A Railfans Guide to CSX's Baltimore Division, Metropolitain Sub.
Introduction
A Railfans Guide to CSX's Baltimore Division, Metropolitain Sub.
Introduction
The following is something that I have been toying around with for some
time. I finally had the time to put it all together during a plane flight
from Taiwan to Washington D.C. I've lived along the Met for all of my
life, growing up near Garrett Park Md., and now residing just outside of
Gaithersburg, Md. If you have any questions or corrections, please drop
me a line at [email protected].
Hopefully in a couple of weeks, I'll have enough pictures back that I
can put this guide into HTML format complete with maps and photos.
On with the show.....
The Metropolitain Subdivision is one of four subdivisions of the CSX Baltimore
Division. It extends from QN Tower in Washington D.C. out to Harpers Ferry
West Virginia. This guide is intended to give railfans a general idea of
places that are (in my humble opinion) fairly good places to watch and
photograph trains. For safety's sake, as well as various legal reasons,
all of the photo locations that are listed are on public right-of-ways,
with one exception that is noted. The directions that I've given are
not always the most direct to a location, but rather are the "easiest"
to follow from main roads as this may be used by people unfamiliar
with the area.
I've tried to be as accurate as possible, however, some of the mile-post
locations may be a tad off (maybe a half mile or so). Most of this guide
focuses on the mileage between Silver Spring, MD., and Point of Rocks MD.
In the near future I will be updating the guide with information on
Brunswick MD. and Harpers Ferry, WV. The infomation has been broken up
three sections. The first is from Union Station out to Kensington, MD.
(approximatly mile-post 0.0 to mile-post 11.5). Second is from Garrett Park,
MD. to Germantown, MD. (mile-post 12.0 to mile-post 27.5). Finally, the
area from Germantown, MD to Point of Rocks, MD. (mile-post 27.5 to
mile-post 42.8). If you are planning to railfan in the D.C. area along
the Met, I would recommend stopping in at a 7/11 store and picking up one
of the ADC maps of Montgomery and Frederick Counties. It will make it much
easier to get around.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
First off, from here on in this document, I'll refer to the Metropolitain
Subdivision as the Met for short (less chance of my misspelling it ;-).
Along the Met, the following AAR Channels/frequencies are used:
AAR Ch. 08 160.230 Road Channel
AAR Ch. 14 160.320 Dispatcher Channel
AAR Ch. 28 160.530 WB Tower Brunswick (gives a good idea of what's comming
down the line from the west if you
can pick it up)
AAR Ch. 51 160.875 CSX Police
AAR Ch. 45 160.785 MOW talk
From Union Station westward, the following are the signal "names" and
approximate mile-post locations. CSX trains call these signals by
their name as they travel. Signal names followed by an X indicate that
there is a crossover at this point. Names followed by DD indicate that
there is a defect detector at this point.
Signal Mile-post
QN (QN Tower) 0.0
Terra Cotta 2.3
Tacoma (Tacoma Park) 5.1
Georgetown Junction X 7.8
Kensington DD 11.5
Randolph Road 13.8
Rockville 16.1
Derwood Dip X 19.1
Wards 22.1
Cloppers DD 24.5
Seneca Field 27.4
Buck Lodge X 29.5
Barnesville 32.1
Pepco X 35.3
Tuscorora 37.9
Rocks (Point of Rocks) X 42.8
High Rocks 45.6
East Brunswick XDD 72.3 **Milepost numbers change here for some
reason unbeknownst to me
Typically the Met sees somewhere between 15-25 freight trains a day,
18 MARC commuter runs and Amtraks Capital Limited (P029 and P030).
Finally, CSX tracks along the Met are CTC controlled. That means that you
should expect a train on either track from either direction at any time! It
is quite common, especially during the morning commuter rush and on weekends
to see 2 east-bound trains within minutes of each other, one on each track!
Please be careful.