AMTK 2038 demonstrates how to avoid I-95 traffic. Before the East Coast's main thoroughfare arrived circa 1970, a small dirt road had crossed at grade here. The concrete-embossed year on the bridge above is 1971.

Here's the view from above. The overhead wires are a giveaway as to what's below. Before sound barriers were added around year 2000, it was possible to glimpse the trains.

AMTK 2016 kicks up dust during a dry January that preceded the wettest year on record in the region.

For photo tours like this one that proceed in a southerly direction, sun glare can be a problem but sometimes can be worked to a photographic advantage.

The index to the 1927 aerial photos shows two separate rail lines running south to Halethorp (sic), the straighter Penn Line and a less straight line on its left...

The more-curved line was a United Railways and Electric Company (UR&E) streetcar line.

Herb Harwood kindly provided details:

"I can say with certainty that both the topo map in your first link and the aerial photo in your second show the UR&E’s Halethorpe trolley line, which came out Wilkins Ave. and used some private right-of-way paralleling PRR into Halethorpe. It dead-ended short of the PRR station, at or near the point your aerial appears to show a car. This was abandoned some time in the mid-1930s, as I recall, and I believe part of the r.o.w. was later used for Southwestern Blvd."

Though AMTK 2039 is on an outer track, it won't be stopping at Halethorpe which is served by MARC alone.

Per the 1920s aerial photo above, Francis, Linden, and Selma Avenues had met and crossed at grade immediately in front of this train. When Southwestern Boulevard (Alt US 1) arrived during 1949, the grade crossing was eliminated via the bridge seen in the October 1952 aerial at left.

The trackside structures between the Boulevard and railroad south of the bridge later gave way to rail commuter parking lots. Does anyone recall what those structures had housed? Were they railroad-related?

Link: 1956

At photo time Halethorpe Station was little more than these waiting shacks on asphalt pads.

For a "refreshing" experience soon after a snowstorm, stand at a station as a 100-mph train speeds by. Even without snow it can be quite an adrenaline rush, one not recommended for the faint of heart.

Links: 1987, 1993, 2010

Dave wisely waited until after the snow had melted to freeze AMTK 656, an HHP8 built by Bombadier. Since then Amtrak has retired all its HHP8s.

"K-braced" catenary poles, the ones with a horizontal beam over the tracks such as seen in this photo, are employed where the normally stand-alone catenary poles cannot be supported by guy-wire due to insufficient width or clearance within the right of way.

Links: retired HHP8s, 1997, 2007

MARC has/had its own HHP8 units, such as number 4913 that is/was dedicated to Kathryn D. Waters who was a Maryland MTA Administrator.

Link: 2002

Rather than cross the tracks, with help from Francis Avenue's bridge commuters returning home from DC trudge up and over them, then back down. Since photo time the station has received its own elevated walkway with elevators. Milepost 103 is visible at bottom.

Links: original milepost 103 in 1978, another

MARC's four model AEM7 units, numbered 4900 to 4903, entered service 1986. They have since been removed from revenue service. As seen from the stairway, this one is departing after discharging passengers.

Links: 1997, 1997, 2002

Halethorpe was upgraded to this new station during 2013.

It's not obvious, but this photo was snapped from the same stairway as the one above dating from 20 years earlier.

Link: 2012

The new station is ADA-compliant with help from elevators that reach an overhead walkway.

Link: new station under construction 2013

The new Halethorpe Station lies a short distance south of the old.

Links: ~1940. 2016

A train of all bi-level cars slows to stop, with the lead car controlling the MARC engine that's pushing from behind. MARC engines are always on the north (Baltimore/Perryville or Martinsburg) end of the train, hence capturing them without sun glare can be a challenge.

MARC service on the Penn Line is more frequent than on the Camden Line. This was a mid-day train, hence few commuters.

It was MARC 16 doing the pushing, its color distorted by sun glare.

MARC 30 and MARC 74 push a near-empty Washington-bound train out of Halethorpe Station. The normally filled-to-capacity commuter parking lot was also near empty. It wasn't light snow that had turned people away on this weekday, but rather COVID.

Yes, this is one of the stretches along which Amtrak reaches triple digit speeds. It's one reason MARC 35 is switching to the leftmost track. Underway as of this writing, and scheduled for completion during the 2020s, is a fourth track all the way to Odenton.

Amtrak usually runs its high speed trains on the two center tracks. Increasing speed above 135 mph is hampered here by the variable tension catenary installed by PRR. When such catenary sags in hot weather, very high speed trains can cause destructive oscillating waves in the wires. Parts of the NEC north of New York have newer, constant-tension catenary that does not exhibit this problem.

Link: 2010

Deep zoom compacts much into one photo, starting with the closest:

• nearest is a red signal for a closed track
• the tall rusty structure is anther old gantry, shown with semaphores in the 1931 photo linked below
• track 4's signal (green) is mounted beyond so trains stopping at the station can see it
• the red sign below reads "Barricade" because that track was closed for maintenance
• the light-blue bridge over the line carries Alternate US 1
• 2/3rds of a mile distant, coal hoppers roll past along CSX's main line

Links: 1931, 2010

Though Ross Winans is more often associated with B&O due to the many eccentric engine designs he supplied them, he sold equipment to several railroads, even ones in Russia. Presumably, he is the source of the Winans name for this area, a location name that Amtrak continues to employ after inheriting it from PRR.

An oddity: the rightmost signal has no number plate, but the other signals do. Between the opposite-facing signals stands a disused A-frame water gantry similar to that 1.5 miles north. Aerial photos indicate this gantry's water tank had stood on the left, north of the Winans box.

