04-02-29 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Baltimore Belt Freight

In early 2004 I was living in Baltimore City just a half block from the Baltimore Belt Line, famous for its role in main line railroad electrification in the 1890's, which provided me with a convenient opportunity to photograph CSX freight action on its North-South service lane between Florida and New York. Although my interest flagged over the years, back in 2004 I was still willing to leave the scanner on in my apartment and then rush out the door when I heard indication of an approaching train movement. While at the time I didn't have much appreciation for the freight power that was passing by, little did I know that it would only get more dull as the years went on and I had actually photographed some interesting power. You can view the full gallery here ( mirror ).

First up is CSX C44-9W #9035. This was one of 53 C44-9W's delivered to CSX in 1993/94 and actually served as something of a transition between the GE -8 and -9 offerings as these were equipped with the wavy C40-8 trucks. 

Trailing #9035 was SD40-2 #8445, also in the now rare YN2 paint scheme.

Eastbound trains would need to give it their all to ascend the grade up from the Baltimore waterfront to the level of the inland plateau. This is evidenced by the diesel exhaust smoke pouring from the Charles St tunnel after passage of the head end power.

Here we have a light engine move with AC4400 #524 drifting westbound through the cut between Charles and Saint Paul Streets. Not sure if these were returning from a helper job, but such movements were not that uncommon. In 2014 the 1890's stone retaining wall at the left of this photo would collapse after 4 straight days of rain undermined its structural integrity.

Here Conrail SD60I #8763 leads a westbound train down the grade. A Conrail exclusive, these late model SD60's would eventually be retired by CSX and NS in the 2010's.

Emerging from a cloud of its own exhaust smoke, brand new CSX SD70MAC #4727 leads an eastbound train up the grade. #4727 was part of a final batch of 130 tier 1 rated SD70MACs that were purchased in the 2004 time frame. They could be told apart from early SD70MACs via the use of flared radiators that allowed for the intercooler to have a separate cooling loop. Behind #4727 we can see the cab of AC4400 #521.

Back in the 2000's lease units seemed to be much more popular with HLCX SD40-2 #6524 running behind #521.

04-02-21 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Baltimore Light Rail

Way back in 2004 I was still in school and the long winter break afforded me the opportunity to take some time to explore the Baltimore Light Rail system with former Subchat member Dan Lawrence. We rode the full system that day with extra stops at Westport and Bailey's Wye, with additional photos at Baltimore Penn Station. The full set of photos can be found here.

Starting at Baltimore Penn Station we have MARC AEM-7 #4900 sitting on track #5. Before the dilivery of the HHP-8's later that year, MARC had been using a small fleet of 4 AEM-7's purchased in the 1986 to haul a number of heaver peak period express trainsets. The fleet always seemed to have availability problems and after the HHP-8's arrived they seemed to disappear entirely and after a proposed rebuild went nowhere in the mid-2010's they were treated to a stealth retirement.

On the other side of the coin is Amtrak's ultimate AEM-7 #953, the last of seven additional AEM-7's ordered in 1987 to supplement its original order of 47 units. None of this second batch were rebuilt into AEM-7ACs and would generally be shifted over to Keystones and other short trains due to their lower continuous horsepower and tractive effort ratings. 

An interesting quirk of Baltimore Penn Station is the turnout between the #7 and 'F' tracks, midway down the Track 6/7 platform as part of CHARLES interlocking. This places a pair of cantilevered PRR pedestal type signals adjacent to the platform as well. Due to the presence of an interlocked exit signal at the mouth of the B&P tunnels and an intermediate pedestal signal on track #7, the 7S signal on the cantilever will often display Approach Slow after a departed train.

 Skipping ahead a few days to the light rail trip here we find LRV #5043 at the Cromwell terminal at the southern end of the line. Today the Cromwell terminal is double track along with the entire rest of the line.

A few stops to the North, this B&P CPL distant signal stands next to a former glassmaking factory adjacent to the Westport light rail station. The (APP) plate indicates the signal is a distant for CARROLL on the otherwise unsignaled South Baltimore Industrial track. Equipped onto to display a fixed yellow \ Approach indication, the signal did not appear to have any ability to light up. Remarkably, the glassworks was demolished only a few years later while the old CPL mast remains standing in 2022, nearly a decade after the other CPLs in the area were removed.

At BAILEYS WYE a duo of brand new CSX SD70MAC's, #4745 and #4739, pas by at the head of a southbound intermodal train. Soon EMD would be divested by General Motors and would switch over to its new cost reduced "ugly" cab with the rollout of the SD70ACe and SD70M-2. In 2022 CSX is slowly converting its fleet of SD70MAC's to something akin to an SD70ACC.

The northern extreme of the light rail system at Hunt Valley with LRV #5041. At the time the Hunt Valley shopping center was a desolate wasteland with a large empty parking lot between the light rail station and a raft of closed buildings. Today the area has been redeveloped with a large variety of trendy shopping and eating locations filling much of the former car habitat.

One additional thing that isn't there anymore, the gauntlet track on track #2 at New Carrollton station that would allow freight trains to better clear the high level platform. The decline in NEC freight traffic from the early 1980's rendered the gauntlet unnecessary as freight trains could just use track #1 that had no platform at all. The New Carrollton gauntlet was removed shortly thereafter.

I also wanted to give a shout out to Dan Lawrence (left) who was nice enough to travel with me that day and who devoted countless hours helping out at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. He unfortunately began to suffer from cognitive issues and passed away several years ago. His knowledge and dedication will be missed.