Old Court is the penultimate station at the NW edge of the Baltimore Metro. Baltimore's original subway plan called for 6 lines to criss-cross the city and surrounding county in a configuration similar to that of Washington, DC. For various reasons, only the 15-mile-long line from Owings Mills, Maryland, northwest of Baltimore city, into downtown Baltimore has been constructed to date. As of 2010, no other lines are actively under construction.

Though I have high regard for most rail equipment manufactured by Budd Company, I find these cars to be unattractive in appearance. They remind me of the boxy, bulky rolling stock of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation in New York City.

The downtown end of the Baltimore Metro serves Johns Hopkins Hospital. Artistic murals decorate most of the system's underground stations.

In the Remington neighborhood of Baltimore, between Sisson Street and Huntingdon Avenue, boxcars have been stranded so long even their rails are gone or buried.

Also of note are the 8-lamp CPLs... this is former B&O trackage. I think this is now part of CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision.

The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad lived a life tortured by sharp curves between Baltimore, Maryland and York, Pennsylvania. Though this section of the Ma & Pa was abandoned in 1958, relics like this maintenance shed can still be seen in the Jones Falls valley.

Link: Wikipedia entry

East of Baltimore you'll find Norfolk Southern's Bayview Yard, seen here. CSX also has a Bayview Yard located off frame to the right. The distant elevated roadway is I-895.

Link: Todd's site with Bayview info

Standing tall above the Western Maryland (now CSX) tracks as they span the Gwynns Falls is a mysterious stone abutment. Other stonework in the area reveals an automobile bridge once spanned the valley here, that for Brunswick Street. Old aerial photos show the crossing in disrepair in 1957, and gone by 1964. Anyone know more, such as why it was removed?

Link: Adam Paul's bridge page

This is now CSX trackage, but the non-B&O-style signal reflects that at one time it was was part of the Western Maryland Railway's line to Hanover, PA.

This and HX in Halthorpe are the only (barely) surviving B&O towers in the area. The trackage is CSX's Curtis Bay Subdivision.

That bridge carries I-895 over the north end of CSX's Curtis Bay Yard. Shell Road cuts across the bottom right with a grade crossing.

One of Baltimore's proposed subway lines morphed into Light Rail. For the most part, the Light Rail system traces a roughly 30 mile north-south route through Baltimore city along rights of way of former railroads and interurban lines. The Cromwell location seen here opened in the early 1990s but previously was served by the Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad.

I found no Light Rail car interior pictures online, so now that's solved. As you might expect, the Light Rail's design resembles that of a trolley.

Marty Hager spotted this Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad marker along the Pope's Creek Subdivision near Bowie. The marker dates to circa 1920. We're not sure what V.S. 6 stands for.

It's easy to find Washinton Metro pictures online, so I'll include only a sampling. Many of the underground stations, like this one at Gallery Place, have high ceilings. Federal dollars can sure dig some big holes.

West of Washington, Orange Line Metro trains parallel I-66... next stop Vienna, Virginia. If you are wondering where all the SUVs are, note the photo date.