Baltimore Railfan Guide - Map of the South Western Suburbs

RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

RAILFAN GUIDE to BALTIMORE

the South West side of Baltimore
Mostly Baltimore County, some Howard and Anne Arundel County

Carrollton Viaduct
B&O RR Transportation Museum
ex B&O BX Tower
the Light Rail/CSX Interchange
Light Rail Stations
ex B&A RR Wooden Trestle

Fire and Police

Signals

Floobydust

Guide Home Maps Hiways Hotels Intro Railroad Sights Links Photos Busses Bio's

The map below shows the area on the southwest side of Baltimore City, and to the SW of the city.... some in Baltimore County and some in Anne Arundel County. Like MAP 6, it has a lot going on, a lot to see...... it contains a lot of stuff to keep you busy, and you could easily spend a day in this quadrant alone.

The biggest attractions on this map are the B&O RR Museum and Carrolton Viaduct, supposedly the oldest railroad bridge in the world still in service.

There are a couple of yards on the map, the big one being CSX's Mt. Winans Yard. Most of the CSX line's still have their CPL's in place, although color lights are slowly creeping into the region.

Also on this map, you have the southern end of the Light Rail system, but no Metro. There are no MARC stops on this map.

Note: even though the B&O's tracks went 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 scour Baltimore and the Delmarva area for those elusive CPL's and PL's.

It's difficult to get all of the little street names on the map without cluttering it up, so make sure you take along a good map of the Baltimore area. ADC puts out a good book map of the area, DeLorme's is so-so, I would go with ADC's - they've been doing the area for around 30 years and know the area well. Thomas also has an excellent map book out on Baltimore, slightly more expensive tho. If you belong to AAA, they have a pretty good map, even tho they now put everything on one map (they used to have 3 or 4 for the area, and if you can find someone that wants to let loose with the set, GRAB IT!).

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 crabcakes in Baltimore).

Interstate 895 sucks for commuting around, since it is not one of those roads you can get on n off of like the reminder of the highways around Baltimore. This stems from the fact that it was a tollroad in the beginning, and for some reason, Maryland has been happy to keep it as a very limited access highway.

Color coding follows the keys on the map:
1 Yel/Grn are notable railroad attractions, 6 Blk/Grn is for signal locations, 6 Red is used for Fire Stations.

Most, if not all of the aerial pictures are from: http://www.bing.com/maps/

This map is available here as a PDF

1 Carrollton Viaduct

According to many sources, Carrollton Viaduct is the oldest railroad bridge in the world still in use, check out the references below. The bridge was completed in 1829, and has two arches... the main arch is 80 feet wide, and crosses the creek. The second smaller arch is 18 feet wide, and crossed an old wagon trail, it is now a walking path, which gives easy access to the structure for pictures. Easy parking can be found off Washington Blvd.

For more info, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrollton_Viaduct
http://www.ce.jhu.edu/mdcive/carrollton.htm

2 The B&O Railroad Transportation Museum

3 ex B&O BX Tower

4 Light Rail / CSX Interchange

Light Rail Stations

5 Light Rail Westport Station

The first station south of the Harbor. It's also at the end of a nice overpass. Good photo ops here. Adjacent to the station is a unique restrict only CPL signal for freights coming from Curtis Bay.

6 Light Rail Cherry Hill Station

7 Light Rail Patapsco Station

8 Light Rail Baltimore Highlands Station

The station is on the left, a set of crossovers just north of the station is on the right.

9 Light Rail Nursery Road Station

The station is the thumbnail on the left, another set of crossovers just north of the station is on the right.

10 Light Rail North Linthicum Station

The Linthicum Station is on MAP 6.

11 Light Rail Ferndale Station

12 Light Rail Cromwell / Glen Burnie Station

The station is on the left, the tail track on the right... Removed was the old B&A bridge over Dorsey Rd.

13 the Light Rail Cromwell Shops

14 ex Baltimore and Annapolis RR Wooden Trestle

I honestly don't know how this bridge managed to escape being ripped out and replaced, as the clearance is hardly enough to get a car underneath it... But be glad, you got a true gem.