloaded on to a truck for the trip to the National Mall. Even Santa himself attended the event! But this particular example is hyper-local and really special, in my eyes. A recent Facebook post rekindled my interest in this event; two newspaper clippings highlighting the event. Here is what I know.

In 1954 Ms. Virgina Bourquardes contacted the B&O, requesting a boxcar to be placed at Chevy Chase Lake, where the Georgetown Branch crossed Connecticut Ave. and where a small passing siding and team track was located. It seems the local Chevy Chase Lake Shopping Center Association (The shopping center was located just North of T.W. Perry, on the East side of Conn. Ave.) had come up with the idea to promote their businesses. Upon seeing the PR value in participating in such an event, the B&O seemingly eagerly offered up not only a boxcar, but a platform with steps, power and offered to repaint the car into “first-class condition for advertising purposes.” (more on this, later) Here is how the plan was to go down:

The B&O would spot the car in the Bethesda yard on Nov 29th so the Chevy Chase folks could decorate it, install the floodlights and wiring, along with “Santa Claus’ workbench, etc.” They also inquired about the person who would ride IN the car from Bethesda to Chevy Chase, dressed as Santa! The B&O indicated that the Georgetown Local would move the car on the afternoon of Dec 1 from Bethesda into position at Chevy Chase Lake. They politely requested that the day following that the car would be cleaned out so as to permit the Railroad to return it to revenue service. In the documentation I have, the gentleman who volunteered to play Santa was Mr. Gerard Moynihan of Silver Spring, MD who had to sign a notarized release in order to ride in the freight car.

The Railroad promptly selected a car; B&O 467293 from the pool at Brunswick, MD, which was an all-steel 40’6″ boxcar class M-55ha, built in 1947. The foreman indicated it had all wood sides and floor and would be repainted for the event. Here is a link to B&O 467673, a similar M-55h class boxcar, which appeared in Parkersburg, WV Aug 1, 1954. Some of these M-55h cars received the brilliant blue and orange “Orange Comet” Time-Saver scheme; I can only hope that 467293 was! 🙂 Another Time-Saver Service scheme was less fancy and more likely an option. In Further instructions to move the car any time after Nov 26th to Bethesda were made. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the car, nor do I know what paint scheme it was painted in. The car was to be moved from Bethesda to Chevy Chase to arrive between 1 and 2pm on Dec 4th. The business association promoted the event through local papers and radio spots.

Washington Star, December 1, 1954. Thanks to Paul Wilson for posting this to Facebook!

I can only imagine the excitement of the crowd as the Local came trundling up from Bethesda to Chevy Chase, horns blaring, arms waving. A newspaper article details the event, saying “Santa arrived in his especially equipped workshop aboard a freight car on a train from Bethesda. With whistles blowing and children waving a welcome, the train stopped at the Connecticut Avenue siding at 1 p.m.” More details are in the article, below:

Washington Star, December 5, 1954. Thanks to Paul Wilson for posting this to Facebook!

According to the article, it was a great success in the eyes of the shopping center officials, hoping it would continue in future years. It is unclear as to whether or not it did. In the correspondence I uncovered from 1955, the Railroad initially denied the request, stating a shortage in equipment would prohibit them in sparing a boxcar for the duration. They do, however, indicate that Santa would this year ride on the Caboose of the Georgetown Local! I didn’t find any further documentation or information regarding this move, but I think it would have made for an equally exciting event. Maybe some photo or documents will reveal the rest of the story.

I have made a PDF document of the file I uncovered in the B&ORRHS archives which you can download here:

1954-55_BORRHS_OVP_File_Chevy_Chase_Md.-G1-General-Santa_Train-BMS-SMDownload

I hope you have enjoyed this brief story and if you know of any photos or stories from those events, please do share!

Side note: The B&O Modeler magazine did an article on these cars. Link here.

Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant ca 1974

History, Prototype

In a wonderful photo posted to the CSX “Cap, Met, and OML” subs, Railfans Facebook group by Ray Soderberg, we have a look at the track arrangement at the water treatment plant ca May, 1974. This arrangement was implemented when the facility underwent various upgrades.


