The small town of Annapolis Junction (AJ) formed around the wye that connected the Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad (A&ER) to B&O in 1838. On this 1865 map, B&O runs right-left, and A&ER curves toward the bottom. Freight trains still stop at the wye during the 21st century, and a newish commuter station is about 1000 feet west (left).

AJ had a B&O station, hotel, post office, grocery and military hospital. Military presence in this vicinity seems to have begun circa 1860. Trimmed from the bottom of this map is a plan of Rulison USA General Hospital that took the place of predecessors Camp Kelsey and Camp Butler. Rulison was a surgeon with the 9th New York Cavalry who died in a Civil War battle on August 29th, 1864.

A now-mostly-hidden creek flows from northwest to southeast along the right side, and was deemed suitably fresh and healthful in 1865 for convalescing injured solidiers to bathe in. Immediately before passing under the railroad, that creek runs under the entrance to a B&O freight house. "Tank" appears to the right of the freight house -- water for steam locomotives. A fuzzy aerial photo suggests the freight house and water tank were gone by 1952.

Link: Camp Kelsey

Change for: A&ER tour at this site

Per the 1865 map, on the left is Howard's Hotel and Adams Express. To the right of it in the distance might be the B&O freight house and tank. To the right of the long train is the Annapolis Junction Hotel. The small building on the right closest to the engine is probably B&O's station. I've read the AJ post office remained in this vicinity into the 1970s.

Links: LoC source, Howard's Hotel building 1953

I believe this looks east from the railroad side of Howard's Hotel. That means the building at distant right is the Annapolis Junction Hotel. IC2 contains the same photo for which Harwood labels the building off photo left as the future Henkel's Restaurant. After much study, I believe the Henkel's building was instead ahead on the left and set back from the tracks; it is labeled Grocery on the 1865 map. B&O's AJ Station is at the photo's right edge.

Link: Kilduff's site

Various cement and stone distributors, such as Tarmac have operated within the wye since around 1960. These may be my oldest photos that look toward the railroad from MD 32; that's Tarmac's tower / elevator on the left and Furman Lumber on the right. A truck weigh station is within the opening at the bottom of the tower.

Annapolis Junction has been burgeoning due to base realignment (BRAC) that brought more cybersecurity people to nearby NSA.

Aerial photo from 2017 at right looks west (credit Howard County). That's the railroad running diagonally at bottom left, with MARC's Savage stop just off the left edge. Anyone who hasn't been here since 2012 or so will be amazed by the changes.

Link: AnnapolisJunction.com

You want more trains? No problem! Here are two trains plus the blue switcher captured in the same photo while driving past at 55 mph on MD 32. Eastbound on the team track is CSX 8595, the last locomotive purchased for B&O.

Do not try such trick shots while driving yourself, let someone else take the wheel while you ride "shot-camera". There are no parking decks on the right because this was snapped before redevelopment began in earnest.

I have lost track of the person who shared this photo of Tarmac's Alco S2 switcher circa 1990. If that is you, let me know so I can add a photo credit.

This view of the switcher captures Henkel's Restaurant in the background. Before Tarmac, Wimpey Minerals, WIMX, had a different switcher numbered 106.

Links: source photo, 1992 WIMX 106, 1994 video with both switchers

Tarmac traded in the yellow Alco switcher for a GE model U23B in blue. The U23B was passed along to the next owner, Vulcan Materials. This picture was taken at the site of the 1877 passenger station here (see IC2 pages 154 and 393).

Security concerns in Washington led to studies of possible alternate railroad routes. An unlikely one known as the "Howard County Overland Route" would create an entirely new double track right of way from here northwest to the Old Main Line in Mt. Airy, MD.

Link to other pictures: VULX 2779
Change for: A&ER RR tour at this site

Here's a closer and older picture of the blue, ex-Lehigh Valley, ex-Conrail U23B switcher 2779 when the plant was briefly operated by Tarmac.

Links: 1977, 1998, 2004

After Tarmac came Vulcan Materials who, by comparison, has lived long and prospered.

After CSX delivers stone, Vulcan's blue switcher coughs to life to help unload hoppers, a process detailed via the "tour page" at the link below.

Detour: a rock delivery here

After late December 2022's cold weather froze and cracked engine components of the blue switcher above, Vulcan Materials began using this Trackmobile.

Perhaps the Trackmobile proved too diminutive because Vulcan later tried this Shuttlewagon NVX8040. Note the underinflated tires for better traction, plus hoses that can deliver sand.

Detour: more Trackmobile and Shuttlewagon here

The mineral plant's elevator rises behind CSX 8414 while the engine waits for the red signal to clear. The bridge behind the signal is that of MD 32.

