Pope's Creek Branch

When did the LAST freight train of any sort actually go to Pope's Creek around 1960? A Pennsy track map states the line was out of service as of August 21, 1962, so how long before that date was it unused?

Also when did the Morgantown line to the power plant first go into rail service?

Passenger service ended in 1949 and the Washington Chapter did an excursion there in the mid-1950s I think.

RailVet-sorry I've missed this post until now.

As far as the last revenue freight to/from Pope's Creek-I don't know. However, I do know that the last customer at the Pope's Creek end of the line was a company called the "Pope's Creek Salvage Company". They were in the business of scrapping ships anchored at Pope's Creek. The scrap steel was loaded into gondolas and shipped to the Bethlehem Steel plant at Sparrow's Point (Baltimore). A steam crane, which had been converted to diesel power was still at Pope's Creek in the early 1970's. Whether it was moved out by rail or scrapped on the spot I have no idea.

In March of this year a number of our informal "Pope's Creek Railfans" group hiked the old roadbed from Pope's Creek to Route 301. One of the big suprises was a trestle, approximately two miles in from Pope's Creek road, about 50 feet long and 40 feet above the water of Pope's Creek at its highest point. One of the group had actually ridden that fan trip from Alexandria, VA to Pope's Creek and return-the date was 1955, IIRC. He said the trip consisted of about 6 PRR coaches with two E units for power. The wye at Pope's Creek, where locomotives were turned, can still be made out.

According to the booklet Baltimore and Potomac, The Pope's Creek Branch written by Charles County historian John Wearmouth, printed in 1986, PEPCO built the Morgantown Generating Station in the late 1960's with the plant going on line in 1970. Originally built to primarily burn oil (brought in by barge at Morgantown), the oil crisis of 1973 triggered a conversion to coal in 1973. (80% oil/20% coal at the time of construction.)

The line from Faulkner to Pope's Creek was scrapped in the early 1970's by the Lagenfelder Construction Company, the same company that scrapped the Washington, Brandywine and Point Lookout Railroad that ran from Brandywine to the Patuxent River Naval Base.

The line was extended from Faulkner to Morgantown in the late 1960's to facilitate construction of the power plant. The point where the railroad owned track ends and the power plant trackage begins is in Faulkner, not too far south of the Red Top Liquor store at the Route 301/Pope's Creek Road intersection. There is a small sign lettered "Pope" at trackside. The last 7.5 miles of track, from Faulkner to the generating station, is owned and maintained by the power company. This is known as the "Morgantown Industrial Track".

Coal was originally trucked to the plant with the 1973 conversion to coal as the primary fuel used necessitating the shipment of coal by rail. (A former neighbor of mine, who lived in Newburg at the time of the extension of the Pope's Creek sub, told me that the deep cut in Newburg disrupted the flow of a number of shallow wells in the area, including that of his parents' home.)

For more information on the Pope's Creek sub, check out:

http://www.traingod.railfan.net

Check out the "Historic Photos".

Here's a photo from September 1968 of the power plant under construction:

http://www.traingod.railfan.net/CK/PC-Morgantown.jpg

The Pope's Creek depot, still standing in July 1967:

http://www.traingod.railfan.net/CK/PC-PCfrtDep.jpg

Finally, a photo of the pier area, with a couple of cranes and lots of scrap metal lying around, looking like a war zone, also from July 1967:

http://www.traingod.railfan.net/CK/PC-PopeTerm1.jpg

The brick building in the background is the original SMECO (Southern Maryland Electric COoperative) generating plant, which was in operation from 1938-1953. The hulk of this building still stands.

I'll query the group and see if I can come up with a date of the last revenue freight movement.

I believe that the scrapper was operating until at least the demise of
the PRR in 1968. I have a photo around that is dated 68 or 69 some
where. I was down in that area in 1971 and the tracks were still in
place at Pope's Creek Landing at least. Everything there was in bad
shape though. I also remember reading something about a carfloat
operation to Aquia VA long ago from Pope's Creek. Do you have
anything in your archives ?

