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Aberdeen MD   Havre de Grace   Perryville MD
These three towns are very close to each other, and therefore, grouped as such


In General


Location / Name:
Havre de Grace MD, Harford County

What's Here:
The southern end of CSX's and Amtrak's bridges crossing the Susquehanna River
Old PB&W bridge piers
NS siding

Data:
GPS Coordinates: as needed
Phone A/C:
ZIP:

Access by train/transit:
MARC, across the river in Perryville (doesn't really count tho)

The Scoop:

Havre de Grace MD sits on the southern shore of the Susquehanna River, across from Perryville MD.  It is a quiet little "resort" town, and has many historical things and restaurants to keep you busy.  During the warm weather, many of the eateries have a deck you can eat outside on, and many have a great view of the Amtrak bridge spanning the Susquehanna!  If you are a buyer of railroad postcards, EBay seller baysideantiques_02 has her store here.

The NE Corridor squeezes down from four tracks to two in order to cross the Susquehanna River between Perryville and Havre de Grace on both sides of the river.  Great shots of traffic over the bridge can be had from both shores of the river.

The old stone bridge piers for the bridge that preceded the current Pennsy/Amtrak bridge can be easily seen, and included into pictures if you position yourself in the right spot.

The Amtrak bridge is also covered on the Perryville MD  page.

Note: Both I-95 AND RT 40 have now gone to cashless tolls, meaning you need one of them EZ PASS thingys in your car.  If you don't have one, they will bill you at something like 10 bucks... you've been forewarned :-)  :-)  See pictures below.

Acknowledgements:
Denver Todd
Terry Redeker
Google Maps
Bing Maps
Railpace Magazine, the July 2021 issue has a story about the Amtrak bridge
Gary Pancavage, via Railpace
Wikimapia

Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perryville_Railroad_Bridge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_Susquehanna_River_Bridge
https://railpace.com/amtraks-susquehanna-river-crossing/
https://wikimapia.org/1697944/Amtrak-Susquehanna-River-Swing-Bridge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WV4Z5alN_A Video of the bridge swinging open in 2017


Maps



The above map in PDF format is here


Sights


    CSX (ex B&O) Susquehanna River Bridge, Bridge #34

The current bridge was built in 1908 by the Baltimore & Philadelphia RR, replacing a single track timber bridge.  However, a train derailment wiped out one span, and they had to detour trains over the "PRR" till 1910.  The new bridge was two tracks, but was subsequently reduced to a single track bridge.  Catching something on the bridge requires a bit of patience, as traffic on CSX is far less than over on the Amtrak bridge - Wikipedia has (as of 2006) about 24 trains running over the bridge every day.





 


Shot from the Rt 40 Susquehanna bridge.


An old print of the first bridge to span the Susquehanna at this location, date unknown.



    Amtrak's Susquehanna River Bridge

From Wikipedia: In 1866, after 12 years of intermittent construction, the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) completed a wooden single-track railroad bridge.  Iron reinforcements were added between 1874 and 1880.  In 1881, when the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) formally took control of the PW&B, it cut rival Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's access to the PW&B.  The B&O was forced to construct a parallel route between Baltimore and Philadelphia, including a new bridge about 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream.

In 1904-06, the PRR replaced the PW&B crossing with a new bridge just a few yards upstream.   Opened on May 29, 1906, it includes a center swing span to increase vertical clearance for water traffic from the nominal 52 feet (15.8 m).  In 1934, the PRR began installing catenary on the span to help extend 11,000-volt electrification south from Wilmington to Washington D.C.  Regular electrified passenger service across the bridge began on February 10, 1935.

Ownership of the bridge passed to Amtrak in 1976 when it acquired much of the Northeast Corridor infrastructure. end Wiki

From Railpace: The history of this magnificent span dates back to the mid-1860s when the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore RR built a single-track wooden bridge at this same location.  Iron reinforcements were added shortly thereafter, and the stone piers that supported the original structure still remain today.  When the Pennsylvania Railroad took control of the PW&B, a new span several yards upstream was built between 1904 and 1906.  Catenary was installed in 1934 as part of the expansion of PRR’s massive main line electrification south to Washington DC, and regular electrified passenger service began in February 1935.  Ownership of the bridge remained with PRR, then transferred to Penn Central in 1968, before it was passed on to Amtrak in 1976. end RP

These pictures were taken from the deck of the Tidewater Grill on the water.  Both the Tidewater Grill and McGregor's have great food, and fairly reasonable prices.

































From Amtrak

From Amtrak

From Railpace, Gary Pancavage photo

From Wikimapia





The Amtrak bridge from the end of Green St, a couple of blocks over from the restaurants.




If you go to the Youtube page for the video of the bridge opening, and look at the comments, here is one fellow who really doesn't like this bridge.  I'm not quite sure tho, how a newer more modern bridge would allow the local economy grow?  And how is the bridge unreliable or dangerous?  Maybe he would like to donate some money to the new bridge fund - you know - put your money where your mouth is kinda thing :-) Sheesh:





  Bridge Piers

As mentioned below.... In 1866, after 12 years of intermittent construction, the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) completed a wooden single-track railroad bridge. Iron reinforcements were added between 1874 and 1880.



Terry Redeker, 2018




Crossing Gates

On Juniata St, there are a couple of vintage crossing gate mechanisms.... I wonder how they managed to escape into this day and age?









Bridges


CSX over Level Rd







Amtrak NEC over Stokes Rd







Amtrak NEC over Freedom Ln

Nestled in between two "regular sized" overpasses, is Freedom Lane, with this small stone archway, barely large enough for today's cars.....







Amtrak NEC over Adams St

This is actually two bridges, one for each track.















