This tour progresses generally west (left) from Amtrak's Northeast Corridor on the right.

Black lines trace various railroad alignments; where they lack perpendicular lines rails had previously existed but were no longer extant as of 2024. The route of the Loudon Park Cemetery Trolley is uncertain since only two artifacts and one low-resolution map were uncovered.

Mp 1 and mp 2 indicate distance into the branch in miles; no actual mileposts were found extant.

CSL had met the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad, later Pennsylvania RR (PRR) and now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, here, or more precisely at the boulder between the end of the train on the right and the tuscan red equipment box.

Some CSL trains -- I doubt many -- would follow B&P/Penn tracks all the way to Calvert Station at the intersection of Calvert and Frankin Streets in Baltimore. To get there, trains would have to trek 5 miles east of here and run past Baltimore's Union/Penn Station. Calvert Station, demolished about 1950, was part of Northern Central Railway and, like CSL, under control of PRR.

In the distance, Wilkens Avenue, MD 372, bridges overhead. The elevation dip of the rails at the boulder marks where Maidens Choice Creek is spanned; note both it and the equipment box for future reference. Evidence presented below indicates CSL and B&P shared a small passenger station/stop in this area.

Links: Calvert Station, Calvert Station

E. Robinson's 1882 map of The City of Baltimore and Vicinity places B&P's St. Agnes Station southwest of CSL's junction, likely too far for it to have served as a shared station. Different colors on the map depict different owners of adjacent land parcels.

Note that CSL does not yet bisect Loudon Park Cemetery. During years following this map, Joseph Brinkley's property would be added to the cemetery, and Maidens Choice Road would be erased, its traffic shifted to the newer and straighter Wilkens Avenue. The Wilkens Avenue curve that still exists today at "Industrial School" originated with Maidens Choice Road.

B&P's St. Agnes Station stood where Maidens Choice Road (dashed red line) had crossed that railroad at grade. Grade-separated Wilkens Avenue took over for Maidens Choice Road decades before this 1927 aerial. The addition of CSL had caused B&P in 1885 to abandon Saint Agnes Station for a smaller one about 1200 feet northeast at CSL Junction. PRR later repurposed the site of St. Agnes Station into Violetville Substation.

Polk's Baltimore Maryland City business directory of 1906 describes it "LOUDON PARK STATION (B&P RR), SE side of Loudon Park Cemetery."

Link: 1970s LOC photos

Loudon Park Station was one of three B&P structures on the northwest side of the main line tracks between CSL and PRR's Claremont Branch.

The largest structure was SA Cabin, later renamed Loudon Park Tower, southwest of a passageway under the tracks that connected Primson Avenue with the cemetery. Loudon Park Station, little more than a waiting shack, sat north of the passageway.

One source says Primson Avenue orginally crossed the tracks at grade. It had been the south entrance into the cemetery before the cemetery expanded south to Wilkens Avenue circa 1900.

These cut stones are remnants of Loudon Park Station, probably part of its foundation, platform, or stairs. In the cemetery, a path of slate pavers leads to this location, but during 2018 Amtrak added fences that block your way to the tracks. The dark red utility box occupies the site of Loudon Park Tower. Between the station and tower is the passageway under the tracks. Aerial photos indicate decreasing use of the passage with time, as evidenced by increasing plant growth starting during the 1960s.

The passageway looks surprisingly modern, lined with concrete rather than cut stone. A 1927 aerial shows it. It would have been lengthened during the 1930s to support more tracks above.

This was a logical place for CSL and B&P to exchange passengers not only because it is where the two lines met but also because from here people could access both St. Agnes Hospital and Loudon Park Cemetery.

This 1939 aerial photo by The Baltimore Sun newspaper appears promising at first glance but unfortunately is too low a resolution for us to pick out small trackside structures.

