A full complement of red signals turned out to be deceptive on this gray November day.

On the nearest track, CSX stages autoracks that are arriving or departing the Jessup Auto Terminal a mile northeast of Annapolis Junction. The next two tracks over are the CSX Capital Subdivision's main lines. The farthest of the four on this side of the gravel mound is a team track that facilitates stone deliveries.

Curving at far right is part of the wye that has a claim to fame: at over 180 years of age, AJ's is the world's second oldest intact wye that remains in railroad use. The world's oldest such wye is also of B&O origin: Frederick Junction.

Some 30 minutes later, action picked up, with simultaneous eastbound and westbound trains. CSX 790 escorts a consist of autoracks bound for Jessup Terminal. Fortunately this train continued rolling and did not block the view of what came next.

After 20 quiet minutes, I was ready to depart when CSX 5239 arrived and slowed to a halt with buddies CSX 292, and CSX 15.

It was followed by about two dozen hoppers filled to the brim with crushed rock. This was the first time I'd witnessed a delivery to the Vulcan Materials' aggregates facility. Such trains are often called "rock runners" though "rolling stones train" also fits.

Soon VM's idle switcher coughed to life, belching smoke that revealed its health, or lack thereof. During the 1990s, Wimpey Minerals employed two other switchers here, as seen in the links below.

Links: 1992 WIMX 2, 1992 WIMX 106

Once the main line switch was reset to lead into VM, the engines began pushing the hoppers.

Gravel is often carried by open hoppers. Each hopper is loaded from two dispensers, and has three doors on its bottom for unloading contents by gravity.

Open hoppers like these can carry up to about 100 tons. Most open hoppers with this CSX paint scheme began life with L&N during the 1970s, followed by time with SBD.

After sitting idle for days/weeks, the blue switcher anxiously awaits activity by which to break up the monotony. A person guards VM's road entrance, where empty-then-filled trucks frequently pass. One such truck can be seen through the trees on the right. At the time, no one knew it would be the last filled truck to depart for awhile...

The power trio begins to reverse off the main line.

The lead engine continues to creep backward, until...

... uh oh, there's not enough room for all the hoppers!

Hmmm...

Apparently the switch at the southeast end of VM was in the wrong position, and the hoppers wound up on the shorter (right) of this pair of repurposed old tracks.

No big deal, right? The train can pull back out onto the main, and after the switch is realigned, push the hoppers back onto the longer track.

Except it had already released the main, where another westbound train was rapidly approaching. Fortunately, there had been just enough room for the lead engine to tuck itself behind the dwarf signal...

... so that a few minutes later a mixed freight led by CSX 906 could squeeze past.

With a sense of irony, the westbound's consist contains some broken up concrete and gravel. AMGX is the reporting mark of AMG Resources Corporation, a scrap metals processor.

Then everyone twiddled thumbs, or smoked, for about another 20 minutes, waiting for this second westbound to also roll through.

Still stuck at the red signal, with moss threatening to gather on the stones. Is a third westbound coming?

The vultures, sensing trouble, began to circle. Actually, those are crows, a type of corvid.

The signal had changed a few minutes prior, but it was too close for the operator to see, so he climbed down to verify.

Finally, with permission the delivery train pulled forward, someone at the other end realigned the problematic switch, and...

... now there was room to push the cars back far enough that VM's blue switcher had room to roll in front of them.

On the other side of the trees, note the red lamps of a group of trucks wishing to pick up gravel, but being unable to because the delivery blocked VM's entrance.

An hour after arriving, the delivery has been completed, and the trio has uncoupled...

... and begins to pull away. It's not Miller time for everyone yet, as the delivered hoppers need to be unloaded.

The patient blue switcher chugs into action, the first step of which is to be switched onto the track with the hoppers.

The trio pulls onto the team track and waits to hear from BC dispatch.

VM's beastie is a 1974-built, ex-Lehigh Valley, ex-Conrail U23B switcher model known affectionately as a U-Boat. It's VM's only U23B, inherited as part of a deal with Tarmac/Wimpey Materials. After years of exposure to the elements, it has taken on a somewhat menacing visage. If Steven Spielberg should ever want to create a railroad version of Duel, this is a machine he should consider casting.

At distant right, a VM employee wearing a yellow jacket begins the unloading task.

Link to other pictures: ~2005

Per this older photo, as the gravel is unloaded it pours though a screen into a pit where a conveyor system waits below. The conveyor lifts the rock up to a movable point where it is dropped to form a pile.

At the pit, a worker uses a tool to pry open the door and let gravity do its thing.

Dumping happens faster than the conveyor system can lift the rocks, so sometimes a temporary backup develops.

At Vulcan Materials, lift long and prosper.

After a few hoppers have been emptied, the worker uncouples the group...

... and the blue switcher pulls them clear of VM's main entrance. The switcher is operated by remote control.

Link: 1994 video (about 4 minutes in)

The empties are pushed toward, and later, onto the other leg of the wye.

The blue switcher glides back for the next group of hoppers...

... and connects to pull them forward to the dumping pit.

Exiting trucks go through a tire washer to reduce the amount of dust they carry onto nearby roads.

Here's the process as seen from the Howard County side of the tracks.

This time it's four empties. All must be pulled past the switch at which the worker is standing.

After the switch is realigned...

... the blue switcher reverses to push the empties.

Lather, rinse, repeat until all the stone has been unloaded.

Come spring, a different trio waited for orders to tote empty open hoppers back for more rock. That's CSX 5434, CSX 404, and CSX 818 on the team track, while in the foreground CSX 3413 and CSX 895 lead an eastbound. CSX 404 has not yet been repainted after being singed by a small fire during 2017.

At distant left, Maintenance of Way also waits upon fresh orders after having patched an apparent low-speed derailment along the wye.

A track worker tightens bolts holding what appears to be a temporary fix for a rail broken during the presumed derailment. Note how that rail is freshly nailed, and appears uneven or damaged on the top.

The trio (CSX 5434, CSX 404, and CSX 818) on the team track found their assigned empties, and here rolls them east through Dorsey on the way for a refill.