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.
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.
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.