Ma & Pa RR Stations in Maryland (with classic pix)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- NOTE: I uploaded this just as YT joined Google+. For some reason it's not allowing me to answer comments! But a big Thanx to all those viewing...and commenting! Hopefully YT can fix their mess!!
Here are all remaining Ma & Pa RR stations south of the Mason-Dixon!
I had to catch the first of them, Homeland, on the fly! It's a private home and I doubt the residents would be big on me setting up a tripod and photographing away (though, I would figure, they'd expect it to a certain extent)!
Then, like it or not, we view two stations shown in a previous vid (Glen Arm and Hydes). This way my viewers don't have to go to another vid to view them!
Then on to Vale Station, which is unfortunately in decrepid state! Here some realigning of the main was done, moving it further from the station! I included a photo showing both alignments. The Vale freight station also still exists and is used now as a home.
Wet then check out one section of the Ma & Pa Trail in the Bel Air area. The Bel Air station is gone, but again I threw in a couple classic pix!
The last remaining station, going north, is Forest Hill-fortunately still there, and being upkept! It now serves as a hobby shop, but was a lawyer's office for a while in the 1980s. And the sign disallowing commuter parking for a RR no longer operating is still there!
These are all the MD stations that are left unfortunately! The next ones are in Pennsylvania, and will be featured in a later vid. However, you can view one now! The Muddy Creek Forks PA station: • Ma & Pa RR Muddy Creek...
My original Ma & Pa "Here's Your Sign" vid at Forest Hill: • A Ma & Pa Railroad "He...
Shot October 20 2013.
Reading of the efforts to preserve the Glen Arm station got me interested enough to look on line for references to the M&P RR. I very much enjoyed your pictoral journey of the stations, thank you for posting. JB
You're quite Welcome! Glen Arm Station did rather well as the Ma & Pa Whistle Stop, selling pizza and snacks. Seems that the businesses that followed didn't last as long as it did. And no wonder-when it was still open as (I think) Kings Pizza, a bottle of Coke was almost $2! Not sure if their prices led to their demise.
The Railroad used to run right behind my house in Bel Air, MD. One of the stations was actually what is now The Mill and another one is now a post office.
I know the Bel Air station was long razed, but are there others in that area? I thought Vale was the only other one!
Our mail in the 1930's was delivered by train to the Sharon Station north of Forest Hill and the RFD carrier picked it up off of Sharon Road which curved to meet the Rocks Road on both ends. In 1947 I rode from Forest Hill to the Baltimore Station below North Avenue at Howard Street to walk downtown and return. It was a rollicking ride. Some of the best views are at the Baldwin Station where the trees line the old railbed to the west and at Rocks where stone supports are standing which allowed the trains to cross over to the Rocks Station.
That's really interesting! Love hearing stories from those who rode the Ma & Pa! Makes me wish I was born early enough to ride (was born the year passenger service ended-1954)! I've explored the area around Rocks many times, and I'm sure it made for a very scenic ride! I've seen photos of Baldwin Station; will have to look again to see if any show those trees. Been inside Forest Hill Station when it was open as a hobby shop.
There's a a Ma & Pa museum in Delta PA which houses many photos and artifacts from the line. I visited there last year. Here's the video I took:
th-cam.com/video/lzsW0DeN_rw/w-d-xo.html
Happy New Year!
thank you for the video'' my mom lived in top of the belair station when she was a child'' she used to tell me neat stories about living there.
That's really interesting! Your mom living by the Ma & Pa! I'll bet she has some really interesting stories! I've seen the track as a child, here in the Baltimore area, but never saw a train running-unfortunately.
my mom's father worked for the railroad & they lived in top part of the belair station' my mom told me when the train came by the whole building shook and the smoke would come in' she said they played with coins they would find; but the coins were foriegn '' the played on the coal piles with the black kids and a few white kids . but after playing in the coal 'everybody look the same' she rember having a lot fun and a lot of good friends there. i have mom's newspaper clipping of the last time engine 41 rolled through beside the station'' she said that engine was her favorite. thanks for the video' i like to someday come up that way and see the places you filmed'' i lived in greenbelt as a child [ early 60's ] and we go to belair to visit my grandfather some' of your shots seam familiar to me, thanks again.
