Kensington | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MARC commuter rail station | ||||||||||||||
General information | ||||||||||||||
Location | 3701 Howard Avenue, Kensington, Maryland [1] | |||||||||||||
Owned by | MARC | |||||||||||||
Line(s) | Metropolitan Subdivision | |||||||||||||
Platforms | 2 side platforms | |||||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||
Connections | Ride On | |||||||||||||
Construction | ||||||||||||||
Parking | Yes, 48 free spaces | |||||||||||||
Bicycle facilities | No | |||||||||||||
Accessible | No | |||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||
Opened | 1891 (B&O) | |||||||||||||
Passengers | ||||||||||||||
November 2022 | 60 (daily) [2] (MARC) | |||||||||||||
Services | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Kensington Railroad Station | ||||||||||||||
Location | Kensington, Maryland, USA | |||||||||||||
Coordinates | 39°1′36.4″N77°4′18.5″W / 39.026778°N 77.071806°W | |||||||||||||
Architect | Ephraim Francis Baldwin | |||||||||||||
Architectural style | Late Victorian | |||||||||||||
Part of | Kensington Historic District (ID80001827) | |||||||||||||
Added to NRHP | September 14, 1980 [3] |
Kensington is a passenger railroad station at 10417 Howard Avenue in Kensington, Maryland, United States. Opened by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1891, the Kensington station is today served by MARC Train's Brunswick Line, which makes 15 weekday scheduled stops at Kensington, plus one flag stop on Fridays.
Kensington station has a former B&O station master's house. The building is open during the Kensington Farmers Market, which is held in the station parking lot. Inside there is an old stove, waiting area, and restrooms. Tickets can be purchased from a self-service machine. During the Kensington Labor Day Parade, CSX Transportation, which currently owns the railroad line, offers free souvenirs. There is also a small model train layout. The platform is a low-level concrete platform. On the other side, there is a covered waiting area and some benches. Elaborate safety measures can be found on the crosswalk between the platforms leading to the station entrance that include crossbuck signs with warning bells, highway signs, and pedestrian signals. [4] The station is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, lacking raised platforms for level boarding.
The B&O completed construction of the Metropolitan Branch through Montgomery County in 1873. [5] : 7 The line connected Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland and points west.
Initially, the settlement around the railroad line was known as Knowles Station. The town was incorporated in 1894 and was named Kensington at that time. The B&O station was designed by architect Ephraim Francis Baldwin and opened in 1891. [5] : 32–33 [6] From 1893 to 1935, the station was used as a terminal for the Kensington Electric Railway, which offered streetcar service to Chevy Chase, Maryland. The station is a contributing property to the Kensington Historic District.
Garrett Park is a town in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It was named after a former president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Robert W. Garrett. The population was 996 at the 2020 census. Garrett Park is home to Garrett Park Elementary School, located just outside the town proper.
Kensington is a U.S. town in Montgomery County, Maryland. The population was 2,122 at the 2020 census. Greater Kensington encompasses the entire 20895 ZIP code, with a population of 19,753 in 2020.
Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland. With a population of 91,249 as of the 2020 census, it is the third most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore and Columbia. Germantown is located approximately 28 miles (45 km) outside the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C., and is an important part of the Washington metropolitan area.
MARC is a commuter rail system in the Washington–Baltimore area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and operated under contract by Alstom and Amtrak on track owned by CSX Transportation (CSXT) and Amtrak. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 3,860,600, or about 12,400 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023, less than pre-COVID-19 pandemic weekday ridership of 40,000.
The Red Line is a rapid transit line of the Washington Metro system, consisting of 27 stations in Montgomery County, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., in the United States. It is a primary line through downtown Washington and the oldest and busiest line in the system. It forms a long, narrow "U," capped by its terminal stations at Shady Grove and Glenmont.
Rockville station is an intermodal train station located in downtown Rockville, Maryland, United States. It is served by the Washington Metro Red Line, MARC Brunswick Line commuter trains, and Amtrak Capitol Limited intercity trains.
Boyds is an unincorporated community in rural Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, located approximately 27 miles (43 km) north of Washington, D.C. Its ZIP Code is 20841.
Maryland Route 185 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Connecticut Avenue, the state highway runs 8.30 mi (13.36 km) from Chevy Chase Circle at the Washington, D.C., border north to MD 97 in Aspen Hill. MD 185 serves as a major north-south commuter route in southern Montgomery County, connecting the District of Columbia with the residential suburbs of Chevy Chase, Kensington, and Wheaton.
