The Howard Street Tunnel emerges at B&O's magnificent Mount Royal Station, in 1896 a relative latecomer to the area that was, and still is, dominated by Pennsylvania Station. B&O envisioned Mount Royal as the successor to Camden Station for passengers, but that did not transpire. Camden has more room for both passengers and freight.

To my knowledge, officially for CSX, this is where the Philadelphia Subdivision's milepost numbering (code BAK) ends, or begins from the point of view of this tour.

Mount Royal Station was, according to the Baltimore Sun Newspaper, "the most splendid station in the country built and used by only one railroad." As luxurious as it was, it could not prevent the transition from rails to roads. The station saw its last passenger in 1961.

Links: assorted pics, 1947, 1993

In 1964, B&O sold the station to the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) who has done a fine job of repurposing the building for educational use while preserving its architecture. Also preserved is the station's landmarked adjacent trainshed.

Links: Wikipedia entry, photos

Though passengers ceased arriving at Mount Royal Station ten years prior to this photo, B&O trains continued to employ these adjacent tracks. CSX still does because it is a key part of the US east coast freight network. Note the 4-lamp CPL signals. RM Tower had stood on the right.

Link: LoC source photo

Diesel fumes waft from the tunnel for several minutes following the passage of an eastbound train.

The trainshed, with skylights, was new and clean for this photo. On the right, one of B&O's two then-revolutionary electric locomotives assists an eastbound steam train.

This new station in the upscale Bolton Hill neighborhood was intended, among other things, to address complaints such as those at the link below. Some said B&O's old route into the city, an awkward one before Mount Royal Station, rode past "dirty streets with shabby little one and two story dwellings."

Link: a Londoner complains

To lower the track, rock under the trainshed was hammered away bit by bit. The original masonry wall behind recalls the former floor height.

Detour: more photos of work under the trainshed at this site

Visitors are briefed by these informational signs installed by MICA.

This sign reviews the history:

MOUNT ROYAL STATION
ICON FOR THE INDUSTRIAL AGE
A monument to the golden era of rail travel, the Mount Royal Station enjoys a special place in the history of Baltimore and the nation - the home of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad and birthplace of American railroading. The history of the B&O and one of its most luxurious passenger stations is also intertwined with that of Maryland Institute College of Art. MICA's preservation of the station, an ongoing process which began in the mid-1960s, sparked the movement to save other threatened icons of the most important industry of the nineteenth century.

View the sign's complete text

Links: sign art 1 (PDF), sign art 2 (PDF)

Mount Royal Avenue spans where the trainshed ends. Those electrically-powered helper engines may have paused upon the now-disused rightmost track.

The overhead catenary to power the electric helpers continued east to the Huntingdon Yard vicinity.

The original trainshed roof did not reach to Mount Royal Avenue. It was extended north roughly 150 feet circa 1930 and, unfortunately, obstructs views as seen in the panel below.

The temporary stairs at left illustrate how much contractors lowered the track base under the trainshed during 2025. The finished rails will sit somewhat higher than these temporary ones after stone ballast is added.

A shuttlewagon made frequent runs between Huntingdon Yard and the tunnel. This run transported a cement mixer and other supplies. It also served as a mobile port-a-potty for tunnel workers.

American railroading reached its zenith upon the "roaring twenties" one moment of which was here captured via airplane. The irony would not become apparent for a few decades.

Sprawled north of Mount Royal Station were yards of Northern Central Railway, one of B&O's many competitors that eventually fell under control of Pennsylvania Railroad. Penn Station has remained the main passenger depot active in Baltimore, albeit now for Amtrak.

The Jones Falls river meanders from upper left to lower right, now sequestered or hidden beneath I-83.

A later aerial photo illustrates how B&O excavated a bowl for Mount Royal Station in order to bring its platforms to tunnel level. Mount Royal is not the first railroad station at this spot: the Baltimore & Susquehanna's Bolton Depot was erected here during the 1830s, with service to Camden Station via trains running on Howard Street's surface. B&S merged with other lines to form Northern Central Railway. In 1873, Northern Central began to shift operations east from Bolton to its then-new Charles Street station, where you'll now find Penn Station. The Bolton site became available when that move was completed during 1886.

The Northern Central yard (foreground) was repurposed into automobile parking and servicing. The parking lot endured into the 2000s, currently replaced by condos and a multi-level parking deck.

Links: Bolton Depot drawing, article

The parking deck provides excellent views of all current rail operation in the vicinity, including the light rail that arrived during the 1990s. This light rail train is crossing Mount Royal Avenue.

Here's a different cropping of the 1977 photo to facilitate a then/now comparison.

Now one can get a good view of the University of Baltimore / Mount Royal light rail stop.

Sometimes these adjacent stone arches are mistaken for the Howard Street Tunnel, but remember the actual portal is on the far side of the trainshed. Instead, these arches support Mount Royal Avenue over B&O's Belt Line, which is now part of CSX's Baltimore Terminal Subdivision.

This is what a light rail operator sees while pulling into the stop. Yes, that's Mount Royal Station's clock tower straight ahead.

The push-button controls atop the curved pole at right permit a train operator to change the setting of nearby track switches.

Change for: Light rail tour at this site

It was not just the tunnel that needed added clearance but also 2.5 more miles of trackage east to Harford Road. At photo time, the left underpass had been lowered, but the right was yet to be completed.

The tunnel reopened September 26, 2025 with a ceremonial run led by CSX 1 and CSX 2. Routine double stack usage would not happen until completion of clearance work east of the tunnel.

When this tour resumes we'll see what's known as the Rebel Yell where the light rail must curve and dip like a rollercoaster in order to squeeze to the other (left) side of B&O's route, and we'll follow the latter into and across the Jones Falls valley.