Railfanning the Maryland Midland

Hi, Friend Stan Short and I enjoyed two days of railfanning on October 17 and 18.  Friday, October 17 we had a really good day on the Maryland Midland.  We arrived in Union Bridge a few minutes after 8:00 PM and learned that, as per usual, UBHF would leave for Highfield, MD shortly.

As the train left town we headed west.  Our first stop was at Rocky Ridge (above and below).  Power consisted of a GP38 painted in the last scheme of the independent Maryland Midland and 2 of the 4 SD40-2s purchased by Genesee and Wyoming for the railroad last year.  Note that the SD40-2s were rebuilt form SD45s and retain the SD45 car bodies.

The train stopped to set off a lumber load and pick up a bunch of empties on the east side of Thurmont, MD.

While the crew completed their switching we moved on to a farm road I knew of east of Sabillisville, MD (above and below).

The Maryland Midland line into Highfield was once the mainline of the Western Maryland Railway.  The route known as the Dutch Line, because it runs through Hanover, PA, can be seen to the left of the locomotive.

The train pulled down past the switch to the Dutch Line and then backed its train into a siding on the Dutch Line where the cars were set off for interchange to CSX (above and two below).

After the set off the light engines backed down to a cut of cars set off by CSX and pulled them forward to clear the Dutch Line Switch (above and two below).  A mother brought her son to the grade crossing to watch the action (hanging out of the window of the front passenger seat of the car). 

Finally back on the former WM main the train pulled down a couple of blocks

where it picked up a few more cars.  This was in Blue Ridge Summit, PA.

On the return trip we photographed the train in Lantz, MD,

Thurmont, MD,

Detour, MD (above and below),

,

off Bucher John Road west of Union Bridge, and

coming past the former WM depot (now home to the WM Historical Society) in Union Bridge (above and below).  Thus ended our day on the Maryland Midland.

After a late lunch in Union Bridge we drove to Brunswick, MD where we saw this ballast train returning eastbound to the yard for the night and

the westbound Capitol Limited.  Thanks for looking.