Railfanning Tradepoint Rail in 2024

Tradepoint Atlantic has revitalized Sparrows Point. An area of Baltimore County that was once the world’s largest steel mill has now become a center for international trade and distribution. While the nature of rail service to the area has significantly changed since the demise of the mill, it’s still a fun place to railfan (and quite a bit easier).

Railfanning the TPR from public property is quite easy, since much of the operation is in full view of public roads.

I first started checking it out a little after we started taking our newest dog, Sadie, for training at K9 Koncepts, around the corner from the Tradepoint Atlantic. I cannot recommend them enough, not only for their location, but also because they have been a huge part of making Sadie the great railfanning companion she is today.

I don’t set out to spend all day over there and usually just spend an hour or so chasing them as the crews wrap up their days around lunchtime. At this time of day I usually head to the area around Gray’s Yard, where the crew is working the shared NS and CSX interchange. There are two locations where public viewing can be found. The first is along Grays Rd near the Sparrows Point country club. While an interesting spot, hanging out here can make chasing the train difficult when they are done because you have to go around the very long way to get to photo locations. The second is along Reservoir Road. This is a better spot to wait for them because you can easily get to places where you can get photos. Be warned though, this area is busy during business hours, so don’t make yourself a nuisance (or get run over by a truck).

Once the crew is done at Grays Yard they’ll usually head back for home base. There are a couple of good viewing locations to catch them from while they make this journey. The first is from the shoulder of Wharf Road where it goes over the tracks. There is room to pull over here and wait. It’s where I got this photo that made it onto RailPictures.Net.

From here they proceed along Finishing Mill Road where you can easily watch them. Interestingly enough, you can also get a photo with all of the new commercial development in the background, including a Starbucks which seems incredibly strange to find where there was once a rolling mill. There’s also a Popeyes, a Denny’s and a Rofo for any of your “life support” needs.

Here’s some video.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ705BHyz-o[/embedyt]

From there they continue on around a curve and back towards their shops. This is a very versatile spot for getting lighting good enough to sneak one past the RailPictures goalie, like this.

The tracks continue to parallel the road all the way back to the shop complex.

After they round the curve in front of the shop building they’ll usually head into South Yard where they’ll yard the train.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dnS5jx22qE[/embedyt]

I’ve sometimes caught a second job coming out of South Yard and heading for Grays, which can nicely extend my trip, or another job also finishing up for the day. This isn’t consistent, however, so I often hang around a bit just to see what’s going on and be ready so you don’t get caught unaware like I did when I took this “one timer” shot.

In fact, all of the photos of TPR 116 in this article were taken after catching a “second wind” job like this. It was a chase that began with me asking Sadie “ready to head home?” at this corner, and then seeing this.

I absolutely love spending an hour or two over here. The TPR folks seem chill, it’s a very accessible interesting railroad, and when I’m done, I’m only 5 minutes away from the reincarnated Polock Johnny’s, or a Starbucks (with a view of the tracks in case they run another transfer) if you need to do some work. I’ve put together a Google Map with the locations mentioned above if you’d like to check them out.

I really enjoy poking around the area, and I’m looking forward to discovering more, including what sights there are to be found if I actually get my rear into gear and head over before 11am.