23-08-20 PHOTOS: Dorsey and Baltimore Metro

As the Baltimore Metro Subway lurches forward towards replacing its Budd Universal Transit Vehicles, I figured I should take the time to both ride the system again and try to get front facing video that captures the current look and feel of the line. The videos will be in their own part, but here I'll have stills from the two terminal stations as well as other Baltimore area rail activities. The whole set of still photos can be found here ( mirror ).

I'll kick things off at the Dorsey MARC station killing some time between visiting a local mall and trivia night. I got there in time to catch an eastbound MARC Camden line train hauled by MARC MP36PH-3C #33 with Bomber cab car #8045 on the rear.

For whatever reason the CSX dispatcher decided to run a train full mostly of empty NYC waste cubes and powered by C40-10W #5449 and SD70MAC #4560 ahead of the following eastbound MARC train. However the next train into the station was a westbound with single level cab car #7759 and SC44 #81.

Before the Metro stuff I also did another trip up the NEC encountering MARC Bomber cab car #8053 and Acela Express power car #2010 at BWI.

Here is SEPTA #719 posing in front of the tiles at Market East and PATCO #1089 at Haddonfield.

Moving back down to Baltimore to get some photos at WINANS interlocking at the Halethorpe Station. There I caught an inbound MARC weekend train with Kab Kar #7843 plus SC44 #82, in addition to a southbound Amtrak Regional with ACS-86 #654.

This photo set is catching a lot of random summer stuff as I ended up back at Dorsey for the 630pm eastbound-westbound "meet". The westbound was headed by ML #8046 and had #11 pushing, while the eastbound features MP36PH-3C #24 and cab car #8054.

Alright, we're finally at the main attraction. My plan was to park at the Owings Mills Metro Subway terminus and ride a complete round trip to Johns Hopkins Hospital and back. Owings Mills Station is located in the middle of the I-795 median accessed by bunker like tunnels on either side. With direct ramps from 795 and a large Park N Ride, the Metro Subway acts to collect downtown workers from the northeastern suburbs who would otherwise have to cram into the capacity limited routes through the city, especially if trying to get to the Hospital. It was my first time actually entering the Owings Mills station and I found the ticket hall surprisingly spacious.

Budd UTV #103 at Owings Mills. The design dates from 1983 and was shared with the Miami Metrorail. If Budd had not folded an AC traction variant may have also found a home in LA or Boston in the mid-1990's.

#103 at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute (JHMI) station. Baltimore purchased 100 UTVs with the anticipation of line expansions as the basic system only needed 66 cars for full service. However the extension from Charles Center to JHMI in 1995 was the only part of the initial plans that came to fruition.

Despite being built a decade later, the JHMI station kept the same construction vibe as the original line.

UTV #112 waiting to depart. Since my last ride, the MTA replaced the lunar white proceed cab signals with green.

UTV #144, also at JHMI. As the fleet began to age, the MTA was able to rely on the large number of "extra" cars to cover for those that had broken down or even for spare parts. Miami replacing its UTV fleet in the 2010's provided an additional source of parts.

Operator's console showing an analogue needle speedometer and cab signal display reminiscent of those in the PATCO cars. Cab signal speeds are 0, 12, 20, 40, 50, 60 and 70mph. 70mph is only encountered on the far western end of the line in the I-795 median.

Well that's all for the still photographs. Tune in next time for the cab end videos of the full round trip.