Vintage Pre-Chessie B&O Slides - Digitized

[IronBeltKen]

Hi gang,

I don't have any professional railroad experience - but I sure chased a lot of trains on the B&O throughout Maryland in the summers of 1971-72! My father gave me an old Voigtlander 35mm camera of his, which I immediately pressed into service for RR photography and got a modest collection of Kodachrome color slides. These sat in boxes in various attics over a 20-year period, and many were heat- and mold-damaged when I finally decided to retrieve them a few years back. I picked out some of the ones that were at least somewhat usable, and submitted them to ScanCafe - who captured them into JPEG images for a reasonable fee. I'll throw a few of them on here to start, and if y'all like them, I'll keep posting one or two more each day.

Here's a few of an SD9 I saw working Curtis Bay Yard (Baltimore MD) in the early summer of 1972:

These are tough to replicate as models due to the single fuel tank and the wide-open space under the frame - if you want powered units, that is. To replicate that open space, you'd need to mill away part of the underlying metal chassis where the motor is attached!

 

[Bill Anderson]

Do you have more old B&O photos? I graduated from Washington State University (Go Cougs!) in 1972. I think it was my senior year (1971-72) when I found a photo book of the B&O in the college library and it became my favorite eastern railroad.

I finally got a chance to see the old B&O rails in the spring of 1990(?) when my family and I rode the train from Chicago to Rockville, MD and back whle on vacation to Washington, DC. The highlight of the trip was sitting in an old Northern Pacific dome car as we went over Sandpatch Grade. A Chessie System engineer was siting next to me and filled me in on some of the details of the line.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Do you have more old B&O photos? I graduated from Washington State University (Go Cougs!) in 1972. I think it was my senior year (1971-72) when I found a photo book of the B&O in the college library and it became my favorite eastern railroad.

I finally got a chance to see the old B&O rails in the spring of 1990(?) when my family and I rode the train from Chicago to Rockville, MD and back whle on vacation to Washington, DC. The highlight of the trip was sitting in an old Northern Pacific dome car as we went over Sandpatch Grade. A Chessie System engineer was siting next to me and filled me in on some of the details of the line.

Hi Bill, that's a pretty cool story - I hope Amtrak will still be doing cross-country rail service when I retire, I'd love to ride on the "Sunburst Trail to Chicago" myself.

When my family moved to Maryland from Michigan in 1968, the classic B&O Blue&Gray locos were long gone (repainted actually), but I still loved the dark blue with yellow trim since they reminded me of my previous home railroad, the C&O. [I didn't learn until a few years later that C&O had merged with B&O, hence the similarity of paint schemes.]

 

[IronBeltKen]

Here is photo installment #2. Since I have my images named according to loco road numbers, I'll be posting pics starting from the lowest numbered units (SD9's) and cycling up thru the 9700's (FM H-10-44's). One more thing - most - but not all - of the pics will be of First-generation units since they were disappearing fast during these days and I wanted to make sure to capture as many of those as possible on film.

Actually, even though this is an earlier numbered unit than what I posted yesterday [and a poor-quality photo at that], I'm posting it anyway since it was a delightful surprise to find it there since it was more than a year since Amtrak had eliminated passenger service on the B&O. It's an ex-C&O E8, #1462, beside the Cumberland, MD roundhouse in July 1972. (I learned later that it was most likely providing steam to the roundhouse.)

I especially liked the yellow pilot, which I think only the ex-C&O E units had - it added a nice touch of color t the otherwise simple dark blue-and-grey passenger scheme. I wound up modeling one of its sister units, #1460, also with the yellow pilot.

Back to our regular program, here is another shot of an SD9 - #1838, working Curtis Bay Yard in Baltimore in August 1972. This one's an oddball, there are two spotting features that make her look different compared to the rest of the B&O's dynamic-brake-equipped SD9 roster:

First, the frame stripe is narrow - not fat like all the others I've seen. Next was the sheet metal cover that was welded over the 'gap' area between the single fuel tank and the air reservoirs. That second feature made it possible for me to detail an accurate model of a B&O SD9 with dynamics since I didn't need to carve out the bottom of the frame.

