20-04-21 PHOTOS: Random Camden

One benefit of being off work due to the Covid outbreak was having some time on a weekday to catch some of the more mundane "local scene" that one is ordinarily too busy to bother with. Moreover, the complete lack of traffic due to stay at home recommendations made catching certain peak period activities way less bothersome. In my specific case I decided to use my Covid time to document the skeleton service that was still running on the MARC Camden Line. Because this limited service commuter operation serves a major city on each end, it sees service in both directions during both peak periods and a quirk of the scheduling makes it possible to catch both an eastbound and westbound run within about 20 minutes of each other. After using this to my advantage for the Thomas Viaduct, I next made visits to the Hannover Road grade crossing in Elkridge and the CARROLL - BAILEY corridor south of downtown Baltimore. You can see the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

The first point of exploration was the old Elkridge MARC station, located about 100 yards from where the CSX Capitol Sub crosses US Route 1. Closed in 1996 when the brand new Dorsey Park n Ride facility was opened, the Elkridge station's platforms, parking lot and access passage are still there, if you know where to look.

There was a building at the station site that now housed professional offices, but I couldn't tell if it ever had an association with the train station.

The under-track tunnel had been gated off, but was still in use by local cat ladies as a feeding station.

Antique lengths of rail had been employed as traffic control bollards.

The station is adjacent to the old coal and oil yard that used to get its shipments of home heating fuel by rail.



The Hannover Road grade crossing is located just around the curve west of the old Elkridge station. The first train of the evening set was the eastbound headed by MARC MP36PH-3C #32 with a sick horn. The 60mph curve at Elkridge is the first significant speed restriction on the 70mph line that trains encounter after leaving the DC terminal which contrasts with the twisty turney Old Main Line built just a few years before.

  

20-04-08 PHOTOS: Thomas Viaduct Affair

The UK generally gets credit for being the pioneer of railways and railway technology, but if one examines the timeline the Baltimore and Ohio railroad began construction only three years after George Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington railway began operation in 1825. Likewise the B&O's "Old Main Line" heading west out of the Port City of Baltimore to connect it with the Chesapeake and Ohio canal at Point of Rocks, started operation only 5 years before the New Main Line to Washington, DC was completed. Although the route to Washington ran over considerably milder terrain, a major barrier was the same Patapsco River valley that the Old Main Line used to escape the Chesapeake estuary. To overcome it the B&O constructed the Thomas Viaduct, a 612 foot long stone railroad bridge with 8 arch spans and a double track deck. Today the bridge remains in use, as constructed, carrying CSX freight trains on its Capitol Sub as well as MARC Camden Line passenger trains. Although close to where I live, I had not made any special effort to visit the viaduct until Covid closures reduced competing options. I made a point to go in the early evening when northbound and southbound Camden Line trains would show up. You can find the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

The curving viaduct spans the Patapsco River flood plain, with flood being the operative word as the normally sedate waterway sees frequent flood conditions that the bridge has stood up very well against. Normally the easternmost arch spans the Patapsco Valley State Park access road. 

An obelisk was erected at the eastern end in 1835 to commemorate the completion of the bridge.

Although now carrying trains an order of magnitude heaver than for what it was designed, the Thomas Viaduct has stood up well over the past 185 years.

The split between the Old and New main lines physically takes place just before to the viaduct at Relay, MD, however the logical split is now at ST DENIS interlocking a little less than a mile east of the viaduct. Here one can see the separate Capital and Old Main Line sub mileposts. 7 miles is the actual distance between this point and the old Camden station via Bailey's wye.

Whole at the obelisk a westbound train of empty coal hoppers passed by on the OML routing with ET's44AC #3409 and #3434, AC4400 #430 and ES44AC #702 with #420 being in the classic Blue Yellow and Grey CSX paint scheme.