Location / Name:
Relay MD, Baltimore County
Elkridge MD, Howard County
What's Here:
Thomas Viaduct
St Denis MARC Station
Thomas Viaduct Monument
CSX over Route 1
B&O Mileposts (for ref)
Elkridge Station (for ref)
Relay Hotel (for ref)
Data:
GPS Coordinates: as needed
Phone A/C: 410/443c
ZIP: 21227 Relay side, 21075 Elkridge side
Access by train/transit:
MARC
Geography:
hilly
The Scoop:
Probably the most notable structure on the map
is the famous Thomas Viaduct - it is in
Elkridge/Relay. It is the oldest curved stone arch bridge in the
U.S. still in operation. Good pictures can be had from both ends,
so you don't have to worry at what time of the day you get there,
altho CSX hasn't done as good a job at keeping the growth down as the
B&O did. The bridge spans the Patapsco River, the xx Park, and the county line, so the east end
is in Baltimore County, while the western end is in Howard County.
A monument to the Viaduct sits along the main line, in the middle of the split.
The only way I know of to get there without crossing the tracks, is by climbing
the embankment coming up from the park road below. The only picture I have
seen of it from the Library of Congress has so much horrible graffiti on
it, including Nazi stuff, that I am not going to post it here.
There used to be a pair of really nice vintage mileposts located by the Old
Main Line split from who knows how long ago, They unfortunately
disappeared around the 2007/2008 timeframe, removed by whom, no one
seems to know - an unfortunate loss for us all, for they were very unique!
You also have the B&O
Old Main Line, the first railroad line in the U.S. going to Ellicott
Mills (now Ellicott City). It splits off from the main line in Relay,
the eastern side of the viaduct. The Old Main Line offers a lot of good photo ops,
just refer to a good map of the area, and bring along a fair amount of patience,
but your rewards will be great! One of my favorite spots is the bridge and
tunnel in Ilchester, best for westbound freights, so you can catch 'em coming
out of the tunnel.
St Denis: Things have changed at St Denis since I first
did this guide. Railfanning is no longer allowed outside the rush
hours. Well, it's not so much tghat railfanning is not allowed, it's just
in general, people are not allowed on the platforms during :non-business" hours. I have not heard a
reason for instituting the no trespassing restriction. With that said, mornings can be a good time at St Denis, I
caught 5 trains in about an hour there around 8am, three MARC commuters, and
two freights for the Old Main Line. I don't know if the restriction
carries onto -just being parked at the parking lots- or not, maybe someone can
let me know?
CPL signals: Sorry, but CSX replaced them
in the 2010 timeframe, darnit......
Halethorpe is a good spot for Corridor
pictures, and is just up the road via Route 1.
Three items of interest on this page are for historical reference only, as they
are long gone:
-- 1) A pair of vintage B&O Mileposts
-- 2) The Relay House Hotel
-- 3) The Elkridge Station
Early on, the B&O had a station on the Elkridge side of the viaduct. MARC
also used the site for a while. Not much remains.
Also, parking on Lawyers Hill Rd at the western, or "southern"
end of the Thomas Viaduct is no longer possible, as the county did
away with the convenient spot for parking there years ago :-(
Note: even though the B&O's tracks go north and south, the B&O
referred to the directions as East (north) and West (south).
I use the north and south terms mostly, only because it is easier
to reference to the maps.
A lot of the pictures I use are taken on signal hunting trips with Michael
Watnoski, as we scoured the area for those elusive CPL's and PL's (seems
like a lifetime ago :-).
As far as food and other services go...... A few of my favorite restaurants in this quadrant are the
Double-T off exit 16, and G&M's and Snyders off exit 8 - they all have lines
getting into them during the popular hours, attesting to the quality of their
food (especially G&M's if you want some of the best Crab Cakes in Baltimore).
Interstate 895 sucks for commuting around,
since it is not one of those roads you CAN'T get on n (mostly) off as easily like
you can with the rest of
the interstates around Baltimore. This stems from the fact that it was a
toll road
in the beginning, and for some reason, Maryland has been happy to keep it as a
very limited access highway.
Acknowledgements:
Mike Brotzman
Denver Todd
Google Maps
Bing Maps
Open Railway Map
Wikipedia
I'm sure when the Thomas Viaduct was first built, the designers held their breath as a
small engine of the time went over it for the first time.... if they
could just be around today to see 6000HP behemoth's go over it now!
