Visit to Hagerstown

I hope this is the right forum for this. I will be in the Hagerstown area shortly. Can anyone here suggest a good spot for railfanning ? I see on a map where the NS and CSX seem to meet. Can a railfan access that spot ? If there is nothing good in Hagerstown itself is there something nearby ? I like to get pictures of freight with industry or buildings around. Thanks.

Anywhere along Rt 11, Burnhams Ave is great. CSX and NS lines actually cross at grade at the north end of town, north of Church St near the TBH cement plant, then run parallel before bearing away from each other about 1/2 - 3/4 mile to the south. CSX yard is near Rt 11 and Elgin, not very photo friendly as not much accessibility, NS Vardo Yard is further south, along Rt 632, Maryland Ave. The yard runs parallel to Rt 632 and alot of it can be seen from there. You might also get lucky and see a train from the Winchester and Western, which interchanges with NS. NS is much, much more active here, with alot of hotshot trailer and container trains, some manifest freight too. CSX runs a few locals, one on the Lurgan (runs parallel to Marsh Pike) to Chambersburg, one to Highfield (Hanover Sub, runs parallel to Rt 64, Jefferson Blvd) to interchange with Maryland Midland. Mamifest from the Hanover Sub will arrive between 10am and 2pm or so depending on switching duties along the way. CSX has also recently added container traffic along the Lurgan branch, not sure how much this has impacted frequency. My delivery routes recently changed and I don't get to Hagerstown anymore. Any other info needed let me know, or others here can add.

Hoping to tack onto this thread a bit...

I'll be in Williamsport, MD (west-southwest of Hagerstown) in a couple weeks. Williamsport appears to lie between two railroad lines out of Hagerstown. The one to the north of Williamsport that heads west along the river is part of the Lurgan sub, I believe. Is this correct?

I don't know what the line that passes just to the south of Williamsport is. It heads into West Virginia and turns south to Martinsburg, WV. Is this another CSX sub, or something else entirely?

Advice for railfanning on the Williamsport side of Hagerstown (by bike, so no huge distances) is welcome.

The line north of Williamsport is CSX, to the south is a line run by Winchester and Western. A third line which is further southeast then the W&W is the NS line out of Vardo Yard.

A CSX line does run south to Martinsburg WV, ultimately from Hancock, MD, this runs through Harpers Ferry, then Brunswick MD to a large yard (former B&O) to the Metropolitan Sub.

Still another rail line heads almost due south out of Hagerstown, albeit now just a branch. It runs along Route 65. Although Google Maps depicts the line as ending abruptly at Roxbury Rd., I thought it used to run as far as Boonsboro. I was told the line used to go all the way down to the B&O main around Brunswick, but I can't find any traces of that. Abandoned in 1979 apparently, it would have made a good route for MARC service if they ever decided to run to Hagerstown.

Yes, I believe this line runs south to serve a metals/recycling company located along Rt 65. Don't think it goes much further south then that location. I have been through the area a few times, but can't recall many rail crossings in that direction.

RailMike wrote:Still another rail line heads almost due south out of Hagerstown, albeit now just a branch. It runs along Route 65. Although Google Maps depicts the line as ending abruptly at Roxbury Rd., I thought it used to run as far as Boonsboro. I was told the line used to go all the way down to the B&O main around Brunswick, but I can't find any traces of that. Abandoned in 1979 apparently, it would have made a good route for MARC service if they ever decided to run to Hagerstown.

Yes, that is the old B&O line that connected at Weverton on the Old Main Line, just west of Brunswick. Traces of the line to Hagerstown still exist, as were seen by me at various locations of the former ROW on a B&ORHS Annual Convention field tour last fall.

How did your trip go? Were we of any help??

Hey guys, sorry for the little lapse here. My trip went really well. We rode sort of diagonally from near Pittsburgh to near Washington D.C., skipping a section in the middle. We were on the "Great Allegheny Passage" or whatever it's called, on a rail trail and then on an old canal towpath (the B&O canal) once we got into MD. We generally followed the CSX Keystone sub and some other routes. My Flickr page has a handful of pictures from various parts of the trip, check them out!

http://flickr.com/photos/frnfinch/

It is the C&O Canal, a direct competitor in the 19th century to the B&O Railroad. Glad you had a good ride, I worked at the Williamsport Visitor Center 2 summers ago.

Ooops C&O, I knew that.