Three generations of mile markers are seen here. The oldest is the rusting piece of rail on the right with the fading "26" painted on. In the middle is a rusty, but newer signpost. On the left, despite being the newest, the current marker is already tired and leaning.

This is typical summer scenery along the OML. This remote area of Patapsco State Park requires a long hike to reach. It's quiet and undisturbed here.

The CPL signals in the distance are dark; since this photo was snapped, CSX has replaced all the CPL signals along the OML.

Reader Joe Moltz contributed the following information:

"Most CSX signals along the OML and other lines are approach lighted. This means that the signal is dark till a train enters the block on either side of it. If the train is approaching from the front side of the signal it will light and give the Engineer his signal. If a train is approaching from behind the signal it will light red. Once the trains clear the block in front of the signal, it will go dark again till needed.

"There are some signals along the OML that are always lit. The ones that come to mind are at Woodstock, Rt 97 and Morgan Station Road. There may be others but these are the ones I know of. The ones I mentioned protect sidings so that may be why they are always lit."

Another stone stringer (the OML's first track base) basks in the sun alongside the tracks. This one has an odd set of iron strap rivet holes: note how they are paired. I surmise the first set of holes was drilled incorrectly, then the stone turned a bit and a new set drilled.

This one is a large (a person can easily walk under it), oddly constructed amalgam of stone, rails, I-beams and concrete, unlike any other I've seen along the OML. It looks like it might have been an arched stone bridge at one time, but hastily (sloppily) reconstructed circa 1900 after a washout. It might also have been a Loree-era realignment project, but the nearby brush was too overgrown for me to find an older alignment.

Also note the decorative finials atop both signal posts. Not many of these survive.

Bridge 27 is a small, ugly thing, but it does have the always helpful painted-on number. This view looks back east as the winding OML bends around yet another hill.

Access to this spot is via Gorsuch Switch Road. The road ends about a half mile from the tracks, but there is a rocky hiking path that leads you right to the orange and white cable marker seen here in the upper left.

Gorsuch is a name lost to time. In the past, it was a B&O stop with a short siding.

Well-known B&O historian and author Herb Harwood wrote:

"I forget whether I had mentioned this earlier, but a couple of months ago I got involved in trying to track down the B&O's so-called Patapsco & Susquehanna branch. This was a projected cutoff line around Baltimore which left the OML between Sykesville and Gorsuch and ran roughly NE, vaguely following the course of Old Court Rd. and a portion of I-695, and joining the Philadelphia line at Van Bobber. The line apparently was one of those Loree projects that never got anywhere, and, although some property apparently was acquired, little or no actual work was done on it."

Reader Andy Anderson wrote:

"My mother also told me that years ago at Gorsuch Switch, the trains would come up from Baltimore and then change tracks, or get off the tracks to let another engine pass on the main line, etc. (I'm not sure). I don't think there is much left there now, but there is a road called Gorsuch Switch road. It is right off of Raincliffe Road, past Slacks road if you are going east. The 'switch' was in that hollow near the river."

Near the Freedom Water Treatment Plant east of Sykesville is where you'll find the only OML bridge with a fractional number: 27 1/16. This is very odd. The closeness of the number to the distance from Baltimore makes me suspicious. But, the numbers painted on other OML bridges are indeed consecutive, not mileage based.

Hillside cuts, even small ones like this, are surprisingly rare along the OML. Here the hill dips sharply into the Patapsco River, so there was no room to go around, and no reason enough to build a tunnel. This one was informally named Long Girls' Cut.

Just beyond this cut, on August 25, 1940 there was a derailment which tumbled B&O engine 4449 into the river and killed 3 of the crew. A picture of the engine is on page 120 of Joetta Cramm's book Howard County: A Pictorial History.

Eastbound trains are about to enter a winding section of the OML so this is a good place for an automatic grease applicator. It will put some grease on the wheels to reduce friction and wear as trains negotiate the upcoming curves.

To reduce the cost of supplying electricity to this relatively remote area, the applicator instead employs the mechanical action of wheels passing over an actuator attached to the rails to pump out some grease. From the appearance, I'd say it's working.

