Mountain Lake Park, MD: B&O Depot and Interlocking Tower

Depot: (Satellite)

Tower: (Satellite)

Street View, May 2026

Street View, May 2026

Jim Kelling posted two photos with the comment: "Modified B&O station at Mountain Lake Park, Maryland."

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hmdb

Absolutely crucial to the success of the unique town of Mountain Lake Park was without question its B&O Railroad station, the point at which hundreds of summer residents and visitors, after departing the extreme heat and humidity of their farther-east home towns, would arrive by rail, probably around Memorial Day—many with their servants in tow. They would be picked up by livery service and taken to their summer "cottages," one of the town's many boarding houses, or possibly the Mountain Lake Park Hotel. Many would spend their entire summer in the Park—"in the most salubrious of climates"—and partake of the many and varied cultural/educational offerings of the Chautauqua programming for which the town became famous. As the summer season waned, this site would again bustle with folks returning to their fulltime residences off the Mountaintop, probably already looking forward to coming back the following spring.

The original station had a plan that was similar to that of the Oakland B&O station, a long, low building spread out alongside the tracks, primarily of one story except for the middle third, which featured two peaked gable roofs rising at right angles, with one almost twice as large as the other. On the tracks side, a tower-like spire rises from between the two gabled roofs, again similar to that of the Oakland station. Behind the tower there was a tall, tulip-shaped, brick chimney. The roof overhung from the main building, forming a shelter supported by simple wood trusses and serving as protection from weather for the arriving and departing passengers. The upper-level exterior walls were covered with fish-scale shingling, while the ground level featured horizontal clapboards. The gable ends of the smaller cross-axis roof had a "flowering tree" half-timber motif, similar to decorations on cottages at the Deer Park Hotel. The station also featured some stained-glass windows, again much like Oakland's station, and still in place today.

The design is likely that of the firm of Baldwin and Pennington, which was under contract by the B&O Railroad. Probably built at about the same time as the Oakland station (1884), the Mountain Lake/Loch Lynn station is a less elaborate version, but features the same Queen Anne detailing. It is possible, however, that the station is a couple years older than Oakland's, as it is known that the first ticket agent at the station was Abram R. Sperry, who entered the service of the B&O Railroad in May 1882 as agent at Mountain Lake Park. He held the position until March 1911 before being transferred to Harpers Ferry. Sperry, who died in 1924, was also the Mountain Lake Park postmaster and resided along north N Street.

Since its closure as a railroad station, the structure has been altered several times over the years and has served as a warehouse, as well as a location for several retail businesses.

Interlocking Tower

Street View, May 2026

Jim Kelling posted three photos with the comment: "Abandoned B&O tower in Mountain Lake Park, Maryland, just west of the station."

Tim Shanahan shared

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Kensington, MD: 1891 MARC/B&O Depot

(Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2022

Y A, Jun 2025

Lehigh Valley Railroad & Railroad Photography posted
Former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station in Kensington, MD

Thomas Dorman: Late Victorian style, designed for the B&O by Baltimore architect E. Francis Baldwin, built in 1891 on the B&O's Metropolitan Branch.

Sandusky, OH: B&O Roundhouse and Big Four/Indiana, Bloomington & Western Shops

B&O: (Satellite, the tracks came up along Warren St.)

Big Four: (Satellite, the land has been reused by the water reclamation plant.)

Tim Starr posted two images with the comment: "Sandusky, OH had two pretty unique repair shop setups in the 1880s. One was a B&O roundhouse that also served as a boiler shop, machine shop, and carpenter shop. The other was the Indiana, Bloomington and Western repair shops that had an unusual two-turntable arrangement. Both these maps are 1886."

Neo Haven: A transfer table was more common.

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The NYC tracks on the far left under the Nickle Plate tracks was the Big Four. B&O went North until it got to Warren Street, and then it followed Warren Street to the lakeshore.

    1959/60 Sandusky Quad @ 24,000

Indiana, Bloomington and Western became part of the Big Four.

WorldMapsOnline

Atwood, IL: B&O Depot, Grain Elevators and Repurposed Gas Station

(Satellite, the depot was in the northeast quadrant of Main St. and the tracks)

In addition to the grain elevator behind the depot, we can see a leg for another elevator in the background.

1 of 2 photos in SouthernIllinoisRailroads (source)

The depot would have been on the left side of this siding. It looks like an old gas station was repurposed as the police station. The concrete silos in the depot photo are still being used.

Street View, Jun 2012

The street view driver did not get off Main Street.

Street View

This is the B&O route that terminates in Decatur, IL. Every source I checked says CSX still owns it. A street view shows that the crossing is maintained and the rails are shiny. 

Street View

I find it hard to believe that CSX would bother with this route. Sure enough, it allowed a shortline, DREI (Decatur & Eastern Illinois), to have it.

IDOT

WATCO

Olney, IL: B&O and IC Depots

B&O: (Satellite)

IC: (Satellite)

Kerry Holtz posted two photos with the comment: "The B&O depot in Olney, Illinois."