For me, it was a real eye-opener. I had never seen this arrangement and it is really cool to see. Remnants of the unloading facility (where the tank car is spotted in the distance, in the center, are still there today: https://goo.gl/maps/PEi6kpCXfrbBcssu9

Commodities: Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant

News

One of the challenges as a prototype modeler is deciphering what commodities traveled on the railroad that I model and from where they came or were going to. So far, my only clues are the venerable B&O Form 6 (a document which outlines sidings and businesses that they served, yet is not complete considering there were team track yards, shared trackage, etc.), photographs and some maps & diagrams which offer up clues. There are documents buried in various archives waiting to be uncovered but that’s another story. For now, I run with what I have.

An excellent HABS/HAER document from the Library of Congress outlines the history quite nicely. Dalecarlia existed as a reservoir beginning in the mid 1850s, which received water from the Washington Aqueduct. The water treatment plant was built ca 1922 to help meet the growing population. DC began adding chlorine to its drinking water in 1923 and the Dalecarlia rapid sand filter came online around 1927 and used sand and aluminum sulfate to clarify the water. In 1928 the chemical building/head house was constructed, including a five-story tower which stored additional chemicals; alum, bauxite, lime and more. Likely, the B&O’s relatively new branch line provided a conduit for construction materials and consumables/chemicals for the construction and initial operations there. (Kelly and I uncovered what I believe to be an old siding where there was some sort of unloading device or construction facility astride one of the ponds, in the very northwestern tip of the facility.) Early photos indicate that the B&O had merely a short siding there for many years.

Dalecarlia Reservoir in 1930. The Georgetown Branch snakes along the lower, middle area of the photo, from top left to right. Note there are no unloading facilities present. Image from National Archives.
1931 aerial photo. The GB tracks are seen on the left, filtration plant to the right. Note the siding, which appears to have fresh ballast and is perhaps new. The only access to this siding is the road seen passing from left to right. There is a small dirt track branching off and heading toward the siding. Perhaps for offloading supplies.

At some point, the B&O built a yard and an unloading system In a photo from 1947, I can see the unloading tanks which is the earliest photographic representation I have. An aerial photo from Historic Aerials shows the facility in 1949.

Visible in this 1949 aerial image is the small yard consisting of five tracks, including the main. I believe the left-most tracks were used for chemicals and the right tracks were used for sand and aggregates. Storage tanks are lined up to the north, across the access road. Likely there were various pump houses and maintenance structures nearby.

In a photo from 1956 shot by Ray Mumford, we get the best view I have of the yard and facilities. Note the overhead pipe bridge.

Dalecarlia Reservoir, May 30 1956. Photo by Ray Mumford.

Thankfully, the B&O documented the construction of this overhead bridge:

B&O Bridge Sketch Book

The plan indicates that this bridge was constructed in 1952, perhaps replacing or upgrading an earlier structure; I have no photos to determine this, yet. Here is a detail of the pipe bridge cross-section:

Detail cross-section of B&O chemical bridge at Dalecarlia.

So back to our original question about commodities. This cross-section has labels on the pipes, indicating what they were used for. Nice! We see: sulfuric acid, carbon, “elec.” (electrical?), air (compressed?), sulfur dioxide and two chlorine conduits. Combined with the information found above – sand, aluminum sulfate, alum, bauxite, lime, etc. – we start to get an even better picture of what arrived at the water treatment plant via the B&O. This helps me to hone in on freight cars and operational schemes for my layout which is a crucial thought exercise for planning what cars I want to model and what purchases I want to make for my fleet.

I still have so many unanswered questions – like what did the plant look like in the 1940s? What were the chemicals used for? What was stored where? How did the unloading facility work, exactly? What shippers sent cars to the reservoir and what rolling stock was used. Someone once mentioned seeing a “chlorine train” going down the branch with a few cars. Did the B&O have a dedicated train for chlorine on the Georgetown Branch? This offers an interesting operational possibility, if true. These fine details are what run through my head as I compile this information and seek answers and solutions. For now, I’ll have to go with what I have. We’ll probably go in a bit deeper later on some other speculation and theorycrafting, but until then, enjoy this photo of a train at Georgetown Junction that includes a chlorine car from Westvaco in WV:

December 31, 1959. B&O 9023, an Alco S2, is coming off the Georgetown Branch, tying up the Metropolitan Br. mains at Georgetown Junction. Visible to the right of the engine is an interesting chlorine car. Markings read “WESTVACO CHL[ORINE], FOOD MACHINERY & …, SOUTH CHARLES [, WV], LEASED TO…, WESTVACO CH…, WATER CAPY OF TANK, 493?? LBS.” My collection, eBay purchase, photo by Bill Williams.