Easily missed during leaf season are the trackside remains of Elba Furnace. Reader Steve Schuler located them and kindly contributed this picture. He writes:

"My wife and I discovered the remains of the Elba Iron Furnace next to the OML just east of Sykesville. We though you might be interested if you weren't already aware of its presence. We noticed at least one stone stringer near the very top of the furnace.

"A quick search on Google revealed this: '1847 - James W. Tyson erects Elba Furnace and produces 1500 tons per year of car wheel iron for the railroad.'

"Attached is a photo taken today, January 17th. The photo was taken from the south bank of the Patapsco (along River Road) - I was facing north when I took the photo. The furnace is on the opposite bank. Feel free to use the photo on your site if you wish.

"Thanks again for authoring such a great web site. We enjoy following your frequent adventures along the OML."

After a few more bends in the track, we approach Sykesville, and its beautiful 19th century station ahead on the left. Before the station was built, the OML's original route carried trains further to the right, in fact, to the right of the purple building in the distance.

Link to older pic: ~1940

Sykesville is home to the only surviving Baldwin-designed railroad station exclusively on the OML (there's another at Point of Rocks that is shared with the Metropolitan Branch). The building dates from 1883, and now houses a restaurant. During the warm months, you can enjoy a meal under the patio umbrellas and, if you're lucky, watch some CSX traffic.

Link to older picture: ~1970

Across the river from the station sits a soon-to-be-renovated former apple butter factory of the A. H. Renehan family, who had purchased the facilites from the B. F. Shriver Canning Company. The main building dates to 1917 and its angle relative to the railroad suggests service by a B&O spur in the past, but reader Joe Moltz writes:

"If you're referring to the brick building with the curved roof, that is an old Apple Butter factory. It never had a rail connection although there is a railroad looking water tower behind it. That was water for the factory. The small wooden building next to the road was the scale shack for weighing trucks. Surprisingly enough there were other buildings there that did not survive the floods but that one did. A rail connection would have required a bridge over the river, something that was just not economically feasible for the amount of traffic the factory might have provided."

Link: news report

The siding just west of Sykesville station sometimes hosts assorted CSX Maintenance of Way equipment, such as that seen here. I'm told this is a track leveller. It measures the height of the track and then raises or lowers it as needed.

Reader Bill Hildebrand wrote:

"Sorry-but there is NO such machine as a 'ballast leveler' as you show in 1 of your photos. The machine you show parked on the Sykesville siding is a 6700 Tamper. It 'surfaces' the track. The machine behind it is a ballast regulator. It moves the stone around to the low spots so the tamper can raise and line the track.

Parked behind is the ballast regulator. These machines likely operate as a team, and probably make quite a racket when they do.

Here is the view looking back toward Sykesville as we continue our westbound tour. The original route joins with the old, infrequently used siding that parallels the present day track. For reference, the B&P tower can be seen in the distance at right center, and Sykesville Station is obscured by trees on the right.

This is another view looking back east from a hill along Oklahoma Avenue. Sykesville Station plus a rusting, blue caboose on the siding can be seen through the trees.

Before it was named Sykesville, the B&O called this location "Horse Train Stop" presumably because the horses that pulled the trains along the OML in pre-steam engine era were changed here. William Patterson, one of the early directors of the B&O, owned several thousand acres of land in this vicinity. He named his estate Springfield and made it his country home.

Link to older picture: 1892

West of Sykesville, the OML re-enters rural terrain.

Link to older pic: steaming nearby, date unknown

Just west of town, I was surprised by the lack of clearance between the rock face and the siding tracks. As I learned later, and as you will see on the next tour page, there's a reason for the tight squeeze.

Around the bend from the tight squeeze, colorful auto racks do their best to imitate a roll of Life Saver candies as they follow Conrail 8755 eastbound through the Sykesville Tunnel. The engine, the last manufactured of the SD60M series, has passed the siding switch, and is about to pull adjacent to the disused switch for the Springfield Hospital Spur.

That spur is the subject of the next page of the tour.