Page:Brunswick 100 Years of Memories.pdf/49

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tracks for eastbound boarding is no more. Immediately in front of the westbound station are the

switches, or "crossovers," which freight trains coming out of the yard behind the round house would thread through to get back onto the Westbound Main track. In the area under the Route 17 highway bridge was the icing platforms where refrigerator cars for perishabies were pre-iced or re-iced. Somewhat to the west were pens where carloads of livestock would be unloaded for feed, water, and rest while in transit. Moving on westward one would again encounter a yard layout just opposite to that at the east end of town. In tum, the Eastbound Classification Yard, Eastbound Hump, and Eastbound Receiving Yard. Here trains from the west were yarded, and dispatched. Much of this area later became the Brunswick Car Yard where rail cars were repaired, rebuilt, or dismantled. While that operation has ceased, the tracks contain strings of out-of-service rolling stock. The tracks taper down to four at Knoxville and then to two at Weverton, where, just west beyond the junction of the Washington County Branch to Hagerstown, was another "Yard Limit" sign marking the western end of Brunswick Yard.

96's, with one or more sections being forwarded to each of the terminals, so that there would be a N ew York 96and a Pot Yard 96, for example. Westbound freights were 93' s and 97' s. Local freight trains fanned out from Brunswick to Hagerstown, Frederick, Washington, Old Main line, and the "Valley." No one had to say Shenandoah Valley, it was simply the Valley. Other jobs frequently handled solid stone trains from Millville, West Virginia. At one time, B&O had a branch line from Engle, West Virginia, into Bakerton which also generated stone traffic. Crews from Brunswick would be called for the "Bakerton Digger," as the job was known, alluding to the mineral nature of the commodity. There was also a local operating between Brunswick and Cumberland. At some time it had been given the unusual name of "The Dirty Shirt." B&O was an aggressive and competitive freight hauler. In the 1940's they fostered a program known as "Sentinel Service" which watched over cars in transit and advised shipper and consignee of any trouble enroute. A group of box cars painted blue and gray advertised this service. B&O also initiated an expedited freight schedule, calling the fast trains "Timesavers." As the intermodal movement got underway, B&Oprovided their "TOFCEE" (TrailerOn-Flat-Car) Service. Its logo carried the legend - "Linking 13 Great States With The Nation" - and B&O did that job very well.

W-BRH

B&O FREIGHT SERVICE

W - BRH

While passenger service was important to Brunswick, freight was its real reason for being. The movement was constant - 24 hours a day - seven days a week - with freight trains arriving and departing, switchers working on the flats, and the roundhouse always a beehive of activity as engines were readied for the next run. One of the reasons for locating the yards at Brunswick was so that freight could be delivered quickly to the major eastern markets which B&O served - Washington/Potomac Yard, Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, and New York. Trains departing here in late afternoon or early evening could easily reach those points, assuring customer delivery the following morning. In the reverse direction, freight from those cities moving westward would arrive in Brunswick during late night or early morning. After humping and reclassification, movement would continue with traffic from the several origin areas being combined here to move out to a new group of destinations. Trains are given odd numbers when traveling north and west, and even numbers moving east and south. B&0' s regular eastbounds were 94' s and

B&O PASSENGER TRAINS A timetable issued by the B&O on April 25, 1948, lists seven trains from Washington to Brunswick. Two were weekday commuter locals terminating here and the other five could be boarded for points west, such as Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, and Parkersburg. There were also seven eastbounds, two of them the locals. Other passenger trains then originated in Brunswick for Hagerstown and Frederick, Maryland, and Strasburg, Virginia. While this was still fairly decent service, it was just a shadow of that provided here years earlier. There were also numerous trains operating through Brunswick which did not stop here. Between Washington and Chicago, the flagship of B&O's east-west passenger fleet was "The Capitol Limited" (Numbers 5 and 6), offering the best rail service between those points. It was an all-Pullman train with blue and gray streamlined equipment in its later years. Other trains on the Chicago run were

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