Baltimore Railfan Guide - North Suburban Baltimore Map

RAILFAN GUIDES of the U.S.

Todd's Railfan Guide to
BALTIMORE MD

the North Suburban side of Baltimore

Sights
the Greenspring Branch
Light Rail
Fire and Police
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The map below shows the north suburban side of Baltimore... Towson, Lutherville, Timonium, Cockeysville, and Hunt Valley.

There's lots to check out and see, as this part of Baltimore happens to be blessed with quite a variety of railroad "things".

The second railroad of Baltimore, the Baltimore and Susquehana, came through here in 1831-32 heading to York and Harrisburg. The railroad was re-organized as the Northern Central Rwy after a really bad accident in Ruxton/Riderwood killed 35 people, and the B&S. They also built the Greenspring Branch, which the Western Maryland used in the beginning before they had their own route out of the city. They built this route as an alternate way out of Baltimore when the state of Pennsylvania denied the Northern Central access to entering York County. The R-O-W was double tracked and signaled by WW1. Local passenger service, known as the Parkton Local, was discontinued in 1959. Soon after, the line reverted to a single track with passing sidings.
More info at:
     http://www.mdoe.org/north_central_rr.html
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Central_Railway
     http://wikimapia.org/7137695/Northern-Central-Railroad-Pennsylvania-Railroad-Abandoned

The northern part of the light rail system runs right up the middle of the map, which was the original right-of-way of the Northern Central. The original section which opened in 1990 and went to Timonium. The extension opened to Hunt Valley in September of 1997. Any part of it that wasn't, was double tracked in 2005, and the old marble ties (stringers) were visable along the R-O-W. Above Cockeysville, the R-O-W is now the NC hikey-bikey Trail, which is very popular with those types. The R-O-W splits off at Warren Rd., and other than the stub that is still there, not much remains visible. NS trains stopped running when the light rail closed the track for the double tracking project at the beginning of 2005. They applied for abandonment shortly thereafter.

It's kind of funny how, with the advent of light rail service, that the main line and siding functions of the track in Cockeysville reversed roles. What is now the light rail's main line at Warren Road, used to be an industrial siding, servicing business' in Cockeysville and the Hunt Valley Industrial Park. What used to be the Pennsy main line, became the siding. The line became a local line after hurricane Agnes in September of 1972 and washed out many bridges and trackage north of Cockeysville where it followed the river. The track went up to the freight shed for many years, then when the MTA took over, ended the line just shy of Cockeysville Rd. Today, the track goes up far enough to make a usable wye, and you can barely see where the tracks were from Cockeysville Road. Prior to the end of freight service, you could find a Norfolk Southern or Conrail engine, and maybe a few cars sitting north of Warren Road because they couldn't make it back to the interchange track back at the light rail shops before the start of service.

Several old NC/PRR depots are still around to check out - Riderwood (about a quarter of a mile down the tracks from me), Lutherville, Greenspring, Stevenson, and Monkton. Three of them are used as homes, and anyone wishing to take pictures of them should respect the privacy of the homeowners! Monkton serves as the HQ for the Trail.

Just north of Padonia Road and the Timonium stop, the Glen Burnie / Cromwell trains "turn around". During the double-tracking project, the MTA put in this really nice pocket track station like arrangement (like Camden Station), and the turn-arounds wait in the pocket track.

Towson is the Baltimore County seat, and as such, has both the police and fire department headquarters in the town center. There are 4 paid stations, 3 volunteer stations, and 2 precincts on the map, in addition to the Fire Museum of Maryland in Lutherville.

More info at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Light_Rail

Sights

1 ex NC/PRR Riderwood Station

This station is privately owned. The Riderwood Station is of a Frank Furness design. The station was sold to the station operator in approximately 1964 after the Pennsy stopped running the Parkton Local. Somewhere around 2002, the woman who owned it (the surviving widow of the station operator), decided to sell it. I got a call while in Minneapolis from someone on the neighborhood association asking me for help (don't know why he called me, or how he knew I had an interest in trains). So I petitioned Baltimore County to put it on their historical list, which didn't look good at the hearing, because the county council was turning down similar requests. It finally did make it on the list, and the woman and her real estate agent got really pissed at me because the best offer they had gotten was from a real estate developer who wanted to tear it down and put up 4 or 5 houses on the acre and a half it sits on. Score one for "us". The house sold for $225K back in 2002, and recently sold for around $625K before the real estate bust.

2 ex M&Pa Bridge Abutments

Luckily, Towson decided to keep the old Ma and Pa bridge abutments and make them part of the Towson renewal. They are located at the south "entrance" to the CBD of Towson at York Road and Towsontowne Blvd.