RailVet-I sent out an email query to the group and received two responses-now I'm truly puzzled. A check of an October 1968 "Official Guide of the Railways" shows the branch running from Bowie to La Plata, ending at MP38.8 (the La Plata station). However, one of the respondents checked a Penn Central employee timetable from 11/14/71 which showed the branch running all the way to Pope's Creek.

(I should note that this was just before or about the time Lagenfelder Construction was pulling up the line to Lexigton Park-I wonder if the line had been temporarily reopened to allow for scrap/salvage trains to pull up the branch?)

While we were hiking the abandoned line this spring, there was a point past the trestle, mentioned in my last post, where the line appears to have been double tracked. During a subsequent conversation with a coworker I learned that there had been a gravel pit in the area. He thinks there was a siding on the line to serve the gravel pit.

CBRy wrote:I also remember reading something about a carfloat
operation to Aquia VA long ago from Pope's Creek. Do you have anything in your archives ?

A check of the Wearmouth booklet didn't mention anything about any type of barge operation-not surprising, as Mr. Wearmouth focused more on the oral histories of residents of the area and how the railroad affected them.
A check of Triumph VI, Philadelphia, Columbia, Harrisburg to Baltimore and Washington DC, 1827-2003 by Charles S. Roberts and David W. Messer did reveal this:

"...This road's initial purpose was to build a line from Baltimore southward to the tobacco producing area in southern Maryland, but nothing was done for several more years. Finally in December 1858 the company was formally organized and a decision taken for a route extending to a terminal on the river at Pope's Creek. From here the road envisioned a car ferry to Aquia Creek, Virginia, and then via the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR to Richmond".

The text goes on to say that after the Baltimore and Potomac gained access to Washington, DC in 1868 that in June 1870 Congress granted exclusive use of Long Bridge, under B&O control since its construction during the Civil War, to the PRR (or predecessor railroads) making the ferry connection a moot point.

A couple of more photos:

A July 1967 view of the pier looking towards the Potomac River and the Virginia Shore. (Barge at the water's edge is lettered "Norfolk".)

http://www.traingod.railfan.net/CK/PC-Pier67.jpg

A September 1968 view of the cut to accomodate the line to Morgantown, looking south from the Route 257 bridge (the road to Cobb Island). In the ensuing 38 years brush and trees have overtaken the cut. This is the cut, also mentioned in my previous post, that disrupted the flow of many shallow wells in the Newburg area.

http://www.traingod.railfan.net/CK/PC-Newb.jpg

There are some old photos of the waterfront and railroad on display at Captain Billy's II Restaurant (formerly Robertson's) in Pope's Creek.

I used to go with my parents to Robertson's Crabhouse at least a couple of times a year from the 50's through the 60's. I never saw the area active but I remember some gon's parked at Popes Creek in the late 50's. The ship scrapping operations were over by the early 60's. The two cranes remained abandoned there for many years. The grade crossing at US 301 was paved over sometime in the mid 60's but the crossbucks and lights remained for several more years. The rails between US 301 and Popes Creek Road disapeared into the weeds and trees by the mid 60's, early 70's as well as the rail yard area at Popes Creek. I got my first 35MM SLR Camera in 1978 and took lots of pictures of the area. By then the large crane was gone and what was left was in the woods as the trees and brush had grown up. The small crane was still there and the pier was rotting away. I visited the area again in the early 80's and the entire area had been cleared. The rails and ties had been removed, the small crane cut up for scrap and most of the piers razed. The rails and ties were also pulled between Popes Creek Road and US 301 at this time. I was not present during any of this activity but the work was fresh when I visited.
On the Patuxent River line, I remember in 1973-74 piles of ties and rail at the Hughesville Tobacco Warehouse being loaded onto trucks. A fellow I worked with lives in Charlotte Hall told me that he remembers the line being scrapped using heavy equipment and not a scrap train. He told me that everything was trucked out. How about anyone else? What do you remember?

Regards
Tony