Trolley Line #9's westernmost reach was near Howard County's Court Avenue adjacent to 8390 Main Street. As such, it was Baltimore's only line that ventured into another county.

Links: 1955, 1955

The former fire department building remains standing, but the trolley's waiting spot has been remade into parking.

Court Avenue Station is the building nearest the upper left corner. From there, the trolley followed Main Street (the bright horizontal line) through Ellicott City east to its Patapsco River crossing. The arrow points to what might be a trolley car.

The trip along narrow Main Street could be delayed by automobiles parked far from the curb.

Link: looking east on Main St. 1955

The sun was setting on the #9 line when this car rolled under B&O's Old Main Line. Car number 5706 joined Baltimore Transit Company after starting service with United Railways and Electric.

Link: 5706 fantrip
Change for: Old Main Line tour at this site

East of B&O, the trolley soon reached its single-tracked bridge over the Patapsco River.

Wagons and pedestrians used the adjacent covered bridge. One reference reports it was built in 1870 and lasted until 1914.

Link: covered bridges at Ellicott City

If the sign that displays this photo is correct about the 1957 date, two years after regular service ceased, that means this depicts a fan trip.

Link: car 5748

Stone piers from the trolley's bridge over the Patapsco are easily spotted from the north side of the current road bridge.

As a reference point, B&O's Ellicott City Station is less than 200 feet away at the photog's back.

Link: ~1920

The trolley bridge's east end rested on the Baltimore County side of the river where Oella Avenue is found.

Links: source photo, ~1909

A Baltimore Transit Company trolley crosses over Oella Avenue with 11 feet of clearance.

The steel is gone but the stone piers remain. Oella Avenue squeezes between two of them on the Baltimore County side of the river.

Here's the opposite view, with stones from part of a trolley pier visible at bottom left. The Ellicott Brothers opened a mill across the street in 1772, one that continued to operate into the 2020s. As of this writing, it is being repurposed for mixed use. Much of the exterior architecture is to be retained.

Detour: B&O's bridge to the mill at this site

The trail was marked with this sign (spell checker please!) at its west end. The sign was revised later.

The rock the trolley line had to excavate was formed in a tectonic collision millions of years ago. The trolley line spans three geographic zones at the collision.

The winding Westchester Avenue is carried over the trolley's excavation by means of a rickety-looking bridge. Roads here too narrow for school buses kept Trolley #9 operating longer than it would have otherwise.

A picture of the trolley in operation at this spot can be found on page 136 of Joetta Cramm's book Howard County A Pictorial History. This excellent book contains many other historical pictures of the area up and down the Patapsco River that B&O's Old Main Line follows.

Link: view east from bridge in 1955

The stone column at left stops well below the current Westchester Avenue bridge. Perhaps a bridge of a different design once spanned the cut, or the column supported the overhead catenary of the trolley.

Some of the cables that supported the trolley's electrical service can still be found hanging from the rocks above the trail.

After 2001, railings were added to the trail. This is a reverse view back to the Westchester Avenue bridge. This is the section with the highest rock walls.

Despite 70 years of experience in cutting through hills for railroads, such cuts were still tough work during the 1890s. This was "the unkindest cut of all" since it bankrupted the Columbia and Maryland Railway owners.

The path can get muddy here hence the wooden platform / walkway. The white objects on the hill at left are a fence that appears to mark the edge of private property.

I'm not sure if the stone seen in the lower right foreground has any particular significance (i.e. if it is a trolley line artifact).

This shallow, brick-arched bridge still carries the right-of-way over Cooper Branch, the stream seen here. The bridge, now over a century old, is looking a little weary, but like the Roman arched bridges that inspired it, this is a durable structure. This, as well as a few other masonry bridges and culverts ahead, are the most tangible surviving evidence of the trolley line.