In this reverse view, The Fallsway is on the left, and I-83 on the right. Where sun amd rain have reached the disused right of way for the past 20 years, brush has overtaken.

However, where sun and rain have not reached, rail ties are visible.

Link: Chase Street bridge 1914

Prior to 1871, the Union Railroad had not yet connected Canton with what is now Penn Station. Consequently, B&S and NC trains made their way to Calvert Station from the Bolton Hill area by heading east and southeast to Chase Street where they turned south to follow Guilford Avenue. What is labeled "W. John" on this map is now Preston Street. B&S street trackage also followed Howard Street south to the B&O's then-planned Camden Station.

The facilities at Bolton, the B&S's first Baltimore terminal, will be covered by the next tour page. On this 1855 Colton map they are labeled "Susquehanna Railroad Depot". Present-day Penn Station sits on the west side of the "Water Cos. Reservoir". It is important to note that this is more plan than map: many of the indicated streets existed only on paper during 1855.

Link: source

Some rails can be found north of Chase Street, along with discarded shelving. Both are being enveloped by vines and soon won't be visible even during winter.

Relative to other railroads in Maryland, except for its stations, the Northern Central is sparsely documented. NC lacks B&O's home-grown flavor, the PRR's world-domination quest, and the Ma & Pa's charm. Additionally, whatever unique personality NC had was lost upon its assimilation into the PRR collective. Old pictures of NC's Jones Falls route are few and far between online. This tour hopes to address some of that short shrift.

The prior photo was snapped near the bottom of this topographic survey where WM-NC shared tracks diverge. NC had bridged the Jones Falls five times within a mile.

WM-NC coziness dates to the 1850s when NC transferred the Green Spring Branch (north of Baltimore City) to WM so it could access the city. This deal happened prior to the Pennsylvania RR's control of NC, and continued until 1874 when the WM transferred the branch back.

The Union Railroad shown on the map began as a project of the Canton Company to build track to connect the Canton area of Baltimore with the Jones Falls area. That work included the Union Tunnel east of what is now Penn Station. When completed, NC leased the route, then during 1882 purchased the Union Railroad. That track section and tunnel are now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.

Prior to this topo map, Belvidere Street crossed the tracks at grade and connected to and beyond Preston Street.

Link: Belvidere Street bridge (once there, scroll to bottom)

One of NC's aforementioned five Jones-Falls-spanning bridges existed here under Biddle Street where now only a few old ties (and homeless people) are to be found. When The Fallsway came through during the 1910s, the water here was covered over, all but two of the rail bridges eliminated, and the tracks relaid. However, old aerial photos lack the resolution to confirm the Falls was completely enclosed here.

Two surviving NC bridges of the five are upstream, west of Penn Station. Could there be bridge artifacts to be found here, east of Penn Station? What about the barely-covered manhole off photo right?

A stone arched structure is about twenty feet down the manhole. Could that be a bridge remnant?

Possibly, but more likely it is something else. An 1876 GM Hopkins map (right) places this then-future manhole between the west bank of the Jones Falls and the mill race of the Baltimore Pearl Hominy Company. The street labeled North on the map is now Guilford Avenue. The mill race was spanned by what could be counted as NC's sixth bridge in this area.

The highly-detailed 1894 city topo map concurs NC had passed over this spot. Even so, location uncertainty means the arched structure could be related to the mill, the railroad, or the Falls. Despite the brown water, there was no sewage odor. What looks to be a narrow water path at the bottom might even be a channeled creek that feeds into the Falls.

Before you rush to see this yourself, take note this is a dangerous area for multiple reasons. At last check, this manhole was covered at ground level by a thin sheet of old plywood that might no longer support the weight of a person. If you step on it, you could fall through, and get injured or drown with little hope of anyone noticing your need for help. I urge you to avoid this area.

Links: Baltimore Pearl Hominy Company 1876 pamphlet, Fallsway construction 1914, Fallsway construction 1914

South of Preston Street's overpass a rusty trackside box (left) and a track switch's air tank (right) survive. The Federal Railroad Administration tag probably means this box dates to the 1970s era of Conrail. I-83 is adjacent on the left.

Just north of Preston Street a wye permitted departing trains to bend west or east. The southeast leg of the wye (right) was added when I-83 forced NC's trackage (left) to shift east a bit. Through the brush on the right you can spot a few ex-PRR boxcars; they will be seen better in photos below.

This view matches that of the "Five Bridges" topo map above. Preston Street cuts left-right through the middle. What was an NC Engine House on the 1894 topo map had been reduced to a turntable by the time of this 1927 view. That turntable is the round structure that resembles a screw head above and left of photo center

As revealed by its shadow, an interlocking tower had existed between Chase and Biddle Streets, the southernmost of the two east-west streets in this view. This is where southbound trains switched west (left) for NC facilities, or east (right) for WM. This tower does not appear in 1937 aerial photos.

