Baltimore Railfan Guide - Annapolis Junction MD

RAILFAN GUIDES of the U.S.

Todd's Railfan Guide to
DORSEY and ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION MD
including Jessup and Savage

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Although not a spectacular railfan area, it does offer a few noteworthy items worth investigating and stopping for.

Probably the most notable is the 160ft long B&O Bollman Truss Bridge built in 1869. It's the only one of this design left. About ten years ago or so, the county did an excellent job restoring the bridge - including new planking so you can walk across it. It sits adjacent to the Savage Mill, an eclectic collection of shops. More info on the bridge can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollman_Truss_Railroad_Bridge

There are three MARC Stations on this map, Dorsey, Jessup, and Savage. Of the three, only Dorsey has a real station, having been built maybe ten years ago, and has it's own exit off RT 100. The exit is the only way to get into the parking lot, so don't try to look for an entrance off of the surrounding roads.

Off RT 32 are a couple of businesses with older first and second generation diesels as shown on the map.

It probably doesn't see any traffic these days, but there is a small bridge back off RT 100 and the BW Pkwy.

I have to go check it out to see if is still there, but years ago, there was another B&O bridge on the western side of i95, located off a small park that was put in for joggers (location #2). Prior to that, it was "just out there in the boonies".

For the signal fan, this area is still all B&O CPL's (color position lights). Get em while you can! There are a bunch that are easy to photograph on the south (or west) side of the station platforms at Jessup and Dorsey are CPL signals, and the north end of Savage.

Reminder: following the B&O tradition, all directions on the B&O are either eastbound or westbound, at least here in the Baltimore area. So, here on this map, a westbound freight is going south from Philly to DC, and an eastbound freight is actually going north.

Area Map

MARC's Camden Line Schedule

1 MARC's Dorsey Station

Maps from www.maps.live.com

The Dorsey station, looking south. Look hard and you can just see the CPL's off the end of the platforms. These signals are for the crossovers just south of here.

NB 7:24 #840

SB 7:40 #849

NB 7:49 #842

SB Freight around 8am, on the last pix on the right, you can see the NB signals, new and old

The above set was taken on March 17th, 2005, pretty early in the morn.

2 MARC's Jessup Station

The maps.live.com map and the Jessup station.

Wider view of the Jessup station - you only have two levels of magnification in the "birds eye view" mode.

3 MARC's Savage Station

Two views of the Savage station.

4 MARC's Laurel Station

4a MARC's Laurel Racetrack Station

This station is about as simple as you can get, and is only used when the track is open.

5 ex B&O Bridge

This bridge was "saved" maybe back in 2006 or so when the county decided to use it as part of a hikey-bikey trail, otherwise, it would have just rusted away... When I first saw it maybe 30 years ago, you had a hard time finding it amongst the trees, weeds, and vines!

6 ex B&O Bollman Truss Bridge

The bridge was built for an unknown location on the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1852, and was moved to its present location, spanning the Little Patuxent River on the spur to the Savage Mill, in 1887. This spur line dates to around 1840 and originally crossed the river on a stone arch bridge; however, due to alterations to the mill in the 1880s and topographical restrictions, a replacement bridge was needed. The bridge remained in service until the mill closed in 1947

7 Whimpey Minerals

8 Waste Management

The engines at Waste Management, the lead into the yard, and their storage track in the yard.

9 CSX Jessup Yard

Small CSX MOW yard at the north end of the yard.

The north throat of the yard.

The main reason for the Jessup yard is auto unloading.

The wye on the north side of the yard. Aren't we lucky with engines in most of these shots!

10 ex B&O Bridge

The bridge over Race Rd.

Signals

1 NB/SB Signals just north of Dorsey Station

See the aerial shot of Dorsey Station for their locations.

2 SB Signals at Dorsey Station and the north end of the crossover

One of the easiest set of signals to get pictures of in the Baltimore area! When I was here in late July 2011, they were getting ready to replace the CPL's, and the signal on "left/NB" track was out of service, never lighting up as trains approached.

The bottom set of pictures is from March 17th, 2005, way before the changeover started.