Mike's Pennsylvania RR stuff

Where giants once roamed...

PRR keystone Orangeville Yard

Where giants once roamed...
color photo courtesy of George Pitz (Thanks, George!!)

These photos of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Orangeville Yard facilities in east Baltimore, Maryland were taken during the spring of 1983 when I was in school in Baltimore. I had no idea that I was documenting something that would disappear - frankly, I figured that if it had been left standing that long it would most likely be around for years to come. Obviously I was mistaken, as there is now no trace of the yard to be found.

The pictures on this page are thumbnails - the real pictures are huge to show detail. The larger pictures can be accessed by clicking on the thumbnail and will be displayed in a new browser window.

Location

Orangeville is still on the maps today as a geographical location, though the rail yard is long gone. The yard was along North Kresson Street between East Fayette and Philadelphia Road (Pulaski Highway). We parked behind a warehouse at the corner of Kresson and Fayette and accessed the yard through the back lot of that building.

In the map above, the orange shaded area is the approximate location of the yard. The black shaded line where the tracks cross is the B&O (CSX) bridge that crossed the yard throat; the bridge is visible in the photo (next page) taken from the coaling tower.

Sand

The sandhouse was on the south side of the yard looking toward the coaling tower. The second view is of the piping leading out to the sanding rack. As may be seen in the third and fourth pictures, some sand was left in the sandhouse. The sand was dry and was very fine - almost powdery; my friend, Gil, got a bucketful and took it home to use on his layout. As to what the thing in the ground is - you tell me; if you know, please email me and let me know so I can properly identify it here.

?
Sanding rack
Sand tower
in the yard

Coal and water

The coaling tower was an impressive sight - it loomed over the skyline and was visible for blocks as we approached the yard. If you've never seen one of these in person, you are truly missing one of a railfan's most awe-inspiring moments: It looked small from a distance, but the structure was huge. The "legs" were about four feet square and the clearance between the tracks and the bottom of the coal bunker was at least 20 feet. I got a bit reckless and climbed the rusty, rickety stairway to get an aerial view of the yard, but I only went as far as the bottom of the bunker. (And NO, I'm not afraid of heights...I'm afrid of falling from them!)

There is only one picture of the water tower; it's from the back of the yard and shows the ladder. Except for the ladder the tower looked the same from every angle.

Coaling tower
from center of yard

View from
sandhouse

View from
roundhouse

View of right side
Close-up
of right side
The water
tower

Here's a little bonus...a color slide I took of the coaling tower. As you can see from the picture, it was a beautiful spring day, perfect for railfanning....

stop look LIVE! Don't race trains...
even if you tie, you lose

Counter

more Orangeville pics

Orangeville maps, plus construction history

Photos of Orangeville when it was active

Camden Yards page

Mike's Railroad Page

All photos this page © 1983, 2002 by Michael Calo except the color picture of the shop, which is © George Pitz .
Commercial use of any of the pics prohibited without writtem permission; PERSONAL use of my pics is ok, but please tell folks where you found them. Thanks!

Updated Friday, March 1, 2002

Last updated Wednesday, February 8, 2012

	more Orangeville pics
	Orangeville maps, plus construction history
	Photos of Orangeville when it was active
	Camden Yards page
	Mike's Railroad Page