In General
Getting Here
Map
Sights
Signals

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In General


Location / Name:
College Park MD, Prince Georges County

What's Here:
MARC College Park Commuter Rail Station - Camden Line
DC Metro College Park Station / Green & Yellow lines

Data:
GPS Coordinates: 38.977993, -76.928670
Phone A/C: 301
ZIP: 20740

Access by train/transit:
MARC Commuter Trains
DC Metro

The Scoop:

College Park, for those of you who are not from Maryland, is home to the University of Maryland. 

College Park is served by both a MARC and DC Metro station, and are the closest the two lines get anywhere on the Camden Line, altho the MARC station is nothing more than a couple of wooden platforms spread over the tracks.

Since the station is on CSX's Capitol sub-division, you might see a couple of freights if you are waiting for a commuter train, or just hanging around to take pictures.

Trains coming through here SB (towards DC) are heading west or south.  They would be heading west via the Metropolitan sub, going thru Point-of-Rocks MD, Brunswick MD, and Harpers Ferry WV among others.

Just south of Riverdale (less than a mile) is Hyattsville.  Hyattsville has always been an important point for B&O/CSX trains, because it is where the trains heading into Northern Virginia (NOVA) take off from the Capitol Subdivision at "JD" Tower.  If trains are heading south into Virginia, they would take one of the legs of the wye to get on the Alexandria Extension, and then take the Long Bridge over the Potomac River into NOVA and continue on down to Richmond VA.  From there they would continue south on former Seaboard trackage into NC and further, or east into Newport News VA to service the docks on the former C&O.

Going EB (or NB) thru here, they would be headed to Baltimore MD, Wilmington DE, or Philadelphia PA, or points further north in NJ, NY, and MA.

There are about 20 freight trains a day going thru here.

Acknowledgements:
Denver Todd

Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_Line
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MARC_Train_stations


Getting Here

If you are coming down I-95 from (say) Baltimore, take the I-95 exit onto the DC Beltway going east.  It's a little confusing, because I-95 does not "go thru" DC, instead, they re-branded the east side of the DC Beltway as I-95, in addition to kinda sometimes still calling I-495.  Anyways, go just one exit to the US Route 1 (Baltimore Ave) exit, exit 25B, and head south into DC.  Go about 3 miles, and take a left onto Calvert Road.  In a half a mile, the road will deadend at the CSX tracks, with a post office on your right where you can park for a while.

If you are coming down from up north, it is easier on you to take I-95 than the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

If you want to get to the other side of the tracks where there is a parking garage, go south on Route 1 two miles to Campus Drive, and take a left.  It will bend around a little bit, and then go under the tracks.  Take an immediate right into the parking garage.

From either side, you can gain access to both the MARC station and the DC Metro.



If you're coming out from downtown DC, the choices are many according to where you are, GPS would be your best friend.

If you're coming up from Virginia, I would go around the Beltway using I-95/I-495, and get off at Baltimore Ave.

If you're coming in from the west, ie, I-66, I would take the Beltway north at exit 64B, and go around the Beltway to Baltimore Ave.





Map




Schedule








 


Sights


  The College Park MARC Station


The above picture is annotated for the "coming" Purple line light rail system, even in Feb 2020.





  The College Park DC METRO Station





Signals


  EB & WB Colorlight Signals




 
Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page.  This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.

Please Note:  Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.  For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.

If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct.  Once in a while, an error may creep in :-)

My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning.  Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented.  Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost!  I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches.  ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them.  If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads.  Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.

Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted.  Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it! 

By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.

Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given!  Please be NICE!!!  Contact info is here

Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly being inaccurate, wrong, or not true.

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NEW FEB10/2020
Last Modified 17-Feb-2020