Capital Crescent Trail, after the snow

 

I took a walk on the Capital Crescent Trail between River Road and Downtown Bethesda today.  The trail is clear to bare pavement the whole way there.  There were a lot of people out walking and a few people running or biking on the trail.  The county has done a very good job clearing it this storm. 

Capital Crescent Trail at Little Falls Parkway

 

 

Bikeshare Bike

This bikeshare station along River Road at the Capital Crescent trail has been visited by the bike angels post-snow storm.  There were two red bikesare bikes and one electric bike at the station and the wheels were on top of the snow (and you could see tire tracks on top of the snow) so they were clearly added post-storm.

River Road in the snow

The road itself is clear, but the bike lanes and sidewalks are not.  People have to walk along the partially cleared lane, or, like the guy at the top, run down the suicide lane in the middle.

Breakdown

Two people were putting gas in this bobcat in the suicide lane on River Road.  Not sure if that was the only problem or if other issues were also there.  Notice that the right lane in both directions is full of snow and not passable.

 

I saw someone on a side trail skiing.

 

 

 

 

Little Falls Trail almost back to normal

 

They have been working on replacing the bridges on Little Falls Trail in Bethesda, MD since last fall, but the end is in sight now.  The bridges themselves have been open for a while, although one of them still doesn't have a ramp up to it.  They are in the process (and have been for a couple of weeks) of removing the thick layer of mulch they put down over the trail to protect it.  The very end of the trail, near Albermarle Street still has a big pile of mulch and some heavy duty wood planks but the rest has been cleared.

The trail here used to have about a foot of wood mulch over it, all has been removed and the trail swept clean. There is still some construction equipment parked along the trail.

After the clean up, they relandscape the area. Relandscaping might be a strong word for what they are doing, but after carefully cleaning up all the mulch and clearing a couple of feet on each side of the trail, they are putting straw down over the bare dirt.  I suspect they put grass seed under the straw.

Not everything is complete, there are a couple of places where the trail has been torn up and needs to be replaced, primarily at Albermarle St, the ramp leading to one of the bridges, and the area where the rebuilt a drainage creek that goes under the trail.  After that, everything will be back to normal, but as of now, as long as you don't require handicap accessibility it is fully usable.

Little Falls Trail construction (update number 2)

 

Work continues on the bridges over Little Falls branch.  As you recall from last update the bridge closest to the Dalecarlia tunnel has been replaced and is open.

The bridge closer to Massachusetts Avenue  has been replaced, but there is still work to do before it can be opened.

The approach to the bridge on the opposite side of the creek from the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) still needs to have the path created up to the bridge so there isn't a step.

The side closest to the Capital Crescent Trail has been graded so it smoothly transitions to the bridge.  However, there is still a bright orange fence blocking the trail so you can't access it from the CCT yet.

The Little Falls Trail still is being worked on.  Between the two bridges the trail is somewhat blocked (with a marked detour around it) and covered with a thick layer of mulch to protect the ground when heavy equipment is being used.

Near the bridge is a small drainage creek that is being widened and rebuilt.

Little Falls Trail construction update

 

 

 The construction on Little Falls trail that started in September continues and significant progress has been made. One of the bridges has been fully replaced and re-opened for people to cross. This is bridge P17-01 near the Dalecarlia tunnel that connects a neighborhood to the Capital Crescent Trail.

The trail between the two bridges is closed, however there is a marked detour so you can still traverse the area, just not on a paved trail.

The other bridge has been fully removed and has not yet been replaced. You can not cross the stream here.

Construction closes a portion of the Little Falls trail

 

The Little Falls Trail bridge closest to the Dalecarlia tunnel has been closed for some planned improvements.  I posted about this construction back in September, and it has now started.  This bridge (P17-01) is being replaced, the trail in the area will be repaved, and there will be drainage improvements and stream channel stabilization.  More information is available on the county website.  

Construction on the Little Falls Trail

 Construction is starting on improvements to the Little Falls Stream Valley Park and the Little Falls hiker-biker paved trail.  The work is scheduled for late summer 2020 (ie, now) through Spring of 2021 and will close portions of the trail.

