There, that should get some attention..... <:-)

Cited verbatim from an e-mail from an associate of mine in Baltimore County, Md.:

"Sometime last week, Baltimore County has paved over the former Northern Central tracks across Cockeysville Road in Cockeysville. I guess that's their answer to the guy who wanted to rebuild the Northern Central towards York.

Also, in related news borough workers paved over the Stewartstown Railroad tracks where Windy Hill Road crosses Deer Creek Road and further south on Deer Creek Road in Tolna, PA. The cross bucks had "Exempt" on them for a while now."

For reference, the latter spot is where the Stewartstown RR could be photographed crossing the road twice in a couple hundred feet, or three times in about a thousand feet.......... and Cockeysville Road is just next to the still-standing PRR wooden Cockeysville depot...........

It’s bad news for somebody. In Nevada no one can pave over a railroad crossing unless there is PUC authority. I'm guessing, but if the owner wants to make a stink about it, the paving will be removed pronto. And I would encourage them to do so. This may set a very bad precedent.

Actually, the old NC rails crossing Cockeysville Road have not been paved over, but actually REMOVED. (The little station building mentioned is the former freight depot; the passenger station, located about two blocks north of the freight station, was demolished in the 1960s.)

Regarding the Stewartstown crossings, the place where the railroad crosses the same road three times is Waltemeyer School House Road. I'll have to make some phone calls on this one. -- Ray

This afternoon I visited the Stewartstown Railroad to check-out the crossings discussed earlier. The crossings have not been paved-over. Rather, Deer Creek Road has had a fresh "tar & chip" coating applied to it and the resulting spreading of the "chips" by vehicular traffic has lightly covered the crossings. Already, those loose chips are being scattered and the railheads are visible.

[Tar-and-chip paving is frequently used on lightly-traveled roadways as an economical alternative to asphalt. A development where I once owned property used this method for many years. In this process, stripes of tar are spread on the roadway then covered with small stones (the "chips"). After an initial pressing by a roller, the roadway is opened to traffic and it is the vehicular traffic that does the final "firming-up" of the roadway.]

Also, I've been informed that in Pennsylvania the "exempt" signs on the crossbucks are only a message to schoolbus drivers alerting them that a stop is not required at that particular railroad crossing. -- Ray

I understand weed spraying of the Stewartstown ROW is scheduled to take place during the next week or so, weather permitting. At that time the flangeways at the crossings in question also will be cleaned. -- Ray