This tour page follows the former Northern Central Railway route northward from near Woodberry through Mount Washington, then to Lake Roland. The proposed narrow gauge line the map shows paralleling at right was the Baltimore & Lehigh that later merged to form the Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad (Ma&Pa).

Baltimore City's northern boundary from 1888 to 1918 existed just north of Woodberry, as depicted on this 1894 city topographical survey map. This is roughly where present-day 43rd Street is found. Forty-three is the highest street number in the area because it was upon the 1888 city expansion that planners applied numbers to streets within the city's new northern reach.

Here at Bend Hill, the NC crosses to the east bank of the Jones Falls only to return to the west bank less than a mile north. This realignment straightened the original one of the Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad that had clung to the west bank.

Exactly where was that original B&S alignment? Note the more-widely-spaced elevation lines on the west (left) side of the river. That's where the B&S had created a flat shelf for their tracks.

Within the bottom half of the map, the thin line of water represents a millrace for one of Woodberry's mills.

The millrace seen near "2318" on the topo survey above still exists, albeit in disused form, now marked by this drop off sign. Light rail's "mile 4" sign matches the location of NC's milepost 4.

The main girders and stone supports are of NC construction, while the bright masonry exhibits light rail's refurbishment.

The year the B&S/NC realigned to this location is uncertain, but is suspected to be when the railroad was doing other work in the region. That puts it at 1838, or perhaps the 1870s.

The oldest aerial photo of the area shows shadows in Woodberry Quarry as it eats into the north face of Malden Hill (later renamed TV Hill). After World War II, a landfill would refill what the quarriers had excavated.

With the disused millrace behind the photographer, this reverse-to-tour-direction view from the area of the original B&S alignment finds a retaining wall. Its construction appears too modern to be of B&S origin, so likely was related to an access road to/from Woodberry Quarry. Even so, it retraces the curve B&S trains previously did, as does the paved path on the right which is part of Jones Falls Trail.

Off photo-right stands the candelabra broadcasting tower shared by several Baltimore television stations. To keep in shape, age-defying WJZ-TV weatherman Bob Turk climbs the roughly 1000-foot tower daily to check the rain gauges. (No, not really.) I've met Bob; he's just as real and personable as he appears on air, and is well-liked at the station.

Links: TV Hill history, scale model of antenna, Bob Turk

The city-standard guardrail at right suggests the landfill's access road had been a city street at some time. The quarry was on the left. The pavement of the Jones Falls Trail is not as level as a railroad would need, but decades of quarry and landfill trucks likely pounded the old B&S alignment into a new grading after Jones Falls stormwater had eroded the route.

North of TV Hill, the B&S's original alignment can be identified by the treeless mound of land between the Melvale gas holder and the NC. The JFX had not yet been built.

The Melvale gas holder, easily seen from I-83/JFX, dated to 1933. It was last of its kind in the region when demolished during 2013.

Before the 1930s, Cold Spring Lane meandered down into the valley where it met the NC at grade. When the JFX arrived here about 1962, the bridge in the photo was rebuilt into wider form, then refurbished in 1991.

Links: source photo, gas tank removal

Light rail's Cold Spring Lane station squeezes into a small triangle of land between I-83 and the Jones Falls, just south of where the NC's Melvale Station had been.

A roadway speed limit sign has been put to use to slow light rail trains, such as the recently-overhauled MTA 5029.

The first mill at what had been called Melville dates to 1806. Around 1870 it converted from a saw mill to a distillery. Upon Prohibition, the disillery converted from spirits to vinegar production, a capacity in which it continues to function under the name Fleischmanns. At times the smell of vingar has been so strong that passing motorists began to think the Melvale gas holder was instead a vinegar tank. The only vinegar-related tank often seen was one parked by Norfolk Southern on the siding below.

Link: distillery history

The mill's stone buildings seen here were built around 1870.

NC's two-story Melvale Station, formerly located at photo center, succumbed to fire during 1926 and was not rebuilt.

