CSX 894 blurs out of Union Dam Tunnel's north (west) stone portal.

Even with the tunnel, the track is forced through a series of S-curves. As winter approaches, grays and browns will dominate the landscape for the next 4 months.

CSX 736 negotiates its way under Interstate 70 in this wintry scene. The coal drag is dwarfed by the 1965-built bridge that is much higher than the similar overpass by I-95 back at mile 7.5.

Four engines can make their own heat on a cold day.

Mills clung to the shore up and down the Patapsco Valley, only to be undone by the river's periodic convulsive floods. Even concrete was no match for the forces of nature, and it too eventually succumbed. This block, likely dragged here to combat erosive undermining of the tracks, celebrated its 200th birthday for this photo. Its 1813 date was stamped 15 years before B&O was conceived; few dated artifacts from before the "rail road" era survive in any form in the Valley.

The block may be a remnant of the Eagle Factory established near here around 1800, or of Ellicott's Upper Mills that were refurbished by Lewis Evans during 1813 then washed away on February 23, 1822. Alternatively, for erosion control it may have been hauled up from downstream. The year 1813 saw the Patapsco Manufacturing Company begin production at Gray's, as well as the Union Manufacturing Company opening its second cotton mill; both facilities were downstream of this location. We will likely never be certain from exactly which structure this artifact came.

The Pantheon in Rome, rebuilt in 126 AD, remains the world's largest surviving unreinforced concrete dome. After the fall of the Roman empire, concrete construction techniques were largely forgotten until a revival during the 18th century.

Hey, you forgot the caboose!

According to a 1917 B&O Form 6 (Station List), this was the site of HS (Hollofield). After fire destroyed the tower on December 18, 1923 and claimed the life of the telegraph operator on duty, it was rebuilt. I found no foundation remnants here.

A 1937 aerial photo (right) shows a pair of structures trackside. The Patapsco River bridge with shadow visible at upper right in the photo was new at the time, having been built during 1934 and refurbished during 2005. Ellicott's Upper Mills are at top, the only photo of the operation I have found.

A CSX Maintenance of Way team gathers to keep the OML in good shape.

Other rail companies have used convertible equipment to transport passengers (see link).

Link: Rail Bus

For a brief moment the 1940s returned to the OML thanks to the Chessie Safety Express led by C&O 614, a 4-8-4 type sometimes called the Greenbriar. This might be the most recent steam to chuff along the line. Revealing this is not actually 1948, the sharp-eyed viewer might have spotted at upper left I-70's bridge over the Patapsco River.

During 1985 C&O 614 was tested hauling coal, and was found to have lower fuel costs than diesel locomotives. Plans to activate this engine for operation between Washington, DC and the Greenbriar Hotel in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia were scrapped in 2012. As of this writing, the engine resides at the C&O Railway Heritage Center in Clifton Forge, Virginia.

According to information in Wikipedia, high speed operation of this locomotive by its then-owner Ross Rowland, led to CSX in 1995 banning the operation of steam locomotives and other antique rail equipment on its trackage, citing safety concerns.

Link: Chessie Safety Express

A few years later at the same location Art captured what was probably a B&O Museum sponsored trip. This was one of the few times a Budd RDC (Rail Diesel Car), also called a Buddliner, operated on this portion of the OML. RDCs were self-propelled and did not need to turn around to run in the opposite direction.

Link: Budd RDC info

A CSX track inspection car turns off the rails onto pavement at the Old Frederick Road grade crossing. This is the only still-active grade crossing within the easternmost 20 miles of the OML. A 1915 map puts B&O's Hollofield Station (or Hollifield) in the crossing's northeast quadrant.

But of greater significance in the continuing quest for B&O superlatives: this is the oldest surviving railroad grade crossing in the world. The road here likely dates back to 1775 when Ellicott's Upper Mills stood near this location, and then the railroad arrived around 1830.

The oldest roads of an area generally follow the highest ground because that means fewer muddy spots and fewer bridges. In Howard County, Old Frederick Road traces a ridge that marks a watershed boundary: north of the road, streams feed the Patapsco River, while south of the road they lead to the Patuxent River.

