Old Court is the penultimate station at the NW edge of the Baltimore Metro. Baltimore's original subway plan called for 6 lines to criss-cross the city and surrounding county in a configuration similar to that of Washington, DC. For various reasons, only the 15-mile-long line from Owings Mills, Maryland, northwest of Baltimore city, into downtown Baltimore has been constructed to date. As of 2016, no other lines are actively under construction.

Though I have high regard for most rail equipment manufactured by Budd Company, I find these cars to be unattractive in appearance. They remind me of the boxy, bulky rolling stock of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation in New York City.

The downtown end of the Baltimore Metro serves Johns Hopkins Hospital. Artistic murals decorate most of the system's underground stations.

Before subways, the country's first electric railway operated here. Baltimore had numerous streecar lines including this one that had spanned Stony Run and the Maryland & Pennsylvania RR via the Huntingdon Avenue Streetcar Viaduct. That's Wyman Park Drive below. The structure was removed in 1949.

Links: the first electric streetcar, Bridgehunter entry

Change for: Huntingdon Avenue Viaduct tour at this site

The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad lived a life tortured by sharp curves between Baltimore, Maryland and York, Pennsylvania. Though this section of the Ma & Pa was abandoned in 1958, relics like this maintenance shed can still be seen in the Jones Falls valley.

Links: Wikipedia entry, photo tour

Ma & Pa's roundhouse dates to 1910 but is still going, albeit in less than tip-top condition. Baltimore City's Department of Transportation stores road salt within some of the bays that previously held rail equipment. What had been a Ma & Pa rail yard at left is now occupied by Potts & Callahan. Both were preceded at this site by Atkinson's Quarry.

This is one of just two railroad roundhouses that survive within Maryland. The other is the B&O's at Mt. Clare. The tracks at lower right are used for excursions by the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, and were used for the 1950s streetcar ride in the movie Liberty Heights.

Link: Baltimore Heritage site

The BSM has a wonderful collection of streetcars, and should be a destination for most any railfan.

Links: Baltimore Streetcar Museum, Todd's Guide to the BSM, Derailment 15 Mar 2019

The Baltimore City Passenger Railway Company began operation during 1859 with horse-drawn carriages. Their 1893 car barn, with BCP shingles still attached, at the corner of McCulloh Street and Cloverdale Road is sparsely documented. The other side faces Madison Avenue along which the company's White Line cable cars operated during the 1890s. The building, modified from its more ornate original architecture, saw rail transport use until 1948.

Links: area historical info, horse-drawn car, Baltimore cable cars

East of Baltimore you'll find Norfolk Southern's Bay View Yard, seen here. CSX also has a Bayview Yard located off frame to the right. The distant elevated roadway is I-895.

Change for: PRR tour at this site

Seagirt Marine Terminal opened in 1990 upon land created by the dredging for I-95's Fort McHenry Tunnel. Both CSX and Norfolk Southern service the terminal. The brick buildings beyond belong to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center about 6 miles from the camera. I-95 and I-895 are on the left.

Primarily a CSX operation, Penn Mary is one of the yards near Seagirt, and where you will find the Canton Railroad (CTN) Pulling for Maryland (their slogan).

CTN is a Class III Railroad owned by the State of Maryland and operated by Maryland Transportation Authority. CTN 1501 is an EMD model SW1500 locomotive built during 1967 and purchased from Southern Pacific.

Link: CTN 1501 photos

Change for: CTN tour at this site

At photo time CTN 1203 was Pushing for Maryland across Holabird Avenue on a cloudy spring day.

Links: 1975, Canton RR Company site

Many common carriers had served -- and still do serve -- the Canton port area east of the center of Baltimore City. Spurs and sidings tangle everywhere, such as these off Clinton Street that can admire Ft. McHenry's 15-star flag.

Rails of a private industrial transport system cross Haven Street near its southern limit. Before the Harris Rebar company operated here, American Smelting & Refining Co. (ASARCO) used industrial rail equipment, including a Whitcomb gasoline-powered engine, to pull carts betweens buildings. Note the switch near photo center.

One of Baltimore's proposed subway lines morphed into light rail, since renamed Light Raillink. For the most part, the light rail system traces a roughly 30-mile north-south route through Baltimore city along rights of way of former railroads and interurban lines. The Cromwell location seen here opened during the early 1990s but previously was served by the Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad.

I had found no light rail car interior pictures online, so now that lack is solved. As you might expect, the light rail's design resembles that of a trolley.

