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Brunswick Helper at Dickerson

Helpers east out of Brunswick were a tradition for many years until DPU technology was finally embraced on CSX. Here a set of 'nines shove an eastbound by the Dickerson station on the Metropolitan Sub. Eastbounds on the Met had two stiff grades to defeat; the first and most severe almost right after leaving Brunswick was Parr's Ridge to Barnesville, followed by a shorter grade from Great Seneca Creek to Summit Ave in Gaithersburg. B&O #6432 was one of 16 GP9s delivered in the Spring of 1955, but I'm not sure why this one got the large plow? The helper jobs were coveted jobs, and I even got to work a few before they went away. DPUs squashed the use of helpers out of Brunswick under PSR but I'm glad I got to shove and be shoved over these grades for posterity. It's Spring 1974, and Walter Schopp took this image. JL Sessa collection.

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Uploaded on July 27, 2021
Taken sometime in 1974