Thomas Viaduct was the first stone masonry
arch bridge on a curve built in the United States. Construction started
July 4th, 1833, and was completed on July 4th, 1835. The bridge was named
for Philip E. Thomas, first president of the B&O RR.
The bridge is 612 feet long, the average arch
span is 58 feet (of which there are eight of them), the average height of the
arches is 59 feet, the width of the bridge is 26'-4". It cost $142,236 in
1830's money, which today, would equate to roughly $2.7 million.
The viaduct crosses the Patapsco River and the Patapsco Valley State Park, and is
about a half mile south of the St Denis station.
The St. Denis station dates back to the old B&O days. The current
"station" (if you can call it that), was put in
place when MARC started it's commuter service back in the MDOT days. When
I first went to college in 1969, I would come over here to "study" and watch
trains - there was a real depot here then (well - kinda, sorta :-). The
B&W picture below is the only one I have come across of it, and it was taken by
my best friend John's father, Leonard Buxton - one of the greatest railfans of
all time!!!
From Mike Brotzman comes this: ST DENIS interlocking was constructed in 2006 as a
replacement for the older HALETHOPRE interlocking (at HX Tower) about a mile to the east. This
lengthened the storage area for inbound trains to the southern Baltimore Terminal
yard complex that branches off at WEST BALTIMORE interlocking. St Denis was at the
junction of the CSX Capitol Sub, Baltimore Terminal Sub and Old Main Line Sub.
I'm not sure how you get to this without trespassing, because it is in the middle
of the Main Line and Old Main Line split. The climb up the embankment from River
Road is a tough one, especially when everything is in full bloom.
The B&O RR had a station here, not sure of the dates for the structure. MARC
at one point, used this location in lieu of St Denis for a while. As
you can see in the historic picture, there used to be a grade crossing here -
not sure when they closed that off. Then, an underpass was built so commuters
did not have to cross the tracks. The underpass is still there, but it is
closed off rather well, and if you go there, I would not advise trying to break
in, as CSX police check on a regular basis when they are out this way. I
believe there are signs that say no trespassing, so if you go there to catch a
freight or MARC train, scamper away quickly, the engineers will call you in.
From Wikipedia: Relay House on the Patapsco River, was also known as the
Viaduct Hotel. Constructed in 1872 at a cost of $50,078.41, the hotel
was closed in 1938 and eventually demolished in 1950. The hotel would
have been where the yellow "X" is.
The signals here at St Denis are a "brand new" set of signals. They
replace CPL signals which used to be at the interlocking in front of HX tower,
about a mile north of here. The interlocking HX Tower used to control, has
now been moved to "just before" the St Denis station. The two pictures at
the bottom show the area in front of HX now, and where the two locations are
related to each other. You can also see the nice straight tracks in
front of HX in the one shot.
A few shots way before the signals were put into service (2005)
WB Color Light Interlocking Signals near St Denis Station
GPS Coordinates: 39.22690, -76.69500
This picture was taken from where HX Tower stands, and the signals are almost a mile distant.
2008, Mike Brotzman
Color Light Interlocking Signals at Gun Rd
GPS Coordinates: 39.22889, -76.72186
In this quiet little corner of the Patapsco State Park, you have a closed grade
crossing on the Old Main Line, a set of interlocking
signals, track lubricator, an old concrete telephone booth, a switch machine,
and of course, grade crossing lights which no longer see any vehicular traffic.
The signals are made by Safetran.
At the grade crossing are the tracks coming from St Denis, and it is a
single track. West of here it is double track for about 1.9 miles to a point in
the park near " Grist Mill/Saw Mill Branch/Buzzard Rock/Forest Glen Trails",
approx GPS Coordinates: 39.24312, -76.75027.
Thomas Viaduct
St Denis MARC Station
St Thomas Viaduct Monument
Vintage B&O Mileposts
Elkridge Station
Relay House Hotel
in 1910 / Via Wikipedia
CSX over Route 1
EB Color Light Interlocking Signals at St Denis
A few shots way before the signals were put into service (2005)
WB Color Light Interlocking Signals near St Denis Station
2008, Mike Brotzman
Color Light Interlocking Signals at Gun Rd