That'll be the final SD9 photo I post on here, tomorrow we'll be into the 3500 series - GP35's.

 

[Bob]

Nice work, those look good! Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Bob]

Do you have more old B&O photos? I graduated from Washington State University (Go Cougs!) in 1972. I think it was my senior year (1971-72) when I found a photo book of the B&O in the college library and it became my favorite eastern railroad.

I finally got a chance to see the old B&O rails in the spring of 1990(?) when my family and I rode the train from Chicago to Rockville, MD and back whle on vacation to Washington, DC. The highlight of the trip was sitting in an old Northern Pacific dome car as we went over Sandpatch Grade. A Chessie System engineer was siting next to me and filled me in on some of the details of the line.

That is pretty cool! I've ridden over Sandpatch numerous times but never in a dome. Was Amtrak still running them then? I rode from Chicago to Pittsburgh on Amtrak and we had a dome. I think that train continued to Harrisburg and Philadelphia. But they did have a train, the Cardinal maybe, that ran to Baltimore.

 

[Bill Anderson]

I believe the train I rode to and from Washington DC was the Capitol Limited. The other train between Chicago and DC was the Cardinal, which ran farther south through West Virginia.

The trip was in the spring of 1990(?) and the train consisted of old, pre-Superliner equipment. We were staying in the rear sleeping car when we left Chicago. The car was roasting as the heating system was malfunctioning and we could hardly sleep. The conductor propped open the rear door to let in cool, fresh air, which was illegal of course.

The dome car was an old NP car complete with a separate heater for keeping the dome warm during the winter. The dome windows had been coated with Lexan to guard against rocks being thrown at it, which was quite common in those days as trains passed through bad sections of town. The Lexan had clouded up due to exposure to the sun, so the view was not the greatest.

Highlight on the return trip was passing through a double track tunnel along the Potomac River at night. Once again we were in the rear car. While we were in the tunnel I looked out the window of the rear door just as a freight passed up going the opposite direction. The headlight from the engine lit up the entire tunnel.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Happy Saturday evening! Time for a few more images out of my modest slide collection. Following the [roster] numerical sequence, the next two will be from the 3500 series, plus one from the 3800's.

You're probably wondering, what about the series in-between (36- thru 3700's)? They were the GP40's and I never felt any desire to photograph those. Why? Because they were replacing the F7's which I loved, and they were everywhere. The increasing scarcity of first generation locos is what motivated me to capture those on film.

However, there was another reason for my dislike of the GP40s: I was trying to capture sound recordings of 1st-gen geeps and F units, using the only equipment available to a cash-challenged teenager - a Sony cassette recorder. Not exactly cutting-edge sound technology, but to my untrained ears the recordings still sounded halfway decent! But I digress... The main thing that I didn't like about 2nd-generation EMD power was the turbochargers - those overwhelmed the sound of the prime mover exhaust and made the locos sound [IMHO] like giant vacuum cleaners whenever I attempted to record them.

I'd been recording trains since the summer of 1971 and didn't have my humble camera until the following year. Due to my schedule as a high school student, most of the mainline action I saw occurred at night, during which I could capture the sounds but not the sight. This is why most of my loco photos are stationary shots that I got while they were parked at Riverside engine terminal. Oftentimes I would learn what train they would be going on, then - several hours later, after dark - go to a spot with a decent grade where the 567 prime movers were likely to be barking!

Enough of that, now here are today's photos. One reason I took shots of GP35's was because there weren't very many of them - compared with the GP40's anyway. On top of that, Athearn made what I thought was a fairly decent rendition of the GP35. The first shot shows a side view of #3548 parked at Riverside near the roundhouse:

Next, we have a left side front-angle view of #3552 on the Riverside fuel track. Looks like whoever did the refueling had trouble finding the spout:

Last but certainly not least - I got a snapshot of #3831, a GP38. I discovered early on that the prime movers on these locos were normally-aspirated, meaning they "barked" the way the 1st-generation units did. And I was able to get decent sound recordings of them even using my amateur-level technology!