I-83's then-fresh concrete road surface gleams brightly in this 1964 aerial, then curls south as far as Biddle Street. The trackage wye seen here is not present in a 1952 aerial.

The large diagonal building below and right of photo center occupies air space over the Jones Falls.

The tracks running left-right along the top of this photo are ex-Union Railroad, and are now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. Baltimore's Penn Station is just beyond the top-left corner.

Here's the promised better view of the boxcars that since the 1990s have sat inside what had been the trackage wye. NC's engine house had existed just beyond the left edge of the leftmost boxcar.

Link: aerial photos

The middle of NC's Guilford Avenue Engine Terminal / roundhouse / turntable had been located near photo center. Those concrete slabs at left might be remants. Guilford Avenue is the nearest bridge over the tracks.

That roundhouse is marked "N.C. Ry Engine Ho." at bottom right corner.

"Mt. Royal Sta. B&O. R.R." is the site of the 1838 original Baltimore & Susquehanna (B&S) Bolton Station and yard in Baltimore. After Union Station (now Penn Station) became NC's major passenger station, it sold the Bolton Station site to the B&O in 1886 who remade it into a stop on its Baltimore Belt Line route to the northeast.

After that sale to the B&O, NC shifted its Bolton freight to the area north of Mt. Royal Station marked as "Bolton Yard N.C. Ry." Freight service continued there until 1973 when NC tranferred Bolton's traffic to its nearby Mount Vernon Yard.

Bolton Yard will be seen further below, while Mount Vernon Yard will be covered by the next tour page.

Before the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression, Bolton Yard was running at full capacity in this 1927 aerial photo.

Same view, ten years later. During the Depression, Bolton Yard was not nearly as full. Union Station (now Penn Station) is right of photo center. The Howard Street bridge was under construction as part of a New Deal work relief program.

Link: Howard Street Bridge

NC's trackage from downtown had followed a route along the south (left) side of the USPS building (foreground, center) and Penn Station (hidden behind). That's Calvert Street running left-to-right in front of the USPS building.

This is where NC trains had rolled, but no trackage remains. The area west of Calvert Street has been closed off in preparation for area redevelopment.

The Jones Falls was visible here during 1917 because The Fallsway never reached this far upstream. Come 1960, the JFX/I-83 would hide the water. The sculpted area at bottom left on either side of St. Paul Street was named St. Paul Gardens.

The nearest tracks belong to NC. The last of the trackage seen between the Falls and station was removed around 1990.

Links source DPC photo, ~1920

Finally, we reach Penn Station, the large building at center, upon the 100th aniversary of passenger rail service at this Charles Street location. This 1974 photo captured NC trackage prior to its removal. Both Guilford Avenue and Calvert Street are off photo right, and St. Paul Street is at the right edge.

Like most of PRR, ex-NC trackage became part of the ill-fated Penn Central. Pausing in front of the station is a GP9 model locomotive PC had inherited from the Pennsylvania RR. At photo time, Maine Central's slogan was "Modern Efficient Cushioning," a play on their MEC reporting mark. Much newsprint originates in Maine, so this train might have been a paper delivery to the Baltimore Sun.

Long before MARC, local trains had pulled up to this side of Union/Penn Station.

Link: LoC source photo

Railroading in this area of Baltimore was approaching its peak for this 1917 photo. No fewer than five different railroads are represented, albeit several under the same PRR corporate umbrella by this time.

Link: source DPC photo

The transformation of the Jones Falls valley from bucolic to bustling began in earnest when NC opened Charles Street Station in 1873. The site, a broad riverbank, had been slated for a reservoir. The timing coincided with the opening of the Union and B&P Tunnels that not only connected east and west Baltimore, but also created a route linking the major US northeast cities, one that broke the B&O's control of long-distance railroading to/from Maryland.

The station was served by NC trains, as well as those of the Baltimore & Potomac, Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore (all three PRR associates), plus Western Maryland, making it the first Union Station at this location.

NC positioned this station at an angle relative to the local streets, just as its B&S predecessor had done with Calvert Station. In the photo, Charles Street's bridge over the Jones Falls appears to be fairly new.

Link: B&S track marker (Timonium)

NC's station at Charles Street proved so popular that just 13 years later this, a larger Union Station, opened.

Links: source photo, ~1900

The second Union Station endured 25 years until this third, even larger, incarnation opened in 1911. It has remained in use into the 21st century as Penn Station, outliving its namesake railroad by over 50 years and counting.

Link: 1978

This is an artist's conception of both the Jones Falls Expressway (JFX) and automobiles of the future.

Links: Sun source photo, JFX under construction 1958