@@appalachiancookingwithbren1411 Now that's really interesting...kids playing in coal and winding up looking the same! Also interesting about those foreign coins-on the Ma & Pa, no less-and living upstairs at the Bel Air station! BTW #41's twin now sits in Muddy Creek Forks PA, though the black and yellow in the color scheme were reversed. Still great that original motive power exists! Thanx for viewing, and hope your Thanksgiving was great! -Gus
Great work my dad used to talk about the ma and pa. Grew up in towson and played on the ROW between goucher blvd along cromwell bridge road to satyr hill road.
Ralph Denk Thanx! I've been studying the Ma & Pa for many years now! It still ran in MD during the first 4 years of my life! Check out my 2008 ride on the Ma & Pa!
Very nice, thank you..... I'm a former employee of the Ma & Pa.
Thanx! I guess you recall when these stations were still functional! I recall seeing the track (at age 4!) but never saw a train...
Nice video! My father, Elwood Amrein, worked for the Ma and Pa for 31 years, and at one point was at the Glen Arm Station (We believe that is him in the pic at 1:44). His brother, Carl Amrein, retired as President of the Ma and Pa, and their mother lived across the street from the Fallston station, where I remember playing on the station porch as a child when we visited her. My uncle, Mervin Amrein, ran the general store that was on the other side of the track in Fallston. Great memories! Thanks!
You are very Welcome! Glad I could bring back some memories for you! I'm familiar with the Amrein name-believe me! I read George Hilton's book, and other publications as well- very familiar with Ma & Pa stuff! Even got to meet Charles Mahan who took the photo! Looked up the photo to which you refer in hopes of finding out who that gentleman is, and maybe clear that up for you, but it didn't say. Also-made many trips to Muddy Creek Forks and rode the restored portion of the line. Posted many videos, many of which are being featured on their website! Yea, one might say I'm big on Ma & Pa...
@@bullfrog1954 We're kind of big on the Ma and Pa, too, especially since it was a big part of the lives of some of my family members. Looking forward to viewing more of your videos! Keep enjoying trains!
I certainly will! Thanx again!
Just past Notchcliff Rd. on the right side heading toward Glen Arm is a tiny building that was used by the Ma & Pa. I'm not certain what it served but I think it was a seasonal excursion kind of stopping point. It's all grown up around it and hard to find. Best to look for it in winter. It's not much bigger than a bus stop shelter.
When I bought an HO kit of Notch Cliff Station in the 80s, the text referred to it in the present tense. Mistake? I thought it was gone as I've been going by there since 1973 and never noticed anything! Believe me, I was looking! Now my curiosity is aroused! Also-one photo shows a spur diverging just beyond the shelter. Wondering where it went to!
@@bullfrog1954 I worked in Towson, live in Bel Air and drove Glen Arm Rd every day for 25 years and only found the little structure after a coworker heard about it and directed me to exactly where it is. It's in the heavy brush around 40 yards off the road. Once you pass Notchcliff, heading toward the Glen Arm station, there are 2 sharp left/ right turns then the long straightaway. It's right near the 2 turns. It's small, like a bus shelter. Good luck finding it. I'm going to have to look for it again myself next time I drive that way. Nice chatting, stay well.
Worked in Towson myself in the 70s and 80s, in the photo store in the mall. Next time I'm out Glen Arm Rd I'll look for that structure. Always happy to chat with Ma & Pa enthusiasts!
The best way to see the actual row is on the Harford County webGIS page. They have base maps that show photo aerials, and you can clearly see the tracks and trestles of the MA & PA. It shows where the line went after Vale station in photos, taken when the track was still there.
