B&O car float across Potomac

The B&O used to have a car float from the riverside terminal of its Shepherd branch, across the Potomac to the Potomac Landing at Alexandria, south of downtown.

It opened in 1874 and passenger service lasted only one year, but freight handling continued until the Potomac Yard was opened in 1906.

This operation was apparently a well-kept secret, and one suggestion as to why the B&O didn't mention it in its timetables and literature was because it was still charging freight shippers the toll over Potomac Bridge at Washington!

Does anyone know if any photos survive of it?

It was hardly a secret, since during that period it was the B&O's only direct connection with what became the Southern Ry.'s mainline into the South. And for all practical purposes, the Southern line (which B&O controlled for several years after the Civil War) was B&O's ONLY rail route into the South on the East Coast. The PRR had control of the Potomac River bridge (called the Long Bridge), and owned what later became the north end of the RF&P between Quantico and the Potomac -- and it pointedly excluded the B&O from using this route. So the story about bridge tolls on the Potomac either is untrue, or were tolls imposed by the PRR to make the bridge too expensive for the B&O to use.

The carferry route was strictly a freight operation, however. Beyond a feeble effort in the first year, as noted, the B&O never tried to operate through passenger service over the route. In fact, once the PRR took control of the Potomac bridge and the rail line to Richmond, the B&O never attempted any through passenger service to any points in the South. Even after 1906, when the PRR finally allowed the B&O to use the Long Bridge and its line through Washington and Arlington to reach Potomac Yard, the B&O stayed out of the North-South passenger market -- probably by agreement.

I believe the Steamship Historical Society library at the Univ. of Baltimore has a photo of one of the B&O tugs on the river, but I've never seen anything more than that.

I have two questions to add to this thread.

Where was the Virginia side facilities that where the B&O's car floats docked and off loaded? At the present site of the Mirant (formerly Pepco) Alexandria generating station or in the present right of way of I-495/95 ( Wilson Bridge approach) The reason I ask is that I worked with some old drawings of the Mount Vernon Highway and it shows a rail line there in 1932 with wharfs at the river. The Alexandria waterfront was pretty industrial at one time.

My other question is the temporary WWII bridge location. Did it cross from the B&O at Sheppards Landing to meet the Southern at the Mirant Generating station or somewhere farther to the south. At times when the river is very low a line a parallel pilings can be seen from Sheppards point almost across to the main channel. They are also marked on navigation charts.

Thanks

Tony

"Trackbolt"
I have two questions to add to this thread. . . .

The Bridge crossed at the narrowest point between what is now The Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant and 2nd Street in Alexandria. As to the location of the car float slips, that one I don’t know, I would hazard a guess they were in the same area.

The track you saw on the Mount Vernon Highway drawings, those were the tracks that served the Alexandria water front that connected to the Southern Railway Alexandria Yard by way of Wilkes Street. The Wilkes Street tunnel still exists to this day;
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ne=6636534 and http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ne=1117293
The tracks were still in place in the mid 1970s and once connect to the existing tracks at the power plant by way of Union Street

The only thing cooler than seeing an ABBA set of EMD F-7's is hearing and ABBA set of EMD F-7's.

I am rather partial to the look and sound of a set of EMD SD40-2T climbing the Tehachapi grade.

Thanks John,

I am familiar with the Willkes Street Tunnel. I saw one of the last frieghts through there in 1976. A lone Southern GP-38 and about eight or ten boxcars of newsprint. It seemed like within a couple of months they yanked the tracks.
But that is not the area that I am referring to. This was a straight track which passed under Washington Street where the present right Wilson Bridge approach on I-495 is today. If you face the river the old cemetary will be on your left. I had worked in this area since the early 70's and never saw any traces of rail facilities between the old Ford motor plant and Jones Point. Track from the Wilkes Street section entered the Ford Plant. I never saw anything down river from that. There are many old foundations and dry dock walls present. Alexandria was congested and I was wondering where there would be enough room on the river to yard the cars for a float operation. I figured that it might have been there. If one could find an old map from the first quarter of the 20th century that would be of help. I might try give it on the Southern Railway forum.

Thanks

Tony

The old BO car float is shown on this Mapquest USGS map:

http://historical.maptech.com/getImage. ... g&state=DC

The VA side was at the riverside end of Wilkes St, as far as I can figure.

This map also shows the local Washington to Alexandria passenger service, with intermediate stations and its own Alexandria terminal, before the interurban took all that traffic.

