Nostalgia & History > Missing those moments in a simpler time.

More scans, more memories, and more nostalgia. Having the hindsight of railfanning since the early sixties, longevity gives me the breathing room to pout. More precisely, to brag about a time when railroading offered so much more. It also lets me ponder what had happened if I actually was able to hire on to the B&O back then, and where my life would have ended up at this point. Just mental wandering at this point, but, life turns out how you want it to, and I'm happy... so enjoy today. It is the gift that is here now. Happy Thanksgiving!! A few odds and ends for today.

just a few monuments to another time.

top...the roundhouse at Hagerstown

middle...coaling towers. Did not see them in action, but always marveled at their immensity. Grafton West Virginia

bottom... Baltimore Street Cumberland. Operators with green and yellow flags to wave trains into and out of town

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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top...grabbing orders at Viaduct Jct. Cumberland

middle...the B&O/EL crossing at Sterling Ohio

bottom...imagining what this was like when they really needed an underpass

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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top...using trackside phones

middle...Pullman Jct. in 1970

bottom...FM switchers in Baltimore

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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Great bunch of images. I always enjoy the shots you post but, I particularly like the Sterling shot.

Kim Heusel

Beautifully stated and portrayed in you images Bill !  Keep on Pouting and Posting. We Love It ! Really like the Alco Switcher grabbing orders at "ND". Could be the Kelly Springfield Job ?

Outstanding images and they really set the mood of scenes.

Roadjob Wrote:
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> middle...Pullman Jct. in 1970

Thank you for posting.
Looks like a Peru (Ind.) bound C&O 
waiting to leave the Rock and get on the C&WI.

Reminds one of the variety of routing once available
in the Chicago Terminal.
 

What a (another) great set of images !

Gary

Thanks as always Bill for all your great memorable photos from the past especially those B&O and Western Maryland photos.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Nice set of shots!

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Great stuff.

Really like the Sterling Ohio shot.   Does he have the sanders on, or is that brake dust?

Yes sir! It was called the Industrial Job, and served Kelly Springfield and the Celanes plant further down Rt. 220. Now site of a prison...progress huh?!

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/22 08:40 by Roadjob.

All great shots. Really like the 3rd one. Got to see that flagging shack and operators in the early 80s. Brought back good memories. Thanks for the post.

A great series of the past that won't come back. Thanks for posting these quality shots. 

Robert Morris
Dunsmuir, CA
Robert Morris Photography

Outstanding photos from a better time, for sure.

Matthew

Seeing the roundhouse with all the doors closed just screams "winter".
Near where I worked right out of high school was a crossing in a town with a watchman. Despite automatic gates and flashers, a hunched over old man, would hobble out of his shanty and walk to the center of the street and hold his stop sign until the trains would would roll to a stop, commuters climb aboard or disembark from the 1/2 hourly trains, one inbound and one outbound, and then hobble back into his shelter when the gates went up after the trains departed. You could set your watch to this performance! But it was only a 9-5 job so the rest of the day and night you were on your own to stop at the gates! Featherbedding at its best.
Go

Thanks for another great series on the more interesting days along the rail. Brought back my memories of growing up with the SP and Santa Fe. Happy Thanksgiving!

Larry

Thanks for another great look back Bill, I love the scenes at Sterling and Pulllman Jct. Of course, the old, old heads would say railroading was in decline by the 60s/70s but your photos show a lot has still been lost since then, and it's never coming back. Makes one wonder how sanitized and soul-less railroading will look like in another 40 or 50 years?

JG

Roadjob Wrote:
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> middle...the B&O/EL crossing at Sterling Ohio

Man, the times I stood on those stairs at RU (Sterling), what memories. Good stuff here Bill.
 

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

Priceless!
Bob