Thank You for letting me know about that HC website! Checked out other stuff as well as Ma & Pa! Impressive aerials from 1938 and 1952; great that one can zoom in and still maintain some detail! Actually cleared a few things up for me! Shame Vale Station has been torn down since this video; I first discovered that in March 2020 during a drive. Here's the link to that video th-cam.com/video/g-rnP2V0U0A/w-d-xo.html It's at the 23:06 mark.
There's a website I've been using for classic maps and photos called NETR Historic Aerials. They too offer aerials but not as far back as the HC website and theirs don't maintain as much detail when zoomed in. The old maps going back to the 1800s are great as they show all the original routes of travel! Planned many of my Day Odysseys with the aid of those maps!
Still interesting to see all the Ma & Pa detail! Actually got to meet Charles Mahan-Mr. Ma & Pa himself-in 1988 when I attended a slide show he put on of his classic pix but only took us as far as the Little Gunpowder! Shame he didn't take us into Harford County!! Still great to have met the man.
This was really neat! I drive around all these areas during work, but don't really have time to inspect them...
Thanks for sharing! Is the Long Green station gone now? When I still lived up in that area it was standing at the SW corner of Long Green Rd and Long Green Pike, up on a hill, and was a private residence. The track crossed LG Rd on a trestle. I used to eat lunch at the Glen Arm station back in the '70s and '80s when I worked as a field inspector for BG&E. It was known as "The MA & PA Whistle Stop" restaurant back then, and had a decent lunch menu.
shortliner68 Unfortunately, the original structure at Long Green was torn down in the 80s because it was on the verge of collapse, and replaced by a "modern" home. It sat on the north side of LG Road and the west side of the track. The grade was visible into the early 80s. In the 70s, when I first started thorough exploration of the line, I pulled over by the station and asked a woman I saw standing there (and who turned out to live there) if I might be able to go up to the former station for photos, but she advised me against it for some reason (to me, if you live in an historic train station, photographers are part of the territory, but she didn't agree). And I can tell you stories about the Whistle Stop in Glen Arm! Used to stop there for a Coke and brownies in the 70s. I believe it finally changed in the late 80s, but no subsequent business there lasted as long as the Whistle Stop. The pizza shop didn't last very long; when you're charging almost $2 for a Coke it's little wonder. The Whistle Shop also sold pizza; I'd stop there on occasion for one. I have a vid in progress now of more Ma & Pa, including the former Peach Pottom line in Delta PA. Also collected a good number of Ma & Pa pieces in HO-probably more than most! Thanx 4 viewing & commenting! -Gus If you're interested, here's a vid of my exploration of the onetime Loch Raven Branch: @DpIy3cPJgBY
bullfrog1954 Thanks for your reply! I'll def check out your video as I didn't know about the Loch Raven Branch. Yes, after I posted I went back to check aerial photos and realized my memory of where the station was located was wrong. After I got my driver's license in Spring 1970, I took a a few trips to Delta. Didn't catch any trains but the RR was delivering equipment to the new Peach Bottom nuclear plant - several carloads were on the siding there. I was born in Balto in 1950 but lived on the west side. Didn't learn about the M&P until my mid-teens. All I knew was WM and PRR lines. In 1977 I went to York with my M&P history book in hand. The crew was working and let me ride with them down to a steel rebar firm to pick up an empty gon. That made my day!
