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
Relic Series: WB&A - Abe Wuz Here
President Abraham Lincoln traveled over this exact spot on his way to and from Annapolis.
On the morning of February 2nd, 1865, after receiving a telegram from General Grant, President Abraham Lincoln made last minute plans to travel to Ft. Monroe, Virginia. There he met informally with three members of the Confederate government on February 3rd to discuss a negotiated end to the Civil War. This conference is generally known as the Hampton Roads Conference. Lincoln took a train to Annapolis where he could catch a steamer, the Chesapeake Bay being navigable while the Potomac River was blocked by ice.
The peace conference was unsuccessful and Lincoln arrived back at Annapolis on February 4th. A private train from the Annapolis & Elkridge Railroad was waiting at the wharf. On the way back to Washington, the president and party stopped at the Macy's One Day Sale and then had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.
This cache is on the old ROW running between Rt. 50 to the south and Annapolis Mall to the north. You will notice that the utility lines which follow the ROW stop outside the mall. They reemerge on the other side of the mall at Best Gate Station and continue north along the ROW.
Sources:
http://lincolninannapolis.blogspot.com/
Congrats to sfcchaz and Fossil Fae on FTF