MA and Pa

Arden and a couple of others decided to investigate the old Ma and Pa railroad bed. We rode about 8  miles of this deserted rail bed from Towson to Notchcliff road.  

The old Ma and Pa railroad operated from down town Baltimore to York Pennsylvania when I was a young boy delivering goods and services and providing transport for people to their jobs as well. Map below

This was the time schedule below and one can see the stops along the way and time between stops 

 

 

From downtown Baltimore near the Street car museum photo below – this was the start of the MA and Pa 

It was near Steif Silver and Schenuit Tire 

From here it went through Wyman park – there are many bike and hike trails located here today

From Wyman Park above it has been converted into the Stoney Run Walking Path and goes close to the  Gilman School and Roland Park School. From there it crossed Lake Ave near Roland Avenue and went behind Elkridge Country Club and then over Charles Street by the Exxon near Eddies (below)

From Eddies crossing Charles Street near Eddies, it went behind Stanmore Road in Rodgers forge to Towson crossing over York road and I remember the train crossing over back then

 Back then Stebbins Anderson had a store at the York Road Crossing and the train would drop off lumber from the train 

My sisters store Wilson lighting, is across the street from the old rail line and one can still see the stone foundation bed of the overpass. Form here it traveled into East Towson and went behind the Black and Decker  corporation below 

From Black and Decker it crossed over Joppa Road at Goucher Blvd into Towson Estates and Towson Estates is an incredible neighborhood and this is where we started our bike ride 

A few shots of us riding the old line 

 

 

 

From here we briefly left the rail bed as we came to a quarry and rode into the old Luskins store area and then crossed the beltway exchange and got back on the railroad bed and biked to Cub hill and Glen Arm roads near McFauls which was an ice cream store that we would go to after church when I grew up and now it is a full restaurant and back then there was an old railroad stop which is near Loche Raven dam across from McFauls. 

 

From here the railroad crossed over Cub Hill and Glen Arm roads and so did we and we stared biking after crossing the stream and rode along the beautiful Gunpowder river

We also passed the ramparts of the old railway bridges 

 

and then we came to the Gunpowder River  which I cold not cross this day so I found some interesting things nearby adjoining which is the Maryland Training School for “BAD” boys. The Maryland Training School and Hickey School for Boys is looped around its property by the old MA and Pa railroad. So I climbed up the hill in secret ways to investigate and  found some scary things below 

Yea this is serious it looks like a concentration camp and I broke into some old abandoned buildings 

From here I got off the trail bed a little and ended up and this secret military reservation and I was inside and they had incredible shooting range both indoor undercover and open and how I got in was the same way, back door wow

 

I got back on the railroad bed and rode from the other side of the Gunpowder River to Notchcliff Road and it was well maintained because BG&E the utility maintains it below 

This is where I ended my ride at Notchcliffe Road but the original railroad bed went up Long Green pike and onward to Baldwin to Belair and up to Red Lion with stops along the ending at York Pennsylvania. Below this is the old train station at Glen Arm Maryland 

from there it went to Hydes Maryland below and that is the old rail station Glenn Arm above and Hydes below 

From Hydes it traveled to Baldwin and then to Belair. In Belair they have made about a 5 mile bike and hike trail. From Belair it went to Rocks to Pylesville, and Delta then Red lion and here are some photos