The other day I was out near the Amtrak station near BWI airport in Maryland and I heard a train coming (which is somewhat unusual because that is an electrified line and the trains are very quiet). It turned out to be a Norfolk Southern freight train. I have never seen anything but Amtrak trains on these tracks. Is there much freight business along this line and when do they run the trains?
Thanks
Jim
I might be able to answer part of your question. It probably came down the line from Enola to perryville along the Susquehanna river with freight for southern connections at Potomic yard in DC. That is about the only possible route. Amtrak doesn’t take kindly to freight on the corridor so they are all probably extras.and not scheduled.
Out of curiosity I looked on Google Maps and followed the line south. There does seem to be a few customers along the line. I don’t know how old the satellite view was, but there did appear to be boxcars along some buildings and at the end of the line was a couple of coal fired power plants. I assume they run these trains at night.
Jim
CSX service to the Southern Maryland power plants operates over the NEC between Landover & Bowie where it connects to the Popes Creek Subdivision that ends at the Morgantown power plant.
NS operates from their Port Road connection at Perryville to the NS yard at Bayview in Baltimore. I suspect that they provide local service to customers located on the NEC both North and South of Baltimore.