This tour page picks up at North Avenue found crossing the bottom of this 1877 map, and proceeds generally north to Woodberry's green and pleasant land.

That's NC's yard route at the bottom-left corner where it sneaks under North Avenue. NC's bypass route is right of photo center where a maintenance of way train appears to have paused to pick up track supplies. At photo time catenary had not yet been removed.

The B&O's Belt Line route cuts across bottom right, while the maintenance shop of the former Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad stands at photo right.

NC's Mt. Vernon yard is the large area at the top with resting coal trains.

This is a reverse view from Light RailLink's North Avenue Station. Hidden below is Amtrak's B&P Tunnel. These two passageways built for NC under North Avenue are now used by light rail.

North Avenue overlooks the light rail station. The blue building at distant center is a Light RailLink repair shop.

NC's yard bypass track has seen little use for decades. The proposed B&P Tunnel replacement would emerge on the left.

The original wall on the left held back mounds of coal destined to feed NC engines. The current wall holds back the light rail tracks as they descend toward Mt. Vernon Yard. We're inching closer to the blue building...

An early-20th-century light snow highlights dark rail equipment at Mt. Vernon Yard. The yard derives its name from the Baltimore neighborhood on its south edge.

This is a similar view about a century later. Let maintenance devine shine forth on our clouded hills.

Declining demand for freight service along the Jones Falls valley left room in Mt. Vernon Yard for this light rail shop that opened during the 1990s.

Light rail's shop occupies the site of NC 40-stall roundhouse. North Avenue is at bottom, while at top Cedar Avenue is now Wyman Park Drive.

Northwest of the roundhouse was a Blacksmith shop and Carpenter shop. The larger buildings northwest of those are labeled Repair Shops.

Across the Jones Falls are three quarries, from top to bottom: Old, Schwind's, and Atkinson's. Now, westbound 29th Street descends through Old Quarry as it approaches its bridge across Jones Falls.

Toward bottom right, where now one can find a loop of track adjacent the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, is a small roundhouse of the narrow-gauge Baltimore & Lehigh Railroad. The B&L would soon become part of the standard-gauge Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad.

Here's the same area as the topo map, in aerial photo form.

After NC's roundhouse was consumed by a 1911 fire and not rebuilt, the railroad moved engine repair to shared quarters Orangeville on the east side of Baltimore.

During 1931 the NC opened a produce terminal at Mt. Vernon.

Over the north end of the yard, a bridge for 29th Street was built during 1937. Farther north, another Depression-era project was the 41st Street bridge across the same valley.

The fifteen years since the prior aerial photo included World War II, a period during which railroading was focused on support of the war effort.

Arrows of desire known as the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83) and the 28th Street bridge are obvious additions since the prior aerial photo.

This retaining wall along the east side of Mt. Vernon yard likely dates to the 1870s construction of the yard.

The NC's Bolton Yard (right) and bypass (left) routes approached the camera to join here at Mt. Vernon Yard. Light RailLink now occupies southern end of the yard.

During the 20th century the yard evolved to handle much of Baltimore's incoming produce. The yard saw its last freight railroad use during in the early 2000s as a rail-truck transfer terminal for certain bulk commodities.

At photo time, many Light RaiLink trains at right were idle because this section of the system was closed for track repairs following a water main break in downtown Baltimore.

The ex-NC, ex-Conrail, Norfolk Southern portion of the yard had been active into the 2000s, but now waits for repurposing. The structures on the left were likely part of the Flexi-Flo system Conrail introduced here during November 1981. Flexi-Flo was developed by New York Central to speed the unloading of granular materials via air currents. Photo at left courtesy Dave Hiteshew.

Link: Flexi-Flo hoppers

When it was "builded" adjacent Mt. Vernon Yard, the tri-level I-83/JFX interchange at 29th Street was the most complex in the city. Upon completion, the formerly bi-directional 29th Street was made westbound only, while the then-new 28th Street bridge handled eastbound traffic.

Below photo center, the sharp, thin triangular projection pointing toward bottom right is a pedestian walkway to nowhere. It leads to a no-mans land between the high-speed traffic of southbound I-83, and the ramp from 29th Street to southbound I-83, but provides views of the traffic like that at right. It might have been intended as a pedestrian accessway to Druid Hill Park.

The thin white line near the upper-right corner traces the segment of the Ma & Pa Railroad that had been abandoned three years earlier. Though its portals have been covered, the railroad's tunnel under Sisson Street at 29th probably still exists.

Link: source photo

Where not stuck in concrete, most ex-NC/Conrail/NS rails at the yard have been pulled up.

The fine masonry building in the foreground, built about the same time as the 29th Street bridge, is a pumphouse for Druid Hill Park's reservoir.

Beyond the pumphouse, at right, the bridge shadows an NC shed at the northern end of Mt. Vernon Yard. By 1940, smoke from engines had already left its mark on the masonry. Thirsty steam engines could grab a drink at the water tank trackside at left.

Link: 1912

The pumphouse is still there, but lost in the sandwich made by the railroad (off photo right), 29th Street bridge, and I-83.

Another sandwich, this one of light rail, is made by Norfolk Southern on left and right. Wyman Park Drive is the overpass in the distance.

From left to right: CR/NS lead to Mt. Vernon yard bulk transfer terminal, light rail going from double to single track (as originally built), CR/NS connection to Mt. Vernon yard lead track crossing light rail, CR/NS connection to light rail line for freight operation to Hunt Valley. At photo time the interchange track was still in service, but now sees just light rail maintenance use.

This is a similar view about 20 years later. The NS track to/from Mt. Vernon yard has been pulled up. The Timanus Grist Mill had operated on the right.

Link: Timanus Grist Mill

Light RailLink's ridership of close to 10 million annually sounds impressive until one realizes New York City's subway system tallies more riders than that every two weekdays.

A bridge across the valley here dates to the late 1800s when the renaming of Cedar Avenue to Wyman Park Drive had not yet happened.

Links: Cedar Avenue Bridge, metal arch bridges (PDF)

This is also from Wyman Park Drive, but looking north as spring colors peaked. Of the two tracks, only the one on the right is for light rail. During its early years, the system alternated stretches of single and double track, and as of 2020 sections at the system's northern end remain single-tracked. Here the other track was used by Conrail, and later Norfolk Southern.

This similar view about 20 years later shows the second light rail track was added on the east (right) side.

Mount Vernon Mill No. 1 is a former cotton mill that dates to the 1870s. During the 2010s it was repurposed into mixed use.