Point of Rocks station

Not to be confused with Point of Rocks Stage Station State Historic Site.

Point of Rocks is a historic passenger rail station on the MARC Brunswick Line between Washington, D.C., and Martinsburg, WV, located at Point of Rocks, Frederick County, Maryland, United States.^[7] The station was built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1873, and designed by E. Francis Baldwin. It is situated at the junction of the B&O Old Main Line (running to Baltimore) and the Metropolitan Branch (running to Washington, D.C.). The Met Branch also opened in 1873 and became the principal route for passenger trains between Baltimore, Washington and points west.

Point of Rocks
MARC Commuter rail station
Amtrak's Capitol Limited passing through the Point of Rocks station.
General information
Location	4000 Clay Street, Point of Rocks, Maryland^[1]
Coordinates	39°16′24.7″N 77°32′00″W / 39.273528°N 77.53333°W / 39.273528; -77.53333
Line(s)	Metropolitan Subdivision
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Construction
Parking	Yes
Accessible	No^[2]
History
Opened	May 1, 1873 (ceremonial opening)^[3] May 25, 1873 (regular passenger service)^[3]^[4]
Passengers
November 2022	146 (daily)^[5] (MARC)
Services
Preceding station MARC Following station Brunswick towards Martinsburg Brunswick Line Dickerson towards Union Station
Former services Preceding station Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Following station Brunswick toward Chicago Main Line Dickerson toward Jersey City Catoctin toward Chicago Tuscarora toward Jersey City Terminus Old Main Line Adamstown toward Baltimore Camden
Point of Rocks Railroad Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Show map of Maryland Show map of the United States
Location	Off of U.S. 15 Point of Rocks, Maryland
Coordinates	39°16′24.7″N 77°32′00″W / 39.273528°N 77.53333°W / 39.273528; -77.53333
Area	4 acres (1.6 ha)
Built	1875 (1875)
Architect	E. Francis Baldwin
Architectural style	Gothic
NRHP reference No.	73000918^[6]
Added to NRHP	April 11, 1973

The main station building is a 2+1⁄2-story, triangular Gothic Revival with a four-story tower and a 1+1⁄2-story wing at the base. The tower has a pyramidal roof containing a dormer on each side. On top is a square cupola supporting a pyramidal peaked roof.^[8]

The station building itself is not open to the public and is used by CSX as storage and offices for maintenance of way (MOW) crews until 2022 when it's windows were boarded and the MOW facilities relocated to Brunswick to the west. In 2008, new platforms and platform shelters were built for MARC commuters traveling east towards Washington DC, replacing older bus shelter–style structures which were erected in the mid-1990s.

During the blizzard of 2010, the south side awning on the main building collapsed under the weight of record snow fall, and was later removed, leaving half the building missing cover. In January 2011, work to rebuild the destroyed part of the structure began.

The Point of Rocks Railroad Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973,^[6] and reopened for the Maryland Rail Commuter Service, now called MARC, which established the Brunswick Line.

The Duke Energy Holiday Trains display at the Cincinnati Museum Center features a station modeled on Point of Rocks As does the Frederick County Society of Model Railroaders exhibit at the Walkersville Southern Railroad.

In 2023, the station will be featured on a USPS Forever stamp in a 5-stamp "Railroad Stations" series. The stamp illustrations were made by Down the Street Designs, and Derry Noyes served as the art director.^[9]

Plans are currently underway for the Maryland Department of Transportation to renovate and open the interior of the station for passenger use once negotiations with CSX conclude over site clean up. Future plans include adding a new platform on the wye to serve trains to and from Frederick to increase capacity for the current service as well as additional facilities including an increase in available parking and access for busses serving the station.

Station layout

The station is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, lacking raised platforms for level boarding.

References

1. "MARC Station Information". MTA Maryland. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
2. "MARC Station Information". Maryland Transit Administration. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
3. "Metropolitan Branch Railroad". The Baltimore Sun. May 1, 1873. p. 1. Retrieved July 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.  
4. "Metropolitan Branch Railroad". The Baltimore Sun. November 18, 1873. p. 1. Retrieved July 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.  
5. "MARC Brunswick Line Technical Report" (PDF). Maryland Transit Administration. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
6. "National Register Information System – (#73000918)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
7. MARC station list (includes Point of Rocks) 2010-01-31 at the Wayback Machine MARC official website
8. Arthur Townsend (June 1972). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Point of Rocks Railroad Station" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
9. "U.S. Postal Service Reveals Stamps for 2023". United States Postal Service. October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 26, 2022.

External links

  Media related to Point of Rocks (MARC station) at Wikimedia Commons

• Point of Rocks station image (Dynamic Depot Maps)^{[permanent dead link]}
• Point of Rocks Railroad Station, Frederick County, including photo from 2006, at Maryland Historical Trust
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. MD-14, "Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Point of Rocks Station, Near State Route 28, Point of Rocks, Frederick County, MD", 14 photos, 8 measured drawings, 3 data pages, 1 photo caption page
• B & O Railroad Station at Point of Rocks - Ghosts of DC blog post on historic first train arrival