RAILFAN GUIDES HOME RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
This page will covers the two stations of the BWI branch, and the lone
station of the Penn Station branch. I will also cover the grade
crossings and anything else of interest along the way!
The Penn Station "Branch"
Penn Station
GPS Coordinates: 39.496289, -76.654300
Pictures at Penn Station are a challenge because of the crummy lighting
conditions - one side of the train is dark, and the other is sunlit....
Trains run every 30 minutes, and not well patronized, every time I have ridden
the train into or out of here, there is usually only one other person on the
train. They should have kept the bus bridge from Mt Royal in place for
what it cost and the ridership it receives.... sorry (yes, I know I
shouldn't put my personal opinions in here :-).
I actually worked at the Light Rail in a pretty "exciting time", as all three of
the extensions were opened during my tenure 1995-1998: Hunt Valley, BWI, and
Penn Station. I volunteered to be the ride-along ET when both Hunt Valley
and BWI opened (in case the train broke down and something needed to be done
right away without calling for help), and when they were doing test runs into
Penn Station, we did the runs with the doors open - talk about overhang
from the tracks! - It seemed like we were hanging in mid-air when you went
around that curved bridge section over the Jones Falls!!!
The BWI Airport Branch
The Interchange
GPS Coordinates: 39.196751, -76.653844
Taken out the front window of a train heading north.
Andover Road
We're west of the grade crossing, adjacent to the short siding.
South Camp Meade Road / MD 170
Elkridge Landing Road
BWI Business Park Station
GPS Coordinates: 39.191415, -76.673209
Aviation Blvd / MD 170
Along Elm Road
The BWI Airport branch is all double tracked except for a short section along
Elm Road leading up to the airport station. This is the outbound
interlocking signal for going from the single track back to two.
At the other end of the single track is signal BW115.2...
BWI Airport Station
GPS Coordinates: 39.182836, -76.669846
Disclaimers:
I love trains, and I love signals. I am not an expert. My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page. This is something I have fun with while
trying to help others.
Please Note: Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.
For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented
I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.
If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct. Once in a while,
an error may creep in :-)
My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning. Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or
disoriented. Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost! I belong to AAA, which allows you to get
local maps for free when you visit the local branches. ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the
railroads on them. If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job
of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads. Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.
Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted. Screen captures are made
with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it!
By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous
and/or other stuff.
Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit
is always given! Please be NICE!!! Contact info is here
Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly being inaccurate, wrong, or not true.
