Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis

Restart of those who remember the WB&A/B&A and their predecessors.

Does anyone know if any rail remains beneath pavement in Annapolis?
Any remnants visible of the Bay Ridge RR other than Bay Ridge Jct?

I am not aware of any "buried" rail in Annapolis--- this doesn't mean there isn't any, just that I'm not aware of any. A number of years ago, you could see the remains of the WB&A bridge over the Severn River just outside of the Manresa Catholic Retreat ( you could see it from the porch of the retreat) along with a portion of graded right of way on the West side of the river. I don't know whether it still exists, as I saw it in the 1980's.

On the West side of the Severn, you can still see much of the ROW through Wardour/West Annapolis on the North side of College Creek.
Bay Ridge Jct is still quite visible as is about a mile of ROW NW to Parole.

I've as yet to find anything of the Bay Ridge RR.

There's nothing left of the bridge last time I visited Annaopolis about a year ago. The ROW, of course, remains intact as the ever-lovely-to-walk Baltimore and Annapolis Trail. Other portions of the ROW are intact as power line ROWs. A few miles are buried beneath the Balto-Washington Pike and BWI Airport.

As per tracks remining in the pavement in Annapolis, I can't honestly say that I know one way or the other. Given the lateness of it's demise (as interurbans went, anyway) I'd imagine that there probably are some.

I have a railfan friend who works as a Plumbing Inspector for the City of Annapolis. He's told me the City is always uncovering old rails of the WB&A especially in the area around West Street. That's the old 'south shore' route through Crownsville back to Annapolis Junction (aka Odenton).

I should ask him to save me a piece of them, just to have them.

West Street (nearest Church Circle) recently underwent a repaving with brick pavers. I wonder if anything was uncovered/saved?

Further up West Street is in the process of rehab as well. Maybe more in the future might be found and saved? IIRC, the WB&A ran on West Street from Church Circle to W. Washington Street (where the station was?) then on PROW on up through Parole and East.

I'm a rail buff (although new to railroad.net) who ran across the B&A via another hobby, benchmarking (see http://www.geocaching.com/mark/). In particular, we were looking for a mark near the old Wardour station, and we were able to find it. You can view the log and see some pictures at http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=HV0193.

When was this line built? When was it abandoned? How busy was it? Fill me in.[/url]

bicknell wrote:I'm a rail buff (although new to railroad.net) who ran across the B&A via another hobby, benchmarking

Holy crap that's dorky! Somehow, I find it strangly intresting though... I looked up my ZIP code, and found there was a benchmark 2 blocks from my house. I took a walk over there and found it on the side of a railroad bridge in about 5 minutes. It was oddly satisfying.

-r

razor wrote: Holy crap that's dorky! Somehow, I find it strangly intresting though... I looked up my ZIP code, and found there was a benchmark 2 blocks from my house. I took a walk over there and found it on the side of a railroad bridge in about 5 minutes. It was oddly satisfying.
-r

Did you sign up? Did you take a picture? Did you log it?

bicknell wrote:I'm a rail buff (although new to railroad.net) who ran across the B&A via another hobby, benchmarking (see http://www.geocaching.com/mark/). In particular, we were looking for a mark near the old Wardour station, and we were able to find it. You can view the log and see some pictures at http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=HV0193.

When was this line built? When was it abandoned? How busy was it? Fill me in.[/url]

The WB&A had its origins in two steam railroads-- the Annapolis & Elkridge, which dated from 1847, and the Annapolis & Baltimore Short Line. These two lines became, respectively, the WB&A's South Shore Line and North Shore Line ( between Baltimore & Annapolis) in addition, the WB&A operated a high speed line between Baltimore and Washington which opened in 1908 ( by this time the entire property had been converted to electric operation). The WB&A lasted until 1936, when continuation of a state tax exemption which it had received from the State of Maryland for several years failed in the General Assembly by one vote. The property was sold at auction at the Anne Arundel County Courthouse and was purchased by bond holders of the Short Line, and reorganised as the Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railroad. The B&A abandoned the South Shore Line, and the Baltimore Washington main line and operated the Annapolis North Shore Line ( through Linthicum) until 1951. The property was then bustituted for passenger service, with the bus successor lasting, as a charter bus operator, until the 1970's. The southern portion of Central Light Rail Line now operates over a part of the old B&A ROW. ( between Camden Yards and Cromwell Station- Glen Burnie)

In the heyday of the old WB&A, ( in the 1920's) more than 100 trains per day operated in and out of the railroad's Baltimore terminus.

walt wrote:The southern portion of Central Light Rail Line now operates over a part of the old B&A ROW. ( between Camden Yards and Cromwell Station- Glen Burnie)

Walt-on those rare occasions when I've ventured north of the Charles County line to attend an Orioles game, I usually park at Cromwell Station and ride the light rail to Camden Yards. Where does the current line deviate from the old? Did the WB&A cross the Middle Branch? If so, anywhere near the space where the current concrete viaduct stands?