A 1945 Pennsylvania RR list of the Maryland Division confirms Loudon Park Station was located between PRR's Claremont Branch and CSL Junction:

• Jct. B. & O. R. R. / Baltimore MD / PRR / Interchange / Claremont Branch - 8692
  
• Station / Loudon Park MD / PRR / Main Line - 8750
  
• Jct. C. S. L. R. R. / Loudon Park MD / PRR / Main Line - 8750
  
  • Public Delivery / Kenwood MD / PRR / R Freight - All Kinds / Catonsville Short Line Railroad - 8754
    
  • Public Delivery / State Asylum MD / PRR / R Freight - All Kinds / Catonsville Short Line Railroad - 8756
    
  • Spring Grove State Hospital / State Asylum MD / PRR / Catonsville Short Line Railroad - 8756
    
  • J. S. Wilson Co. / Catonsville MD / PRR / Catonsville Short Line Railroad - CV
    
  • Public Delivery / Catonsville MD / PRR / Catonsville Short Line Railroad - CV
    
  • End of Catonsville Short Line Railroad / Catonsville MD / PRR / Catonsville Short Line Railroad - CV

Even if the stations and stops are inscrutable, the CSL itself is more evident. As seen from the tuscan red equipment box, the vague gap in the trees right of the boulder reveals where CSL had ventured. At the right edge of the photo, the weeds diminish because Maidens Choice Creek flows below.

I believe the boulder is an old Baltimore City boundary marker.

Unlike B&O's Old Main Line, few original stone arch bridges survive along the Pennsylvania RR's line through central Maryland. This one has been modified multiple times, first widened with stone to support CSL, and later with concrete to shore up weaknesses.

The interior's dog leg and masonry products reveal the extent of modifications during the bridge's more-than-150-year life.

For people dying to get to Catonsville, this mound extending east from the bridge previously led CSL into Loudon Park Cemetery. The cemetery opened in 1853 some 30 years before the arrival of CSL.

The first abandoned rails can be found a few hundred feet west of the bridge. Much of the track through the cemetery has never been, umm, dug up.

During non-leaf season, CSL's tracks can be seen from way up high, as in this Google aerial from February 2017.

These vehicles run errands, and shovels, around the cemetery. The one on the left is crossing CSL track embedded in pavement, and the one moving away on the right has just crossed the former location of the cemetery's trolley.

Did trains blow their horn for this grade crossing? Those horns are loud enough to wake the dead.

During the early 20th century, one train line was not enough for Loudon Park Cemetery which had its own trolley. A map indicates the trolley remained on CSL's north side, thus avoiding the engineering problem of its overhead wires crossing CSL.

Ahead, CSL had run right to left in a cut, with the cemetery trolley parallel. After the trolley expired, a bridge remained here as seen at center in the 1971/1972 aerial photo at right. That bridge might have been damaged by 1972's Agnes storm, and then closed to traffic. The cemetery gradually filled in the cut such that during 2023 the bridge, more of a road now, reopened.

The moribund CSL runs into the pile of detritus the cemetery discarded into the cut. Yes, that's a concrete burial vault on the hill.

Also scattered about are gravestones, casket interiors, and well, I did not want to look too closely. Rusty rails running directly into this detritus will be tough to top on my list of odd trackside sightings.

This structure crossing Maidens Choice Creek is the only surviving trolley-specific artifact I have found. The culvert underneath the bridge represents a stream that was sewered to make way for the trolley above it.

The trolley was electrically-powered from its 1905 start: note the overhead wires in the old photo. The mausoleum in the photo still stands. The trolley, with just two cars, named the Linden and Loudon, endured until the plug was pulled during 1931. Other trolleys, such as the #8 Line, plied city streets to bring both mourners and corpses to the cemetery's Frederick Road entrance.

The system was intended to permit United Railways and Electric streetcars to enter the cemetery at both the Frederick Road and Wilkens Avenue ends, however a map indicates only the former was implemented.

Links: construction, trolley outside cemetery, Route 8 at Catonsville Loop

The cemetery's trolley and CSL ran nearly parallel along this stretch. A brief search during 2024 (left) turned up no trolley artifacts among the distant trees. The Addison family's gravestones have shifted a bit with time, but the location at left is an unmistakable match for the earlier view. May every railfan find a final resting place as close to a railroad.

