RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

 

JD Tower (Junction)
On the CSX (B&O) - Hyattsville MD

 


Between Baltimore and Washington DC, the B&O used to have a number of towers - NA, HX, and JD to name a few.  JD tower was in Hyattsville MD, a few miles inside the DC Beltway.

With the increased volume of traffic everywhere, This is a very busy place.... Even on a recent Sunday afternoon, we caught three freights in less than an hour.

And, to boot, this is an all CPL location, although there is a new cantilever bridge to support two of them at location 8.

It's been a while since I was here last, probably the early 70's when the tower was still in operation.... John Buxton and I stopped here on the way back from the Gaithersburg train show on 11/4/07.... Come to think of it, he and I were here together the last time.


A couple of Mapquest map shots of the area.


All of the aerial photos are from maps.live.com unless otherwise notedThe pictures go from south (or west in railroad perspective) to north (or east), and the number references are from my map above.


The East-West Highway at the top.... to the right it takes you to/from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway
Below that is Queensbury Rd, one of the few grade crossings of the mainline in the area.


Queensbury Rd is at the top of the photo.

CPL 8

CPL 9

CPL 10

CPL 11


CPL 10 and CPL11 are right in the middle, just above the crossover.  Blue marks the spot for street parking for access to these signals, I also stuck a blue circle on the map above.  The red dashed line is the old streetcar line.


The "north" crossover is at the top, the SB split for the wye is just above the cantilever bridge (CPL 8), and CPL 9 about mid picture to the left of the tracks.


The best spot to park for the cantilever bridge.... This is also an excellent spot for general railfan pix because you have good sight in both directions... Bring along some lawn chairs!  The only thing you won't get here are EB freights heading south, because they go around the south leg of the wye before they reach you here.


The "north" side of the wye.

CPL 6 is in the middle of the pix.

CPL 6


CPL 4 and CPL5 are to the left, just below the 5 hoppers, CPL 6 is just off to the right.

CPL 4

CPL 5

CPL 7 - Ain't got no pictures of "7"


Just north of the crossover, the wye splits off to head south.


The equipment detectors, excessive height/width sensors, the south crossover, and CPL 2 and CPL3 are in this photo. You can drive almost all the way up to the sensor bridge.

EQ DET 1

CPL 2

CPL 3


 


NEW 11/8/2007
Last changed: 08 Nov 2007