Brunswick, Maryland memories

60 years ago, and some years either side, I used to visit my grandmother in Brunswick, MD. A former division point on the B&O, with two large classification yards and an engine facility. My grandfather was a brakeman down in the yards. I’d walk down the hill and spend the day trackside watching the activity. My perch on the porch of the B&O hospital was great for viewing. I could look west and see the block signal and the tower, across from me was the roundhouse, and further east was the old coal trestle, unused but standing tall, and the sand tower. The east and west bound main lines split around the edges of all this with the yard and engine works in between. Down by the signal was the main depot, but across the way was a smaller eastbound depot. Not sure the span, but at least 100 yards.

On the tower was a brrrring type bell - like a school room has - and it chirped every time the block signal came alive or changed. So whenever I heard that I looked for the white over green that mean something coming through. (And I knew the passenger schedules by heart) When a train was on the “wong” track, a loudspeaker announced “Westbound #8 arriving on eastbound track.” I had often enough notice I could run over to the other station for that.

From my porch I could watch the roundhouse, fueling and watering, but not see INTO the roundhouse. So sometimes I walked down along the tracks a ways to get an angle to see into the stalls. Now it was told to me that the rules said the marker lights on cabooses had to have frsh batteries every day. So they replaced them. These were the big square batteries with the two coil spring terminals on top. And across from the roundhouse down the track semed to be wher they changed them, because ther were always piles of them trackside. I picked up a few and they all had plenty of charge in them. My little electronics hobby appreciated that f