When I first started grad school in Baltimore I managed to secure a low cost apartment about half a block away from the Baltimore Belt Line, the 1890's link between the B&O's original network and a new expansion t Philadelphia. Known for being the site of the first main line railroad electrification in the world, it features stiff grades and several tunnels to get trains from sea level at Camden Yards up to the more inland elevations. For the first few months I was there and before the novelty eventually wore off, I would use my scanner to get just enough advance warning of approaching trains to run the cut and grab some photos. The following set of photos ( mirror ) covers this period of time.
So something I didn't notice for years was the prevalence of CSX AC6000 locomotives on whatever "service lane" the Philly Sub was a part of. Ultimately part of a failed Y2K era fad in super horsepower diesels, CSX came away with the largest fleet of full power AC6000's with 117 units. At the time they looked like every other bland GE AC4400 or C4x-9W so I just filed them under "typical GE" and only noticed all the photos of them years later when I was reviewing my old photos. Here #5001 emerges from the Calvert St tunnel and into the cut between St. Paul and Charles streets. CSX #5011 also happened to sport a special "diversity" scheme, which in typical CSX fashion consisted of a rather minimalist patch on each side of the long hood.
This was also the tail end of the era when standard cab -2 era engines
were regularly seen on road freights. Behind #5001 was lease BN SD40-2
#8161 and CSX SD40-2 #8055.
The very next train I managed to get a photo of was also led by an AC6000, in this case #688. If one is unable to look up the roster, one can tell the difference by the larger radiator, twin stack exhaust and yellow long hood CSX lettering outlined in blue. Behind #688 was a fairly new AC4400 #75 still in its original livery with a gray long hood and blue lettering.
As this was only 4 years removed from the Conrail break-up, it was still possible to catch Conrail painted locomotives in the wild, such as SD60I #8722. The small batch of "whisper cab" SD60I's were loved by crews, but were ultimately excessed by both CSX and NS.
Adjacent to HUNTINGDON AVE interlocking and its B&O CPL's, were a bunch of rusting box cars that had been involved in the Howard Street tunnel fire of 2001 and had yet to be removed/scrapped due to ongoing insurance litigation.
I also got my first taste of the Baltimore Light Rail, walking over the bridge to the North Ave station. This was also when I became aware of the Baltimore Streetcar museum by literally seeing it from said North Ave bridge.
