At its peak, Brunswick Yard sprawled across over 5 miles, operated 24/7 and handled over 100,000 cars per month (that's one car every 20-something seconds).

This satellite view shows the most active remaining 1.5 miles of yard centered near milepost 75. The arrow points to where the roundhouse had been.

Link: 1918 track map

Before MARC rebranding, commuters rode MDOT that started out with these four used B&O F units rebuilt into model F9PHA and renumbered 7181 through 7184. The 7100 portion would be subtracted when repainted into MARC livery.

Link: MARC 82

CSX road slug 2223 was B&O 3505 in a former life. It would lose its gray within the next year when CSX began Grecian Formula treatment, i.e. painting road slugs the same color scheme as its other locos.

Link: 1964

This 1970s B&O Yardmaster's office tower was constructed higher so as to help avoid the flooding problems of its predecessor. Whether the building continues in that use by CSX is not known to me. Other possible users include Amtrak, whose trains between Washington, DC and Chicago pass through daily, and MARC (commuter trains).

Link: 1985

This was the view from the office tower during the spring of 1985.

Not only do Amtrak trains run through, but also those of MARC (Maryland Area Regional Commuter). MARC 1460 is a repurposed former US Mail railcar.

CSX 2677 and CSX 8098 look on as a dwarf CPL (color-position light) signal tries its best to mimic its full-sized brethren.

Digital welding! Two photos pieced together show that the B&O name endures on rail braces, among other places.

The crew of an Alco 2-8-0 Consolidation and friends pause for a photo adjacent Brunswick's coal bunker. A turntable was found west of the bunker.

Link: source photo

Turntables can rotate rail equipment to face the opposite direction, but often point it to the desired bay within a roundhouse where repairs are performed. That's B&O 3510 on the turntable.

Link: 1975

Chessie the railroad kitten is one of very few official railroad mascots. Chessie System adopted her from C&O. B&O never had an official mascot to call its own.

B&O 3510 was still around in 2022 as CSX 2215. A builder's plate is found within the red stripe below the digits 3510.

Links: in B&O paint 1978, CSX 2215

B&O 3510 carried this GM Electro-motive Division builder's plate, serial 29100. EMD plates included the Whyte wheel classification originally employed for steam locomotives; here it's 0-4-4-0.

Link: about builder's plates

The turntable occupied by B&O 3510 was visible from within the roundhouse.

The roundhouse's 22 repair bays curled around the western side of the turntable.

Brunswick's roundhouse dated to 1910. It had been a beehive of activity until B&O in 1959 consolidated repair operations at Cumberland, Maryland. The roundhouse continued to do minor repair work until about 1990 then was demolished during 1995.

Link: 1995

MDOT 7100 spent time in the roundhouse. Perhaps as an experiment, it was later redesigned into a control cab for MARC trains.

Link: history of this unit, with pics from B&O days

CSX 6049 and CSX 6149 want to go for a spin.

Brunswick's roundhouse is survived by this turntable. Turntables are used to turn locomotives around, something more useful during the steam era since steam locomotives did not operate in reverse as well as most modern diesel locomotives can. CSX disconnected this turntable from surrounding trackage during the 2010s.

Link: 1985

The dwarf CPLs at Brunswick come in many configurations. Here's an 8-lamper dressed up with two marker lamps for 10 total. You'd be hard pressed to find a dwarf CPL with more lamps. The most common CPL configuration had 6 lamps.

Eight-lamp CPLs were often found near rail yards because they have the upper-left and lower-right lights necessary to display a "Restricting" aspect. A Restricting aspect advises the train's operator to proceed without stopping, but do so at a speed slow enough to stop before any track obstruction he may observe on his own.

When lit, the Restricting speed indicators are a slightly blue-tinted white color like that of the Moon, hence they are sometimes called a "lunar" aspect. The example photo at right comes courtesy David Malohn. The lunar aspect is also used to alert operators that they are entering unsignalled territory and thus must proceed cautiously under their own judgment.

WB (West Brunswick), closed December 2011, was the last railroad tower to operate in Maryland. B&O once had many such towers, but technology has obviated them. Another tower (East Brunswick) once stood about a mile east of here.

