Nostalgia & History > B&O Question

William Barrett shot this image of a westbound at Martinsburg, WV in 1970 that is now part of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) at the Library of Congress, but did not name the westbound in his photo caption. Being late afternoon, would this be the combined Washington-Chicago Express/Ambassador?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/18 19:32 by SP2541.

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What a beautiful piece of history.
Bob

I would guess this is the combined Shenandoah (to Akron) and Metropolitan (to Cincinnati). The two trains split at Cumberland, MD.

More likely this was the Capitol Ltd, which always ran with 2 E-units, usually back-to-back, and it would have come through Martinsburg about 600pm. By 1970 the Metropolitan and Shenandoah usually ran with one E-unit, and the combined westbound train would have come through Martinsburg about 10am. Given the sun angle, 6pm would be about right here, so I'm voting for the Capitol.

In 1970, the Capitol was the only train left on the B&O running all the way to Chicago - the Washington-Chicago Express/Ambassador was discontinued May 1968.

Nice photo!

With the HE cars, would think a local,not the Cap.

Uncle Joe

To all who offered assistance, I thank you. It was the two REA head-end cars that suggested it was not the Capital Limited.