The Penn-Camden Connector project separates the line's revival effort into three components. Component 1 in red is a rejuvenated Claremont Branch's second alignment. Both the original and second alignments of Component 1 are covered by this tour.

Component 2 in green consists of ex-B&O / CSX Mt Clare Yard as seen in the Old Main Line tour. Component 3 in yellow includes re-double-tracking of what had been part of B&O's Old Main Line (near Carrollton Viaduct) and Locust Point Branch (tour).

This aerial photo marked March 1972 captures the entire Claremont Branch. This tour progresses generally west from CSX's Mount Clare Yard on the right to the Pennsylvania Railroad / Amtrak Northeast Corridor on the left.

Black lines trace various railroad alignments; where they lack crosshatching, rails existed previously but were no longer extant as of 2015. Note at bottom that at photo time Interstate 95 terminated at Caton Avenue. It had not yet been completed through Baltimore and the then-on-the-drawing-board Fort McHenry Tunnel.

Though its labeling suggests a photo date of March 1972, trees appear in full leaf growth, so the image was likely recorded earlier, perhaps during summer 1971.

This map highlights the various railroads in different colors: red for PRR (ex-B&P), blue for B&O and green for Western Maryland. "I.T." marks the interchange track (connection) for PRR and B&O. We'll tour from B&O's blue track at Claremont west to PRR's wye south of Frederick Road.

P.S. stands for Passenger Station, F.S. for Freight Station, C.Y. for Classification Yard, S.Y. for Storage Yard, T.T. for Team Track and L.S.Y for Live Stock Yard.

The B&O and B&P Claremont routes predate and are not shown on E. Robinson's 1882 map of the city.

We'll begin the tour of the original alignment at B&O's unlabeled line that curled around "Union Stock Yard Co." on its way west to "Claremont Abbatoir Co." The first stockyard here opened in 1880.

B&O's Carrollton Viaduct spans Gwynns Falls at upper right. A City and Surburban Railway streetcar ran along a no-longer-extant Brunswick Street to where "Stock" appears. This 1894 atlas labeled the leftmost tracks the "Stock Yard Branch of B&P. R.R."

No connection between B&O and B&P is depicted even though, if one existed by 1894, it probably would have been included on this detailed topographical map. The drawings fade out a short distance beyond Baltimore City's southern boundary at that time. The oldest map I've seen that depicts a connection is one drawn in 1909 by Northern Central Railway.

This aerial captures the same area 33 years after the atlas. By this time, a connection between B&O & PRR is evident left of center. Additionally, Western Maryland Railway has shoehorned itself adjacent to Gwynns Falls.

That's the branch's bridge over Wilkens Avenue at upper left. Mount Clare Yard is vertical at right. The adjacent, large warehouse-type buildings housed meat processing facilities. Refrigeration became commercially viable around the same time the branch opened. Inexpensive ice meant prepared meat could be shipped instead of the live animal. Though that gradually obviated the animal pens, meat processing continued here for several more decades. The old buildings were removed during the 1970s.

This tour proceeds generally west (left).

Link: stockyard history here

We're looking toward the north end of the Mount Clare Yard (B&O called it Claremont) that is part of B&O's Old Main Line. Previously, the Claremont Branch curved away to the west (left) in the distance. Beyond that, you can glimpse the southwest end of the track over the Carrolton Viaduct. About a mile farther east lies the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. Interstate 95 casts shadows from above.

Change for: B&O Old Main Line tour at this site

Though the view is obstructed, with luck while zooming past on I-95, you, too, might spot a westbound train rolling off the Carrollton Viaduct to enter the yard.

Note the gap in the weed growth on the fence just ahead of the train. That's where the Claremont Branch split off before curving sharply around buildings on the left. It is marked "Original" on the 1972 map above. A 1915 atlas shows the area inside the curve as home to the Greenwald Packing Company.

You may see PB&W on some old maps. PRR reorganized B&P into the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad in 1902.

Link: 1907 land plats

This view from air captured B&O's portion of the Claremont Branch's original alignment, the bright arc nearest the smokestack.

That's Carrollton Viaduct at right and Western Maryland track going under B&O.

Link: LoC source photo

The reverse view shows the Claremont Branch's original alignment peeling away from the yard at lower right. This photo pre-dates I-95 running right-left over the yard.

The revised alignment (not yet built at photo time) will curve west (right) immediately beyond the buildings at right where one now finds Wilmarco Avenue.

Link: LoC source photo

Assorted sidings served industry here, including ones represented by rails-in-concrete near the white vehicle ahead.

Those sidings are more easily seen when looking back from the vehicle location. One of those at this grade crossing with Wilmarco Avenue was repurposed into the newer alignment from the yard. Next, we'll return to the yard.

The prior photo's grade crossing is marked at upper left. We'll jump back to CSX's Mount Clare Yard at bottom right to follow the realigned interchange (connection) track outward toward Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.

Portions of Claremont Branch's rails have been pulled up, so this train will not be making the trip to the Northeast Corridor. Trains that had done so (until maybe 1990) sometimes paused here in the yard. Aerial photos suggest railcar deliveries to businesses near the branch's east end continued until about 2010. This is at the southeast end of the route highlighted in red as Component 1 on the PC Connector Map at top.

When Interstate 95 arrived here around 1980, B&O realigned its Claremont Branch connection to share the Mount Clare Yard road entrance from Bernard Drive at left. Westbound trains from Camden Station and Locust Point can enter the yard, approach the camera, then reverse to exit it via the Claremont Branch.

The realignment left room for a PC Connector wye that will do away with the need to reverse. It will permit direct access between Camden Station and what is now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, which is where this tour is headed.

The PC Connector project will likely remake this into a track wye. Two 1-95 ramps, one in use, the other not, pass overhead.

An interstate wye was planned over Mt. Clare Yard. It was never completed after environmentalists blocked the final five miles of I-70 into Baltimore (from upper left). I-95 did get built, much as depicted left-to-right here, along with never-finished ramps from-to I-70.

Link: source image

A Trico crane was dismantling part of those ramps built decades ago. As of 2026, this never-finished ramp still crosses over the Claremont Branch at its Bernard Drive grade crossing. The Wilmarco Avenue grade crossing lies beyond the brush.

Those ramps became useless once I-70 was cancelled. This ramp (right) would have connected I-95 N to I-70 W. The UPS truck is riding a ramp from Caton Avemue to I-95 N. I-95 proper traverses overhead.

We've arrived back at the Claremont Branch's grade crossing near Wilmarco Avenue. A siding also crosses at right. The original alignment had curved in from the right before proceeding ahead.

Via the Penn-Camden Connector, this will be the first grade crossing for trains from the Penn Line. That assumes the project does not put a bridge here, as had been planned for the CSX West Baltimore to Hanover Subdivision alignment seen below.

The West Baltimore to Hanover Subdivision alignment is described in a Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) 2011 report. It was part of a proposed bypass of CSX's Howard Street Tunnel.

The underlying drawing in gray looks to date from the 1970s before the Claremont Branch was realigned across Bernard Drive. Part of the original alignment is obscured by the word Road.

Link: 2011 MDOT report (PDF)

After a brief trackless stretch as we head west, we find rusty check rails that help protect derailed cars from straying too far from the track. They are often used atop bridges and are also called guard rails or bull rails. These check rails are of the style employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, suggesting this portion of the Claremont Branch was its responsibility.

Sure enough, next is a bridge, now being consumed by weeds, trees and plenty of poison ivy. This bridge spans Wilkens Avenue and former ice ponds of Maidens Choice Creek. The next page has more at Wilkens.