Washington, D.C., or vicinity circa 1915-1930. One of three H&E glass negatives labeled "Car exterior. Washington & Old Dominion R.R." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.

Discover the History Behind this 1915-1930 Car Exterior in Washington, DC

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This is a great afternoon photo for you to lose yourself in. Click on it for a larger version.

Washington, D.C., or vicinity circa 1915-1930. One of three H&E glass negatives labeled "Car exterior. Washington & Old Dominion R.R." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.
Washington, D.C., or vicinity circa 1915-1930. One of three H&E glass negatives labeled “Car exterior. Washington & Old Dominion R.R.” Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.

We found this gem on Shorpy and you can follow the interesting conversation in their comments about this car’s origin.

2 thoughts on “Discover the History Behind this 1915-1930 Car Exterior in Washington, DC”

  1. Dear Tom:

    The legend for the passenger car disused by The Pennsylvania Railroad is ” One of three H&E glass negatives labeled ‘Car exterior. Washington & Old Dominion R.R.’” Somewhere here there is an error.
    The PRR at no time in its history had a rail relationship with the W&OD. And I don’t recognize that span of track as having been in the Arlington or Alexandria areas; although much from that location may have been reconfigured beyond modern recognition.
    My guess on this puzzle – and it’s only a guess – is that the labeling of the glass negatives was a clerical error. Where are those negatives held?
    Andre M. Smith
    Former trackman and brakeman
    Washington & Old Dominion Railroad

  2. Dear Tom:

    While thinking further about the misunderstanding that attributes passenger car 4928 as a piece of stock owned and rolled by the W&OD, I think some clarification may be made with illustrations of the real types of passenger cars run by it: http://www.oocities.org/pem20165/WashingtonOldDominionHistory.html and http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0001/wod41.jpg Although the dating of car 4928 precedes this Brill unit by about twenty or so years, http://www.oocities.org/pem20165/wodph433no52.html, all equipment run by the W&OD that was owned by it was always inscribed with Washington & Old Dominion Railroad.

    The Shorpy Archive has stated about car 4928 “that seems to have come into the possession of the W. & O.D.” http://www.shorpy.com/node/5870 A piece of physical equipment of such large size can never “seem” anything. It either is or it isn’t. With “Pennsylvania” writ large this unit is just that; not W&OD! https://ghostsofdc.org/image/zoom/10937/view.jpg

    For a good photo survey of stock held by the W&OD after 1940 see http://www.oocities.org/pem20165/WashingtonOldDominionRailroadEquipment.html

    The managers of the Historical Marker Database posted a bit of my history with the W&OD at Bluemont Junction in Arlington. See http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=24924 then scroll down to “1. Memories of a W&OD Railroad Employee.”

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