shortliner68 Not a problem! Always a pleasure communicating woth other Ma & Pa enthusiasts! I know M&P helped build the Peach Bottom plant; the its operators having rebuilt the branch for that purpose. I never saw a train en route to the branch, but in the early to mid 1970s I'd see strings of boxcars parked on the branch by the onetime Funkhauser Quarry, just north of Delta. Wish I thought to grab some photos! I do have some shots of the line just after it stopped running and before the track got pulled up; one of which will be in an upcoming video. Incidently, I first caught on the the Ma & Pa in 1971 at age 17, after noticing what looked like a RR grade above Cromwell Bridge Rd. A couple friends and I decided to investigate in 1974, and the bits of ballast confirmed a RR was once there. That's all I knew. But there's some irony here! As a kid, my parents would drive from Carney to Towson on Joppa Road and I noticed this RR trestle where Goucher Blvd now crosses, but paid it little mind (I was 4 at the time-no wonder). When, in my teens discovering the Cromwell Bridge grade, my mind didn't yet make the connection! Finally did a little while later! Also in '74 I bought author George Hilton's book on the line and, in no time, read it from cover to cover. Bought the revised edition in 1980. So you actually rode part of the Ma & Pa in York? Did you ever luck out on that one! Was it Hilton's history that you had that day? When I was in York last year I got to talking with a MOW (maintenance-of-way) crew who were working on the former NCRY/PRR line right at the former junction with the M&P, and were nice enough to let me shoot video (posted). I was there in the 80s and 90s too, when more trackage was in place, and this time I did get photos. Fortunately, some of M&P again operates in Muddy Creek Forks PA, and in 2008 I rode the "train" and shot some vid. Also got a thorough tour of the station there, which features a hand-operated (and still functional) wooden elevator! Riding the line gave me an appreciation for what it must have been like traveling from Baltimore to York in the classic days ( tight curves, squealing flanges etc). Here's my playlist which includes a "cab" ride, tour of the yard there, and a demo of the elevator. When you get a chance, have a look and tell me what you think: @playlist?list=PLx_OAG10uQxPIiPiRodDAuYPidi5dap4t My vid of the MOW crew at York, with other NCRY spots as well: @ilSSK_CgvQI I now have way better cameras than when I shot these, and hope to grab some improved footage in the near future.
bullfrog1954 Yes, it was the first edition of Hilton's book I had with me. Also had a news article from The Sunpaper about the line which had a photo of a freight train heading to Red Lion and the chemical company at Whiteford. When the crew spotted me in the yard, one of them started walking towards me. I thought I was going to get fussed at for trespassing, but the crewman held a paper out to me and asked, "Would you like this?" He handed me the copy of their orders which they had from an earlier run that day to Red Lion. I showed him the news article and he immediately recognized the engineer in the photo. That engineer once ran the passenger trains and had since passed away. The crewman also looked through my book and remembered the events around the shot of the Oakleigh derailment of #82. He talked about it like it had just occurred recently instead of nearly 25 years earlier. He really brought the book alive for me! After that he invited me up into the cab of the switcher (can't remember the number) and then the crew received orders to fetch the empty gon so the steel dealer could close up their shipping door. They didn't say I had to get off now, so I rode the short distance down and back...still within York city limits. They did a flying switch maneuver on the way back to get the gon in front of them. I didn't have a camera with me, unfortunately. I do have some photos of Delta taken on an early 1970s trip there. I enjoy your videos very much...brings back fond memories for me.
shortliner68 I wish I got to do what you did, and meet a real Ma & Pa train crew! Depending on what year that that was, it would've been either #81 or 82 that you were on. #82 now sits in the mini-yard at Muddy Creek Forks, but "politics" won't allow the Preservation Society to run it. The line was already technically scrapped when the Society procured it, and thus and so considered "scrap" instead of a railroad. The Society didn't buy a railroad; they bought scrap resembling a railroad. Confusing! If it wasn't for that 1940s fire at the Baltimore freight station, we might still have a Ma & Pa of some kind, especially in MD. There were records stored there which stated what was to become of the property in event of abandonment but they were destroyed in the fire. That's the story I get from the Society. A real shame. I suspect the ROW was taken over by the adjacent property owners thru eminent domain. Nonetheless, still good to have some Ma & Pa that we can still ride! I really gotta get back to MC Forks again now that I have a way better camera than I had in 2008. They take you to a point northwest of High Rock and back, but were hoping to go the other way to Bridgeton one day. Great to be able to ride (at least part of) the Ma & Pa in this millennium! Glad I could bring back some memories for you!-Gus
nice video and now for the NCR stations I hope
In pa on park rd is Bachman junction the old rail grade is there so as the station foundation
That sounds familiar-where exactly is this Park Rd? Unfortunately, one station in this video was razed since I did this...a real shame.
