Car floats across Chesapeake Bay?

As far as I know, the only car float across the bay after World War I was the "Baltimore & Eastern" operation from the Light St Terminal in Baltimore to Love Point.

I read somewhere that there was another operation in the 1890's by the outfit that built the line from Claiborne to Ocean City, the "Baltimore & Eastern Shore", and that this was from a pier at Bay Ridge south of Annapolis to Claiborne.

Also, when this went bust in 1894 the operation was transferred to the Claiborne ferry at Annapolis (not owned by a railroad), where the "Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis" interurban company switched freight cars to the ferry berth along city streets until before 1914.

The Claiborne to Ocean City line became the "Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic", which ran steamer services from Baltimore.

Can anybody say if this is correct?

Weren't there PRR car floats across the bay at Hampton Roads(Cape Charles -Norfolk) up until well after WWII? and still operating Eastern Shore RR?

http://www.nrhs.com/spot/eastern_shore_rr/

there is a bit of info the the former ESHR now Bay Coast RR car float operation.

Started out as the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad in the 1880's that was leased to PRR in the early 1900's. once PRR went bankrupted the Virginia and Maryland got the line and continued operations. The Eastern Shore RR was charted in 1981, and has recently been renamed the Bay Coast Railroad in late 2005.

Hope this helps!

http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12784 pics and more info can be found there!

salminkarkku wrote: I read somewhere that there was another operation in the 1890's by the outfit that built the line from Claiborne to Ocean City, the "Baltimore & Eastern Shore", and that this was from a pier at Bay Ridge south of Annapolis to Claiborne.

The Bay Ridge-Claiborne operation lasted 13 months in 1890-91 as both a carferry and steamer service. It finally ended in October 1891 and was replaced by a steamer-only operation out of Baltimore. Originally, two carferries were to be operated, the "Thames River" and "Groton," both from the New Haven's Thames River operation at New London, CT. But the "Groton" burned en route and was replaced by the package steamer "Tockwogh."

The rail connection at Bay Ridge was via the 4.5-mile-long Bay Ridge & Annapolis R. R., a B&O subsidiary that connected outside Annapolis with the Annapolis Short Line and the Annapolis, Washington & Baltimore -- both later to become parts of the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis interurban line. (After the WB&A's demise in 1935, the Short Line became the Baltimore & Annapolis R. R.) The B&O built the Annapolis & Bay Ridge in 1886 to serve a beach resort that it had developed at Bay Ridge, and ran through passenger trains to the spot over the two Annapolis railroads.

When the Bay Ridge car ferry stopped, what ferry/ies operated from Annapolis to Claiborn until WWI? Where was the car transfer slip in Annapolis? and what street/s did the WB&A run on to get there from the circle? BTW other than some ROW visible at Bay Ridge Jct. is there any visible remains of the Annapolis and Bay Ridge?

CarterB wrote:When the Bay Ridge car ferry stopped, what ferry/ies operated from Annapolis to Claiborn until WWI? Where was the car transfer slip in Annapolis? and what street/s did the WB&A run on to get there from the circle? BTW other than some ROW visible at Bay Ridge Jct. is there any visible remains of the Annapolis and Bay Ridge?

You need a Chesapeake Bay historian for that one. But I'm quite sure that there was never a rail carferry operation out of Annapolis to anywhere. The WB&A had a spur to the ferry slip at the foot of King George St. where passengers transferred to the Claiborne ferry, and John Merriken's book on the WB&A has a nice photo (on p. 103) of the scene at the ferry. He gives no date for the photo, but it appears to be some time in the late 1920s.

I've never tried to trace the Bay Ridge line, but doubt that there's much beyond Bay Ridge Jct. The line beyond there was dismanted in 1918 after over a decade of inactivity.

The reason I suspected a long-ago freight service on the Annapolis to Claiborne ferry is that I've seen a WBA track map of Annapolis with a siding shown parallel to the passenger spur to the ferry slip and also ending at the slip. Or was this for stabling cars?

salminkarkku wrote:The reason I suspected a long-ago freight service on the Annapolis to Claiborne ferry is that I've seen a WBA track map of Annapolis with a siding shown parallel to the passenger spur to the ferry slip and also ending at the slip. Or was this for stabling cars?

Again, I can't pose as an expert, but can only regurgitate the bits that I've read on the subject. Merriken's WB&A book has a chapter on the line's facilities in Annapolis but makes no mention of a rail carferry at any period, and, in fact, I'd guess that it would have been awkward, if not impossible, to jockey steam railroad freight cars over the street trackage that reached the ferry pier. I have to assume that the extra WB&A trackat the ferry slip was simply a layover track -- probably needed for special movements and heavy traffic periods. Another possibility is that the WB&A operated extensive "package freight" (LCL) services, and could have delivered such traffic to the ferry.

John Hayman's book on the Eastern Shore railroads ("Rails Along the Chesapeake") covers the subject quite well, and describes the rail ferry operations that existed over the years. He covers the Claiborne operation and the subsequent fortunes of the railroad line to Ocean City, which were mostly misfortunes. At some point in the early 20th century, the PRR took over the line, but I'd have to dig out the book to get the exact date.

On the subject of Chesapeake Bay car floats, there was the abortive attempt to establish one from Baltimore to Tolchester Beach by Jay Gould's "Kent County RR" in the 1870's. The railroad got to Nicholson from Smyrna DE, but I read it did some dredging at least at TB. It originally wanted to go to Rock Hall, but I don't think it did any work there.