For the better part of a century, B&O planned to bypass the Thomas Viaduct route (magenta) with a shortcut (light blue), but could never bring itself to obviate its grand stone bridge.

Some grading was done, the scars of which remain today along the southern part of the intended right-of-way, portions of which are still held by CSX. This is the alignment B&O should have originally chosen in the early 1830s since it is shorter, straighter, and crosses the Patapsco River at a spot that would have been less expensive to span.

Furthermore, such an alignment provided room for a wye that would have allowed trains from Washington, DC to turn and proceed west along the OML. That leg of the wye could have run from present-day intersection of I-195 and US 1 to the vicinity of the Rolling Road grade separation bridge.

Without this connection, westbound passengers had to change trains, hence B&O built the Viaduct Hotel in Relay, plus ultimately the Metropolitan Branch from DC northwest to meet the OML at Point of Rocks.

On the map, the gray almost vertical cut right of center is the alignment chosen by Baltimore & Potomac (later Pennsylvania Railroad), now used by Amtrak.

Other than the Thomas Viaduct, very little of the original 1835 Washington Branch has survived to the present without rebuilding.

By virtue of lack of mortar, plus its semi-collapsing condition, this substantial culvert appears to be an original. It is approximately 10 feet high at the center, and is located deep in a ditch that requires a difficult climb through thorny brush. This one is definitely not recommended for viewing in person unless you are a serious bridge fanatic like me.

If you know where to look while driving past on Race Road, you may be able to see the other (possibly newer) side of this culvert by peering through the trees.

If you should ever need to dust a long stretch of rails for fingerprints, call upon a ballast regulator to help.

Murray's Siding with room for 24 or 90 cars (sources vary) was near here.

A retaining pond in a ~1980s housing development on Fairbourne Court sits on the west side of the tracks. At the middle is a small piped culvert. It's nothing stupendous, but I saw it on maps and decided to investigate. The pipe was likely added during the 1900s.

CSX 3474 and 3389 haul a covid-shortened, westbound mixed freight.

The locals had a sense of humor here near the Hanover Road grade crossing, one of only a handful of grade crossings left on the line. The Hanover Hysterical Society sign is no longer present.

The adjacent Anderson Avenue (behind the sign in the previous photo) provided a great spot from which to see crews installing new ribbon rail during a Sunday in July.

As heard at the start of the following brief video, the continuously welded rail issues bizarre, echoing metallic pings as the crane hoists it into place. The louder, repeating sound is that of a rail nailing machine that is unseen behind the crane. MPG Video; 320x200 resolution, 8 seconds; 750K file size MPEG.

Sounds travels through steel at almost 20 times the speed it does through air.

another view of the machine at work

Just around the bend from the Hanover Road grade crossing, this old whistle sign caught my eye. I've seen only one other like it (near Riverdale). The design is similar to the keystone style employed by the Pennsylvania RR. Anyone know if this sign is a refugee from another railroad?

Graffitied and fortunately mostly hidden by the road bridge's guardrail is this ugly concrete bridge over a tributary of Deep Run, the stream the Washington Branch follows in this area. Its appearance suggests a construction date in the 1930s.

Also of note is the single-lane road bridge, not many of which remain in Howard County. It was replaced with a multi-lane version in late 2003.

Original mile marker 12 is almost hidden by trackside weeds. Since the time of this photo, the marker has been removed to the B&O Museum. The opposite side of the tracks hosts a more modern counterpart.

For comparison, this is an original stone mile marker used on the "National Pike" the road from Baltimore to Frederick and further west. Turnpikes employed the markers to both encourage use of their roads (for which tolls were charged) as well as to mark the distance travelled for purposes of toll calculations.

This milestone now sits in the front yard of a home along Frederick Road. The engraving reads "13 M To B" (13 miles to Baltimore), and is so sharp I suspect it has been re-engraved recently.

The stone arched bridge over Bascom Creek dates to 1835, making it the oldest survivor from the Washington Branch. It's not quite original, having been shored up several times over the years. Bascom Creek approaches the bridge from an odd angle, and looks to be eroding the foundation on the far side. A very similar angle, and erosion problem, can be found at the Davis Branch bridge on the Old Main Line.

An 1860 Martenet's map of the county calls this stream Budd's Run.

Installed at this location in 2003 was the then-new tracking technology, TransCore. This system supplanted CSX's On Track system, which was also found at this location. However, the corrugated "planter" style foundations for the new devices give them the appearance of being temporary.

From the TransCore Web site: "Tracking billions of dollars of equipment and cargo is crucial for good customer service and efficient rail and intermodal operations. That's one reason the North American rail industry adopted a mandatory standard based on TransCore’s Amtech wireless RFID technology. More than 95 percent of all railcars in interchange service in North America are equipped with our radio frequency tags, allowing railroads to manage cars and locomotives nationwide."

There's the TransCore unit again, and ahead, a rarely used spur that peeled off the mainline to serve the Parkway Center complex near the intersection of MD 100 and 295. Off in the distance is the MD 100 overpass.

This spur is not marked on ADC maps even though it was fairly long and contained many sidings.