The Metropolitan Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the District of Columbia and the U.S. state of Maryland. The 53-mile line runs from Washington, D.C., northwest to Weverton, Maryland, along the former Metropolitan Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
The Brunswick Line is a MARC commuter rail line between Washington, D.C., and Martinsburg, West Virginia, with a branch to Frederick, Maryland. It primarily serves the northern and western suburbs of Washington. The line, MARC's second longest at 74 miles, is operated under contract to MARC by Alstom and runs on CSX-owned track, including the Metropolitan, Old Main Line, and Cumberland subdivisions. It is the successor to commuter services provided by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), which date to the mid-19th century.
Streetcars and interurbans operated in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., between 1890 and 1962.
Camden Station, now also referred to as Camden Street Station, Camden Yards, and formally as the Transportation Center at Camden Yards, is a train station at the intersection of South Howard and West Camden Streets in Baltimore, Maryland, adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, behind the B&O Warehouse. It is served by MARC commuter rail service and local Light Rail trains.
Maryland Route 117 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs 12.40 miles (19.96 km) from MD 28 near Dawsonville east to West Diamond Avenue next to MD 355 in Gaithersburg. MD 117 is an L-shaped highway that connects the rural western Montgomery County communities of Dawsonville and Boyds with Germantown, Gaithersburg, and Interstate 270 (I-270) in the suburban central part of the county. The highway also provides access to Seneca Creek State Park, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and several commuter rail stations along MARC's Brunswick Line, which the highway parallels. MD 117 was the inspiration for the 1971 hit song "Take Me Home, Country Roads".
Gaithersburg station is a commuter rail station located on the Metropolitan Subdivision in downtown Gaithersburg, Maryland. It is served by the MARC Brunswick Line service; it was also served by Amtrak from 1971 to 1986. The former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station building and freight shed, designed by Ephraim Francis Baldwin and built in 1884, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Gaithersburg B & O Railroad Station and Freight Shed. They are used as the Gaithersburg Community Museum.
Boyds is an active commuter railroad train station in Boyds, Montgomery County, Maryland. Located on Clopper Road west of the junction with Maryland Routes 117 and 121, the station services trains of MARC's Brunswick Line between Union Station in Washington, D.C. and Martinsburg, West Virginia, along with some trains to Frederick, Maryland. Trains for Amtrak's Capitol Limited bypass the station. The next station west is Barnesville and the next one east is Germantown. Boyds station consists of two low-level side platforms and a single three-sided glass shelter, along with a small parking lot. Boyds station includes a 1931-built pedestrian tunnel originally built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Barnesville is an active commuter railroad train station in Barnesville, Montgomery County, Maryland. Located on Beallsville Road, Barnesville station services trains of MARC Train's Brunswick Line between Union Station in Washington D.C. and Martinsburg, West Virginia. Additional trains operate to Frederick, Maryland. Amtrak's Capitol Limited operates through the station, but does not make any stops. The next station west is Dickerson while the next station east is Boyds. Barnesville station contains two low-level side platforms, connected by a pathway across the tracks.
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. 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 and the Metropolitan Branch. The Met Branch also opened in 1873 and became the principal route for passenger trains between Baltimore, Washington and points west.
Silver Spring station is a former train station on the Metropolitan Subdivision in Silver Spring in Montgomery County, Maryland. It was built in 1945 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on the foundation of a previous station, a Victorian-style brick structure built in 1878. It served intercity trains until 1986 and commuter rail until 2000. Today, it is owned and operated as a museum by Montgomery Preservation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Maryland Route 192 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs 2.53 miles (4.07 km) from Summit Avenue in Kensington east to MD 97 in Forest Glen. MD 192 connects MD 185 with the Kensington station on MARC's Brunswick Line and MD 97 and Interstate 495 (I-495) with the Forest Glen station on the Washington Metro's Red Line. The highway was constructed from Forest Glen to Kensington in the mid-1920s. MD 192 also included three sections between MD 97 and U.S. Route 29 in Four Corners built in the mid-1930s. The final segment east of MD 97 was removed from the state highway system in the late 1980s.
The Chevy Chase Lake & Kensington Railway was a streetcar company that operated in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, from 1895 to 1935. It connected the town of Kensington to the northern terminus of the Rock Creek Railway at Chevy Chase Lake. At its peak, it operated on about 3.75 miles of track, including the associated Sandy Spring Railway.