My copy of the 1954 ORER indicates 12 cars for Westvaco, with reporting marks WVCX. By 1959 I am sure they had more but I need to get my hands on an ORER for that year. Onward!

B&O Track Chart, Baltimore Division Branches (25 U-30), ca 1958

Georgetown Branch related links, History, Prototype

“BALTIMORE AND OHIO SYSTEM, ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, TRACK CHART ALIGNMENT AND PROFILE” I picked this document up via eBay probably about 17 years ago. The original scans of the Georgetown Branch section have lived on my GB website for many years and are a constant source of reference as I build my model railroad and study the right of way. This particular book includes six other branches, which I had completely forgotten about until last week when a reader contacted me inquiring about the Washington County Branch, which ran from Weverton to Hagerstown, MD. It was fun rediscovering this book so many years later and having a much more voracious interest in the B&O and its history. I decided to scan the whole document as a PDF and post it here for others to enjoy.

The book was created in 1949 and revised up to Jan 1, 1958. Baltimore Division Branches included in this document include:

  • Frederick Branch
  • Washington County Branch
  • Antietam Branch
  • Fort George G. Meade Branch
  • Patuxent Branch
  • Alexandria Branch
  • Georgetown Branch
1949-1958_BO_Track_Chart_Alignment-Baltimore_Div_Branches-SM-bsullivanDownload

Rock Creek Trestle: Pointing to Georgetown

News

This post is sort of a mental dump from several months ago regarding a curiosity I discovered while doing research on the Rock Creek trestle for the model I’m constructing. Good photos of the trestle are very rare. Doubly so for older photos from the 1940s and earlier. The trestle was located in an area with a decent amount of vegetation and was a bit out of the way. I only have a few images of the trestle that date from the timeframe in the 1940s-1950s that I model, and they are mediocre shots at best. It was a difficult structure to photograph! But, they are like gold to me. They are all I have! They are the only visual representations of something that was very special and existed in various arrangements over time due to rebuilds, strengthening, vandalism/fire and flooding damages.

Ca. 1967. Photog unknown. Collection of W. Duvall. An arsonist’s fire gutted the trestle five years before Agnes would destroy half of it in the major flooding of Rock Creek. Note the diagonal supports on the outside of the trestle. So which side of the trestle was this photo taken from?! North or South?

Because there are no strikingly significant differences between the North and the South side of the trestle, I have always struggled to determine what I was actually looking at in the photos; North or South side? The small refuge bays that jutted out a few feet at the top were offset on each side in the same relative place, so if you stood on the ground below the trestle and snapped a photo, it would look nearly the same from either side. I had to find a way to figure out which side was which when looking at photos taken from the ground! But how?

Anyone else remember this moment from It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad World? This was me moments before figuring out how to identify the North and South side of the trestle.

First let’s take a look at the bridge sketch. This view would be standing on the south side, facing north.

Bridge Sketch, B&ORRHS. Ca 1959, shows bridge after reinforcements were added.

As I studied photos there was one thing that stood out to me. The large diagonal OUTER cross braces seemed to form an arrow that pointed toward the west. I first took a look at a few known photos that I shot of the East end of the trestle to see if there was something to this. Here is a view from the North side, facing South:

11/12/2019, North side, East end. Outer braces highlighted in blue.

And here is a view on the South side, facing North, of the East end as well; the other side from the above image:

11/12/2019, South side, East end. Outer braces highlighted in blue.

And there it is. My “W” moment. The cross braces form “arrows” which always point West. Looking at some images in my collection which I previously could not determine the side confirmed my suspicion. Here is an image from ca 1946:

A view from below, ca 1946 or 1948. I have highlighted the outermost cross braces. I now know this shows the locomotive facing a westerly direction.

Note the side bracing, which I have highlighted in blue, pointing to the West! I have a few other images that I unfortunately don’t have permission to share here, which further confirm my suspicion. So, for anyone who is attempting to identify an old image of the Trestle, if you are curious which side you are looking at, just look for the outer bracing to “point” you the way. 🙂