A YMCA frequented by overnighting rail crews had stood beyond the tower on the other side of the tracks. It lasted from its 1907 construction until razed by a fire in 1980 or 1982 (sources vary). Brunswick moved the disused tower April 2, 2022 for preservation at a spot not far from the YMCA site.

Links: with YMCA 1976, WB Tower and signals, 2022 move

Tower operators were the lifeblood of a railroad before more modern technology permitted remote train control. Does anyone know the name of the person in the photo?

Before computer screens, most 20th century towers had a model board like this to display train locations and the status of track switches.

Link: assorted tower photos

Here's a more common view of the tower.

Links: 1930s, 1949, 1960s, 1985, 1986

B&O 3685 pauses near WB Tower. Unit 3685 would never be repainted for Chessie or CSX, instead it would receive CSXT sublettering as number 6501. Even when it later became HATX 409 and PRLX 2015, it still wore B&O paint.

Links: CSXT 6501, HATX 409, PRLX 2015

Large sections of what had been expansive railyards have been recycled into things like commuter parking lots.

Brunswick has the reputation for not being railfan-friendly, and it's easy to see why. All the equipment and the warren's nest of tracks make for a busy, dangerous area. If you visit, bring your zoom lens, heed the no trespassing signage and stay clear. Getting run over by a train can sort of take the fun out of the day.

Link: Brunswick Railroad History

Brunswick was a major freight handling location, but that doesn't mean it lacked the essentials for passengers. This building originally acted as a real estate promotion office of B&O and in 1891 was located at 7th Avenue, but a few years later the railroad moved it here and repurposed it as a passenger station. A separate shack on the other (south) side of the tracks had previously served eastbound passengers.

When about a century old, the 1891 Francis Baldwin-designed building received a renovation to support MARC passenger operations, a role in which it continues today.

Links: 1983, 1985, 1993

The sign on this memorial structure reads "The bricks which make up the base of the bell memorial came from the B&O Roundhouse that once stood in Brunswick, Maryland. The bell is similar to the one that was aboard car #7752 on #P-286 on February 16, 1996."

I'd have preferred a better description, for example, something to tell us why these bricks and this bell were chosen. Reader Paul McNally filled in some details:

"Thanks for your great site. I noticed the statement about the memorial in the Brunswick Yard section. P-286 was a MARC commuter train that collided with the Capital Limited in or near Silver Spring. A number of people survived the collision only to perish in the fire that followed. Since almost all commuters using the Met originate out of Brunswick, that would explain the bricks from the round house (the unit was more than likely serviced there). The bell would probably have come from a sister cab control unit (I recall the MARC train had been running with the engine at the rear heading into Washington)."

Link: MARC info in Wikipedia

As CSX phased out B&O's signature CPLs, Brunswick was one of the last strongholds. The "D" sign reminds push-pull trains to approach the next signal at a speed not exceeding 40 MPH, as provided by emergency order of the Federal Railroad Administration. These D markers are plastered upon so many signals as to, in my opinion, actually detract from their reminder purpose.

Link: 2002

This SD80MAC is looking sharp as it poses for the first known photo of CSX 4594 in fresh Dark Future paint after the unit was inherited from Conrail (CR 4410). Alas, the shine would wear off soon as this unit derailed in 2009, then was scavenged for parts until scrapped in 2014.

Link: 2012 parting out

On that north side, Amtrak 18 zooms past the 84 sign. As seen in the next photo, 84 Lumber operates a store within the disused west yard, sandwiched between the eastbound and westbound tracks.

Amtrak 18 leads a train west into an early autumn sunset.

Link: 2009

The 84 sign in the distance is not a milepost, but this nearer 76 is. Found at many milepost locations are whitewashed rails pounded into the ground as sturdier markers.

This is the now-disused west side of Brunswick Yard. It had handled eastbound traffic and included facilities such as pens to hold cattle given freedom from their cramped cars for a night. Another pair of tracks traverse on the north side of the yard, unseen about 500 feet away on the left.