Nostalgia & History > Praise for Point of Rocks, MD

This High Victorian Gothic station remains a favorite of amateur artists and photographers. It has been described as “an exhilarating conglomeration of shapes and polychrome masonry culminating in a high cupola and spire topped with an iron finial……Almost the whole Victorian bag is there: gabled and hipped roof sections; gabled, hipped and jerkinhead dormers; carved bargeboards; gothic arched windows; ornate finials; scalloped shingles; polychrome bands of granite and sandstone.”  (Quote from Impossible Challenge, by Herbert H. Harwood, Jr.)  The station is one of many on the old B&O designed by Francis Baldwin. Today it is a MARC stop and sees trains on the Brunswick Line and diverting up to Frederick, MD. Amtrak's Capitol Limited passes daily.

1) An excursion made the stop in 1961.

2) Seen from a PV on the Capitol Limited.

3) From the windpw of the Capitol Limited.

B&OBill

---

---

---

Thanks Bill, lots of people love this station as it has been photographed thousands of times through the years.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Looks a little different lately...

---

---

---

Thanks, bigsavage, for adding those great photos. They show the "Baldwin side" much better than mine. This side reportedly dates to 1875. The rear portion that my photos show was probably built in 1870, according to Harwood.

B&OBill



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/22 08:34 by bandob.

My point was to show the first-floor window covers that became necessary for security.
Neither MARC or CSX need this building...

The station has been on the National Register of Historic Places since the early 1970's. I guess we as a society have to decide: do we keep something that is historic and attractive or just tear it down when it is no longer needed? Certainly the latter was done with Pennsylvania Station in New York.

B&OBill

Until July 2022 CSXT MoW had their local MoW office in the station.  They moved to a newly renovated portion of the yard office building in Brunswick.  The windows were covered to prevent unauthorized entry and vandalism.

I was told about 20 years ago that CSXT was about to sell the building to the Maryland Historical Trust for $1.00.  Appartently that didn't happen.  I suspect that the deal fell through because CSXT required the purchaser to move the building off their property.  I believe the legal term for this situation is that it presents an "attractive nuisance."  Many people besides railfans stop here to take or paint pictures or just walk around the building.  I've seen wedding parties and bands posing here for professional photographers, and a group having a prayer meeting.  It's between two two-main-tracks lines.  If someone gets injured, there will be law suits.  Neither MARC nor CSXT want to pay for the liability insurance.  The problem is not just the cost of moving the building but also finding a place to move it to.  Frederick County built a park a few years ago about 0.25 miles west of the station that occupies the only space I know about that's close and suitable, but that park would require complete rebuilding to accomodate the station.

Gerry