The locals have a sense of humor here near the Hanover Road grade crossing. This is one of only a handful of grade crossings left on the Washington Branch.

The adjacent Anderson Avenue (behind the sign in the previous photo) provided a great spot from which to see crews installing new ribbon rail during a Sunday in July.

As heard at the start of the following brief video, the continuously welded rail issues bizarre, echoing metallic pings as the crane hoists it into place. The louder, repeating sound is that of a rail nailing machine that is unseen behind the crane. MPG Video; 320x200 resolution, 8 seconds; 750K file size MPEG.

Another view of the machine at work.

Just around the bend from the Hanover Road grade crossing, this old whistle sign caught my eye. I've seen only one other like it (near Riverdale). The design is similar to the keystone style employed by the Pennsylvania RR. Anyone know if this sign is a refugee from another railroad?

Grafittied and fortunately mostly hidden by the road bridge's guardrail is this ugly concrete bridge over a tributary of Deep Run, the stream the Washington Branch follows in this area.

Also of note is the single-lane road bridge, one of only a few still remaining in Howard County. As of late 2003, a multi-lane replacement was being constructed at this location.

Original mile marker 12 is almost hidden by trackside weeds, but has been quietly doing its duty for about the past 170 years. The opposite side of the tracks hosts a more modern counterpart.

For comparison, this is an original stone mile marker used on the "National Pike" the road from Baltimore to Frederick and further west. Turnpikes employed the markers to both encourage use of their roads (for which tolls were charged) as well as to mark the distance travelled for purposes of toll calculations.

This milestone now sits in the front yard of a home along Frederick Road. The engraving reads "13 M To B" (13 miles to Baltimore), and is so sharp I suspect it has been re-engraved recently.

Link: a whole page of mile markers

The stone arched bridge over Bascom Creek dates to 1835, making it the oldest survivor from the Washington Branch. It's not quite original, having been shored up several times over the years. Bascom Creek approaches the bridge from an odd angle, and looks to be eroding the foundation on the far side. A very similar angle, and erosion problem, can be found at the Davis Branch bridge on the Old Main Line.

An 1860 Martenet's map of the county calls this stream Budd's Run.

Installed at this location in 2003 is the newest in tracking technology, TransCore. This system appears to supplant CSX's On Track system, which is also found at this location. However, the corrugated "planter" style foundations for the new devices give them the appearance of being temporary.

From the TransCore Web site: "Tracking billions of dollars of equipment and cargo is crucial for good customer service and efficient rail and intermodal operations. That's one reason the North American rail industry adopted a mandatory standard based on TransCore’s Amtech wireless RFID technology. More than 95 percent of all railcars in interchange service in North America are equipped with our radio frequency tags, allowing railroads to manage cars and locomotives nationwide."

There's the TransCore unit again, and ahead, a rarely used spur peels off the mainline to serve the Parkway Center complex near the intersection of MD 100 and Rt 295. Off in the distance is the MD 100 overpass.

This spur is not marked on the ADC maps even though it is fairly long and contains many sidings.

During my visit, two rusting hopper cars blocked the beginning of the spur. The plant overgrowth indicates this route sees little train action now.

Reader Al Moran wrote:

"East of Jessup is the Rte. 100 Park. There is one regular CSX customer that gets dry goods (name escapes me right now) and one not so regular customer that gets alcoholic beverages. There are no customers left on the branch that goes south from the main near Timbuktu restaurant."

About a mile into the spur at the bridge over Race Road the rails still look unused. How do I know? Behind me, there were saplings of about 2 inch caliper growing up between the ties. For the curious: there are also sidings off this spur that might be fun to investigate.

Reader Steve Schwemmer wrote:

"I have enjoyed your OML tour and the DC branch tour, having visted your website for the first time. Like many train buffs, I take walks along the tracks to relax and reflect on history, technology, and family (spiritual ties to grandfather who was a Pennsy engineer). Anyway, I have worked in the Parkway Industrial Park since August of 1993, and have explored all of the tracks within and nearby. I think it was sometime in 94 or 95 when a full sized loco pulled onto the spur and attempted to grab some old box cars behind 7270 Park Circle. I could here squealing, scraping and the ground shaking as it tried to make all of the tight curves and rusty switches thru the industrial park. I believe it actually derailed at the Park Circle crossing, which was rebuilt a few days later. Not long after that, the box cars were replaced with 2 vintage passenger and a mail car. These are being very slowly restored by possibly only one gentleman, and I have seen no locomotive action since. However, if the restored cars are to ever leave, some type of engine or tractor will need to amble up the tracks one last time. Thought you might find this tidbit interesting."

The Parkway Center office park is littered with disused sidings in various states of disrepair.

What are these seen here beyond the fence? O gauge?

On the next page, we'll resume near where we left off the Washington Branch mainline.