(rshsdepot) Relay, MD

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Baltimore Sun.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
    A tiny station with historical ties  to railroading might be closed by 
the MTA for a lack of riders; 
Last  stop for St. Denis?     
BYLINE: MICHAEL DRESSER, SUN  REPORTER
Passenger trains have been stopping at Relay and St.  Denis since well before 
the Civil War. The twin southern Baltimore County  hamlets were the site of 
one of the nation's earliest train stations, and  their history has been 
entwined with railroads since Abraham Lincoln was a  country lawyer.  
But Relay - along with three other Maryland communities - could  lose its 
identity as a place to catch a train if the Maryland Transit  Administration 
carries through with its plan to close the station there  sometime this year.  
The MTA says the four stations - including one in Jessup and two in  
Montgomery County - together serve fewer than three dozen riders. The  agency says 
some of them, including Relay's, would require expensive  capital improvements to 
remain open, while busier stops are available a  short distance away.  
A recent morning visit to Relay confirmed that the St. Denis  station, named 
for the small village across the tracks, is hardly a  bustling transportation 
hub.  
Its two small parking lots were mostly empty, and only two  passengers met 
one of the three Washington-bound trains that stop there  each weekday morning. 
According to MARC, its conductor counts show that an  average of 10 people use 
the St. Denis stop in each direction each day.  
But commuters who do use St. Denis are fighting the plan. They  contend the 
MTA has underestimated the number of riders at the station,  adding that at 
least 20 MARC commuters showed up at a public hearing last  month to oppose the 
closing. Where the MTA sees a historical artifact,  they see a hidden gem.  
Brenda Klaunberg of Arbutus, one of the two riders catching the  8:26 a.m. 
train to Washington, likes to bypass the congested Halethorpe  station in favor 
of easy trackside parking in Relay. She opposes the MTA  proposal.  
"I think it stinks. I use this stop every day," she said.  
The 44-year-old veterinarian, who commutes via MARC's Camden Line  and the 
Washington Metro to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda,  said more 
people would use the St. Denis stop if more trains stopped  there. Three 
Washington-bound MARC trains stop each morning, and three  Baltimore-bound trains 
arrive each evening. For each one that stops,  another MARC train cruises by 
without a pause. "If every train stopped  there, more people would use it," 
Klaunberg said.  
Barbara Lawson, who walks to the St. Denis station from her home in  Arbutus, 
was one of two passengers to get off the 5:30 p.m. Camden Line  train 
recently. She and John Sinclair, 34, said the number of riders was  down because of 
the holidays.  
Lawson, 55, said she has been using St. Denis to commute to her job  as a 
legal secretary for about 10 years. "That's the main reason I moved  here - to 
have a train within walking distance," she said. The nearest  alternate station, 
Halethorpe on the Penn Line, is "a terrible stop," she  said.  
Sinclair, of Catonsville, said the Halethorpe stop isn't an option  for him 
because he gets off at College Park on the Camden Line to work at  the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture.  
Advocates for the station say there are also persuasive historical  arguments 
for retaining service to Relay and St. Denis, which at times  were separate 
stations despite being about one-tenth of a mile apart.  
Gina Hrybyk, president of the Relay Improvement Association, said  train 
service is "integral" to the identity of the town - named for its  role as a 
switching place for the horses that dragged rail cars between  Baltimore and 
Ellicott City. "We should be able to use it, and it should  be there so our kids can 
use it," she said. "Having an active train stop  adds to the value of our 
homes."  
Courtney B. Wilson, executive director of the Baltimore & Ohio  Railroad 
Museum, said the Relay area has an "incredible history" as a rail  center dating 
back as far as the 1830s. He noted that it is the site of  the Thomas Viaduct, 
a national landmark and the world's oldest stone arch  railroad bridge still 
in use.  
When Union troops took control of the viaduct shortly after the  outbreak of 
the Civil War in 1861, they effectively secured the rail line  between 
Baltimore and Washington, Wilson said. He said the area known as  St. Denis was a 
parade ground for the soldiers.  
During the 19th century, Relay became the site of two elegant  railroad 
hotels: the Relay House, now privately owned, and the Viaduct  Hotel, a combination 
inn and station that was torn down in 1950.  
St. Denis was the site of a small wooden rail station, which fell  into ruins 
by the 1970s. Today, the only facilities are a pay phone and  two small 
shelters.  
The Jessup stop, by contrast, has little to offer in history or  small-town 
charm. Wilson said the station there dates to the 1960s when  there was a 
now-defunct auto distribution site nearby.  
The case for closing that stop, served by one train in the morning  and 
another in the evening, was bolstered during a recent visit to meet  the 5:59 p.m. 
train.  
The open-air station in a bleak industrial zone - just minutes from  a 
modern, enclosed stop at Dorsey - was nearly pitch-dark. Not a single  passenger got 
on or off the Baltimore-bound train.  
"This is normal, sir," a conductor said. According to the MTA, the  Jessup 
station averages one passenger a day.  
Officials in Montgomery are fighting the closing of the Boyds and  Dickerson 
stations on the Brunswick line. The two stations, both dating to  the 19th 
century and with rider counts about equal to St. Denis, will be  the subject of a 
hearing tomorrow in Barnesville. The MTA is accepting  written comments on 
its plans for Jessup and St. Denis through Monday.  
MTA spokeswoman Cheron Wicker said the MTA could save $1.4 million  annually 
by cutting out four stops that together serve an average of 31  people.  
In addition, she said, MARC faces the prospect of making expensive  
investments to keep the stations open. She said St. Denis would be the  most expensive 
because it would require a passenger warning system costing  at least $300,000 
and a ticketing machine costing more than $100,000.  
Users of the St. Denis station scoff at the spending projections.  They say 
there have been no safety-related incidents and note that tickets  haven't been 
sold there for many years. "We don't need fancy things. We  just want to get 
on and off," Klaunberg said.  
Opponents of the closing have received support from local  legislators, 
including Del. James E. Malone Jr., a Baltimore County  Democrat. "We should be 
sitting down and saying, `What can we do to make  more people ride the trains?' " 
Malone said. "If they close it, there's  more people driving."  
Wilson, of the railroad museum. said that while the end of  passenger service 
in Relay/St. Denis would be a historical loss, he can  understand the 
economic forces behind the proposal.  
"From a business standpoint, consolidating stops actually increases  the 
speed of travel," he said.  
_michael.dresser_@_baltsun.com_ (mailto:michael.dresser@baltsun.com)   


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1280
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org