Two pedestrian bridges that connect the trail to the Capital Crescent Trail near Westmoreland hills and near the Dalecarlia tunnel will be replaced. (For those of you who have memorized every bridge in the area and the designations the Montgomery County Department of Parks has given them, they are bridges P17-01 and P17-02, there will be a quiz later.)  In addition to replacing the bridges, the trail in the area will be repaved, there will be drainage improvements and stream channel stabilization.

Footbridge P17-01 on the left.

Markers along the trail in preparation for the construction

P17-02 and Little Falls stream

More information is available on the county website.

And now for the promised quiz, there is just one question:

Who gives bridges names like P17-01 and P17-02?

More rail road remanants

 A couple of years ago I posted about some interesting un-identified track equipment along the Capital Cresent Trail that seems to have been part of a rail road car.  I was walking through the same area the other day and noticed that just on the other side of the trail down the embankment is what appears to be the rest of the railroad car.

  Here is one side of it, you can see the coupling where it would connect to the next car.  There are plants growing in the bed of the car and the whole area is completely overgrown, which is why I haven't noticed it before.  In another month or two this probably won't be visible from the trail (until next winter anyway).

 This is the back half of the above car.  Since there is no coupling and now sidewall, I surmise that there is only one railroad car that was intentionally cut in half and left behind.

this is the other part of the car, again you can see the coupling for connecting it to the rest of the train. The Capital Crescent Trail is at the top of the hill to the right.

The bed of the car was made of wood planks.  many of them have rotted away, especially in this area.

The Capital Crescent Trail runs along what was the Georgetown Branch rail road line, there are many small reminders of this that you can find if you look hard enough.  I have written about many of them.

Aggressive Owl in Bethesda

I didn't see the owl, but apparently there is an aggressive owl living near the Capital Crescent Trail between River Road and Dorset Avenue that comes out in the mornings and evenings and it doesn't like people.

Railroad siding near River Road

I have walked along the Capital Crescent Trail near River Road many times but I have never noticed the bit of railroad siding that remains in one spot.

See it? It is easy to miss, on the left about 5 feet above the trail and overgrown with vines.

Here's another closer look. This is the end of the siding, I believe this particular bit is to keep railroad cars from rolling off the end. Given how overgrown the rest is I wonder if someone pulled some vines away to make it more visible.

 I walked up the embankment to get a closer look and the rails are still there, going off to the right through the trees.  I removed some vines from a bit of the rail so I could get a better picture.  The cross ties are rotted and spongy, I thought the were going to break when I stepped on them.

The siding connected to the main line right around where the bridge that goes over River Road is.  There is a gravel road next to the trail and you can see a single rail embedded in the road.  Behind that is an open area that slopes up.  This was recently re-graded, the siding is a bit to the left and several feet lower than the current grade.

I walked back among the trees looking for more signs of the siding.  It is all still there, just overgrown with ivy and very hard to see.

Tree trimming on the Capital Crescent Trail

I took a walk along the Capital Crescent Trail yesterday and saw a crew out trimming trees that were overhanging the trail.  They were between River Road and downtown Bethesda, MD, near the Washington Episcopal School.

Yesterday was a bit cooler than earlier in the week but still nice weather to be out walking.  This weekend will be in the upper 70's, perfect for being outside.

Unidentified railroad track equipment

I was walking along the Capital Crescent Trail, which runs along what was once the Georgetown Branch of the B & O railroad.  There are very few remaining relics of the railroad, mostly just a partially visible rail here and there.  However, I did run across this very large, and very puzzling metal thing.

I can't really find the words to adequately describe it, so I can't really search the web to find out what it is. It is about as wide as the rails of the railroad track, has what looks like a pressurized vessel with various pipes going here and there.

If you want to see it for yourself, it is just a bit north of the Dalecarlia tunnel.  I'd like to know what it is, so if you have ideas, leave a comment.



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UPDATE 5/2: I heard from Ben Sullivan who runs a website about the Georgtown Branch railroad line. He said in part "It is indeed the frame of a railroad car and the piping and tanks you described on your blog are components of the brake rigging on the car." And gave a bit about a possible reason: "My best bet so far is that it's part of a derailment wreck and the useful parts of the cars (ie. the wheels, trucks, coupler boxes and bolsters where the trucks were mounted) were all cut off with a torch and taken back to the shop. The rest of the scrap was left to rot. As far as a time/date/reason as to why they were there will be much more difficult. I'm still working on this problem but I doubt I will find specifics."