During the first decade of the 2000s, the Met's CPL signals gave way to the inline design like those adjacent to Metropolitan Avenue. The red-collared, white pipes encapsulate connections for warning signals at Kensington Station.

To my knowledge, signal numbers are suffixed with a dash and digit when each track gets its own signal post, in this case tracks 2 and 1, at the same milepost.

This box culvert lurks adjacent to Metropolitan Avenue. Despite the atypical design for the Met, I suspect this is original B&O construction.

Like bridge 10E, this one was extended northeastward in two stages, first with a brick arch, then later via concrete. Unlike 10E, the concrete end is not fully open, but rather appears to lead to a drain-style water entrance. Note the bright sliver of sunlight in the distance.

One interior stone appears to have the digits 1870 carved into it, which matches the Met's construction period. The crudeness of the carving and its placement upside down, however, make me wonder if it is original.

The Met was 28 years young at photo time. The W post tells train operators to blow the whistle for the upcoming grade crossing. Kensington Station's freight shed is the distant bright building adjacent to and left of the tracks.

Decades ago, rails spanned these supports designed to allow easy unloading by gravity of bulk materials like coal and stone from railcars. Similar supports can be found adjacent to B&O trackage in Elkridge and Hyattsville. In toto, this siding had room for 16 cars and is visible where it joins the Met in the 1978 photo linked below.

Links: Elkridge 2002, 1978

CSX plants these marker poles at the limits of a work zone. All other marker pairs I have seen of this design have been above railroad tunnels. The next panel speculates about why they are here.

We are following B&O from Forest Glen at bottom right to upper left on this 1923 map. Maps like this say the spot with the orange poles is in line with Kensington Railway, a trolley line that ran from Chevy Chase to Kensington. It is depicted from map bottom upward toward Kensington; the poles are below the letter K. One problem: no map shows that railroad continuing quite far enough to extend under B&O.

It could be that a now-plugged tunnel was excavated below the orange markers in hope the railway would expand north to connect to Sandy Spring Railway, which is probably depicted by the squiggle of tracks at upper left. The intersection of Connecticut Avenue and University Boulevard would later be built over the squiggle. After operation ceased in 1935, Kensington Railway's right of way was remade into Kensington Parkway.

Link: Kensington history

A summertime retreat community began in the 1880s when farmer George Knowles sold property where B&O bisected Rockville-Bladensburg Road (some sources call it Bethesda-Bladensburg Road). Around 1890, Brainard Warner formed a planned community here and chose the name Kensington.

Unlike along the Old Main Line, passenger service has never ceased along the Met, though the organization providing that service has changed. This photo captures the final years of B&O as sole provider, here using Budd RDCs to carry suit-wearing commuters. As suggested by the spartan conditions illustrated (drive right to the tracks), this was not busy nor a big money maker for the railroad, and by 1974 the State of Maryland began subsidizing it.

In 1983, B&O successor CSX and the State combined to form MARC (Maryland Area Regional Commuter) to provide passenger service along the Met or what by then was known as the Brunswick Line. That arrangement ended in 2013 when Bombardier Transportation Services took on the task.

Link: wikipedia's MARC entry

The photogenic and easy-to-access Kensington Station has encouraged many to bring their cameras. Note the passenger shelter opposite the station. B&O 63 was a model E6A.

The shelter was either gone or off photo right by 1968. As I write this on a hot summer afternoon, this scene looks invitingly refreshing. Shelter or not, those waiting for B&O 4596 (model F7A) may have felt differently.

The station's roofline is the same, but almost everything else has changed at the location of the prior photo. I'd have waited to include a train if you'd be able to see more than a little of it.

The Baldwin-designed building was originally named Knowles Station.

Prior to MARC refurbishing, the station sported a yellow/brown color scheme.

Here is the appearance after refurbishing into a MARC commuter station. As in the 1901 photo, a tall utility pole is adjacent, moved slightly. The (freight?) shack at left is long gone, but a similar structure has taken its place.

The B&O name is remembered adjacent to the construction year. The unique warning signal combination that warned pedestrians is no longer extant. CSX trains operate at up to 70 mph here.

Did someone mention a train? CSX 7785 is next in line.

Bishop's crook lampposts, probably the original ones powered by electricity, were still on duty during 1958, as seen from a train moving past the station. White blobs near photo center may be newspaper pages or the last dregs of snow from an early spring storm.

If everyone were a railfan, everyone would already think train. CSX 844 has its 15 seconds of fame thanks to this poster of Kensington hanging at Kensington.

Link: Droste effect

Passengers at the station's platform looked out to this scene circa 1900. At that time, B&O passenger service along the Met had reached its peak of 18 trains per day. This 4-4-0 engine is bound for DC. The building at right advertises Littlefield Real Estate, Rents, Loans.

The St. Paul Steet grade crossing (closed during 1930s) hosted a tower, semaphore signals, crossing gates and a mail crane (left). As the 20th century progressed, all those would be lost, survived by the rails, utility poles and the building behind the tower.

The survivor building right of center was the home of Mizell Lumber and Hardware from 1931 to 2011.

This is purported to be a photo of the first train to stop at Knowles (now Kensington) as led by B&O 608.

The arrow on this low-resolution aerial points to Kensington Station. The bright / diagonal left of the station is the St. Paul Street grade crossing. The bright horizontal line along the top is Plyers Mill Road. The bright mushroom shape in the upper-left quadrant represents a bridge for Connecticut Avenue taking shape.

A short siding existed until about 1980 in the open area on the right. A Wikipedia entry reports the short-lived (and short-length) Sandy Spring Railway ran parallel to B&O on the left. Reportedly, that railway extended to the most distant bridge visible where, on its way northeast to Sandy Spring, it crossed overhead via a steel bridge.

Starting with the closest, the two bridges are Connecticut Avenue (bridge 11 C), and Summit Avenue. Beyond that, the grade slopes down to approach Rock Creek.

This St. Paul Street grade crossing would be bypassed by a bridge for Connecticut Avenue that began construction in 1937. Concrete embossing at that bridge shows refurbishment years of 1957 and 1992.