Zooming from the same spot as the prior photo shows an old cantilever signal stand. It was only after surveying most of the route that I grew to appreciate this rusty survivor, the last of its vintage on the Washington Branch. It was probably installed to control access to the Jessup Auto Terminal that opened during the 1960s.

This is an 8-lamp CPL, an uncommon breed. Most CPLs maxed out at 6 lamps, choosing to go naked at the NW and SE slots. Eight-lampers were installed where there is the occasional need to display what is known as a "Rule 290" Restricted Speed signal, a warning that unsignalled track lay ahead.

CSX replaced it with their newer-style signals during 2013.

Links: 1983, 1983, 2009, 2013

This model SD40-2 unit rests along one side of the triangle of track that began during 1838 with connection here between B&O and Annapolis & Elk Ridge (A&ER).

The standard "roster shot" angle is one you won't see very often at this web site. This time it serves to illustrate the CSX-y paint scheme this unit would wear until retirement around 2012. Henkel's Restaurant had stood where the photog did for the main photo.

Links: 1983, CSX paint schemes

This is a similar view to the 1863 drawing above, as seen from the newer parking deck that occupies the site of Howard's Hotel. The trees at left would have been immediately in front of Henkel's.

The Annapolis Junction Hotel had been at the right edge of this photo where, during the 2010s, Vulcan Materials heaped aggregates into piles that appeared unchanged for years.

Unfortunately, the views here are of the shadowed side of trains. Autoracks, like these moving in and out of Jessup Yard, can block views.

Their yellow antennae lights reveal CSX 2050 and CSX 6533 are rebuild projects, here delivering lumber to a supplier at Muirkirk, seven some miles west. Below, you'll find 2054 returning empties.

Possibly the first mineral company to take up residence inside the wye was Hercules Cement, a division of American Cement Corporation. Old aerial photos suggest the elevator was built around 1960. Unless the angle of this view is throwing me off, the white building behind the locomotive was home to Henkel's Restaurant, long a favorite of train crews. An upgraded MD 32 would not span the railroad until around 1980.

The former Hercules tower remains standing though no longer dispenses materials into trucks below. The scale at the bottom of the tower continues to weigh trucks loaded with stone. A team track (between the main and wye) was added before 1992, probably during the Chessie System era of the 1970s.

CSX 5434, CSX 404 and CSX 818 wait on the team track for dispatcher instructions following a stone delivery. CSX 3413 and CSX 895 lead an eastbound past them. A team track gets its name from the team of horses that pulled stagecoaches.

Jessup Yard's automobile handling facilities lie one mile east. New vehicles are carried to it within autoracks (sometimes spelled auto racks). With some luck, you'll see less-common autoracks such as these articulated units that go by names such as Bi-Max and AutoMax.

A few Canadian Nationals sneak across the border from time to time, in this case CN 2465, CN 2513 and CN 2830.

A freshly-re-rebuilt MARC 74 teams with MARC 18 to move equipment to Washington in preparation for the evening commuter rush. Unit 74 is a model GP39H-2 rebuilt from B&O GP40 number 3710. It began pushing and pulling MARC trains during the 1980s.

Link: B&O 3710 in 1970

This MOW operator struggled but eventually righted his machine after it slipped off the ties and got stuck in the ballast. He was bumping over the ties to cart gravel a quarter-mile on a hot summer day.

This is the first of ten model ST70AHs purchased by CSX. At almost one half million pounds, about twice the more common engine weight, this model is intended to be extra heavy to provide more traction to pull heavier consists. A consist (emphasis is on the first syllable) is the set of railcars that make up the train. Apparently, the term is not very common because when I once mentioned it to a former Conrail employee, he had no idea what I was talking about.

Link: "consist" definitions

Fittingly, unit 1776, wearing Honoring Our Veterans paint, is passing AJ's Main Street that long ago had been the primary road through Rulison military hospital.

This blocky camouflage design resembles the display of a 1980s hand-held video game, or of jpg artifacts. Such "digital patterns" are supposedly more difficult to see via night vision equipment, but in-field experience reports otherwise.

Link: camouflage patterns

Bring your binoculars if you want a chance to glimpse engine controls, like these of CSX 958, a model ES44AC-H.

Rebuilt "dash 3 geeps" are often assigned local duty. CSX 2054 is a model GP38-3. Trailing is CSX 6503 (GP40-3) that originated as BO 4256 during 1977. Four-axle units like these are useful on sidings not designed for the longer six-axle units.

And, no, two engines are certainly not needed to pull two empty cars, instead they facilitate railcar repositioning on sidings.

Link: BO 4256