Great video but you said the Fallston station is no more. It's actually still there in downtown Fallston. Hard to spot because of Addons.
I found that out after I posted this! Been meaning to do this over again but got involved in other projects. When I'm in Fallston again I'll have another look! Thanx for viewing. -Gus
I can dig living in a small town, I live in S. Calif. I do the samething, go out and check out our history here. Old buildings and old trains, but no old tracks, they remove quick.
In this case, the MD portion ceased operation in 1958, but track stayed in place until 1959. Unfortunately I was only 5-yrs old at the time, and didn't realize what was happening! Couldn't have done much at that age anyway. Thanx for viewing. -Gus
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Some day day they'll say the same thing about Hwy's We can only hope. LOL We'll never see Railroads like the old days.
I've thought about that too! When we're all 'teleporting' around like on Star Trek, we'll be looking at all that pavement with grass growing through the cracks!
Have you done a video of the stations thru the PA part?
Not per se, but I have visited a few and done videos on them; most recently Red Lion for Ma & Pa Open House back in February. Also have videos posted from Muddy Creek Forks, featuring a ride on the restored portion of the Ma & Pa.
Here's a link to my Ma & Pa playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLx_OAG10uQxPIiPiRodDAuYPidi5dap4t.html
@@bullfrog1954 Thank you for these cool journeys.
@@tubite2 You're quite Welcome!
Got my vote for commuter system on the line. Maybe someday.
I wish somebody thought of that back in 1958!! Back then no one was thinking of light rail, interurbans and the like. Today the problem would be that some of the line has been built over, but it would surely be great to see trains on that line again! Have vid posted of the part of the line set up for tourist excursions, and it gives the feel of how it was riding that line. Obviously they can't break speed records!
I've read where, in some locales, that ROWs can be returned to the railroad if it to be used as a railroad again. Many were designated as roads, or 'streets' when abandoned and left to feds or states to deal with. Priority of fires, as we used to say when sending artillery rounds downrange in the Army. In Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York and others they went out and activated ROW in their states then improved the lines to run both freight and passenger/commuter service. Connecticut, for example, had to deal with literally hundreds of bridges, some real small others massive, that had belonged to the old New Haven RR: Mass had that as well as tunnels to improve the lines. Point being there was a lot of work to do, like Ma & Pa, but behind not being afraid to tax people for something that was really needed and a benefit to the state to make it go. If Maryland decided to do that who know it would turn out. Keep the faith!!!.
There would be considerable work required to bring Ma & Pa back to life, mainly procuring the ROW-again. Also there's the matter of all those curves; I think there are 476 of them! A commuter line connecting the major points would probably take off, if it could be built on completely different ROW. Original Ma & Pa trains rarely exceeded 20 mph! Great that MA, CT & NY were able to get some of those lines running again, but Ma & Pa would be a real challenge. We did get another classic line up and running again here in Baltimore-the former PRR Northern Central line, used by the light rail system. Unfortunately, the line from Cockeysville MD to New Freedom PA still doesn't run (but now a bike trail), but steam trains do operate from New Freedom north. But I'll still keep the faith! If I was a billionaire like those folks on Shark Tank, I'd probably try to bring the line back to life myself!
thanks
cool
Thank You!
Darn shame, the Glen Arm station is in a stage of disrepair now. Wish I was rich, I would restore it in to it's original glory.
picard It IS a shame! After RR abandoned Glen Arm Station became the Ma & Pa Whistle Stop Carry-Out (short-order stuff) but when that closed in the 80s no subsequent business has been able to hang on for some reason. I'd make it a hobby shop (like Forest Hill) or something else RR related...or maybe a station again just for the heck of it. Still, it's not in as bad shape as Vale! Thanx 4 viewing & commenting! -Gus
what state is this in?
All these stations are in Maryland.
Would have been nice if you actually got out of your car and taken more time to film.
I did get out when practical-and when I could. Sometimes it's possible to stop and get out; sometimes one has to shoot on the fly.