These are segments #16 and #17 in the Maryland section of Nielsen's book: "Right-of-Way: A Guide To Abandoned Railroads". (See Links page for more information on this resource.)
The following info is from a brochure from the Walkersville Southern RR, which operates a tourist train http://www.wsrr.org on this line May-October each year:
This branch of the Pennsylvania RR was initially built from York and Hanover, PA through Taneytown and Walkersville to Frederick, MD in 1869. The line served local farming communities and remained in business after the Penn Central merger in 1968.
In 1972, Hurricane Agnes hit the northeast and damaged much property , including the bridge over the Monocacy River 2 miles south of Walkersville (4 miles north of Frederick). The entire line from Pennsylvania through Maryland was put up for sale by PC at this time, and the state of Maryland bought the segment within its borders. North of Walkersville, the line continued to operate (to this day) as the Maryland Midland.
South of Walkersville the line remained dormant for 20 years, until the Walkersville Southern was formed and started running excursions on the short segment of line. The bridge over the Monocacy River was rebuilt in 1995-1996, and excursions now extend south from "downtown" Walkersville to just north of MD route 26, near a place called 'Harmony Grove' in the SPV atlas. (See Links page for information on this resource).
The southern abandoned section of line is about 2 miles long in and around Frederick. The tracks are removed from the MD route 26 crossing (the entire road has been re-graded), but south of there they are still place. All grade crossing signals are gone and the flangeways are filled in but the tracks are there, parallel to East St for some distance, with a portion of street running in the city of Frederick. There are some old freight spurs along there too.
The tracks end at the corner of East St. and East Patrick St. (MD route 144) at the southeast corner of downtown. About 1/4 mile south of that point is a "new" Frederick passenger station, as MARC (Maryland Rail Commuter) service was re-established to Frederick in 2001. This track to the station is an old B&O spur.
Topo maps show there used to be a bunch of interchange freight tracks near the corners of East St. and South St., but these were all removed before 2001 though some of the old industries still have warehouses there.
The northern section of the abandonment runs from Taneytown to Kingsdale, then into Pennsylvania and Littlestown, Sell and into Hanover. The section of this former PRR line from Hanover to York was later operated by the Maryland & Pennsylvania (aka the "Ma & Pa"). In Hanover, a short segment of track remains to serve some warehouses. Between Hanover and Littlestown some track segments remain, but none remain in Littlestown.
Winter photos were taken 2/23/03; the snow is the remnant of the President's Day Storm.
These pictures, both in Maryland, were taken in June 2003.
The left view shows the north end of the "active" section of the Maryland Midland at Angell Road north of Taneytown. There is a chemical business that receives occasional tankcar loads just behind the camera.
The right view shows the site of the grade crossing at Kump Station Road, a few miles northeast of the Angell Road view. The tracks are still in place here, completely buried in the tall grass, heading off in the distance under the tree branches.
This view faces north from the MARC Frederick, MD station. The station is new (late 1990s); the track is a rebuilt B&O spur.
Barely visible, over the last fence post, is the green highway sign also seen in the picture above.
