The Gaithersburg Wye

The Gaithersburg Wye (HM2M0X)

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N 39° 8.454', W 77° 11.754'

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Inscription
You are standing on the historic site of The Gaithersburg Wye, situated on 2.25 acres adjacent to the Metropolitan Branch of the old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This railroad is currently known as the CSX.

The Gaithersburg Wye is historically significant as it served as the terminating point for trains from Washington traveling west. It was necessary to find a means to turn around steam locomotives (reversing the direction) once they arrived in Gaithersburg. Changing the direction of the train was accomplished most economically by the means of a "wye," an arrangement of trackage which, when viewed from above looks like a "Y" attached perpendicularly to the mainline track. The two legs of the "Y" are back to back concave arches. The degree of curvature of these arches is slight enough to accommodate the wheelbase of the largest locomotive to be turned on the wye.*

[Caption:]
Railroad Relics from The Gaithersburg Wye.

Wye [wahy]
noun. plural wyes.
Railroads. A track arrangements with three switches and three legs for reversing the direction of a train.

[Captions:]

The Gaithersburg Wye dates back to 1888 to a time when Gaithersburg was experiencing a period of growth and modernization inspired



by the opening of the Metropolitan Branch of the B&O Railroad.

The locomotive stopped at The Gaithersburg B & O Railroad Station and Freight Shed

*Historical information provided by Maryland Historical Trust
Details
HM NumberHM2M0X
Series This marker is part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) series
Tags
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Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Sunday, October 20th, 2019 at 2:02pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 310221 N 4334708
Decimal Degrees39.14090000, -77.19590000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 8.454', W 77° 11.754'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 8' 27.24" N, 77° 11' 45.24" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling West
Closest Postal AddressAt or near , ,
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