Some classic B&O blue power rests in the service area of Bayview Yard in Baltimore, MD. It's January 19th 1972, and those Fairbanks-Morse units are about out of time. H16-44s such as #9704 were regularly used on transfer runs between the various yards that make up the Baltimore terminal. Making use of the famous Howard St tunnel, these jobs were sometimes called "Divebombers". No photographer listed, JL Sessa collection.
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Helpers shove hard on the rear of a westbound freight as it crosses over the WM's Thomas Sub, and the north branch of the Potomac River into Bloomington MD. The concrete marker denotes the MD/WV state line. The train is now starting up 17 Mile Grade up to Altamont, one of several hard stretches of railroad that make up the B&O's formidable west end. Once the through route to St. Louis, much of the freight activity is a memory today. Taken presumably the summer of 1969, no photographer listed. JL Sessa collection.
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Here's a westbound freight train passing through Washington Grove, MD. The eastbounds have it tough on the Metropolitan sub with two uphill grades, but westbounds don't have it easy, either. It's more or less an uphill climb all the way from Washington DC to Gaithersburg with varying degrees of gradient. The slide is marked as being processed in October 1972, and it appears that is probably very close to the date this was taken by Walter Schopp, JL Sessa collection.
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Here's presumably the Metway local out of Eckington yard at Summit avenue in Gaithersburg. Still plenty of local traffic to fill 40' and 50' boxcars on this autumn day in 1972. Look closely, and you'll see someone has drawn their own version of "The Scream" on the nose of the Geep. Photo by Walter Schopp, JL Sessa collection.
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It is April 13th 1958, and this image was taken from an eastbound B&O passenger train at Germantown, MD. In this view looking west, we see the original train station sandwiched between the freight house and the Liberty Milling Company. Liberty Milling by the mid 20th century was the second largest mill in Maryland. At one point, they even leased Airslide hoppers from General American. Failure followed success, and the mill quickly became defunct by the mid 1960s. In 1973, it burned down. The train station burned down in 1978, but an exact copy was built in it's place for current use by MARC commuters. No photographer listed, JL Sessa collection.
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