Nostalgia & History > Once the route of the Liberty Limited...

The Pennsylvania RR line between York, PA and Baltimore, MD has been out of service since Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972. Now, a Rail Trail stretches from York to Cockeysville, MD. There the light rail takes over the right of way into Baltimore. I thought I'd take a break from my  past photo history to give a look at what can be seen today along the trail.

1) A whistle post approaching Monkton, MD.

2) A position light signal gives a clear block for a ghost train.

3) Crossbuck warns of trains that will never come at Corbett Road.

B&OBill



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 05:51 by bandob.

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1) Explaining the signals to today's hikers and bikers.

2) Monkon station is preserved, with small museum and restroom facilities.

3) At the state line, the Baltimore Division began.

B&OB

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As I got closer to New Freedom, PA, I heard a diesel horn. The Steam Into History tourist line also uses a restored PRR GP-10 on some trains. They had just shut it down when I arrived.

(3 photos)

B&OB

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1) Cars used on the excursion train.

2) The New Freedom depot is now a cafe and museum. Excursion trains board about one block south.

3) Preserved PRR cabeese at New Freedom.

B&OB

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Northern Central also has this party caboose available.

New Freedom is also the terminus for the Stewartstown Railroad. Here one of its units was seen on Friday, 9/21.

My next bike ride will be on a day when the steam train is in operation.

B&OB

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All nice photos B&OBill. Too bad Maryland did not put the former Northern Central back into Cockeysville. It should have been done with the bike trail next to it as the State of Pennsylvania did. Oh well, just another one of those Maryland mistakes. By the way, the Steam Into History is a very nice ride through scenic country. I love riding on it and have taken my grandchildren now several times.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Nice set of photos. I think I know where my next bday party will be.

Appreciate your post, B&OBill. Word up building behind the Stewartstown RR locomotive reflects the state of downtown’s across the USA-fading fast!

bandob Wrote:
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> New Freedom is also the terminus for the
> Stewartstown Railroad. Here one of its units was
> seen on Friday, 9/21.

Is there any freight on that line?

Appreciated these photos, thanks for posting.

I particularly laughed, however, at the explanation sign of the position light signals. The last line
really amused me. The lack of knowledge by supposed experts is sometimes astounding.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

bluesboyst Wrote:
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> Is there any freight on that line?


None right now. I think there has been some discussion of trying to start freight service.

Thanks for posting the photos. I enjoyed all of them.
ALLEN

Great coverage.
You helped bring parts of the past to us.
Bob

Thanks for sharing! I've often wondered about this line as I live near it north of York where it is still in.

Posted from Android

Here's a milepost north of Sparks, MD. I know the 20 miles is to Baltimore.

Is the 118 to Sunbury or Northumberland?

B&OBill

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You use the name "Liberty Limited" and seem to define a route from York, PA down into Maryland. Maybe I'm confused but wasn't that line known as the MA & Pa or the Maryland and Pennsylvania which still exists.

The "Liberty Limited" as I seem to recall existed out in the Media,PA area and ran into the old PTC barn now known as the SEPTA 69st Terminal and ran into Norristown in Montgomery County and from their into parts of Chester County. The old Liberty cars are now gone but one still can be seen at the Middletown RR yard in Middletown, PA. These were high speed interurban's and were very fast in their days.

Jim
Hatboro, PA

Jim, the "Liberty Limited" was also the name of Pennsylvania Railroad"s premier overnight train between Washington, DC and Chicago. It travelled this line between Baltimore, York, and Harrisburg. This is a separate line from the Maryland & Pennsylvania. Trains operated on it until Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972. Many bridges were destroyed and there so many washouts that the railroad abandoned the line. As you can see from the photos, it is now a trail, but legally, should it every be needed again as a railroad, the tracks could be put back in.

I've attached a schedule from 1948 showing the Liberty Limited, and you can see how PRR trains went from Harrisburg through York and Baltimore to Washington, Dc.

I rode the Liberty Limited once as a child and still have memories of it.

B&OBill



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/17 16:20 by bandob.

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Thanks for sharing the schedule! Neat to see that the PRR almost matched the B&O's flagship Capital Limited time between Washington and Chicago despite the mileage disadvantage.


bandob Wrote:
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> Jim, the "Liberty Limited" was also the name of
> Pennsylvania Railroad"s premier overnight train
> between Washington, DC and Chicago. It travelled
> this line between Baltimore, York, and Harrisburg.
> This is a separate line from the Maryland &
> Pennsylvania. Trains operated on it until Tropical
> Storm Agnes in 1972. Many bridges were destroyed
> and there so many washouts that the railroad
> abandoned the line. As you can see from the
> photos, it is now a trail, but legally, should it
> every be needed again as a railroad, the tracks
> could be put back in.
>
> I've attached a schedule from 1948 showing the
> Liberty Limited, and you can see how PRR trains
> went from Harrisburg through York and Baltimore to
> Washington, Dc.
>
> I rode the Liberty Limited once as a child and
> still have memories of it.
>
> B&OBill

Posted from Android

I think the Liberty Limited is the first train I remember riding, although I know I was taken on others before. I must have been about 4 years old. I remember hearing it announced in Washington DC Union Station, and getting very exciting, telling my parents "That's our train!"

I remember riding faster than I could imagine, to Baltimore behind a GG1. I remember the G moving past us in Baltimore as my father told us diesels were being added.

I remember asking why we were going so slow, out of Baltimore. "Mountains," my father said. I know now it was the curvy line along Gunpowder Falls.

My parents woke me to see the steel mills at Pittsburgh, and I remember the orange glow outside the windows. (Or maybe that was another B&O trip...)

B&OBill

Don't think the Pennsy line went near any steel mills around Pittsburgh. But the B&O certainly did between McKeesport and Pittsburgh. It was S.O.P. for us to watch the passage of the steel mills from a comfortable seat on BO25 in either High Dome or Sky Dome.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/17 22:36 by chakk.