Metropolitan Subdivision

Rockville station in 1978, before relocation away from tracks

v • d • e Metropolitan Branch in 1893

Legend To Brunswick and Weverton 42.2 Old Main Line 42.1 Point of Rocks 41.9 Washington Junction (East Rocks) - To Old Main Line EB 39.2 Tuscarora 39.0 Tuscarora Creek Bridge 37.4 Monocacy Viaduct 35.5 Dickerson 34.9 Little Monocacy Viaduct 33.4 Barnesville 30.3 Buck Lodge 28.9 Boyds 27.7 Little Seneca Creek Bridge 26.4 Germantown 24.9 Waring Viaduct (Great Seneca Creek) 24.2 Clopper’s 23.0 Brown’s 21.6 Gaithersburg 21.0 Feed & grain mills 20.6 Washington Grove 19.2 Derwood 17.9 Westmore 16.7 Rockville (current sta) Rockville (1873 sta) 14.4 Halpine 13.7 Randolph 13.2 Windham 12.4 Garrett Park 11.5 Rock Creek Bridge 11.0 Kensington 10.5 Capitol View 9.8 Forest Glen 9.0 Linden 8.3 Georgetown Jct (Georgetown Branch) 7.9 Woodside 7.5 Silver Spring 6.3 Takoma Park 5.8 Lamond 4.4 Terra Cotta 3.2 University 2.1 QN Tower (from Washington Branch) 0.9 Eckington 0.0 Washington D.C. (New Jersey Ave. station)

The Metropolitan Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the District of Columbia and the U.S. state of Maryland. The line runs from Washington, D.C. northwest to Weverton, Maryland^[1] along a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) line.

At its southeast end, north of Union Station, the Metropolitan Subdivision meets the Capital Subdivision (formerly called the B&O Washington Branch) and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. It meets the Old Main Line Subdivision at Point of Rocks, Maryland, and at its northwest end in Weverton, the line joins the Cumberland Subdivision.

MARC Train's Brunswick Line uses the entire subdivision, as does Amtrak's Capitol Limited.

History

The section northwest of Point of Rocks opened in 1834 as part of the B&O's main line.^[2] The rest of the line, from Point of Rocks southeast to Washington, opened in 1873 as the B&O's Metropolitan Branch.^[3]:7 Upon the opening of this line, the B&O rerouted its through passenger traffic through Washington, and the Old Main Line, from Point of Rocks to Relay, was reduced to secondary status as far as passenger service was concerned. Some through freight trains were also rerouted to use the new line.^[4] During the peak years of passenger operation, 1893 to the 1920s, there were eighteen trains per day, with as many as 28 stops along the Met Branch.

Significant engineering features include bridges across:

• Tuscarora Creek. Originally a Bollman truss iron bridge, replaced with a girder bridge in 1904.
• Monocacy River. Originally a 700-foot long Bollman truss, replaced with a seven-span girder bridge in 1904.
• Little Monocacy River. Originally a 500-foot wood trestle, replaced by a 331-foot stone arch viaduct in 1906.
• Great Seneca Creek (Waring Viaduct). Originally a 400-foot long wood and iron trestle, replaced with an arch stone viaduct in 1906.
• Little Seneca Creek. Originally a timber bridge, replaced with a steel trestle in 1896, and then a concrete arch in 1928.
• Rock Creek. Originally 4 100-ft Bollman trusses, replaced by a stone arch bridge in 1896.

The Washington-to-Gaithersburg section was double-tracked by 1893, and the double-tracking was completed on the remainder of the branch in 1928. Several distinctive passenger stations, designed by architect Ephraim Francis Baldwin, were constructed along the line. Original stations still stand at Rockville (moved away from the tracks in 1981), Kensington, Gaithersburg, Dickerson, and Point of Rocks.^[3]:6-10

Georgetown Branch

The Georgetown Branch ran from a junction north of the Silver Spring station station to the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. The branch was built between 1892 and 1910. It was originally intended to be a B&O extension that would cross the Potomac River near the Chain Bridge. In 1904 the B&O reached agreement with the Pennsylvania Railroad to access the nearby Long Bridge over the Potomac, and then proceded to use the Georgetown Branch as a spur servicing local industries in Silver Spring, Chevy Chase, Bethesda and Georgetown. Significant engineering features on the branch include the Rock Creek Trestle in Chevy Chase, the Dalecarlia Tunnel and a through-truss bridge over the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

Current operation

Through mergers, the line became part of the CSX system in the 1980s. The entire subdivision is signaled for bi-directional running. There is a spur that services Mirant's Dickerson Generating Station (formerly owned by the Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO)) at Dickerson, and a trash-transfer facility spur at Derwood. The interlockings on the line are (east to west) QN Tower, Georgetown Jct, Derwood, Buck Lodge, PEPCO, East Rocks, Point of Rocks, and Brunswick.

CSX abandoned the Georgetown Branch in 1986, and the spur is now accessible to the public as the Capital Crescent Trail.

References

External links

• The Georgetown Branch - History and photos