23-04-29 PHOTOS: Iron Horse Valley

In 1927 the Baltimore and Ohio railroad organized the Fair of the Iron Horse to celebrate the company's centenary in Halethorpe, MD, on a sizable tract of land adjacent to its original main line just south of Baltimore. This pinch point between the Baltimore harbor coastline and the steep Patapsco River valley was also used by the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, forerunner of today's Northeast Corridor. Today this often overlooked patch of land is home to surprising around of rail action and in the spring of 2003 I took some detours off my normal driving routes to get a closer look at what it had to offer ( mirror ).

The first stop was the St. Dennis MARC station where I just happend to see a sizable spike of railfans out with their tripods. Popping in to see what was the matter, I was informed about an upcoming heritage unit (presumably CSX). While I was not successful in catching the heritage engine that day, I did catch an eastbound autorack train lead by CM44AC #7025 with AC4400 #789 in the DPU position.

A few days later at Dorsey I caught the usual 6:30pm Camden Line meet staring MARC single level cab car #7760, Bomber cab car #8051, SC44 #80 and MP36PH-3C #?.

HX or HALETHORPE tower is located immediately next to the old 1927 fairgrounds, which have since been converted into an industrial park. Previously controlling a 4-track full crossover, the interlocking was replaced by a new one, ST DENNIS, about half a mile to the west. Since my last visit the tower is not longer being used by maintenance crews and has had new plywood installed over the doors to keep out the homeless and urbexers.

The 4 tracks between HALETHORPE and LANDSOWNE interlockings are often used to park trains through trains needing a re-crew before they enter the largely single track Baltimore Belt Line and Philly sub. That day CSX ES44AC #836 was parked on the siding track at the head of a manifest freight.

The new ST DENNIS crossovers allow for longer trains to be stacked on the 4-track zone. Here we find C40-10W #5212 and SC70MAC #4543 leading a westbound consist sitting just ahead of the westbound signal bridge.

A short distance away at the Halethorpe MARC station, Track A was closed for MoW work with a large hi-rail crane truck and platform bridge gondolas adjacent to the eastbound platform. I had pulled in due to the scheduled passage of a southbound Amtrak Acela Express run and caught the rare trainset with connectively numbered power cars, #2030 and #2031.

Less than an hour later at the Milepost 101 intermediate signal I caught a northbound MARC train on track #1 led by SC44 #87, followed soon after by a AX running north on the same #3 track used by the previous southbound! This Acela was trailed by ultimate power car #2039.

Although rather far away from Halethorpe, things wouldn't be complete with another quick trip to the Garrett Park MARC Brunswick Line station. This unfortunately would be my last time there for the foreseeable future as the friend who lived nearby was about to move. First up was a outbound MARC express train with MP36PH-3C #16 and Bombardier cab car #8052 followed by Amtrak's Capitol Limited Train 29 with P42DC #78 leading.







A few days later at the Landsowne, MD re-crew spot I caught CSX C40-10W #5430 and a manifest freight lit up for a trip over the Baltimore Belt Line with the eastbound track #2 signal at LANDSOWNE interlocking going from Medium Approach Medium to Limited Clear. The second unit on the head end was AC4400 #534 still in the increasingly rare YN2 scheme.

A second manifest freight was parked on the siding track with CSX ES44AH #952 and AC4400 #316. Because of restricted capacity through the city of Baltimore there are almost always one or more freight trains parked at this location.

A week or two later under, significantly improved weather conditions, I caught this ballast tamper on the yard lead at WEST BALTIMORE interlocking.

I'll wrap things up with one of 10 CSX CM40-8 rebuilds of C40-8W's, #7786, staring at an approach medium signal indication eastbound on track #2 at LANDSOWNE interlocking. The crew was making no effort to get under way and was likely waiting for a full Clear indication to avoid getting stopped for westbound traffic at CARROLL interlocking downtown.

That's all for now. Next time I'll be back with a quick SEPTA jourkey to Elkins Park and a whole bunch of Atlantic City Line action.