3 ex PRR Monkton Station

The Monkton Station currently serves as the HQ for the Northern Central Trail.

4 ex PRR Lutherville Station

5 NC Marble Ties

These fine examples of marble railroad ties date back to when the Northern Central was heading north out of Baltimore in the 1834 time frame. When the MTA Light Rail was double tracking the northern section in 2005, they "uncovered" many of the ones still left in the old right-of-way. There were two sections that we saw, one was under Padonia Road going several hundred feet to the south, the other section was at Industry Lane. I tried like a bandit to get some of them saved, but neither the MTA nor the Maryland Historical Trust wanted to do so, stating that they should be preserved for the future when "we" will know more about discovering their secrets. The letter I received also asked me if I knew anything about extracting historical artifacts out of the ground without damaging them, but a couple of days after I received that letter, people doing the R-O-W worked came along and scraped the top of several dozen of them while clearing the way for the new track - so much for the state being good guardians of our past. So, they all got buried and none of us will ever see them again :-(

The two aerial shots below show where the stones were uncovered and could easily be seen during 2005.

Greenspring Branch RR Sights

I gave the Greenspring Branch its own page: http://www.railroadsignals.us/baltimore/greenspring/index.htm

Light Rail

Hunt Valley

Pepper Road

McCormick Rd (on Schilling Circle)

Gilroy Rd

At Gilroy, the line goes into a single track for its trip through most of the industrial park (it goes back into two tracks for the Hunt Valley station before crossing Shawan Rd).

The NB signal for trains heading to Hunt Valley is fairly unique in that it only displays two aspects as seen below. Signals like this also show up at the Timonium turn around.

You can almost always count on a meet here, for trains going to HV have to wait for the SB train to clear the single track.

A SB train coming into Gilroy

A NB train coming into Gilroy and then heading to HV

Warren Rd

No right turn signs on WB Warren Rd when taking a right onto Beaver Dam Road.

Warren Rd Grade Crossing

Cockeysville Siding

Timonium Turn Around

NB trains passing the pocket track.

NB going into the pocket track.

In the pocket track.

SB trains passing the pocket track.

Picture from the adjacent medical building and my doctors office, they think I'm nuts when I show up for an exam with my camera :-)

Signals and signs.

More signals and signs.

Ductwork used for running the cables in, instead of running them overhead and/or on poles.

Timonium

Timonium used to the be the last stop before the Hunt Valley extension was finished in 1997.

Timonium Road Grade Crossing

Timonium Business Park

Lutherville

MP 525

Living next to the light rail can have its advantages. During the blizzard of 1996, traffic went no-where for two days, so I called up Light Rail Control and had them stop behind my house at this milepost to pick me up for work. Did this for two days. Some of the operators will still blow the horn when they pass by and see me in the yard.

A couple of winter shots from behind my house.

the Riderwood Tunnels

Fire and Police

1 Baltimore County Fire Station 1 - Towson

For more info on the BaltCo fire stations: http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/fire/stationinfo/index.html

Reserve Ambulance #117

Engine #1

Oooooops

Truck #1

14 Baltimore County Fire Station 14 - Brooklandville

One lucky day, I happened to drive by Brooklandville, and ALL of the equipment was outside. I didn't see anyone around to ask what was going on, but got a lot of good pictures. Timing is everything. They will be taking delivery of a new Hazmat truck in April of 2011, stay tuned. I would like to thank the guys of Station 14 for their hospitality and for taking the time to chat.

Brush 14 caught in front of the Superfresh in Timonium. The onboard pump can empty the 150 gallon tank in about 3 or 4 minutes.

17 Baltimore County Fire Station 17 - Texas

Battalion Chief 11/1 sitting outside the station, and BC3 outside Sams Club, near the L/R pocket track.

Truck #17.

Engine #1 at Texas.

30 Lutherville Volunteer Fire Company

Lutherville is the closest station to where I Live. They have the distinction of being the only company in the county that has a truck outfitted especially for vehicle rescue, truck 303. They just got a new one last year, replacing the older 303 that had been in service for about 25 years. Lutherville wants to double the size of the firehouse to the adjoining lot to the right.

39 Cockeysville Volunteer Fire Company

Ambo 395 in Timonium.

51 Hereford Volunteer Fire Company

53 Hereford Volunteer Ambulance Squad

the Maryland Fire Museum

Located in Lutherville, off York Rd (exit 26 off the Beltway), turn when you see the sign below.

6 Baltimore County Police Precinct 6 - Towson

Baltimore County built a new Towson Police Station in the 90's, replacing the old one on Washington Ave. For more info on the BaltCo police precincts: http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/police/precinctsall.html