B&SP's original track headed southeast from near Colgate Creek (map bottom right) where it had connected with Northern Central (NC, now Norfolk Southern). NC had acquired trackage in the Colgate Creek area from Union Railroad, an 1870's project of Canton Company. That NC trackage extended from the main line at Orangeville, east of Baltimore City, map upper left. For tour purposes, we'll start there at Orangeville, a spot that still serves as the line's 0 milepost in 2023.

On this clip from a 1948 map made by Canton Railroad, this tour progresses generally south then southeast (down and to the right) along the orange/red line to Sparrows Point, found off the bottom-right corner.

Trains of Northern Central, by 1900 effectively a division of Pennsylvania Railroad, reached Orangeville from the north and west via what is now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. Amtrak engine 2014 is about to pass NC's now-disused route to B&SP and Canton. That starting location is remembered by wider-than-usual separation between catenary poles near photo center, right of the tracks.

This 1927 aerial zooms into the milepost 0 area. The dark square adjacent the 0 digit might have been a tower. The red crosshatched line depicts the tour route.

Dashed lines trace the original, at-grade routes of Union Railroad and PB&W (PRR), as indicated by an 1876 GM Hopkins atlas. Their junction point (mp 0) had been about one block north of the present one.

Union Railroad (URR) opened about a block north of this spot in 1873, when Haven Street was little more than a line on plats. Grade separation came later, with these stone supports suggesting the late 1800s, after which time concrete was typically employed. The distant bridge carries the Northeast Corridor.

Uniform masonry tells us the Haven Street bridges for PRR (left) and NC (right) were built concurrently, perhaps soon after NC's 1881 purchase of URR. The empty stone shelf on the right says provisions were made to support a second NC track, something that never transpired at this location.

The line's longest bridge that does not span water is found at Monument Street. Its south half (left) is older because it dates to before Monument Street was twinned in 1956. Streetcar line 6 had run in the middle and Orangeville Station had stood in the southeast quadrant. Amtrak uses the bridge over the photog's head.

Link: 1947

Stone supports suggest grade separation happened at Pulaski / US 40 when it did at Haven Street.

Aerial photos from 1972 show trains still using this route, but these vines and trees tell a different story is true now. Floods from tropical system Agnes during June 1972 destroyed many ex-NC bridges north of Baltimore. The railroad decided to not repair them, which meant traffic from the north to the waterfront ceased, which reduced this line to serving only its already-dwindling number of local customers. The last train rolled here soon thereafter.

NC's alignment descends into a cut while it parallels Haven Street south (right) for about a mile.

We're following NC's line down from top center. A B&O spur curls in from upper right that until 1993 served an Esskay Meat factory; Esskay is easier to pronounce than the original company name of Schluderberg-Kurdle. Esskay, a standard at Orioles baseball games for decades, ended hot dog production during 2018.

The bright rectangle below that is the Lombard Street bridge over the NC line we're following. Railcars pause on the line south of Eastern Avenue at photo bottom. The route angling in at bottom right comes from Bay View Yard; it remains active as of 2023.

North of Lombard Street, NC trains had operated below and perpendicular to this disused B&O bridge to Esskay. Off photo right, the NC alignment has been paved over for automobile parking.

We are reaching into Canton, on the east side of Baltimore, that was perhaps the first planned city in the United States. It is where Peter Cooper, of steam engine fame, during the 1820s bought about 3 miles of waterfront property. He and other entrepreneurs soon joined forces as the "Canton Company" to develop the land with wharves, factories, housing, and more. They were successful after a slow start.

Lombard Street rises about 20 feet over the most densely treed stretch of the line. Some rusty rails are probably still down there. Aerial photos show grade separation already existed during the 1920s, so 1943 represents the first, or even second, time the bridge was rehabbed. Before exploring, be aware homeless camp along the line.

Original Eastern Avenue met NC at grade near the billboard on the right. The avenue, and its streetcar, were grade separated from multiple railroad alignments via the cut on the left made during 1930. The blue-painted bridge carried NC, three tracks wide at this point. Some of those rails are still on the bridge.

Link: streetcar line 26

No NC/PRR/PC/CR/NS train has passed Eastern Avenue for about half a century, but rusty rails still peek out where not overtaken by plants. A 1909 map places Highlandtown Station in the southeast quadrant (right).

What is now Norfolk Southern's main route from its Bay View Yard to the waterfront Boston Street Terminal previously crossed the NC alignment from upper right to lower left, but now it curves towatd the camera to join the ex-NC as it approaches O'Donnell Street.

