Mount Royal Station

Mount Royal Station

Many a thrilling childhood train adventure began under this stately clock tower belonging to
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Frederick Baldwin designed Mount Royal Station...

Whether seeing my Dad off on his twice-yearly trips to Chicago on the B&O's deluxe Capitol Limited...
or embarking on short excursions with my Mom to Washington...or - most exciting - many a trip to NYC
with Mom and Dad on the B&O's premiere Washington to New York train The Royal Blue, this distinctive tower
and the classy waiting room and cavernous train shed below was the nexus where it all came together.

Passenger train service ended here in 1961, but the station now serves as classrooms and studio space
for art students, as the nearby Maryland Institute College of Art expanded into this Baltimore landmark.

Incidentally, the railfan-stimulating rumble-grumble of large diesel locomotives and the intoxicating fragrance
of diesel exhaust do still waft from below. The CSX now owns the tracks that pass through here, and several of
the railroad's freight trains rumble out of the Howard Street tunnel into the station's train shed in their subterranean
transit of a large swath of downtown Baltimore.

©2018 Steve Ember
Another view...