RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

RAILFAN GUIDE to MARYLAND

Perryville MD
Northeast of Baltimore along i95

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Lots of railfans like coming here at night so they can watch the NS freights come off the Harrisburg line onto the Northeast Corridor.

The NE Corridor also squeezes down from four tracks to two in order to cross the Susquehana River between Perryville and Havre de Grace.  Great shots of traffic over the bridge can be had from both shores of the river.

Pedestal signals populate the wye, making for good shots with these signals in them.... who knows how long they will last considering NS has been replacing the Pennsy PL signals with Darth Vader style color light signals all over the place.

Michael Watnoski and I were in Perryville on a routine CPL and PL picture taking trip when this PRR E trip came rollin down the corridor... I was more into taking pictures of the passing trains while Michael was off taking pictures of the signals - when I yelled at him "Hey Mike, something different is coming".... what luck!

The dwarf PL (on a short pole) at location 3 controlling the Harrisburg line into the NB corridor.

          
The pedestal signal at location 3 controlling the station siding.

       

The pedestal signal is at location 4b (to the right of where 4 is now) controlling the station siding into the SB main.
The excursion train just passed.

Although not on this map, this is a typical signal installation on the B&O (CSX).  The track between Baltimore and Philadelphia is a single track mainline with sidings every five miles or so.  The high signal is for the mainline, the dwarf for the siding.  A doll post (without a light), indicates the high signal is for the left (main) track.  This siding is south of Havre de Grace.

Below is a series of shots of one freight passing another... it's interesting to note the signal is dark prior to the freight getting into the block under the camera, but once cleared of the block adjacent to the one waiting on the siding, you get a clear signal.

New 03/01/2008
Last Modified: 04/08/2008