West Pratt Street, Baltimore City, Maryland

Baltimore and Ohio C15 Clearance Car.

By 1900, the size of locomotives was larger than any of the original engines, B&O Engineers had imagined. In some cases newer engines could not fit through tight clearances on the original tracklines, especially inside tunnels. In 1904, the B&O constructed a clearance car for the Civil Engineering Department, Numbered CE-15, the car was constructed by placing a caboose body on a flat car. With the steel arms extended outwards, an engine would slowly push the car through areas with tight clearances, when the arms came in contact with and obstacle they would push back and the crew would record the detailed measurements. Sometimes gone for days, the crew of CE-15 spent many hours in the mountainous regions of West Virginnia measuring long dark tunnels and bridge clearances. The data was then analyzed to determine if an area needed alterations.

Photographed by Mark Beebe, December 5, 2008.
Added to the photo archive by Mark Beebe, December 13, 2008.
Railroad: B&O Railroad Museum.

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