Train Approaching! Train Approaching! Actually the light rail train on the right was moving away from the camera after departing the Baltimore Highlands station, but as railfans we can relate and forgive the sign for getting a little overexcited.

Change for: Baltimore Light Rail tour at this site

Transportation tangles in a stack at the Jones Falls west of Pennsylvania Station. This Light Rail train has emerged from that station and is crossing over I-83 bound for BWI Airport.

In this vicinity
Mount Royal Avenue goes over
Howard Street, which goes over
Baltimore Light Raillink, which goes over
Interstate 83, which goes over
the B&O Belt Line (CSX), which goes over
the Pennsylvania Railroad (Amtrak), which goes over
the Jones Falls river.

The double arches of Howard Street hide the B&O's Belt Line route, now part of CSX. Remnants of the Ma & Pa are at far right, and the Pennsy's (now Amtrak's) route to Washington, DC is closer, while parallel but even closer is a disused alignment of the Northern Central Railway. There's no shortage of both disused and active railroads in this spot.

Link: 1992 Sun article

The Northern Central Railway's bridge over the Jones Falls has been transmogrified into an access road over which this maintenance truck is rolling. Penn Station looms straight in the distance. I-83 is on the right. Heading north from here, Baltimore's light rail now follows much of the NCRY's old right-of-way.

Change for: Northern Central tour at this site

Explore enough and you'll find this pool table stencil with a Banksy look. There are no online references to its text, at least none I can find. Given the art schools in this vicinity, I suspect it's a student's project, but you are welcome to let me in on its secret if you know better. If one-of-a-kind, it's not a sort of Toynbee tile. It dates to around 2013 and is large enough to be seen in aerial photos if you know where to look.

The text reads, "Nothing's fun or fair in war anymore." "Get your own redeye wiki." "You're a funsuck, Astrid" "Fine, handicap filter on." "Handicap on" "Blind spot" "Pupil"

Link: Toynbee tiles

Autumn arrived just in time to match the livery of MMID 2061. This Maryland Midland unit began life in 1967 as C&O 3892. Maryland Midland is a short line railroad that operates between Reisterstown, MD and Blue Ridge Summit, PA on ex-Western Maryland (WM) track purchased from CSX. A disused WM signal box and pole observes the action from the right.

Link: Maryland Midland railfanning

Marty Hager spotted this Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad marker in Bowie. The marker originates with the early 1900s merger of the Philadelphia, Wilmngton, and Baltimore with the Baltimore and Potomac, both under control of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

V.S. stands for Valuation Section, and the digits key to section numbers on Valuation Maps. Railroads often put section boundaries at track branches, and Bowie is the important location where the branch to Washington split from original B&P main line to Popes Creek. That branch is now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.

Other PB&W mile markers of this style, such as the one at right, show the distance from Philadelphia. Amtrak has placed placards with larger digits on many of them.

Change for: PRR RR tour at this site

It's easy to find Washington Metro pictures online, so I'll include only a sampling. Many of the underground stations, like this one at Gallery Place, have high ceilings. Federal dollars can sure dig some big holes.

An 8-car set of 7000-series DC Metro cars follows the Orange Line into downtown; Stadium-Armory is the next stop. That's RFK Stadium at distant left. Autumn colors are just beginning.

The three tall structures on the right are the Library of Congress, Capitol, and Washington Monument.

West of Washington, Orange Line Metro trains parallel I-66... next stop Vienna, Virginia. If you are wondering about the lack of SUVs, note the photo date.

At Washington's Ivy City Yard, Washington Terminal Company livery makes this rebuilt SW1000R stand out as it rolls under 9th Street. Even its exhaust is bluish. Built in 1953, in a previous life "WATC 794" was Montour 83.

Washington Terminal Company is almost wholly owned by Amtrak. It's job is to push and pull rail equipment around Union Station, including Ivy City.

Links: MTR 83, more 794 pics

VRE V713 waits in Ivy City Yard for Virginia-bound evening commuters to mass at Union Station. VRE is to Virginia what MARC is to Maryland.

Potomac Yard operated as a rail classification and interchange point from 1907 to 1992. In addition to B&O 6971 (in sunburst paint) and C&O 5843, equipment from Southern Railway and Richmond, Fredricksburg and Pototmac Railroad could be found here at times. Tha yard was redeveloped and a Washington Metro station is scheduled to open here during 2022.

Links: B&O 6971, yard marker

Change for: RF&P Subdivision tour at this site