I saw a train turn around!

OK, it wasn't all that shocking, but it was something I had wanted to see since I began riding the MARC trains a few years ago. At the east end of the Union Station yard you can clearly see the tracks heading toward Brunswick and the north diverge from the tracks heading east toward Camden and Penn Station. Between the two arms runs a turn-around "loop" allowing a train to reverse itself.

I'm riding the Camden line this evening, heading for a brass group rehearsal in Columbia. A few minutes ago we pulled out of Union Station and then, for no apparent reason (these things are seldom announced) we stopped at the east end of the yard. As we sat there I watched an Amtrak train backing up the north-bound tracks to my right. (Yes, I'm riding backwards today. It's OK: at least I'm on the upper level of one of the really nice passenger liners.) As I watched I felt that the Amtrak might be slowing slightly. It was certainly moving slowly enough to begin with, not as if it planned to head out toward Pittsburgh. I lost sight of it behind a tree as it crept past the point of the loop switch, and I wondered whether and hoped that it would make the turn. Sure enough! A moment or two later it reemerged from behind that tree and began to traverse the loop, heading toward me.

At the same time I noticed another unusual sight. Above and slightly east of the loop track was another dual-track loop, and along it (heading west and turning north) rode an unusual CSX engine. This one had the look of an electric locomotive, perhaps European, but there was no catenary equipment on top. I don't recall ever seeing it in this yard before. I'll have to keep my eyes open.

A moment later we resumed our journey toward Camden. We're just arriving now at Laurel, so I'd better post this and get packed up.