Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway

The Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway (WB&A) was an American

The WB&A was originally incorporated in 1899 as The Potomac and Severn Electric Railway. On April 10, 1900, it changed its name to the Washington and Annapolis Electric Railway[2] and finally, on April 8, 1902, to the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway.^[3]

In 1903, the WB&A purchased the Annapolis, Washington & Baltimore Railroad (AW&B) — formerly the Annapolis & Elkridge Railroad — which was closed, electrified and reopened.

The line built by the WB&A, later called the Main Line, ran from Baltimore to Washington through Bowie, Glenn Dale Hospital, and Glenarden to Fairmont Heights where it met with the Chesapeake Beach Railway just outside Washington at Chesapeake Junction. From there, it continued to Deanwood on the Washington Railway and Electric Company's Seat Pleasant Line, running parallel to the Chesapeake Beach Railroad tracks and across the Benning Road Bridge into downtown Washington.

Once onto their own right-of-way, the WB&A's expresses regularly hit 60 mph, but street running in the terminal cities slowed their overall time. A typical B&O express made the trip in 50 minutes, but the best the WB&A could do was an hour and 20 minutes. Offsetting these handicaps were its cleanliness, lower fares, half-hourly express service, and better-located downtown terminals.^[1]

Business along the route

Always looking for new sources of business, the railroad, in 1914, convinced the Southern Maryland Agricultural Fair Association to establish Bowie Race Track along the Main Line.^[1]

In September 1917, as the U.S. entered

With the business seemingly successful, the WB&A purchased the

Initial passenger equipment running from Baltimore-Washington to Annapolis was the "classic" 1900-1910 arch window all wood body truss rod frame interurban coach. In the 1920s when passenger business was good, the line purchased and operated steel two car articulated (attached body with a common center truck/boogie) coaches from Baltimore to Annapolis.^[8][9] This equipment later went to the Milwaukee Electric Line in Wisconsin.^[10]

Decline

Around the time of the purchase of the ASL, the

On June 5, 1908, two of WB&A's single-car trains collided at Camp Parole, Maryland. Nine people died as a result of the crash, including Railroad Policeman J.G. Schriner.[16] The trains were ferrying riders to and from the United States Naval Academy for graduation ceremonies at the time of the accident.

Stations on the Main Line

Stations on the South Shore Line (Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad)

Stations on the

Surviving landmarks

• The WB&A Terminal in Baltimore, now a former westside downtown Baltimore bank branch for the old Equitable Trust Company at North Liberty Street and Marion Street (alley)
• The Scott Street electric generating power substation on the NE corner of Scott and West Ostend Streets in southwest downtown
• The Westport tunnel's southern portal is visible just north of the
  Baltimore-Washington Parkway's MD-648/Annapolis Road southbound exit; the northern portal was demolished in 2021 as part of the Triple Bridges Project
  .
• The
  BWI Airport
  . The section of the Light Rail going to Glen Burnie (Cromwell Station) uses the Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad's parallel right-of-way.
• Linthicum railroad station [17]
• WB&A Boulevard in Severn was built on the right-of-way.
• A section of railroad track exists in the Academy Junction section of Odenton, Maryland. It branches off of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor just south of MD 175/Annapolis Road and travels east past the Odenton Library and across MD 170/Piney Orchard Parkway at grade before turning north to cross Annapolis Road, also at-grade. It then travels a short distance north to the site of the old Nevamar Company's manufacturing plant. That plant shut down in 2004 and trains haven't run on the spur since.
• At the northeast corner of the location where the track listed above crosses MD 170 (Telegraph Road) is a brick building that once housed the WB&A operations headquarters. The Baltimore-Washington main line and Fort Meade-Annapolis (South Shore) branch crossed at this location, known as "Naval Academy Junction." The interlocking tower that controlled this crossing comprised the second floor. Commercial office tenants occupy the building today.
• Parts of the Power line Path remains in use to this day. The single circuit 115KV path from WB&A Road (just south of BWI Airport) to Telegraph Road and Annapolis Road remains with some modifications. Another path was replaced by a double circuit 115KV monopole from Pumphrey to Linthicum. Both are now lines used by BGE.
• The "Naval Academy Junction" shops sat about one mile (1.6 km) north of "Naval Academy Junction," on the east side of MD 170. The brick shop buildings were subsumed into a larger building complex that housed a number of manufacturing companies, including Nevamar Plastics, but those shops were torn down in 2013. The Academy Yard housing area now encompasses the area. The electrical power plant for this section of the WB&A overhead still stands and is visible from MD 170. The water tower associated with the Nevamar plant still stands there also.
• Two portions of the
  right-of-way
  of the Main Line. These two portions of the trail are not connected due, in part, to a property dispute that diverted the trail west in Anne Arundel County where a bridge will be built later.
• The trestle over Horsepen Branch on the Bowie Race Track spur, and short sections of roadbed on either side of the trestle. (A nearby rail trail signed "WB&A Spur Trail" branches off of the WB&A Trail and was built on a route that once served the race track, but the route was actually constructed subsequent to the WB&A's demise, by the Pennsylvania Railroad.).
• MD 704 was built on the right-of-way.
• Prince George's County. Originally, they supplied power for the railway and when the railroad dissolved, they never gave it up. As a result, BGE still has a service area overlapping Pepco
  , the utility serving the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
• A freight motor, Washington Baltimore & Annapolis #1, is maintained at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, California.

Acquisition

Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail and the Northeast Maglev

In the 2010s, an effort to build a maglev railroad between Washington and Baltimore led the Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail company (BWRR) to acquire a passenger railroad franchise previously held by the WB&A. The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) approved BWRR's application in 2015. BWRR, with its sister company Northeast Maglev, proposes to use the Japan-developed SCMaglev system to transport passengers from city to city in 15 minutes.^[18]

As of 2020, Northeast Maglev was working with the Federal Railroad Administration and Maryland Department of Transportation, the project sponsor, to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed railroad.^[19]

In 2021, BWRR attempted to take control of a 43-acre parcel of land for its planned station in Baltimore's Westport neighborhood through eminent domain. It argued that its purchase of the WB&A franchise gave it authority to take the land.^[20]

References

• Merriken, John E. (1993). Every Hour On The Hour; A Chronicle of the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis Electric Railroad. Taylor Publishing Company.
  ISBN 0-9600938-3-4
  .
• Rowlands, D. W. "How long-abandoned railroads helped shape Maryland's suburbs: The Washington, Baltimore, & Annapolis Electric Railway". Greater Greater Washington.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway.

• Baltimore & Annapolis Trail Park
• Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum
• Anne Arundel County portion of the WB&A Trail
• Prince George's County portion of the WB&A Trail
• Modern-day photo tour of South Shore Line
• Photos of the rolling stock
• Photo of Car in Annapolis