One of the joys of living in the DC area is the opportunity to participate in the Smithsonian Resident Associates programs. We took advantage of many of these over the years. Some highlights for which I have no pictures:
- Emerson String Quartet concert series
- Flavor principles in cooking
- Cheeses and cheese making
- The writings of C.S. Lewis
Others included out-of-town excursions with pictures. Most of these include "industrial archaeology." We visited train sites, canals, mills, old roads and such-like.
The trips spanned many years from 1983 through at least 1997. This page covers a 1983 excursion to the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore.
All of the trips started from the Smithsonian Institution on the Washington Mall. Trips to the west usually had a pickup point at the Vienna Metro Station, where we could meet the bus, but for trips within or to the north of the city we had to trek downtown.
The Smithsonian Castle was the meeting point on this excursion.
Many of the locomotives were displayed in the Mount Clare station & roundhouse. Detailed information about the museum exhibits may be found on Wikipedia.
At the time of our visit the B&O, the oldest railroad in the USA, was still more-or-less in existence. By 1987 it was absorbed into the CSX Corporation.
Christmas decorations enliven the exhibits.
I believe the locomotive on the right may be the replica of the Atlantic, built in 1832, and the one to its left is the Tom Thumb, a replica built in 1926.
I can't identify these, but I love cabooses.
Engine number 4500 is a USRA Light Mikado type, the first of its kind, built in 1918.
There are many more pages devoted to Smithsonian Railway programs over the years.
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