Keymar, MD 12/27/2011 -- Travelling at 15 m.p.h. (digital numbers), the engineer has applied a seventeen pound reduction to his air brakes (gauges) to slow his train for the siding ahead, beckoned by a clear signal that is highlighting drops of cold rain on this chilly December night. The train is the Maryland Midland's daily stone train that shuttles cars between quarry and distributor along former Pennsylvania Railroad and Western Maryland Railway trackage. The WM was at one time controlled by automatic block signals, which have been out of service for over 30 years. But at Keymar, the need for switch position indicators at the interchange between the former WM and PRR lines led MMID crews to restore two classic WM signals, which now simply indicate how the switches are lined--clear for "normal position" and yellow for "reverse position." Several other modern signals have also been placed at this interchange. Train crews throw the switches by radio well in advance of their arrival.
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