For a short period during the first decade of the 1900s, Melvale's distillery produced more whiskey than any other in Maryland. The distillery is on the east bank of the Jones Falls, which is perhaps one reason the railroad relocated its line from the west bank. The label of Melvale Pure Rye depicted both the factory and railroad.

Just beyond the bend ahead, the track bridges back to the river's west bank. During the Civil War, the Union formed Camp Small in this vicinity in order to guard this bridge as well as its sibling back near Woodberry.

Link: Melvale whiskey

Prior to the Cold Spring Lane bridge, Melvale Avenue crossed at grade on this side of the stone building. Curving over MTA 5030 is a ramp from southbound I-83 to westbound Cold Spring Lane.

During the early 1900s, about 500 feet behind the photographer one could find Cylburn Station, essentially a private stop for the Tyson family that had owned the estate above. That estate became Cylburn Arboretum, now a city park. Stories say a few hardy other souls who did not mind climbing up and out of the valley also used this stop because it was NC's closest to Pimlico Race Course.

The Cylburn Arboretum was, and may still be, an inveterate issuer of PSAs (Public Service Announcements) they hoped would be broadcast for free. The spelling of Cylburn is etched in my memory because during my early days in Baltimore radio I announced it as "Clyburn," and wondered why my station mates were giving me funny looks.

Link: Cylburn Station 1888

The stretch north of Northern Parkway is one of the easiest along which to spot a train from a car on I-83, and vice versa.

At photo time the lovely Baltimore suburb of Mount Washington was bracing for skewering by the JFX. The town is itself partly responsible for the JFX/I-83 because purportedly it is the second-oldest, planned housing development for commuters in the United States (with nearby Lutherville, Maryland the first). Initially that commuting happened via the Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad, followed by the Northern Central. Later those commuters bought automobiles, and, well, you know the story.

The bright rectangle at lower right of the main photo is the North Baltimore Aquatic Club swimming pool that would be frequented by Olympian Michael Phelps. In the zoom at left, note in the foreground the Kelly Avenue viaduct over the railroad, then a small railroad bridge near photo center over Western Run. Beyond that bridge the first building on the left was NC's Mt. Washington Station, then just a year or two from being torn down.

Links: source photo, North Baltimore Aquatic Club

The Kelly Avenue viaduct opened during 1926, making it less than a year old at the time of this photo. The grade separation would obviate NC at-grade crossings of Sulgrave and Smith Avenues immediately north. Milling began here in 1796, followed in 1810 by the Washington Cotton Manufacturing Company when the area was called Washingtonville.

The dark line sandwiched between Sulgrave and Smith Avenues is a stream called Western Run, and paralleling it is a streetcar line. We'll look more closely at both via the photos below.

So MTA 5040 (and a few other trains) could cross Western Run, light rail refurbished NC's bridge.

Here's another view of the bridge. Since there exists another Western Run further north, this stream is sometimes called the Western Branch of the Jones Falls.

This disused concrete block at bottom left is a relic of the B&N's streetcar bridge over the NC.

Link: Jones Falls 1912

Immediately south of Western Run, a then-new Baltimore & Northern (B&N) streetcar line climbed high over the NC. Within two years the B&N would join forces with the Consolidated Railway to form the United Railways and Electric Company. Commuters could then choose the NC or the streetcar to downtown Baltimore. The main photo captures an NC train pausing at Mt. Washington Station.

The elevated trackage section would see use for 30 years until the streetcars were rerouted atop the Kelly Avenue Viaduct.

As was experienced in many US cities, demand for passenger rail service declined as more automobile roads opened after World War II. Both the NC and streetcars ended service to Mt. Washington about 1960, on the eve of the arrival of the Jones Falls Expressway.

As of 2020, the B&N's passenger station (photo at left, looks east) was in use as an animal hospital.

This is the same view as in the 1927 aerial above. During the 1960s, the JFX/I-83 was woven under the Kelly Avenue Viaduct and over Western Run. The viaduct would be refuribished in 1979.

NC's Mt. Washington Station, seen here not long before it was removed, was built in 1875.

