RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

RAILFAN GUIDE to BALTIMORE
Northern Baltimore

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The map below shows the north side of Baltimore City, including the bottom (south) end of Baltimore County.

Other than the old Ma and Pa Depot to take in on Lake Ave, this section is pretty much devoid of railroad "stuff".

Along the abandoned Greenspring right-of-way, you can find some rail left behind when they removed the rest of it in the early 70's.  A few signal bases can be found closer to the light rail "mainline".  If you have a boat or canoe, you can also get shots of the really small "bridges" the NC constructed to go over streams.  About a mile from the light rail tracks is a girder bridge, which yours truly (with a little help from my best friend) back in 1969 painted with a pink and white PC, along with Penn Central spelled out - there were just the perfect number of sections on the bridge.  Little did we know then, the stir it created in the railfan community creating all sorts of rumors the Penn Central might revive the branch, and speculation since on the origin of the paint job.  It's no longer there, but we did the same thing to the bridge over Lake Roland, but it got repainted when the MTA took over in 1990.

The biggest draw to walking up the r-o-w is being able to take pix of the light rail trains crossing the short bridge over Lake Roland.  The easiest way to get there is to park in the Robert E. Lee park, walk across the dam, then go off to your right, looking for the path to the unofficial "hikey-bikey" trail on the other side of the light rail tracks.

The biggest draw to this part of town is the scenic light rail right-of-way.  From the Falls Road station north to Lutherville, you have approximately a four mile ride, maybe the longest stretch in the U.S. without a stop.  During the fall, this ride thru the Lake Roland is especially beautiful, rivaling even the East Broad Top fall spectacular for fall foliage scenery (I know Steve... you might disagree with me... oh well).  All of the stops except for Cold Spring Lane are good for photos.  Up in Ruxton where Bellona Ave separates from the r-o-w is a good spot, as is the north side of the bridge over the lake.  Just be careful if you decide to cross the bridge, or walk down from Bellona (which I don't advocate for safety reasons)... THE TRAINS ARE PRETTY QUIET! 

SAFTY NOTE:  If anyone knows about the dangers of being around the trains, I do... I had a track access class when I worked at Light Rail. During my four years of working in railcar maintenance, I also had my share of trains to help to clean people off of them after an accident (for some reason, they liked to wait until the midnight shift I was stuck on to do that).  To boot, one of the guys I currently work with has a niece that lost part of her foot when it got run over by an LRV this past winter... cause she crossed the tracks behind a train after getting off, right into the path of a train coming into the station from the opposite direction.  Each LRV weighs 54 tons empty... they are nothing to play around with!

New 09/11/2007
Last Modified:
09/12/2007