Link: Ross Winans at Wikipedia

Gadsby's Run (some maps call it West Branch) is spanned by a bridge more modern than a B&P original. It will need to be widened for a fourth track. The new track will be added on the east side of the existing.

Where are the trains, planes, trucks, and autos? Oh, it's around 1930. There's no catenary yet, in fact the trackage below would not see its first electric train until 1935. That's US 1 above, and the B&O main line in the distance; both bridges were replaced when PRR widened to three or four tracks. The bridge in the distance was named Winans Arch.

The shack on the right, here north of the US 1 bridge, was PRR's Winans Station. The original grade crossing had been near the photographer, which is why a 1915 atlas puts Winans Station on the south side of US 1. Through that period the station remained in the same location, instead it was the road that had moved.

US 1 would move again during the late 1930s when it was rebuilt north of this span, roughly where the original grade crossing had been. As of 2021 that bridge was still on duty, with concrete-embossed dates of 1936 and 1979; this 1936 date represents the start of construction, rather than completion since aerial photos from April 1938, show the former bridge here still in use.

Where PRR had four tracks, the outer ones were generally designated for freight and the inner ones for passenger trains.

Link: 1931

Winans Station was near the H in Washington. That S curve of US 1 over the B&O tracks at lower left was soon straightened by 1929's Vinegar Hill bridge; it's scheduled for replacement during the 2020s. Vinegar Hill got its name from Irish railroad workers who had settled in this vicinity.

The skeletal remains of a PRR pole-mounted signal stand on the left. This is the only such survivor of which I know along the Penn Line. In Baltimore there's a similar signal skeleton but it is mounted on a catenary pole.

The link shows an example of the latter at Magnolia, Maryland.

Link: 1976

Aerial photos suggest this concrete model replaced a B&P stone box culvert when PRR added a third track during the 1930s. Culvert inlets like this need to be cleared periodically to maintain throughput otherwise the next heavy rain might overflow the culvert -- and the tracks.

When during the 1930s PRR added a third track it made provisions for a fourth track, hence the extra room under the B&O (now CSX) here. The bridge's builder's plaque reads McClintic-Marshall Corporation 1934.

There are four ex-B&O tracks above, making it a 4-track-over-3-tracks grade separation, soon to be 4 over 4, the most in the area. Someone asked me if there exists in the present day USA a wider, non-yard, grade separation of two rail lines, such as 5-tracks-over-5-tracks. I know of a 6-over-8 in Chicago (northeast of where I-94 and I-57 meet). Can anyone top that?

Departing Baltimore, the Pennsy opted for a route west of B&O, but here switches to the east. From this point down to Washington, DC, the ROW will remain on the east side of B&O's. In 1835, B&O chose a more inland route, one closer to the fall line where it could serve the various early factories and small towns that had already dotted the central Maryland landscape.

By contrast, the 1850s route to the east that the B&P surveyed was through more sparsely settled areas, and at a lower elevation. This meant its track could be straighter, necessitating fewer cuts through high ridges and fewer tall bridges.

Change for: B&O tour at this site

To the other side of the B&O bridge, PRR had at one time affixed signals. The mounting hardware is all that remains, perhaps left behind because the bridge is not Amtrak property. These are the only disused overhead signal mounts (more than just brackets) I have found along the line. A westbound CSX freight was rumbling above at the same time this Amtrak train passed below.

The Penn Line follows Gadsby's Run south. Heavy rains during 2018 caused some trackside washouts here, as revealed by the replacement, larger stone ballast visually above MARC 28.

A different kind of washout, this time the dreaded sun glare, strikes again. In the distance is I-895.

Arriving during 1957, the I-895 Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway was the first limited-access highway to cast a shadow on the Penn Line in the Baltimore area.

Amtrak takes track maintenance seriously. As viewed from I-895, that's quite a stretch of MoW equipment.

Along straight track, PRR spaced the tall catenary poles about 270 feet apart. Since this equipment spans about 4 poles, we can quickly calculate it stretches about 1000 feet, or more than 3 football fields.

Before I-895 arrived during the 1950s, a farm's grade crossing was found at photo bottom right.

Link: Amtrak catenary repair

Concrete crossties courtesy the Santa Fe? That's how they are stamped. These were made by San-Vel Concrete company, and are intended to last 50 years, which is 10 to 20 more years than a wooden tie. Concrete ties cost about twice as much as a wooden tie.

Compared to the B&O's grand Thomas Viaduct located about two miles upstream, the Penn Line's bridge across the Patapsco River is positively mundane. Undoubtably, it was also much less costly to construct. It was not built until after Elkridge Landing upstream had ceased being a viable port.

The steelwork on this side of the bridge appears to date from a widening during 1898, whereas that on the other side is newer, perhaps rebuilt around 1990.

The piers with reddish stone and angular ends are original B&P construction circa 1870. To reduce flooding concerns, during 1898 the Wilson Brothers Company contracted to lengthen the bridge via three new stone piers. Those have rounded ends, such as the closest in this view. At the same time the company likely also widened the bridge from two to three tracks.

The "1928" embossed in concrete reveals when the piers were widened on this, the downstream side, in preparation for electrification of the line.

A fourth track is scheduled for addition here during the 2020s. Whether that will require a total rebuild of this bridge is not yet clear. Perhaps it can be tacked on in the manner of the prior expansions.

Link to older picture: 1885

Amtrak is desperately in need of a "round tuit" when it comes to repainting the bridges they inherited. At photo time it was in excess of a half century since the steel portions of the Patapsco Bridge last received a coat of paint.

When this bridge was painted during September 1952, Amtrak was but a gleam in some government bureaucrat's eye, Pennsy Pacific K4 steamers were still hauling passengers, and President Harry S Truman was busy with a police action in Korea.