The Baltimore Sun reports the trip on the NC to Union (Penn) Station took 9 minutes, and to Calvert Station 13 minutes. As the PRR gained more control of the NC -- including a lease through the year 2913 -- the NC name faded. Service peaked during the 1910s when upwards of 50 trains per day either ran through or stopped at Mt. Washington.

Commuter service named "Parkton Local" and "Ruxton Rocket" operated for the last time on June 27, 1959.

Links: source photo, Parkton Local

This is a similar view to that of the prior photo. MTA 5024 is not as fast as NC steam engines, requiring 12 minutes to reach the closest stop to Penn Station.

Light rail double track arrived here in 2005.

At photo middle, where the railroad and Jones Falls snuggle up together, one finds Baltimore City's current northern border. That's also where I-83 would cross over the railroad when built a few years after this photo. Thr bridge visible at top is that for Falls Road.

Link: source photo

During the 1930s, the Jones Falls had been directed into a concrete channel where the photographer is standing. That channel was later shifted east (right) to facilitate construction of the elevated roadway.

Google draws the Baltimore city/county boundary left-right through light rail's dark gray-blue-green utility box near photo center.

Assorted light rail cables run near the surface in most places.

Not many of these custom MTA manhole covers are to be found.

Veni, vidi, video.

The disused Falls Road grade crossing is below, and the grade-separated Falls Road above.

No Trespassing - Violators Will Be Prosecuted -- but maybe not if they Look Both Ways Before Crossing.

The old Falls Road grade crossing, closed since about 1930, was prepped to reopen to provide access to light rail's Falls Road station, but local residents prevailed at keeping it in a disused state.

For northbound light rail trains, this is the first station in Baltimore County. A 1915 atlas places the NC's Bare Hills Station here on the left side. The Bare Hills name comes from a nearby copper and chromium mine. The Tyson family (of the Cylburn estate seen earlier) enjoyed profits from the mining here.

Links: Bare Hills info, Cylburn history

This box culvert's dry fit and precise stonework suggest original B&S construction of the 1830s, but one of the stones on the right exhibits scars of drillbits not typically used until decades later. That stone might be a replacement made as part of light rail refurbishing. If so, it indicates a thoughtful approach to preserve some original B&S work.

Northbound MTA 5053 shows off the LED headlights it gained during recent overhaul (OH). OH units carry the blue-stripe paint of original light rail cars, at least until the next paint scheme or advertising wrap is applied.

The utility box foundation, signal base, and backup battery box are all NC leftovers.

The resolution is too low to see the signal, but utility box is visible below and left of photo center. Beyond is a cut through a small hill, and at the top is Green Spring Junction.

The cut's retaining wall at left likely dates to the NC.

This self-propelled Pennsylvania Railroad doodlebug is a J.G. Brill Gas-Electric Model 660 built in 1929. It is passing through the cut to/from Hollins Station. Unit 4662 was restored during the 1980s and later operated on Delaware's Wilmington and Western Railroad.

Sibling unit 4666 has also been preserved and, as of 2019, operated in tourist excursion service with the Allentown and Auburn RR in Pennsylvania.

Hollins Station had been in the open area on the right.

Links: 4662 restored, PRR 4666

The cut opens at Green Spring Junction where once was Hollins Station. Service, with trains pulled by horses, began between Baltimore and Relay House, as this spot was then known, on July 4, 1831. The depicted version of Hollins Station was replaced in 1876 by one that remained in service until about 1930 (sources vary on the exact year).

The State of Pennsylvania delayed the B&S's request to build north to York, so the railroad here instead made Westminster, Maryland its goal. It got as far as Owings Mills in 1832. After the B&S finally received permission and built to York, Pennsylvania, in 1838 it declared that new route be its main line. That's the trackage in the photo that passes to the right of the station. The B&S route to Owings Mills (track curving left at the station) became its Green Spring Line. However, there was little demand for such a branch line until during the 1850s the Western Maryland Railway found it a handy way to access Baltimore.

Link: area rail history (PDF)