Metropolitan Subdivision

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Westbound CSX autorack train on the Metropolitan Subdivision in Point of Rocks
Metropolitan Subdivision
Legend
MP
Cumberland Subdivision
78.8
 Brunswick
Brunswick Yard
70.6
Catoctin Tunnel
69.2
Point of Rocks Tunnel
Old Main Line Subdivision
42.8
Point of Rocks (Washington Jct.)
Monocacy River
35.5
Dickerson
33.3
Barnesville
28.9
Boyds
26.4
Germantown
23.6
Metropolitan Grove
I-270.svg I-270
21.6
Gaithersburg
20.8
Washington Grove
Shady Grove Yard
Shady Grove
16.7
Rockville
Capitol Limited
Twinbrook
12.4
Garrett Park
11.0
Kensington
I-495.svg
I-495
Capital Beltway
to Glenmont
7.5
Silver Spring
Takoma
MD
DC
Fort Totten
Brookland–CUA
Rhode Island Avenue
Capital Subdivision
Northeast Corridor
Brentwood Yard | Ivy City Yard
US 50.svg
US 50
New York Avenue
1.0
NoMa–Gallaudet U (K Tower)
0.0
Union Station
Virginia Railway Express Amtrak
RF&P Subdivision via First Street Tunnel
The stone arch railroad bridge built over the newly-diverted Rock Creek in 1893 now passes over Beach Drive and the bike path.
Rockville station
in 1978, before it was moved away from the tracks

The Metropolitan Subdivision is a

District of Columbia and the U.S. state of Maryland. The 53-mile line runs from Washington, D.C., northwest to Weverton, Maryland, along the former Metropolitan Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.[1][2]

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. At its northwest end in Weverton, the line joins the Cumberland Subdivision
.

Shady Grove
.

History

Interest in building a rail line from Washington to points west was initially spurred by businessmen in Washington and Montgomery County, Maryland.[3] In 1853, they obtained a corporate charter from the Maryland General Assembly to form the Metropolitan Railroad.[4] The proposed line would run from Washington to the vicinity of Frederick, Maryland, where it would connect with the B&O main line, and continue to Hagerstown, Maryland. The company conducted some initial land surveys, but had difficulty raising funds and went bankrupt in 1863.[citation needed]

Two years later, the expired charter was taken over by the B&O, which had not previously been interested in building a new route out of Washington. Construction began in 1866 along a slightly different route, connecting with the main line at Point of Rocks, Maryland.[5]: 164 

The line opened on April 30, 1873, as the B&O's Metropolitan Branch.[6]: 7 [7] The new line became the B&O's main passenger route to Washington, with the Old Main Line, from Point of Rocks to Relay, reduced to secondary status. Some through freight trains were also rerouted to the new line.[8]

Increasing congestion led the B&O to start adding

double track portions to the line in 1886. The Washington-to-Gaithersburg section was double-tracked by 1893.[5]: 166  During the peak years of passenger operation—1893 to the 1920s—the line saw 18 trains per day, with as many as 28 stops along the Met Branch.[6]
: 7 

Double-tracking was completed on the remainder of the branch in 1928. Several distinctive

Point of Rocks.[6]
: 6–10 

In 1906, a

rear collision at Terra Cotta station
killed 53 people.

On February 16, 1996, the collision of two trains in Silver Spring killed three crew members and eight passengers and injured a total of 26 people.

Georgetown Branch

Georgetown Branch in Bethesda, Maryland, near where it crossed Bethesda Avenue

The Met Branch's Georgetown Branch ran from a junction north of the

Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. The branch was built in two phases. The first, completed in 1892, ran from the junction along the northern bank of Coquelin Run to a new extension of Connecticut Avenue in the nascent development of Chevy Chase. The second, completed in 1910, completed the crescent to Georgetown.[9]

The line was originally intended to be a B&O extension that would cross the

through-truss bridge over the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. CSX ran its last train on the Georgetown Branch in 1985 after a bridge in Montgomery County was found to have structural problems, and launched the abandonment process the year after 75 feet of track was damaged in the 1985 Election Day floods.[citation needed
]

The

right-of-way from Bethesda to Georgetown was turned into a hike-and-bike trail that opened in late 1996 as the Capital Crescent Trail
. The Bethesda-to-Silver Spring portion of the spur was opened in 1997 as an interim rail-trail called the Georgetown Branch Trail, and the two trails were connected in 1998. The railyard in Georgetown was developed into the Washington Harbour buildings and the Georgetown Waterfront Park.

In 2017, construction began on the Purple Line, which will use the Bethesda-to-Silver Spring portion of the spur as part of a route that continues on to New Carrollton, Maryland. The Georgetown Branch Trail is to be rebuilt alongside the new tracks, which is projected for completion sometime in 2027.[10]

Besides the right-of-way and bridges, remnants include the Dalecarlia Tunnel, the Air Rights Tunnel, rail sidings along the right-of-way near River Road and the enlarged arch of the Aqueduct Bridge abutment.

Current operation

Freight train at Derwood interlocking heading east towards Washington, D.C.

Through mergers, the line became part of the CSX system in 1987. CSX organized its Metropolitan Subdivision as a combination of the original B&O Met Branch plus a section of the B&O original main line northwest of Point of Rocks, which had opened in 1834. The entire subdivision is

better source needed][needs update
]

Engineering features

The Dickerson spur splits off to the left, while the Monocacy River is just beyond the curve.

The line's bridges cross:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b CSX Transportation. "Northern Region, Baltimore Division, Timetable No. 4." Archived 2011-03-22 at the Wayback Machine Effective 2005-01-01.
  2. ^ "ME-Metropolitan Sub - the RadioReference Wiki".
  3. ^ "The Metropolitan Line of the B&O Railroad". Rockville, MD: Montgomery County Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2022-01-19. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  4. ^ U.S. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on the District of Columbia (1860). Report on the Memorial of the Directors of the Metropolitan Railroad Company made by the Hon. G.W. Hughes, of Maryland (Report).
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-934118-22-1
    .
  6. ^ a b c d Soderberg, Susan C. (1998). "The Met: A History of the Metropolitan Branch of the B&O Railroad, Its Stations and Towns" (Document). Germantown, MD: Germantown Historical Society.
  7. ^ "The Metropolitan Railroad" (PDF). The Evening Star. Washington, D.C. April 30, 1873. p. 4.
  8. KiB
    )    , February 2004 Edition
  9. ^ "The Georgetown Branch Railroad Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  10. ^ Shaver, Katherine (2020-05-01). "Firms building Maryland Purple Line say they plan to quit the job over disputes with the state". The Washington Post.

External links

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