Nostalgia & History > A few items in the B&O yards - Brunswick

Sept 79
Rolling through the Chessie (ex-B&O) yards in Brunswick,Md on an excursion behind Western Maryland F units, passed a few interesting items.
A heavyweight car along with three B&O wood cabooses.
Looked like end of the line for all although I saw a few B&O wood cabooses in service just a couple years before in Ohio.

Gary

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I too remember this trip as it was sponsored by the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the NRHS for the National NRHS Convention in 1979.  The trip began on the Southern Railway using two of their F passenger units, then in the Potomac Yard in Virginia, just south of D.C., the train changed locomotives to now operate on the former B&O.  The Chessie System sent two of their remaining Western Maryland F units over along with the ex-B&O Club Lounge car #3302 "Edward G. Hooper" from Railroad Passenger Cars (RRP) and the train then ran up to Baltimore's Camden Station where the train turned on the Wye Track near the station.  Then the train headed up the "Old Main Line" of the B&O to Brunswick, then Harpers Ferry, W.V. where most passengers spent the afternoon.  The train itself went up to Martinsburg and was turned on a Wye nearby, then back to Washington over the Metropolitan Line of the B&O.  This turned out to be the last time the WM F units operated in excursion service.  In the first photo one can see the two WM units and the former B&O car behind those units. 
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Great stuff

I guess termites on steroids!!!

Gary

Posted from iPhone

What treasures could be found then! Well-done set.
Bob

Amazing WM F's still around in 1979.
Interesting and gritty yard scenes.
Thanks for the intriguing photo posting.
ALLEN

I remember that train when it passed us going into Camden to turn. i was working a Locust Point yard job, we were on our way to work an industry. If I remember correctly this may have been the trip where one of the F units had a problem and crapped out. Last time i saw a WM F unit in service.
CR

WM1977 Wrote:
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> I remember that train when it passed us going into
> Camden to turn. i was working a Locust Point yard
> job, we were on our way to work an industry. If I
> remember correctly this may have been the trip
> where one of the F units had a problem and crapped
> out. Last time i saw a WM F unit in service.
> CR
You are correct; on the way back late in the afternoon while heading down to D.C. a traction motor caught fire on the lead F unit which the train crew was able to extinguish and the train continued back to Union Station with the 1st unit cut out and the 2nd unit doing all the work.  Right after that trip the lead unit was retired and traded in for new engine.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

The one caboose looks like it caught on fire.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

ClubCar Wrote:
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> You are correct; on the way back late in the
> afternoon while heading down to D.C. a traction
> motor caught fire on the lead F unit which the
> train crew was able to extinguish and the train
> continued back to Union Station

Thanks for the details on this excursion.
After all these years I forget some of the details.
For instance the run to Camden. I found those slides and wondered why did we go there.
I do remember the fire on the traction motor and was very happy the job the one F unit did on the way back to DC.
I was also audio taping some of the excursions and found the radio conversations when we were stopped for the fire and what they decided to do was fun to hear again.
Thanks.
Gary

There was a practice back in the day where wooden cabooses were sometimes burned just to get rid of the wood.
CR