Many of these photos look north, opposite to the direction of this tour, because doing so makes for better lighting. O'Donnell Street bridges in the distance but Boston Street has never been grade separated. The westbound auto on Boston Street has just crossed over the ex-NC track that leads toward Sparrows Point. A 1948 map puts Sparrows Point Junction here.

Though looking the other way yields sun glare, we can find NS 9686's horse kicking grass and CSX 3222's cat taking names in their shared yard south of Boston Street. NS's main activity in this area is delivery to CONSOL Energy, distant right in this view. The distant big green signs are above I-95.

Change for: B&O Sparrows Point Branch tour at this site

One can look back from I-95 to the location of the prior photo. I-895 traverses under I-95 here.

Looking from I-895 in the direction of this tour, on the left CSX and Canton Railroad share Penn Mary Yard, while on the right NS's coal hoppers await unloading at CONSOL Energy. In the middle, previously the site of Gorsuch Creek and pond, the ex-NC yard contains nothing much on this day.

Huge cranes in the distance unload and load huge ships at the Seagirt Marine Terminal. The ex-NC route we're following bypasses Seagirt in favor of the Dundalk Marine Terminal, adjacent but off photo left.

Newkirk Street parallels the tanks on the left.

Change for: Canton RR tour at this site

The tanks look bigger from Newkirk Street.

The ex-NC track to Sparrows Point emerges from the yard to cross Newkirk Street just beyond the trailer parked on the left.

Beyond that runs elevated Keith Avenue.

A short spur ran to PRR's gigantic waterfront grain terminal at the south end of Newkirk Street, formerly 14th Street.

Links: ~1920s waterfront photo, 1921, ~1930?

Removal of the disused grain terminal began during 2016.

That's the ex-NC grade crossing of Newkirk Street near photo center, as seen from Keith Avenue.

It was in this vicinity that in 1916 NC and B&SP joined rails.

Next, the ex-NC track crosses those of Penn Mary Yard at these diamonds. The only two track diamonds in the Baltimore area are within a half mile of each other at either end of Penn Mary Yard, these at the south end.

In this easterly view just past the diamond, the route we're following continues into the distance. That's elevated Keith Avenue on the right.

During the "old days" the diamonds had been a crossing between competitors B&O and NC/Pennsylvania, now CSX and NS. Guarding the crossing were unusual signals, a few of which survive. Extensive new fencing makes this an obstructed photo area now.

Link: Todd's site has pre-fencing pics

Just east of the track diamonds (black, bottom left on map) a large Amazon warehouse (center) has taken the site previously occupied by a General Motors assembly plant. As of the date of this aerial photo, there appears to be no rail connection to the warehouse, meaning all Amazon's incoming goods arrive here via truck. The green line highlights the route we're following.

The bridge over Broening Highway dates to the 1920s, per Maryland State Archives. The bridge is wide enough for four tracks but carries only one at this time.

Aerial photos from 1927 (above) show two bridges across Colgate Creek, NC's at top, and another downstream, that of a streetcar line to Point Breeze Hotel at Riverview Park. That bridge endured into the 1930s until supplanted by Broening Highway when the streetcar line was rerouted onto Dundalk Avenue.

The streetcar ran adjacent the Riverview amusement park (also called River Park) that had opened during the 1890s under the name Lowrey's Place. The park's roller coaster, perhaps the first in Baltimore, can be seen in the east-looking 1924 photo at right. It climbed to 75 feet above ground.

Roller coasters were inspired by the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania that opened in 1829 to carry coal. By the 1850s, thrill seekers were purchasing rides down the steep, gravity-powered railway.

Note the streetcar's turnaround loop on the north side of the park; the loop implies at least some streetcars did not continue beyond to Sparrows Point. The park closed during 1929, and the site was repurposed for a Western Electric factory. Now Seagirt Marine Terminal operates here.

Links: 1909 postcard, 1919, riding the streetcar to Riverview Park, Western Electric video that shows Riverview Park

Since the B&SP is described as extending from Colgate Creek to Sparrows Point, we can assume the first bridge here was built by the railroad. A 1915 atlas shows Sutton Station at right, on the far side of the tracks.

Originally, this was a swing bridge but aerial photos suggest it lost the ability to open sometime around 1970. NS modified the bridge from a double-track into this single-track fixed span during 2010.