Pope's Creek Secondary Track
The Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central Railroad to create PennCentral. The merger didn't last long as it shortly went into bankruptcy. Conrail was created to take over portions of PennCentral's freight operations.
The Pope's Creek Secondary goes southbound to the Herbert Secondary which goes to the PEPCO power plant at Chalk Point. It continues south to the PEPCO power plant at Morgantown.
Train control sheets were used to record the movement of trains. The left side records southward trains and the right side records northward trains.
The secondary track is a "dark railroad" which means the railroad operates by train orders. The Secondary is divided into sections called blocks. The first block begins at the switch that connects the secondary with Amtrak track #1.
There is a separate photo for "Begin Bowie Block." The other blocks are BORO, WHITE, WINE, and POPE. Trains were listed with their identification, destination, and engine number(s).
The train dispatcher would tell the train crew how many blocks they had permission to occupy. Crews called the dispatcher tower after they cleared each block.
Southbound train BP121 with engine 7633 left Bowie at 2:40 AM with 14 cars and arrived at BORO at 3:30 AM. The train returned the next day leaving Upper Marlboro at 5:35 AM, arriving Bowie at 6:12 AM. At 6:29, it entered Amtrak's #1 track going southbound to Benning Yard in Washington, DC.
Also, the Chalk Point Turnaround with diesels 6866, 6867, 7635, 3833, and 6870 left the power plant t 101:20 PM and arrived Bowie at 12:05 AM. It left Bowie at 1:55 AM, presumably to Benning Yard. On January 31, Chalk Point pushers 7632 and 7685 assisted engines 237, 53, 238, 405, and 32 to take 111 cars to Chalk Point. The engines had come north the day earlier.
The Pope's Creek Secondary goes southbound to the Herbert Secondary which goes to the PEPCO power plant at Chalk Point. It continues south to the PEPCO power plant at Morgantown.
Train control sheets were used to record the movement of trains. The left side records southward trains and the right side records northward trains.
The secondary track is a "dark railroad" which means the railroad operates by train orders. The Secondary is divided into sections called blocks. The first block begins at the switch that connects the secondary with Amtrak track #1.
There is a separate photo for "Begin Bowie Block." The other blocks are BORO, WHITE, WINE, and POPE. Trains were listed with their identification, destination, and engine number(s).
The train dispatcher would tell the train crew how many blocks they had permission to occupy. Crews called the dispatcher tower after they cleared each block.
Southbound train BP121 with engine 7633 left Bowie at 2:40 AM with 14 cars and arrived at BORO at 3:30 AM. The train returned the next day leaving Upper Marlboro at 5:35 AM, arriving Bowie at 6:12 AM. At 6:29, it entered Amtrak's #1 track going southbound to Benning Yard in Washington, DC.
Also, the Chalk Point Turnaround with diesels 6866, 6867, 7635, 3833, and 6870 left the power plant t 101:20 PM and arrived Bowie at 12:05 AM. It left Bowie at 1:55 AM, presumably to Benning Yard. On January 31, Chalk Point pushers 7632 and 7685 assisted engines 237, 53, 238, 405, and 32 to take 111 cars to Chalk Point. The engines had come north the day earlier.