RAILFAN GUIDES of the U.S.
Todd's Railfan Guide to
BALTIMORE MD
Railroad Yards
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Baltimore has a fair number of yards, but many do not have good access other than an overpass shot if that.
The Canton RR used to have the majority of the Canton
Yard complex shown on the USGS map, up till the state built the Fort McHenry
tunnel in the late 80's. When I-95 came through, the Canton RR shops
and engine storage were demolished, and most of their business was handed
over to Conrail, then NS. Canton still serviced the line heading out
to Eastern Stainless, but traffic went way down. Within the past 10
years or so (as of 2016), traffic has picked up to the point that the state
built a small facility along Newkirk Street, and took over much of the
switching responsibilities for Penn-Mary Yard.
CSX has most of the yards in the Baltimore area, they are all former B&O
yards:
Penn-Mary - it's on the eastside.
Bayview - also on the eastside.
Curtis Bay - on the south side of town, car shop at
north end.
Seawall - small yard adjacent to Curtis Bay yard.
Riverside - just to the south of the downtown area,
includes diesel storage and maintenance facility,
(MARC diesels live and get worked on here too)
Winans - a small but sometimes busy (in the am) yard
west of town.
Mount Claire Yard - goes under Washington Blvd in
Morrel Park.
Locust Point - to the east of Riverside, services the
port.
Laurel - down in Annapolis Junction (not very busy most
of the time).
Grays yard in Sparrows Point was for the Patapsco & Back Rivers RR, but CSX
and NS bring stuff in and out.
Norfolk Southern has a couple:
Bayview - just like CSX and adjacent to it.
Canton - adjacent to CSX's Penn-Mary.
The Flexi-flo yard - on the far side of the North
Avenue light rail shops, it was cleaned out in 2012 and is no longer active.
Yards no longer around:
Western Maryland's Port Covington Yard.
Pennsy's Orangeville Yard - was used for engine service.
Pennsy's Wise Ave Yard - only two thru tracks exist
now.
CSX - Bayview Yard
GPS: 39.2986 -76.5505
One of two yards on the CSX mainline
between Philadelphia and DC, the other is Winans yard on the south side of
Baltimore. Traffic in and out of Grays yard, the Dundalk Marine
Terminal, and transfers to the Canton RR move thru here. Through
trains just keep on movin thru.
CSX - Curtis Bay Yard
CSX - Locust Point Yard
CSX - Mount Claire Yard
CSX - Penn-Mary Yard
GPS: 39.2716 -76.5547
The above coordinates are for the throat of the yard at Holabird Ave.
With the lack of business at Sparrows Point, and the closing of the Chevrolet Assembly plant, CSX doesn't have much need for this yard. So the major player here is the Canton RR, who has their headquarters and engine facility here on the Newkirk side of the yard. The fence prevents you from getting good pictures of engines stored next to the buildings.
CSX - Riverside Yard
CSX - Seawall Yard
CSX -
Winan's
Yard
NS - Bayview Yard
GPS: 39.2967 -76.5417
Norfolk Southern's Bayview yard is NS's main yard for Baltimore.
Amtrak's NEC comes thru on the north side of the yard.
BAY tower, still standing, is about where the "D" in "DC" is.
Tracks to Canton yard veer off just off to the left side of the map.
DC and Manassas are off to the left, and NS's freights share the NEC after hours.
The north end of the yard is not used as much as it used to be. Very little can be found there any more.
The yard office and the NS Police are located off Lombard St, and you are forewarned not to enter the yard at any point, the police are most non-forgiving!
NS - Canton Yard
GPS: 39.2693 -76.5613
A former Pennsy and Canton RR yard, it has seen engines with Penn Central and Conrail paint before becoming a Norfolk Southern yard.
Canton yard is mostly now an endpoint for Consolidated Coal, and a few local industries.
Before the Fort McHenry Tunnel was built, the Canton RR had it's huge complex on the west side of the yard and was a GREAT place for railfanning.
The B&O used to cross the Pennsy where the
dotted red line is, and passenger service came thru here to load them onto
ferries.
This was way back in the early 1900's.
Up until the early to mid 90's, there used to be another ship loading facility down at the bottom of the map at the dotted green line.
NS - Flexi-Flo Yard
P&BR - Gray's Yard
WM - Port Covington Yard
Disclaimers: Every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct.
Beware: ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as possibly being inaccurate, wrong, or not true.
NEW
11/11/11-10!
Last Modified
23-Jul-2016