Annapolis at one time hosted three railroad lines. A branch of the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis (WB&A), formerly the Annapolis and Elkridge Railroad (A&ER), ran northwest to Annapolis Junction. The Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad (B&A), formerly the Annapolis and Baltimore (A&B) Short Line, ran north, roughly parallel to MD 648, and connected to a branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), just south of Baltimore, so that trains could travel to Baltimore. The Bay Ridge and Annapolis Railroad (BR&A) ran southeast from Annapolis to the Bay Ridge Resort, at the mouth of the Severn River.
Today, decades after their demise, fragments of these railroads can still be spotted if you know where to look. The construction of these railroads reshaped topography, established the alignments of future roadways and utilities, sliced through land parcels and even established towns and places such as Annapolis Junction and Ft. Meade. Most of the tracks have since been removed and many sections of the railroad Right-of-Ways (ROW) have been repurposed for a variety of uses, but their one-time dominance still has an influence on the logistics of our daily lives.
The WB&A Railroad
The A&ER provided a spur off the main Pennsylvania Railroad from Odenton to Annapolis. Completed in 1840, it ran along the present General's Highway on the South shore of the Severn. It never reached Elkridge nor was it extended to the waterfront in Annapolis until the Civil War.
“Soon after the B&O Railroad completed its branch from Baltimore to Washington in 1835, the A&ER came into being to link this line with Annapolis. Incorporated in 1837, the A&ER first planned to start at Elk Ridge Landing, where it could connect not only with the B&O but with ships on the Patapsco River... ...instead the route was projected to run west from Annapolis to meet the B&O at a point roughly midway between Baltimore and Washington, to be called Annapolis Junction...
...Formidable competition arrived in 1887 in the form of the A&B Short Line, an almost straight line southeast from Baltimore, which snatched much of the Baltimore-Annapolis trade away from the roundabout A&ER route and its train changes at Annapolis Junction. Reorganization followed, and, in 1886, the A&ER emerged as the Annapolis, Washington & Baltimore Railroad (AW&B)... …in 1903 a new high-speed electric interurban line between Baltimore and Washington, (originally incorporated in 1899 as The Potomac and Severn Electric Railway) later named the WB&A bought the AW&B to serve as their Annapolis branch. The new owners strung electric wires over the old AW&B, and, in 1908, opened their new system.
...when World War I started, its resourceful owners landed themselves a temporary bonanza. Gathering up property along the onetime A&ER midway between Odenton and Annapolis Junction, they provided the site for a large Army cantonment called Camp Meade and obtained a monopoly for its passenger business. Afterward, though, the WB&A continued to struggle. Paved roads and the Depression sealed its doom, and the entire system was abandoned in 1935.”
- Herbert H. Harwood Jr., CSX Transportation (Retired)
Sources:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070926225007/www.mdoe.org/annap_elk_rr.html
Best Gate Station
From this vantage point you can see the old ROW continuing north towards Annapolis Junction via Gambrills, Odenton and Ft. Meade, running parallel to General's Highway.
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