Land development continues to drop off the farther we proceed from Baltimore City. From this high point at Sudbrook -- note the spring water at right -- the railroad turns to resume following the Gwynns Falls valley upstream. Milepost 10 is easier to find in this photo.

You know Church Lane is old because of the, uhh, railroad bridge, that's umm, around here somewhere...

Church Lane's other direction is less treed, plus less leafed during early sping. This is the subdivision's only masonry bridge one can drive under, at least between Port Covington and Owings Mills.

Just west of Church Lane a siding diverged to serve trackside businesses.

The previous photo had likely been snapped from a window or the roof of one of these buildings. The siding has been dismantled since.

Looking the other way we see a bridge, wait, a couple of bridges coming soon, the nearest is for Old Court Road.

The original railroad alignment here was bypassed, probably during the first decade of the 1900s when WM made other improvements to the line. The disused original later became Greenwood Road, but is marked RAILROAD (AVENUE) in this 1927 photo.

WM's Roslyn Station is likely the building near the D in MARYLAND. It supplanted Pikesville Station that had been located in the northwest quadrant where Greenwood Road now meets Old Court Road.

One source reports grade separation of Old Court Road happened during 1932, but this 1927 aerial photo with an underpass already in place shows that info to be incorrect.

Local resident Stephen Miller added the following:

"If you look at the upper left I believe it shows the original track alignment prior to the construction of Sudbrook Park. I was told this by someone when I was young so I don’t know how true it is. It does make sense since Greenwood Road which occupies this area now is strangely straight and flat then turning into an S curve as it enters Sudbrook Park. I think if this was constructed as a road they would have eliminated this S curve. Greenwood Road was used by the local kids as a drag strip due to it being long and flat. The County frowning on this activity placed a stop sign where Church Lane enters Greenwood and purposely never resurfaced the road which turned it into a car integrity test if you tried to drag race on it."

With the new alignment came this new station along Old Court Road.

Roslyn Station was gone by 1938. Realigning Old Court Road to meet (red lines) the underpass would come later. The I-695 Baltimore Beltway also came later, just off the top left corner of this photo, as well as Metro's Old Court Station, just off the bottom left corner.

Old Court Road was straightened and widened in 1967, requiring this longer railroad bridge that remains on duty.

The name "Old Court Road" implies obviation by a newer "Court Road" but that is not the case. Instead "old" refers to the age of the road, which predates European colonization of this region.

Link: historical marker

WM 54 leads a mix of freight and coal through Pikesville. I am uncertain of the direction of view. The signal's number appears to be 108, which corresponds to milepost 10.8. The digit 8, an even number, normally means this signal controls eastbound traffic, which means we're looking east while the approaching train heads west. However the angle of summer sunlight matches that of the photo below which suggests we're looking west.

The sign at the left edge probably ends with the words Beyond This Point.

This is a modern view near the location of the prior photo, as well as after the Baltimore Beltway arrived.

Clearly this area suffers from such a serious canvas shortage locals must resort to painting concrete expanses few others will ever see. The concrete walls are angled in a manner I have not observed elsewhere.

At almost 250 feet, this is the longest active bridge on the line within Maryland. It spans 11 lanes of Beltway traffic.

Stephen Miller added:

"Somewhere around the Beltway area was once a park that the railroad built for summer excursions. The same guy that told me about Greenwood Road told me this. I think was probably located were the Beltway it located. I looked one time but could find nothing in the area. There is a mention of it in the book that the railway wrote commemorating their 100th anniversary saying it was closed when they opened the Park at PenMar."

This view of WM's bridge over I-695 is more familiar. A few CSX trains per day use this route but I've never caught one while driving on the Beltway.

The northern side of the bridge had/has a highway Big Green Sign (BGS) attached to it, the region's only example of a BGS on a CSX bridge, as seen at left during 2005.

The bridge is long enough to span entrance lanes from I-795 on the right. I-795 did not open until 1987, decades after I-695. Was the railroad bridge built long enough to permit the future I-795, or was it extended during the 1980s? I have not found an aerial photo that can answer.

Harold Dorsey writes:

"When I-795 was being built, they built this new railroad bridge next to the old one. The old bridge looked very similar and was painted black with Western Maryland Railway painted on the sides. It was removed after the new was opened."

