Ridin' on the ol' B&ORR, October 1947

Almost exactly 60 years ago my father took my younger brother and me, ages 3 and 5 years, to Baltimore and Washington on the B&O Cincinnatian. (As the father and grandfather of boys now, I can't imagine what he was thinking when he decided to do that! He must have been a braver man than I am.) He also took his trusty Cine-Kodak Eight Model 25 movie camera. We rode the C&ORR from Columbus to Athens, Ohio where we caught the Cincinnatian. Here for your enjoyment are the movies he took on that trip, transferred by mainlinemotionpictures.com. The movie begins and ends in Athens. For those of you who may not be old enough to recognize it, the "background noise" is the sound of an 8mm movie projector running. That is what we heard while watching these movies back in the good ol' days. Now, I suppose someone will say, "I'd rather listen to that than listen to the music you used here."

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• B&ORR
• Cincinnatian
• passenger_train
• railfan
• railroad
• railway
• steam_locomotive
• train

[mmi16]

Great footage...some unique and rarely photographed operation.

One caveat...the footage is not edited in geographical order from Athens to Baltimore...otherwise OUTSTANDING!

[gothpapa]

@mmi16 It doesn't surprise me that some scenes are out of order. We did the trfip in '47 and again in '48. My dad spliced them in order, I'm sure, but over the years they came unspliced and I finally just combined the best of both trips into something that looked interesting. If/when I get time I will try to put them in order and will keep you in mind to help with that task.

[atsf3768]

This old railroad footage is tremendous! I appreciate you sharing this with those of us who were born too late to experience this era.

[gothpapa]

Thanks, glad you ejoyed it. And don't forget, today's commonplace is tomorrow's "tremendous".

[Brian4449]

Where did u get this song, the begginning and ending?

[Hendo56]

Fantastic footage. As one fellow said, great shots of the Viaduct Hotel (torn down in the 1950s) and Mt Royal Station (now the Maryland Institute of Art). Trains still pass through those train sheds. Alas they are now CSX freights.

[WBDE]

Wow. What an absolutely fabulous video. I'm so glad that you were able to save this and share it with all of us. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful video.

[BNforever2009]

I'm glad i saw this--good footage of the old B&O. I rode the Amtrak's Capitol Limited for the first time--a wonderful experience--this was back in September coming from Washington DC to Chgo.

[theredarrow78]

What a fantastic video. My trips at age five were from suburban Phila., Pa to Babylon, LI.with no films to show for it. that trip was not awesome as yours. Thanks for sharing

[rleclare]

WOW that is just amazing. Hard to believe that was once a normal trip with routine sights. We really had it made once upon a time. Thanks.

[choirboyfromhell1]

Bravo. From the EM-1's slugging up towards Terra Alta to the C&O "Chessie" Hudson at Ivy City, this is nothing short of fantastic.