On the Road With Tom Donahue (B&O Part 2)

The late Tom Donahue was a longtime WestConn Chapter member and a tower operator. He worked for the New Haven Railroad, Penn Central and Conrail. Tom was a prolific photographer.

Below is the second installment of a recurring feature in our monthly newsletter, the WestConn Manifest. It appeared in the August 2018 issue and was written by John Garofalo.

As in our initial installment of “On the Road” series, we find Tom Donahue catching trains along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad with his army buddy Bill Price.  Since Bill lived in Frostburg, MD, (on the Western Maryland Railroad), Tom joined him on several outings on the B&O and WM.  Tom also shot a great deal of 8mm film on the two railroads in the 1950s.  Tom and Bill made several trips around the country in the late 1950s and early 1960s to document the end of steam.

Over the years, I spent a lot of time railfanning with Tom.  Usually, longtime Chapter President Jim Rawley accompanied us and, on occasion, members Buck & Janet Neulinger and Joe Williams joined the hunt.  I was always struck how Tom never stood still, always looking for a better spot from which to photograph trains.  He made the most of scenery in composing his shots.  If the location wasn’t overly scenic, Tom made good use of available props like stations, towers, signal bridges and even others photographing the same train he was.  When photographing under the wires on the New Haven, Tom liked to work in classic anchor bridges, with their big, black breakers sitting on top.

Tom rarely took multiple shots of one train.  He used to tell us to set up for your one good shot.  I’m still trying.  I think you’ll agree, Tom got his one good shot on the B&O... three times.

Using this signal bridge in Patterson Creek, WV as a prop, Tom photographs the Washingtonian on   its way to Cumberland.  The train, which was jointly operated by the B&O, P&LE and the Erie, provided service between Baltimore and Cleveland.  Ahead of the train is FN Tower, which controlled the Patterson Creek Cutoff.  The six-mile line connected to B&O’s Saint Louis line at McKenzie, MD and bypassed Cumberland.  Adding to the interest of this photo is the fact the signals were semaphores and not typical B&O color position light signals.

Looking in the other direction at Patterson Creek, Tom catches Bill Price photographing train #8, the Shenandoah.  To the rear of the train is a new 5 roomette, 3 drawing room, 1 single bedroom Strata Dome car built by Budd in 1950. 

At the other end of the Patterson Creek Cutoff was CO Tower in McKenzie, MD.  Tom catches a freight train from Cumberland heading west to Keyser, WV on the Saint Louis line.  A copy of this photo hangs on the third floor of the SoNo Switch Tower Museum.  Volunteer docents use it to point out how the mechanical pipeline worked to visitors.