Amtrak NEC over Juniata St






The Rt 40 Bridge over the Susquehanna River



  The Route 40 bridge over the Susquehanna, 2008.

  2019

The Rt 40 EZ Pass Toll Structure

2015

2019, before being finished




The I-95 Bridge over the Susquehanna River

GPS Coordinates: 39.57765, -76.11279 (south end)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_E._Tydings_Memorial_Bridge
https://americanbridge.fandom.com/wiki/Millard_E._Tydings_Memorial_Bridge

This rather plain looking bridge was completed in 1963.  It originally had lighting on it, in the form of downward looking fluorescent tubes - they disappeared sometime in the mid 70's.

From Wikipedia: The bridge is named for Millard Tydings (1890–1961), a longtime political figure in Maryland who served as U.S. Senator from 1927 to 1951.  It was built between January 1962 and November 1963 between bluffs high above the river valley, and is posted with warning signs "Subject to Crosswinds."  It was dedicated, along with the highway it carries, by U.S. president John F. Kennedy on November 14, eight days before he was assassinated in Dallas TX.  The next year, the highway was renamed the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway.

The toll, levied on northbound traffic only, is $8.00 for two-axle vehicles as of July 1, 2013; larger vehicles pay another $8 per additional axle.  In March 2020, the remaining toll collectors were replaced with electronic tolling because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with tolls payable through E-ZPass or Video Tolling, which uses automatic license plate recognition.  All-electronic tolling was made permanent in August 2020.  (As of 2022, there is hardly any evidence of any toll booths being around).

The design is of Steel Truss – Deck type.  The bridge is 5,061 ft (1,542.6 metres) long,  82ft (25 metres) wide, and has a mean clearance of 90ft (27.4 metres) to the water surface below.  End Wiki.  It carries 6 lanes of traffic, three in each direction.






The tollbooth on the NB side, that is longer with us.....



photo by Famartin, via Wikipedia



Signals


  SB Amtrak NEC Trilights

LED "Tri-Light" Signals.  These signals have been using LEDs for maybe 12-13 years (as of 2022), and I first noticed them on a MARC ride to Perryville, maybe sometime around 2010.  Just south of here, there is another set of LED "tri-light" signals for NB traffic in the next set, controlling the squeeze from 4 to 2 tracks.  Please Note: Professional signal maintainers DO NOT use the term "tri-light", they call them colorlights or by the model, such as type "G".





       

           

             



  NB Amtrak NEC Trilights

This is the second of two locations around here that uses LED's for lighting the signals.  A little further up in Wilmington DE, they have several signal heads with LED's in them, and a couple of the pedestals mounted overhead on a signal bridge have a couple of the lamp positions using lunar LED's.  When I first saw these lights around 2006, the only other place I had seen LED's in use was in Houston TX at Pierce Junction - now they are common all over the place, especially on the Corridor north of New Haven CT, and on NJ Transit "Reading" lines.

                 

         



  CSX CPL's at Ontario Road - The Old Signals

In Havre de Grace, at Havre de Grace, the CSX crosses at Ontario Road.  CSX started putting in the colorlights around 2007, but as of late August 2009, still had not cut over to them.  Coming down off the hill where the crossing is, you have a pretty good view of the NEC bridge over the Susquehanna.

 

           

  CPL's all gone, June 2011 :-(

    The grade crossing at Ontario Rd, June 2011



  CSX Colorlights at Ontario Road - The New Signals

These pictures were taken in June 2011.







Fire and Police






Susquehanna Hose Company Division 1

GPS Coordinates: 39.55146, -76.09670
451 N. Juniata St











Susquehanna Hose Company Division 2

GPS Coordinates: 39.5222, -76.0222
125 N. Union Ave







Susquehanna Hose Company Division 3

GPS Coordinates: 39.54527, -76.08764
301 Market St







Susquehanna Hose Company Division 4

GPS Coordinates: 39.54322, -76.10008
911 Revolution St









Susquehanna Hose Company Division 5

GPS Coordinates: 39.55233, -76.11935
1542 Chapel Rd
Ontario Rd, coming out of Havre de Grace - it crosses CSX (in one of the very few grade crossings around), turns into Chapel Rd as it continues west.







Level Volunteer Fire Company

GPS Coordinates: 39.58005, -76.19361
3633 Level Village Rd









Havre De Grace Ambulance Corps

GPS Coordinates: 39.58005, -76.19361
1601 Level Rd, Havre De Grace MD 21078








Havre de Grace Police Department

GPS Coordinates: 39.54892, -76.09654
715 Pennington Ave, Havre De Grace MD 21078
410-939-2121






Maryland State Police - Barrack M

GPS Coordinates: 39.58712, -76.07722
I-95, Perryville MD, between the Susquehanna River and the Perryville exit
Only accessible via the SB side of I-95
This is the closest state police barracks to Havre de Grace







Floobydust



Bearwood Designs
203 North Washington St, Havre de Grace
https://www.facebook.com/Bearwood.page/

It is rare for me to feature commercial enterprises on my website, for obvious reasons.  However, being mechanical in nature (besides anything electronic), I was SO impressed with this art gallery, that I couldn't help myself.  The work that Mike does is nothing short of fantastic, you gotta stop in and check it out!







The Havre de Grace Lighthouse




The Concord Point Lighthouse in Havre de Grace.





Around Town and Other Stuff












These are all over town, but most locations have a brass marker with a number.


Under Amtrak's NE Corridor bridge, at the corner of Ostego and Union.


looking off the deck at the Tidewater Grill towards the junction of the Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna.


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 inaccurate, wrong, or not true.

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New MAR01/2008, JUN06/2011, JAN29/2014, JUN26/29/2022, JUL02/03/04/05/2022
Last Modified: 07/05/2022