Fort Meade, MD

Following the end of the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad in 1935, the portion of the line between Annapolis Junction (on the B&O between DC and Baltimore on the west side of Fort Meade) and Odenton (on Penny's parallel route on the east side of the post) was operated by the B&O. Page 248 of Herb Harwood's Impossible Challenge II shows a B&O GP30 pulling a boxcar and a caboose over the track in 1972. Between 1978 and 1980 I photographed a US Army GE 80-ton centercab numbered USA 1684 just inside the base near the Odenton interchange, along with an Army boxcar and flat car. The track itself was in terrible shape. The presence of an Army locomotive on the line makes one think the B&O turned the line over to the Army in a case of "if you still want rail service, you need to take over this line." Does anyone have any information to indicate this was the case?