These two images were taken only a couple months, but many thousands of miles apart, back in 1982. I didn't write down the date on the first, but it had to be May or June of 1982. The second one was August 3, 1982.Image one is of a B&O GP30 with the almost always nocturnal Georgetown Local running in daylight. This train served the steam plant that heated the White House (in the case of this image then, keeping Ronald Reagan warm).http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=318379Image two is of an SNCF Brissonneau-Lotz BB-63000 at the Nice station. Sort of reminds me of an RS1 (or maybe a Lima Hamilton road switcher).http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=318515I'll be honest... I'd love to go back to both images today... I was 20, stupid, and having a great time.
I enjoyed the first one because I follow politics a little and while I have never been in DC - have heard about almost all of the places described in the picture explanation. The 2nd one is so detailed. Takes a little while to look at everything.
A mini-vacation for me!
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Thanks, Mookie...
Another thing that I remember about both shots is that in both cases I had not expected to see the train (both times pulilng a single car) - and I had this great feeling of happiness to get the shots.
In the first case, I was on a line that saw very little service and in the second case I was travelling with a group that was not going to wait for me to hang out and shoot trains. I didn't think I would get a picture of anything (even the train we were on). We happened to get off the train from Cannes to Nice, and there was that little road switcher waiting to be photographed.
Charles
I can relate to the first photo since I grew up in Foxhall Village which is near the B&O's Georgetown Branch. With the exception of a Washington Chapter NRHS fan trip in 1954 I did little or no photography on that branch, and I can't think why I didn't. Funny thing is I can't place the bridge over the train. I can't recall when the B&O abandoned that branch.
P.S. I also attended GWU; I graduated with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (BME) degree in May, 1950
GWU was a fun place to go to school. I loved it.
The bridge is still in Georgetown, just below the trolley barn (a touch NW of the Francis Scott Key Bridge). It once went all the way across the Potomac, but now only its base here remains.
The line was abandoned in the 1980s.
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