St. Denis, MD

St. Denis, MD

St. Denis Station

The small station at St. Denis, Maryland, between I-95 and the Baltimore-Washington International airport doesn't see a high volume of commuter traffic, but it serves as an excellent spot for railfanning. St. Denis is a flag stop, meaning that a MARC passenger must alert the conducter if he or she wishes to disembark. Trains will also stop here if the engineer spots passengers waiting on the platform.

The St. Denis station consists of an asphalt platform with a simple covered shack on each side of the mainline. The northbound shack is a popular spot for railfans to gather throughout the week.

Two views of the St. Denis Southbound platform and the CSX mainline leading north to Baltimore. The far track is the former Baltimore & Ohio, now CSX, Old Main Line, which splits away just to the South at Relay before heading West.

Track Realignment

In 2006, CSX began a major track realignment project between Halethorpe and St. Denis that resulted in the southbound station platform being moved from between the Old Main Line and Capital Subdivision tracks to outside of the Old Main Line. December 21, 2006.

This view shows the shortened southbound platform before it was ultimately relocated to the far side of the Old Main Line so the three tracks could be straighted, removing the curve in the Old Main Line around the station platform. December 21, 2006.

CSX CW44AC 350 and CW60AC 644 lead a westbound coke train onto the Old Main Line past the realignment work at St. Denis, Maryland on December 21, 2006.

Railfanning

CSX 8727, former Conrail SD60I 5588, waits at the signal bridge north of St. Denis. There is plenty of heavy mainline action passing through this small community. 28 December 2001.

Another attraction in the area is the famous Thomas Viaduct, just to the south of the junction at Relay. This structure has carried B&O, Chessie System, and CSX trains between Baltimore and Washington DC for over 150 years.

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