Robert Karl Bullard: I question that the bottom photo is the B&O in Olney. Possibly the IC in Olney.

Marty White: Robert Karl Bullard you are correct

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Andy Zukowski posted
B. & O. S.W. Depot Railway Olney, Illinois.

Tim Cohorst: Side note of trivia: In early April, 1969, President Eisenhower’s funeral train went on these tracks on way to burial in Abilene Kansas from Washington DC.

Andy Zukowski posted
Illinois Central Railroad Depot in Olney, Illinois. 1966

George Shelby: North of Butler and Kitchel Avenues. Hurn’s Lumber parking lot now.

The IC did street running on Kitchell Street.

1949/49 Olney Quad @ 62,500

The B&O depot was probably the rectangle north of the tracks and west of Whittle Ave. In this excerpt, North Street is along the top and Fair Street is along the right side. I think the rectangle that was east of Whittle Ave. and west of Fair Street was the freight house.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I had to include more around the IC depot because the Hurn Lumber Company has changed that area a lot. The track in the city park is a good anchor between then and now. West Street is along the left and Chestnut Street is along the bottom. I think the rectangle in the northeast quadrant of Butler Street and Kitchell Ave. was the IC depot. The buildings that were on the land now occupied by the City Fire Department were probably the grain elevator in the IC depot photo.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Seymour, IN: Junction (JO) Tower: B&O vs. Pennsy and Chessie/C&O Caboose

Tower: (Satellite, based on Photos 3 and 4 below.)

Caboose: (Satellite)

Darren Reynolds posted four photos with the comment:

B&O/PRR "JO" tower (Seymour)

St Louis Division

Seymour,Indiana

This tower is no longer standing

Tim Shanahan shared

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[Note the Pennsy positional light signals in this and the following photo. Also because of the buildings in the background the Contrail train is heading geographically South. That put the tower in the southeast quadrant.]

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Street View, Jun 2023

1958 Seymour Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 via Dennis DeBruler

Point Pleasant, WV: B&O Depot

(Satellite)

I picked this older view because it had less vegetation in the way.

Street View, Sep 2013

This is the most recent view.

Street View, Aug 2025

I've come to think of "activist investor" as a euphemism for robber baron. And this depot is another demonstration that management doesn't like "wasting" money on maintenance. CSX has no pride.

Tucker McLaughlin, Aug 2025

Doug Bess posted three photos with the comment: "More photos of the B&O District Run 1 with B&O #9245. Comments on captions."

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9245 shoving cut of cars up to the NYC interchange.

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9245 running past the switch to the NYC interchange.
[The stairs and door in this photo is consistent with Tucker's photo above. So back in the B&O days, it had a nice paint job.]
Doug Bess posted
B&O District Run 1 with B&O caboose C1927 at Point Pleasant, WV. I took this photo in 1967.
Edward Kwiatkowski shared

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9245 behind Point Pleasant depot after finishing up a day's work.

Doug Bess commented on his post about the caboose
Here is a photo I took in 2015 at about the same location as the one I took in 1967.

Karl Scheich commented on Doug's post about the caboose
Here’s a recent photo from 2020, I worked out of Parkersburg WV as a CSX Carman, we would come here to repair freight cars with our line of road truck.

Doug's reference to NYC tracks made me wonder about what NYC was doing this far south. According to the 2005 SPV Map, it was two NYC subsidiaries. It was Toledo & Ohio Central (TOC) to the West, and the Kanawaha & Michigan (K&M) to the East. The bridge across the Ohio River was owned by both TOC and K&M. The C&O route that TOC joins was the Hocking Valley (HV). And according to the 2005 SPV Map, the NYC route is now owned by NS. (Of course, the C&O/HV and B&O routes are now owned by CSX.)

1958/60 Gallipolis Quad @ 24,000

I've noticed that this map doesn't do a good job of showing a route that is shared by NS and CSX. Today, it is NS that uses the HV route north of Point Pleasant.

National Rail Network Map

Rockwood, PA: B&O Depot and Lost Junction (RW) Tower

Depot: (Satellite)

Tower: (Satellite)

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
B & O (Baltimore & Ohio) Railroad Depot in the town of Rockwood, Somerset County in 1908.
David Demsey shared
Darren Reynolds shared with the comment: "B&Os "RW" tower in Rockwood, Pennsylvania."

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
B & O (Baltimore & Ohio) Railroad Depot, Roundhouse and Tower in Rockwood, Somerset County in 1908.
David Demsey shared

The depot was across the river from downtown.

1968/71 Rockwood Quad @ 24,000

The bridge across the wye and Casselman River was a connection between the B&O and Western Maryland.

Satellite

It must have been built after 1908 or I think it would show in the photo at the top. This is the oldest topo map I could find, it it already existed.

1921/21 Meyersdale Quad @ 62,500

The branch to the North goes to Johnstown.

1958