CSL's trackage sat too low here to be visible between the trolley and the distant double track of Pennsylvania Railroad. The flag-topped building beyond them is St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, known as the place Babe Ruth honed his baseball skills. The photo appears to date from the 1902 to 1914 period the Bambino attended.

Links: ~1910 source photo, Babe Ruth at St. Mary's

West of the bridge crossing, about a quarter-mile of CSL appears to be track-free, though the rails might merely be buried. The cemetery's trolley met its end near here.

Decaying wood ties within this forested section are pushing up not daisies but rather new lumber.

CSL remnants still share a grade crossing with Beechfield Avenue, the western edge of the cemetery. A circa 1940 Rand McNally map labels this location Cloud Gap (or Cloud Cap). An 1898 atlas places Beechfield Station in the northeast quadrant (across on the left).

Link: this crossing in 1968

Catonsville's Rails to Trails volunteer group has cleared brush and small trees from this CSL stretch, but they call in pros to deal with the biggest lumber. This tree must have taken root shortly after C&L trains stopped running in 1972.

Link: Catonsville Rails to Trails

The Charlestown retirement community in 1983 replaced the St. Charles College Seminary that closed during 1977. My understanding is they purchased the CSL stretch along their northern edge, cleared out the rails, and installed boundary fences.

Link: Charlestown Senior Living

The CSL marks the northern edge of the retirement community, its right-of-way now fenced as if a narrow demilitarized zone. No rails remain along this stretch.

A little distance ahead, a short spur had peeled off to the left to serve the seminary, bringing coal to its powerhouse, and even a church organ via two flatcars.

The other end of this CSL culvert is within Charlestown's walled-off confines. Has anyone seen The Shawshank Redemption?

A bigger, newer culvert for Herbert Run (aka Gadsby's Run) lies to the west. Steep inclines on either side of it suggest CSL had bridged the gap. A local resident says he recalls stone abutments, if not an entire bridge made of stone. Any artifacts of it are now gone or hidden.

Continuing west eventually meets the east end of the Catonsville Short Line Trail. Charlestown's fence lurks behind benches that have been installed. The fence traces the route of the spur used to transport coal to the seminary's power house (off photo on the right) during the pre-Charlestown era.

Though the group salvaged CSL leftovers, a few artifacts escaped their attention, such as the rusty rail at photo bottom.

Crushed stone is an appropriate walking surface.

Peek around the green fence (right) and you'll find whatever culvert style the CSL had initially used here -- probably similar to the one at Charlestown -- has been replaced by a more modern version (bottom left). One report online says it dates to 1967 though it appears newer.

Mile markers now list trail, rather than rail, distances. Another type of marker is found farther right...

Red, white, and blue (and green). The Baltimore National Cemetery is a Federal cemetery built during the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration.

The sign describes the route in a reverse direction to this tour: "The Catonsville Short Line Rail Road ran from the heart of Catonsville, through Spring Grove Hospital, to Shady Nook, Paradise, Maiden Choice Lane, and passed by the Baltimore National Cemetery as it completed its route through St. Charles Seminary (now Charlestown), Loudon Park Cemetery, to Calvert Station in Baltimore City. The Catonsville Rails to Trails (CRTT) organization is converting the former Short Line right of way into a walking/biking path. This 'Cemetery Overlook' park was created in May 2013 by students from Mount Saint Joseph High School doing a senior project (Evan Smith, Paul Neumann, Matt Reed and Michael Valderas and their sponsor Sheldon Smith). Funding was provided by CRTT and Sheldon Smith. Special thanks to Link Mechanical (Chris Podowski and crew) for donating their labor to grade and gravel the site."

Link: Calvert Station in Northern Central tour at this site

An 1898 atlas places Kenwood Station here.

No rails are embedded within the pavement of Maiden Choice Lane in Catonsville, but more stretches of rusty track can be found ahead...