Local Train Service

Can anyone help with info on local train service in the Md, Pa, Del, DC area...What railroad, the location and the customer they serve...

That's a rather broad request....particularly with it covering a four-state area. We can help you best if you'll narrow down what, where, (and likely when) exactly it is you're looking for.

For example; NS's Delmarva branch. Who does NS provide local service to on that line. Del Coast, who do they provide local service to. Eastren Shore RR, etc...

CSX Popes Creek branch. Who do they provide local service to.

CSX capital sub, etc...

CSX Metropolitan sub....

The CSX Pope's Creek branch is nowadays almost exclusively a coal line access to the PEPCO Chalk Point and the Morgantown Mirant power plants. I'm unaware of any other smaller customers, but will let others comment if they know of any.

There is currently under discussion, two proposals to expand the Pope's Creek branch. One is more talk than serious discussion, to provide MARC commuter service. The other is more serious, and is for security reasons, to provide an alternative route for HAZMAT shipments that could be subject to terrorist attack, as these currently are routed through DC, and Homeland Security is hoping to establish an alternative outside-of-DC route. This would mean construction of a bridge or tunnel across the Potomac at the Dahlgren Naval Surface Weapons Plant to Morgantown, with a diversion made eastward from CSX at about Fredericksburg, VA across the Potomac, up the Pope's Creek line, connecting at Bowie, MD. Whether or not this gets built is more a matter of money than NIMBYs taking the railroad to court.

Also, I'll let others comment on the Eastern Shore, the Capital Sub, and the Metropolitan Sub.

The latest word I received from my contact at MARC is that passenger service on the Popes Creek line is extremely unlikely. All other considerations aside, DC-bound trains would have to go all the way to Bowie before heading back down to Washington. Don't look for MARC to lay track over the old Chesapeake Beach Railway right-of-way to provide more direct access to DC. That will only happen on model train layouts.

hutton_switch wrote:The CSX Pope's Creek branch is nowadays almost exclusively a coal line access to the PEPCO Chalk Point and the Morgantown Mirant power plants. I'm unaware of any other smaller customers, but will let others comment if they know of any.

There are a few customers on the Pope's Creek sub. There's a gravel pit just north of La Plata that receives trains three days a week, usually Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. This plant even has it's own switcher, a blue GP-7 or GP-9, with the name "Bardon" on the side.

There's also 84 Lumber in White Plains that receives infrequent shipments, Chopp Lumber in Waldorf that receives shipments (boxcars and center beam flatcars) usually twice a week. There are also unused sidings in Waldorf to a steel company and Chaney Enterprises, another gravel operation.

Finally, the connection to the now dormant U.S. Navy Railroad, running between White Plains and Indian Head, is still intact while the fate of this line is being decided.

The branch to Chalk Point, (known as the Herbert Subdivision) which utilizes a portion of the old Washington, Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad right of way out of Brandywine, does not see any local service.

The local used to run twice a week, usually Tuesdays and Fridays. Recently though, we've seen local freight being handled in coal trains running to Morgantown.