(This photo has mold damage in the upper right corner. Sadly, most of my slides from this period had a lot more damage than this and were beyond repair...)

That partial glimpse of trailing unit #4546 provides a perfect segue into my next set of images: the F-units!

 

[CGW101c]

It is really cool to see pics from those years. I too recorded sounds and dealt with the EMD overwhelming sounds. I wanted to record CGW F's but didn't have a decent field recorder until 1972. F's were hard to find or a long way away. I still record today using a digital machine, but I have many copies of the only 2- F3 recordings that remind me of their original sound from the 1950's and 60's. Here is picture of a CB&Q SD9 with a branchline fuel tank that I did 30 or years ago. I just melted the motor mounts with a soldering iron as high as I dared after cutting away the fuel tank. I am going make it DCC and sound later this year. Thanks for sharing the "vintage" pictures.

 

[IronBeltKen]

It is really cool to see pics from those years. I too recorded sounds and dealt with the EMD overwhelming sounds. I wanted to record CGW F's but didn't have a decent field recorder until 1972. F's were hard to find or a long way away. I still record today using a digital machine, but I have many copies of the only 2- F3 recordings that remind me of their original sound from the 1950's and 60's. Here is picture of a CB&Q SD9 with a branchline fuel tank that I did 30 or years ago. I just melted the motor mounts with a soldering iron as high as I dared after cutting away the fuel tank. I am going make it DCC and sound later this year. Thanks for sharing the "vintage" pictures.

Now THAT is one cool-looking "single-tank" SD9! Were you able to keep the motor in it using only two of the four mounts...or are you just making it a sound-only unit?

 

[CGW101c]

Was able to keep the motor in and it pulls very well. All 4 mounts are there, I just melted 2 of them into a mushroom shape that holds them against the frame. They stick down a little, but when on the layout you don’t see under there. Here is a view of the cutout area. Also when I look at the first photo I realize how much cleaning of the non-weathering needs to done after 30 years.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Looks like the motors in the older Athearn models sit up higher than they do in the P2K chassis, where they are more recessed. I'll have to take another look at one of my older P2K models (where it would be less of a disaster if I screw it up).

 

[IronBeltKen]

The next digitized slides in my collection are the 4500 series, i.e. the F7's.

If I were to tell the whole story of why these EMD carbody units were special to me, it would fill an entire chapter in a novel. Let's just say it all started at age 8 when I saw an AA set of Lionel F3's in Santa Fe garb on my best friend's layout, then seeing the 1:1 scale version on the NYC wearing the solid black "cigar band" scheme. My home town of Farmington, MI wasn't anywhere close to a railroad so I rarely saw trains except when my family traveled more than a 5-mile radius away from our home. Until age 6 I had occasionally seen GP9's on the C&O when we lived in Livonia, but not much else. So F units were what I believed to be the typical locomotive used by contemporary railroads.

It wasn't until age 12 that I saw, for the very first time, an F7 consisted with a GP9 on the C&O...I had NEVER known they could be "mixed-and-matched" like that! After we moved to Maryland the following year, we spent the first six months living in a Rockville apartment within sight of the B&O Metropolitan Subdivision - and I got to see a huge number of the "covered wagons" consisted with hood units. At that point I decided that when I got rich enough to have a model railroad, it would have lots of F7s and geeps on it.

Shortly after I got my drivers license and was able to chase trains on my own, one of my railfan friends informed me that the B&O and other RR's were getting rid of their F units for the newer GP30's and GP40's - sacrilege! From then on I was always keeping an eye out for F7's, and considered it a rare treat when I saw one in action. I soon learned that they were often used as helpers in the Howard Street Tunnel under downtown Baltimore, and if I visited the B&O's Riverside loco terminal, I might see them parked there and find out when they were scheduled to run.

