Maryland Visit

I am visiting the Hagerstown Maryland area for my first time to watch trains and was wondering if anyone has any guides to the area or suggestions for places to watch a large ammount of traffic. My son is 2 years old and likes to watch trains and since taking him to Horseshoe Curve last year he thinks that trains need to pass every 5 minutes. I was looking at maybe traveling to the Shady Hook or Brunswick area but am open to any suggestions.

Thanks,

For the amount of traffic your son wishes to see, Hagerstown itself is not a good option, but Brunswick is a better one. An even better viewing site is Shenandoah Junction in nearby West Virginia (not far from Martinsburg). However, it is not as busy an area as Horseshoe Curve in Pennsylvania. You and your son can see traffic on the single-track north-south Norfolk Southern line which passes over the double-track east-west CSX line, the latter of which passes through Brunswick. There is a forum over at Yahoo that you might want to join that specializes in this particular area where hordes of railfans daily watch passing trains, and where members post photos and videos of their observations, plus they give you the latest of what's going on in this area. The address is: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/R ... de-CSX-NS/.

I will be going to the Baltimore are in about 10 days and was wondering what are the best railfanning options in that area? I have been told that the B&O museum is good, Strasburg is close enough, as is the RR Museum of PA and Steamtown....any other suggestions??

Steamtown is a bit of a hike from Baltimore.

Baltimore has some nice rail fan spots, unfortunately some of them will get you shot going to.

St. Denis MARC station (Camden line) and Relay sit right where the Old Main Line splits from the Capital Subdivision. Weekdays have freight and passenger trains, weekends have freight only. On weekdays during warmer months, CSX maintainers will take some of the tracks out of service during the mid-day period, returning them to service around 2:30-3:00 usually. If your into train pictures, St. Denis is an all day stop (westbounds in the AM, Eastbounds in the PM).

Bailey's Wye is located in a fairly safe part of Baltimore, near the stadiums. Bailey's Wye is pretty busy, as all traffic passes through it (northbound into the Howard St Tunnel, southbound down to St. Denis and eastbound to the marine terminals) Keep your eyes open though, but I doubt you'll run into much trouble. Avoid going if it's an O's home game.

There are various CSX stops north of Baltimore on the Philadelphia subdivision, but none I'm too familiar with.

Amtrak wise, Halethorpe in southern Baltimore is on a 100mph straight away, so you can get some nice shots. It's low platforms with no real separation, so beware of trains at all times.

North of Halethorpe the line heads through West Baltimore, which is not the nicest place on Earth ( a lot of The Wire was shot there) so I would say no go for that.

Penn Station is a restricted area so you won't be able to get to track level unless you buy a ticket, or use the light rail platform.

Heading east, Amtrak travels through the Union tunnels and out into East Baltimore, which is just as bad as south Baltimore. Avoid, plus the tracks run elevated for a while.

Edgewood, Martin's Airport and Aberdeen MARC stations are good for Amtrak trains.

Martin's Airport has an automatic signal facing you, so you'll be able to know what tracks will go with what direction. These are only block occupancy signals, so they may be green for a very long time, but if you see a red stop signal, it means a train will be coming the opposite direction on that track at some point. A red signal with a white light under it means a train just passed.

There is the Canton railroad, I can't speak much on that.

Norfolk Southern has a yard in Baltimore, but they have police there. I've heard it's not very rail fan friendly, and parking isn't that great.

Thats Baltimore.

Steamtown is a bit of a hike from Baltimore.

Baltimore has some nice rail fan spots, unfortunately some of them will get you shot going to.

St. Denis MARC station (Camden line) and Relay sit right where the Old Main Line splits from the Capital Subdivision. Weekdays have freight and passenger trains, weekends have freight only. On weekdays during warmer months, CSX maintainers will take some of the tracks out of service during the mid-day period, returning them to service around 2:30-3:00 usually. If your into train pictures, St. Denis is an all day stop (westbounds in the AM, Eastbounds in the PM).

Bailey's Wye is located in a fairly safe part of Baltimore, near the stadiums. Bailey's Wye is pretty busy, as all traffic passes through it (northbound into the Howard St Tunnel, southbound down to St. Denis and eastbound to the marine terminals) Keep your eyes open though, but I doubt you'll run into much trouble. Avoid going if it's an O's home game.

There are various CSX stops north of Baltimore on the Philadelphia subdivision, but none I'm too familiar with.

Amtrak wise, Halethorpe in southern Baltimore is on a 100mph straight away, so you can get some nice shots. It's low platforms with no real separation, so beware of trains at all times.

North of Halethorpe the line heads through West Baltimore, which is not the nicest place on Earth ( a lot of The Wire was shot there) so I would say no go for that.

Penn Station is a restricted area so you won't be able to get to track level unless you buy a ticket, or use the light rail platform.

Heading east, Amtrak travels through the Union tunnels and out into East Baltimore, which is just as bad as south Baltimore. Avoid, plus the tracks run elevated for a while.

Edgewood, Martin's Airport and Aberdeen MARC stations are good for Amtrak trains.

Martin's Airport has an automatic signal facing you, so you'll be able to know what tracks will go with what direction. These are only block occupancy signals, so they may be green for a very long time, but if you see a red stop signal, it means a train will be coming the opposite direction on that track at some point. A red signal with a white light under it means a train just passed.

There is the Canton railroad, I can't speak much on that.

Norfolk Southern has a yard in Baltimore, but they have police there. I've heard it's not very rail fan friendly, and parking isn't that great.

Thats Baltimore.

GREAT INFO! I thank you for your assistance!