Interesting depiction of the WOD in its steam days too, when it was the "Washington, Ohio & Western".

Thank you salminkarkku for answering this historical question.

Digging through other maps at Maptech will aid in solving other historical mysteries.

Imagine that! Thanks!! I woulda never figured.

Tony

Trackbolt wrote: But that is not the area that I am referring to. This was a straight track which passed under Washington Street where the present right Wilson Bridge approach on I-495 is today. If you face the river the old cemetary will be on your left. I had worked in this area since the early 70's and never saw any traces of rail facilities between the old Ford motor plant and Jones Point. Track from the Wilkes Street section entered the Ford Plant. I never saw anything down river from that. There are many old foundations and dry dock walls present.

My 1943 USGS topo map of the Washington area shows what appears to be an industrial spur of the Southern running south from Wilkes St. to Hunting Creek, with a siding into a large building on the waterfront about midway along it -- your Ford plant, I assume. At this time there didn't appear to be any industry south of this plant, so the balance of the line most likely was just used as a tail track for switching the plant.

I then dug out my 1929 topo of the same area and see that the spur existed then and, in fact, extended farther west along Hunting Creek to serve something right on the shore a short distance east of the US Rt. 1 bridge (a sewage plant?), crossing (with a connecting track) the Mt. Vernon interurban line. The Ford plant (?) wasn't there then, but at that time there was some facility on Jones Point served by multiple sidings. I have no info on when the line was built or dismantled, but maybe the Southern group has come to your rescue on that.

As long as we're dissecting historic Alexandria rail lines, I should throw in this tidbit: The original line between Alexandria and Washington -- the Alexandria & Washington RR -- followed the east side of the Washington Turnpike (now US 1), entering Alexandria itself on St. Asaph St. and terminating at a passenger station located on the north side of Princess St. between St. Asaph and Pitt Sts. Before the Civil War there was no connection between the A&W and the two other railroads entering the city. But when the military took over the A&W, it built a connection to the Orange & Alexandria which shows on the 1885 (date correct?) topo. The PRR moved in after the war and by the early 1870s had absorbed the A&W and built the A&F to Quantico to connect with the RF&P. When it did, it built a line parallel to the one built by the USMRRs through the center of Alexandria and relocated the passenger station to Cameron St.

The freight and passenger stations of the W&OD's predecessor (originally the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire) were located on the north side of Princess St. east of Fairfax St. The passenger station, which also originally housed the company offices, was demolished in the 1930s, I think, but the brick freight station survived into the 1950s.

BaltOhio,

Thanks. The drawings on which I had origionally seen this spur were copies of the origional landscape plans from the 1932 construction of the George Washington Memorial Parkway from Memorial Circle to the City of Alexandria and the Mount Vernon Highway from The City of Alexandria to Mount Vernon. I work for the National Park Service.
I had always figured that it was where the car float was docked and it led west to Southern's old yard near Duke Street. I remember the line being labled as Southern Railway "Industrial Track" on the drawing.
Another cool thing on those drawings was the nursery plant unloading facility along the parkway. This spur was located in the vicinity where the old RF&P Piggyback Yard used to be but was not far off of the parkway. It showed the rather long spur comming off of Potomac Yard. I once saw a slide presentation of some very large balled and burlaped trees to be planted on the parkway being unloaded from flat cars with a crane at this site.
I work on the BW Parkway nowadays and I get to see a lot of the Alexandria Branch from Hyattsville to Anacostia as well as Pennsy's Benning Yard pretty regularly during my travels. I hated to see the old B&O CPL signals go and get replaced with the Darth Vaders. I guess what's left of the Pennsy's position light signals will get replaced with the Darth Vaders too.

Thanks again
Trackbolt

Just noticed that the B&O incorporated its Sheppard line as the "Washington City & Point Lookout", so obviously it was intending to go further than its car float.

(I wish that people had stuck to calling Guvmuntville "Washington City" instead of "Washington Deecee". Much more dignified!)

salminkarkku wrote:Just noticed that the B&O incorporated its Sheppard line as the "Washington City & Point Lookout", so obviously it was intending to go further than its car float.

I doubt that the B&O had plans to do anything more than it did. The whole purpose of the Alexandria branch was to make the carferry connection to Alexandria. Possibly the original name was just a typical smokescreen to disguise the real goal, and thus hopefully forestall any PRR opposition. The PRR was extremely powerful in Washington at the time, and for many years later.