The Georgetown Branch: Gallery: Photos of E.L. "Tommy" Thompson 12/23/2004 - At a B&ORRHS Archives Sorting session back in October I scanned a bunch of photos I found in Tommy Thompson's photo albums. An employee of the B&O and a prolific photographer of trains, his photos are really wonderful. Never a dull moment, and almost always some great action in each photo. These photos are from 5 days. 5/16/1948, 6/6/1948 when a MSME excursion went down the branch, 5/15/1949, 5/22/1949 & 5/30/1951 shots of the Georgetown Junction area. Enjoy!
	58 passing Georgetown Jct. A nice view. Sign to the right reads "RESUME" and has a lantern on top. There is a phone box to the right. Visible in the distance are cars on the Westbound lead which extends from Silver Spring yard to Geo. Jct.
	Back "B+O RR No 26, Eng. 58 - 9 cars, Georgetown Jct., MD, 5/16/1948, f 4.5 - 1/160 (Sun "In")"
	Engine 83 passing Geo. Jct.
	Back "B+O RR No 20, Eng. 83 - 13 cars, Georgetown Jct., MD., 5/16/48, f4.5 - 1/550"
	The Cincinnatian rounds the curve Heading past GB Tommy gets a wave from the engineer.
	Back"B+O RR No 75, Eng. 5301 - 5 cars, Georgetown Jct., MD., 5/16/48, f 4.5 - 1/550"
	MSME Excursion in Washington, DC 6/6/1948. Cabooses C2312, C2250, C1995, C????
	Back "M.S.M.E. Special (B&O), Eng. 4320 2 psgr + 4 caboose, Washin. Freight Yard, 6/6/48, f8 - 1/195"
	B&O mikado Q1c 4320 prepares to depart 6/6/1948, Washington, DC.
	Back "M.S.M.E. Special (B&O), Eng. 4320 2 psgr + 4 caboose, Washin. Freight Yard, 6/6/48, f8 - 1/195"
	4320 pauses in Chevy Chase, MD With Connecticut Ave. in the background, the train rests next to the passing siding and the team tracks (out of frame to the right). T.W. Perry is located in the distance. Weeds are beginning to cover the line already.
	Back "M.S.M.E. Special (B&O), Eng. 4320 - 2 psgr + 4 caboose, Chevy Chase, MD, 6/6/48, f8 - 1/195, Q1c Blw 9/13, Sc 6/51"
	Excursion Photo stop at Dalecarlia Tunnel Heading South down the branch, 4320 backs up into the tunnel for a photo line. The switch lead in the foreground leads to a short siding serving the US Army Map Services building behind. Deliveries of paper, mainly. About a hundred yards behind the photographer, the main will cross the DC Transit Glen Echo trolley line, pass the newly constructed chemical unloading facility here at the reservoir, and continue on into Georgetown. Some may recognize this photo; it was used in "Impossible Challenge" (1 and 2) by Herb Harwood.
	Back M.S.M.E. Special (B&O), Eng 4320 - 2 psgr + 4 caboose, Dalecarlia Tunnel, Geo'n. Br., 6/6/48, f8 - 1/350"
	Excursion pauses again at Fletcher's Boathouse, Wash., DC Just after crossing the 3 bridges over the C&O Canal the train rests next to a weed-covered Canal.
	Back "M.S.M.E. Special (B&O), Eng. 4320, 2 psgr + 4 caboose, Fletcher Flats - Georgetown D.C., 6/6/48, f8 - 1/160"
	Pausing in Georgetown After switching the train around (note coach 4602 in the foreground is no longer coupled to the cabooses), the excursion pauses by some B&O hopper cars (in distance). I wonder if they brought them back up the branch on the return trip. :) I believe The location is the passing siding at the west end of Georgetown Yard.
	Back "M.S.M.E. Special (B&O), Eng 4320 2 psgr + 4 caboose, Georgetown, D.C., 6/6/48, f8 - 1/110"
	The Cincinnatian Heading West past Georgetown Jct.
	Back "B+O RR No. 75, Eng 5304 - 5 cars, Georgetown Jct., MD, 5/15/49, f4.5 - 1/350, verichrome"
	#83 passes the Section House At Georgetown Junction, the passenger train hammers past a string of hoppers waiting on the Westbound Silver Spring lead to the right. This offers the best view of the Section house I've seen. Look at the landscaping! So neat. I also noticed that there are 2 B&O style concrete whistle posts laying on the ground behind the house as well as a keg of spikes(?) next to the wall. Some tie plates are neatly stacked nearby next to some sort of hand carried box. There is a phone box (to the right, in front of the woman) which was, I think, used by crews to phone the dispatcher for clearances, etc. From R.N. Nelson: "That shed was a double section crew shed, with one section gang working east and the other west from there. As a result it had two speeder cars in it. It sat on the site of the Woodside station which burned down in the 1920s. It is where 16th Street crosses the railroad today. The phone both is getting permission to move out from the westbound siding on to the main or for using the crossover. The cars in the background are on the westbound siding, not the team track, which is way out of view on the other side of the railroad."
	Back B+O RR No. 6, Eng No. 83 (82A - 82AX - 84 ) - 15 cars, Georgetown Jct., MD, 5/15/49, f4.5 - 1/350, verichrome"
	82 makes its way West Passing the concrete train phone booth (to the right) for train crews entering the Met. Br. to use.
	Back B+O RR No. 5, Eng No. 82 (82 - 82AX - 84X) - 15 cars, Georgetown Jct., MD, 5/22/1949, f4.5 - 1/350, Verichrome"
	Eng 88 passing GB
	Back "B+O RR No. 5 - Eng. 88 - 88X - 86A, 12 cars (3 bla??ned, a/c holiday), Georgetown Jct., MD., 5/30/51, f 4.5 - 1/440, XX"
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