Here is #4547 which I was able to capture as it sat ready to depart from Curtis Bay Yard with a train of empty coal cars destined for Brunswick. This was what I considered to be a typical "vanilla" B&O F7 with the horizontal louvers and no winterization hatch, that most closely resembled the blue-box Athearn body shell. The only thing slightly different about it was the small Capitol Dome logo on the nose - an attribute that led me to decorate a 1:87 Stewart model of this unit:

This next [slightly mold-damaged] image shows #4597, which I spotted at Riverside on a rainy afternoon shortly after it had dropped off a Locust Point grain train. Looks like one of the newer Phase III units, with vertical-slitted louvres and a winterization hatch. If it weren't for the accumulated filth covering the sill stripe, I might have thought it looked like a freshly-painted unit:

...and that is all I have time to share tonite, I post a few more of 'em on here tomorrow...cheers!

 

[CGW101c]

Ahh! F-units, covered wagons....the best, thanks.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Alright, today I'm continuing with the F7 photos. As with many of my slides, there's a personal story behind the first one.

#4604 is an "oddball" unit, one of only two B&O F7's that I've ever seen equipped with a GN-style snowplow pilot. I'd managed to get a spectacular sound recording of its sister, 4603, as it led a string of emty coal hoppers westbound up the grade at Sykesville, MD, ~one month before Hurricane Agnes' floods ravaged the Old Main Line and put its future temporarily in doubt. A friend was with me and got photos of the train as it passed.

...or so I thought; the photo I really wanted, the head-on view of #4603 with the snowplow, did NOT turn out! My disappointment led me to become obsessed with having another chance to get it on film; I remember calling a few different B&O phone numbers in my quest to track it down, to no avail. But later that summer, I was hanging out at North Avenue tower with the 3rd trick operator, waiting for some trains to come up thru the tunnel with helpers so I could record them. I overheard a voice among the radio chatter about "<..something..> 4604" and thought, "Hmmm...that's one increment away from 4603, could this one possibly be identical?"

That train was due to arrive at Curtis Bay around 5am, so I headed over there to get a look and - sure enough - it had a snowplow on it! The light angle wasn't so great, but there was nothing I could do to change that. And there was no focus-thru-the-viewfinder on that primitive camera of mine, so I had to make an educated guess about the distance. But at least I DID get a usable shot of it:

(There are a few much-better quality images of this engine on George Elwood's site)

I did end up kitbashing a model of this one, too, btw...

Next, here's #4607, a plain-Jane Phase III unit:

I don't remember where I was when I shot this one, or why I don't also have a JPG of the adjacent #4524[?]. (Probably one of the vast number of slides that did NOT survive the harsh attic storage environments over the years...)

And here is my last image from the 4500-4600 series, #4608, at the Riverside fueling track:

Essentially an identical twin of her sister 4607 - faded and filthy, with primer peeking thru the peeling blue paint. This was how 90% of the B&O's F7s looked in 1972...kinda sad.

 

[CGW101c]

I would like hear some of the recordings, as I am into the sounds of old EMD's. Any possibility of sending them to dropbox? I haven't tried posting sound files here but I don't think it will work.

 

[Bob]

Oddly, I've never given much thought to the late era B&O paint scheme on carbody units. Rather plain and boring, isn't it?

Everyone else had "bow waves" or stripes, or feathers, or "pine trees" Nope, not B&O. Keep it simple and clean.

Of course that was probably a cost cutting measure at this point. The early schemes were quite nice, here's a sample:

 

[IronBeltKen]

I would like hear some of the recordings, as I am into the sounds of old EMD's. Any possibility of sending them to dropbox? I haven't tried posting sound files here but I don't think it will work.

Much as I'd love to do just that, those tape cassettes are LONG gone. They wound up in the attic of my parents' house when I enlisted in the Navy, and I temporarily forgot all about trains during that period. When I tried to find them a few years later, they were nowhere to be found. Of course they probably would have sounded crappy by then anyhow...that attic could heat up like an oven during the summertime!

 

[IronBeltKen]

Oddly, I've never given much thought to the late era B&O paint scheme on carbody units. Rather plain and boring, isn't it?
. . .

Bob, that's absolutely correct...but on the other side of the coin, it makes them very easy for me to paint and decal!

 

[Burlington Bob]

There's benefits to everything!