David Earp adds:

"I remember when that section of the beltway was opened in the early 1960s. The WM bridge that originally spanned the highway was only long enough for the 2 travel lanes in each direction, shoulder on each side, plus center grass median. The original bridge had a metal communication wire pole mounted at its center on a concrete pedestal which was part of the bridge structure. Below the pole facing traffic was the letters 'WM' in speed lettering. That bridge was completely replaced by the new bridge and installed on a new alignment since the old bridge had to stay in service while the new one was constructed. With future road construction planned, the new bridge was built to be long enough to span the future ramps."

That's milepost 11 at the west end of the bridge. Beyond the curve the tracks slide under I-795, the Northwest Expressway.

Link: I-795 Northwest Expressway

Concrete surrounds an iron pipe to make this culvert, the only one of this design I've found along the WM line. Concrete dates the structure to after 1900, perhaps revised from an earlier version. Prior to 1900, railroads more often relied on stone for load-bearing structures.

The white truck is heading southeast on I-795. Baltimore's Subway is sandwiched in that road's median.

Mount Wilson Lane represents the first grade crossing since Patterson Avenue at mp 8.3. This view looks back to I-795.

Note more of WM's modular-style signal support blocks seen earlier in this tour.

Same grade crossing, opposite view. WM's Mt. Wilson Station had been across the road, on the right.

The blue sign tells us, among other facts, the CSX identifier for this route is BAS.

Immediately beyond this grade crossing, a short spur/siding arced left and crossed Gwynns Falls to serve the Thomas Wilson Sanitarium for Children.

Thar arc of track is readily visible in this 1927 aerial (photo courtesy Johns Hopkins University). Shadows suggest coal hoppers are waiting on the spur. Stephen Miller reports:

"At Mount Wilson Lane was a siding that crossed the Gwynns Falls to access the heating plant for the Mount Wilson hospital that was on the Hill above. I remember playing on it and exploring the remains of the building when I was a kid."

The coal was for the Thomas Wilson Sanitarium for Children. As of this writing, the Thomas Wilson Foundation continues to support the health and welfare of children in Baltimore City.

Link: Thomas Wilson Foundation

Parts of WM's bridge to the sanitarium survive. These are the only WM stone masonry structures I have found between Baltimore and Owings Mills. They are probably original to the 1800s. When WM upgraded the line during the first decade of the 1900s, they generally used concrete.

Old rail segments (left) were discarded near the bridge. Note the "clips" along the bottom of this piece. I've not seen that before. Were those designed to better hold the track to the bridge? Feedback welcome.

WM added some concrete on top perhaps to stabilize the piers after a flood. Compared to the common double-track bridge, the piers for this single-track variety look very narrow. A 1952 aerial shows the bridge still extant. It may have survived until the floods of 1972's Tropical Storm Agnes.

From Mt. Wilson Lane, milepost 12 is not evident; it would be beyond the white pole. An 1877 atlas shows a siding beyond milepost 12 that headed southwest to Rogers Station.

Concrete suggests WM redid this water passage when it upgraded the line during the early 1900s. There's a separate rusty pipe culvert a short distance northwest.

Though at first glance this McDonogh Road bridge looks to be falling apart, only its center guardrail, damaged by a car collision, needs repair. I believe this to be the first grade separation bridge here, and that an original rail alignment had swung to the left, passing to the west of a subsequent McDonough Station.

WM had maintained this station for the nearby McDonogh School. If the atlas depiction in the panel below is correct, this view looks southwest along a second rail alignment.

This 1898 atlas shows the northern part of the original alignment being retained as a siding. At this time, McDonogh Road crosses the middle of an S curve of the second alignment.

By 1927, a grade separating bridge had been built. Assuming the atlas's earlier depiction of curving track is correct, during separation WM's alignment was also strightened a bit.

A row of railcars suggests the original alignment was still functionung as a siding during 1938.

At first I thought this photo was snapped from the McDonogh Road bridge, but newer information says that bridge is off photo left. Instead, the photog may have climbed a signal pole to capture this view.

Milepost 13 lurks at distant right while only a hint of a possible original alignment remains on the left. Beyond both, I-795 cuts across the scene where ex-WM trackage curves west.