Also of note is the highway bridge that crosses the Patapsco just beyond the tracks. It was built in 1934 making it the oldest automobile bridge still in use in this area, as well as a survivor of the floods of Tropical Storm Agnes. It was renovated in 2005/2006. Its restored plaque reads "Patapsco River Bridge - Built 1934 - State Roads Commission - E. Clinton Uhl, Chairman. - E. Brooke Lee. Robert Lacy. - H.D. Williar Jr. Chief Engineer. - W.C. Hopkins Bridge Engineer".

Link: Real-time USGS stream flow data near this location

Sperry Rail Service 126 was built by St. Louis Car during 1925 and refurbished by Sperry from doodlebug into a track inspection car during 1937.

From the Sperry web site, "In 1928, Dr. Elmer Sperry established Sperry Rail Service after successfully developing the world's first non-destructive method of testing rail, saving countless lives in the process. Today, Sperry is the largest provider of Rail Health® services in the world, having inspected well over 12 million miles of track and having found more than 6 million rail defects."

Link: more SRS 126 photos

When you web search "visual dissonance" up pop color photos of steam locomotives along the Old Main. Milepost 17 stands nearby wearing relatively-fresh-looking paint.

Perhaps building a working time travel machine is impossible, but creating a time viewer is at least theoretically possible. Countless photons of this 1981 scene, as well as from thousands of prior trains, continue to move away from Earth. Some reflect back off astronomically-distant objects and return our way. If it is possible to identify the returning photons, it is theoretically possible to re-assemble them into a photo... of any lighted place on Earth at any past moment.

A similar approach is already used to rebuild the scene behind a photographer by examining the reflections in eyes of people in the photo. As for a time viewer, we'll have to be content -- for now -- with enjoying old photos like these.

At the same spot some 24 years later, westbound coal empties swing past milepost 17 with CSX 321 in the lead.

A stack of recycled railroad ties shores up this culvert. I've not seen so many ties used for such a purpose anywhere else on the OML.

A Martinet map from the 1800s shows a proposed rail line from here east to Baltimore along what is now Dogwood Road. Nothing came of that plan. In 2005, CSX completed replacing the OML's B&O color-position signals with ones like those seen here.

Just beyond the bend is the old mill town now named Daniels.

Link: 1912

Over the centuries, the hidden industrial town of Daniels has witnessed many changes. First named Elysville, then Alberton, what remains is named Daniels, after the company most recently to have owned and operated it. The town began pre-railroad with a flour mill, which evolved into a substantial cotton mill, and sprouted churches plus 118 employee houses.

The building at center is the former St. Albans church. The grounds are now used by The Mulch Factory, which suprisingly receives bulk quantities of wood chips via truck rather than train.

Link: 1984

The mill town was located at the head of a particularly winding stretch of the Patapsco River that caused B&O headaches for many years. The earliest alignment (green) had trains screeching around an 18-degree curve on tracks that hugged the south bank of the river to avoid the surrounding hills.

B&O waited until 1906 to build a 2-mile long straighter alignment that includes the bridge across the Patapsco River seen at left.

The longest railroad bridge across the Patapsco now carries just one CSX track. Originally, there were two tracks, but sometime after 1950 the OML was converted into single track. In this view from the east, only the mounting plate remains from the second track. Apparently, B&O decided that the stone structures could handle the imbalance, and never centered the remaining, active track.

Links: reverse view ~1966, another

Seen through the single-lane road under the Daniels Bridge is Gary Memorial United Methodist Church. The church, which was built in the 1879 to serve the mill town, remains active to the present day.

In spring 2001, the church hosted a portion of the Walt Disney Pictures production of "Tuck Everlasting." In fact, Disney used this Web site to help select this and other locations within Patapsco State Park for filming of their movie.

This sign relates the town's history. With a little digital editing, two photos have been pasted together and stored large enough that the text should be readable (click the photo for the full size version).