Nostalgia & History > Es, Fs, and Gs. Power alphabet engine terminal.

Back in the day when railfans weren't treated like Isis fighters when on railroad property, with a little respect and guts, you could get in many railroad facilities.  One place that could be sticky at times, depending on the mood of the people involved, was the Ivy City engine terminal that serviced the power for Washington DC's station. You would park across from the terminal on a vacant lot, and yes walk across not only the tracks of the Northeast Corridor, you would also cross the B&O's Washington sub mainline. Obviously I did survive those perilous jaunts. This is where it could get interesting. Some days you could go in the office, and you would get a friendly greeting, some days you would be booted off the property. Fortunately it was more the former with an admonition not to climb on any equipment, and to be alert for moving engines. All images you see here today were taken throughout the 70s. Today there is a high fence blocking access to the whole area, and a total lack of interest on my part. A great combination for these days.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/19 07:05 by Roadjob.

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The ill fated Turbos sat most of the time as you see them

GG1 and the heir apparent.
 

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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top...view from the parking lot I mention in the commentary.

middle and bottom ...evolution of the diesel power present

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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normal sights back in the 70s

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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Was a great time to be a railfan wasn't it?!

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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A MOST excellent gathering of photos, THANK you so much for sharing!!!

A wonderful selection of treasures.
Bob

Great review.  What a great collection of power in that facility.
Brian Stevens

Excellent Ivy City series from an era that was still great for railfanning especially while the Southern was still running passenger trains.
ALLEN
 

Trespassing at Ivy City, by crossing both the corridor and the B&O, was just railfan SOP during those years.  I did it regularly, often in family groups, and was never approached by a Washington Terminal cop in what was likely more than a hundred instances.

The results, as Bill's photos show, were always well worth the risk.

(I must point out that in this era, we also often climbed onto signal structures and equipment--albeit not in electrified territory--and never had a problem.)

Art House

 

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The last photo the dome on the left never seen one like that who’s was it ?

Posted from iPhone

That was a former B&O Pullman-Standard dome from the Columbian trainset from 1950 - either 5550 or 5551.    The lounge-obs to the right is also a former B&O car, also P-S, but this car was from the big C&O order of 1950 that was cancelled and diverted to other RRs.  B&O took 3 of these lounge-obs cars - Metcalf, Dana and Wawassee. 

Another great series with so many interesting shots! Excellent!

Larry

Neat to see Amtrak Phase I, II, and III paint all in one shot.  A number of the photos appear to date from 1980-81.  According to EagleChampion1's reply in this old thread, the 644 got Phase III paint some time between 1980 and 1981, so those photos are no older than that. 

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4688185,4689387#msg-4689387

The 611, 634, and 636 are also on his list as receiving Phase III in that time period, so the photos of those units in Phase I and II are no newer than 1981. 
F40PH 330 was built in August 1980.
AEM7 908 was built in October 1980. 
GG1 4908 was retired in April 1983 according to Amtrak By The Numbers, though online sources indicate Amtrak last ran GG1's in regular service in 1980. 
UA TurboTrains power cars 52 and 56 were retired in December 1979 and February 1980 according to Amtrak By The Numbers. Wikipedia and old threads on here says they had been out of service since September 1976.

By the way, SDP40F 644 is the one Chris Fussell preserved: http://dynarail.org/projects/amtrak644.html

Got to love the nerds of this hobby.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

Thanks much for the look back, Bill. It's interesting that the Amtk 956 (and even the Turbo locomotive)
had the "anti rock" windshield screen gratings installed back then.

The 611 is in Phase II, which I thought only the first 40 got that paint scheme, but clearly some others did. 

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

Thanks for posting these great photos. My one experience in this area was in December 1976 on a Rail Pass trip from Denver. I had arrived in DC after an overnite ride on the train from Montreal. I spent a couple days poking around Washington, before leaving for Atlanta on the Southern Crescent. I recall, as in the photos, seeing GG1s, Amtraks and Es from the Southern.

Again, thanks for taking the time to post these photos and helping with me with a trip down memory lane.

Randy in PHX

The first Turbo shown is the one Amtrak acquired from CN.  I’m curious as to what brought the RDC to Ivy City....I don’t remember Amtrak ever operating Budd Cars from DC.

Dave

Roadjob Wrote:

> Got to love the nerds of this hobby.

According to the general population, that would be all of us!