RAILFAN GUIDES of the U.S.

Todd's Railfan Guide to
  the Maryland Midland Railroad 
 

In General
Map
Sights, Places, and Towns
the Western Maryland  Rwy Historical Society Museum

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In General

The Maryland Midland RR operates over a portion of the former Western Maryland Rwy between Emory Grove (Glyndon, or Reisterstown) MD and Blue Ridge Summit PA.  There is a crossover and wye in Keymar MD.  The MMid connects with CSX at both ends. 

The headquarter offices and a small yard are located in Union Bridge MD. 

Union Bridge is also home to the Western Maryland Historical Society and their museum, housed in the former WM depot.

A train heads out from Union Bridge around 8am to Blue Ridge Summit, and returns around 1pm.  The last time I went into the office and tried to ask them where there train was, they didn't answer because of all of the brew-ha-ha surrounding the 9/11 thing.  How hard can it be to know where one or two trains are anyways?

Map

Sights, Places, and Towns

     1          Emory Grove / Glyndon (Reisterstown)

     2          Finksburg

Not much here except a good overpass for pictures.

     3          Westminster

     4          New Windsor

A pair of old Western Maryland signals graces the edge of town.  They can just be seen if you venture off the main thoroughfare between Westminster and Union Bridge.  In order to keep costs down, the Western Maryland used signals mounted on the equipment cabinets, which can also be seen below at the museum with the semaphore on display.  These signals are in pretty good shape considering they haven't seen a Western Maryland train for 35 years!

     5          Union Bridge

Union Bridge is the Maryland Midland's HQ.

Overview of Union Bridge.

             
Signals at the east end of the yard.  I still can not believe that LED technology has not perfected a long lasting signal display :-(  A very simple ground plane antenna on top of the signal pole provides control signals from HQ.

The WM Historical Society's Museum/depot is on the left, the MMid HQ/office is on the right.

The eastern part of the yard.

The western part of the yard.

     6          Keymar / Middleburg

     7          Sabillasville

     8          Blue Ridge Summit

the Western Maryland  Rwy Historical Society Museum

       
The former Union Bridge railroad depot, now home to the museum.

       
A semaphore demonstration inside the museum with working mechanism.

                
The train order signal is maintained as part of the museum, and the MMid trains "pay no mind" to them.
Notice the signals were put together using standard traffic light signal parts to keep costs to a minimum.

   
Wednesday's are "work" days around the museum, and most of the volunteers have museum membership plates.

NEW 5-25-2011
Last Modified 06-Nov-2012