MARC Railfanning

Hi Everyone,

I am planning on flying into BWI Airport on a July vacation to the Station Inn in Cresson, PA from Ireland. Originally I had planned to fly into Newark and get Amtrak down to Baltimore to rent a car out, however with cheaper flights straight from London into BWI, I'll be using this connection instead. So, after arriving, I'll be spending two full days at a BWI hotel, and plan to railfan the Northeast Corridor the first day, following to the Camden and Brunswick lines the next day. I have a few questions which I'm sure some locals will be able to field:

1. Are there any MARC Penn line trains which would be a good bet for electric power apart from most Perryville-bound trains?
2. I plan on spending time at Seabrook, BWI, Halethorpe and Baltimore Penn at varying times of the day. Are these relatively convenient for eateries, parking etc.? We may have a rental car at that time, or simply take MARC to these stations.
3. I plan to go to Dorsey and St. Denis for some mixed passenger and freight action, and if we have a car, the Brunswick line too. Washington Grove and Gaithersburg have been recommended to me, but are there any other locations on these lines that would also meet the criteria in question 2? (P.S. We can't really visit much west of Gaithersburg as it would take too long to get there.)

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

Tom Agnew

A few parial answers:

(1) Electrics are on rush-hour trains only, but I can't tell you which ones.

(2) There is a commercial garage at BWI. Unless you can live with vending machines, there's no food or anything else immediately around, but free shuttle buses run to the airport itself. Forget Halethorpe for parking on a weekday; the lot fills up early as does all nearby on-street parking. There's on-street metered parking around Baltimore Penn, usually with spaces available. The parking garage is often full during weekdays.

(3) St. Denis is the favored fan spot in the Baltimore area -- better than Dorsey, since parking is never a problem and you get trains off/on the Old Main Line as well as the Washington Branch. Also, a new signal bridge was recently installed east of the station platform, making it a fairly photogenic spot. Photography is tight for eastbounds from the Washington Branch, but otherwise it's quite open. Within Baltimore itself, fans often congregate at the parking lot off Bush St. at the CSX crossing. This is a good AM spot for traffic to/from the Philadelphia sub and Locust Point, but you miss anything to/from Curtis Bay.

If you're a traction fan, you might consider riding or shooting the Baltimore light rail system which, depending on the location, runs on a former interurban line, a former PRR secondary mainline, downtown on-street trackage, and a long overwater trestle. One branch serves BWI and a shuttle operates between Penn and Camden Stations through the downtown area.

I love St. Dennis; I end up going their once every week or so. It is great because of the mixed action you'll see, though keep in mind there is no mid-day MARC service on that line. Also, if you drive a little further south on Route 1, (up the hill) there is a McDonalds, Burger King, Subway and hotels. There is another spot, if you go to the traffic light just after the turn for St. Dennis off route 1, and drive till you go under the thomas viaduct, then turn hard left, you can photograph trains on top of the viaduct, but keep in mind there's no where to pull off really so be careful.

Photography at St. Dennis is morning east bounds, afternoon westbounds. MARC trains run engine first in the morning and cab car first in the afternoon. There's lots of colorful characters at St. Dennis, some CSX guys, and even a few BandO.

One last thing, make sure you study the time table carefully if you don't drive to St. Dennis. It was almost closed and very few trains stop there.

Halethorpe is good for the Penn line. You should see electrics if your there around 3-5pm when the super trains going to Baltimore show up. Believe it or not, some trains to Perryville run with deseil engines. The only thing I hate about Halethorpe is that DAMN FENCE in the middle of the tracks.

Thanks Greg and BaltOhio for the replies.

It had become increasingly apparent that if we got the hotel shuttle to Dorsey station, that we wouldn't get back because of the pattern of trains stopping at St. Denis, so we'll definitely have a rental car to get around by then. At this point, it looks like we'll spend the morning/afternon at St. Denis, then onto the Brunswick Line in the afternoon/evening.

After studying the light locations, number of passing trains etc., I've narrowed it down on the NEC to Seabrook in the morning, Baltimore Penn over mid-day/afternoon and Halethorpe in the evening. The timetable will allow us to get round this line quite easily with that timetable without a car.

Tom

Baltimore Penn may be your achelles heal. Passengers without tickets are not permitted down on track level and there are Amtrak police in place who actually go down to the platform and watch.

I would advice finding somewhere or something to do besides fan Penn station, you will probally get in trouble.

Why not check out the B&O Museum or railfan the Baltimore light rail (Just avoid Center Street, Lexington Market or anything south of Camden yards unless you want to be robbed.)

One cool place you could go is the Mouth of the Howard street tunnel, which is located right across the street from Mt. royal lightrail.

Hi Greg,

Originally I had indeed planned to go to Baltimore to waste away the midday high sun that probably wouldn't have done much to aid videos elsewhere. In addition, if the mother decides to come along for the trip, it would provide a break from what I'm sure will be constant railfanning! It was also an opportunity to get some 'terminal' action - obviously all MARC trains stop/terminate there - but I guess now with the post-9/11 climate, this wouldn't be possible anywhere even before informing station/security staff of your presence (I've also heard being a family group is an advantage)? Either way, while they would be nice shots to have, I can easily live without, and these plans aren't set in stone; we can 'chop and change' according to whatever happens over there when the time comes.

Tom

Pictures in Penn station are very difficult to get right. I've taken literally 100 trains out of there, and taken pictures of every train, and 1 of those 100 was good.

Baltimore is similar to Eckington yard in DC; a treasure trove of rail fanning potential, but you better be packing heat to see it.