Art-

There's a simple answer and a very complicated one.

The simple one is that, going north, the present light rail line leaves the old B&A/WB&A right of way at about Patapsco Ave. station.

Well, not really. Actually, it uses interurban ROW to a point just north of Waterview Ave., over a line abandoned in 1935. A bit of rather tangled history is necessary.

Up to 1921 there were two parallel rights-of-way between Linthicum and Westport, both electrified. The easternmost was originally built in the 1880s as the steam-powered Baltimore & Annapolis Short Line, most commonly known as the Annapolis Short Line. (It was this line that later became the Baltimore & Annapolis.) The ASL's line ended at Cliffords, just north of present Patapsco Ave. station, where it connected with the B&O's Curtis Bay branch. From there it operated into Camden Station over the B&O, using the B&O's South Baltimore branch to Carrolls and mainline into Camden.

In 1908 the WB&A line was completed a slight distance to the west. Going north, the WB&A line crossed through the center of present BWI Airport and began paralleling the ASL at Linthicum. (The light rail line is on the Short Line ROW at its Linthicum station while the former WB&A ROW is above its grade immediately west. The restored Linthicum station to the north at Maple Ave. is the ex-WB&A station and its west side faces the old WB&A alignment.) The two lines then ran parallel through North Linthicum and Baltimore Highlands as far as the point where the Short Line joined the B&O at Cliffords.

The WB&A then turned west, paralleling the B&O a short distance to its west/south, through English Consul (a development now chopped in two by Patapsco Ave.), turned north to underpass the B&O Curtis Bay branch (the railroad bridge is still there) and passed through the west side of Westport in a combination tunnel and cut, which underpassed Annapolis Rd. (The West[port section of the former WB&A ROW is now occupied by the B-W Parkway; the old tunnel still exists, and its southern portal is visible just north of the parkway's Annapolis Rd. exit. Watch for it when you're driving north on the parkway.) It then paralleled the B&O mainline past Bush and Bayard Sts. on a long steel trestle, which overpassed the B&O at Scott St., where the WB&A line came down onto Scott St. (The WB&A's Scott St. substation survives on the NE corner of Scott & Ostend Sts.)

Now...more complications. The Annapolis Short Line electified in 1908, at the same time the WB&A opened. When it did, the B&O was wary of a high-voltage overhead line over its tracks between the Clifford interchange and Camden Station. (Both the WB&A and Short Line then used 3300-v.a.c.) So it built a new line for the Short Line between Cliffords and its mainline at Russell St., paralleling the South Baltimore branch through Westport. This line ran immediately west/south of the Curtis Bay and South Baltimore branches, underpassing the Curtis Bay branch along the way.

Got all that?

Then came a new complication. In 1921 the WB&A absorbed the Annapolis Short Line. Afterward, Short Line trains were routed over the WB&A between Linthicum and the WB&A's new Baltimore terminal at Howard & Lombard Sts., now the site of the Holiday Inn. At the same time, much of the old Short Line track between Linthicum and Westport was abandoned, although a section was kept intact between Baltimore Highlands and the B&O Cliffords interchange to handle freight to & from the B&O. Originally, too, the "new" (B&O-built) Annapolis Short Line ROW between Cliffords and Westport also was retained for WM freight interchange, although this segment was abandoned in 1935.

The point of the windy digression is that the light rail route between Linthicum and Westport uses pieces of both the old Annapolis Short Line and WB&A rights-of-way. As I mentioned, the light rail's Linthicum station is on the old SL alignment (which later became the B&A). Going north, it continues on the ASL ROW to a point north of Maple Rd., where it moves onto the original WB&A ROW. It then continues on the WB&A ROW to through North Linthicum and Baltimore Highlands, and along this section you can see the old ASL grade immediately to the east, including its Patapsco River trestle piers. At Baltimore Highlands, the light rail line then moves back onto the ASL ROW, through the Patapsco Ave. station, and continues on the "new" ASL ROW to Westport, passing under the present CSX line using the bridge originally built in 1908 to carry the B&O over the SL. (Until the light rail was built, this bridge had remained intact, although the old SL line under it had been long abandoned.) Through this area, the abandoned WB&A alignment can be intermittently seen to the west. The WB&A's old underpass is just a short distance west of the presentlight rail underpass.

The light rail line finally leaves the old SL ROW at about Waterview Ave.

Now, aren't you sorry you asked?

BaltOhio-Thanks for taking the time (and effort) for your detailed and comprehensive explanation. About 30 years ago, I spent some time at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, (at the time when the Baltimore Beltway was being constructed) and did a "bit" of exploring. However, not being a native of the area, I soon became disoriented. Certainly many of the landmarks and old rights of way have been paved over or built upon with the continued urbanization of the area.

If only some people had the foresight to see what the Baltimore/Annapolis/Washington area would become-I'm sure that a WB&A today would be an important part of the transportation infrastructure.

Is Anne Arundel County still dead set against extending the Washington Metro on out Rt 50/301 towards Annapolis? Seems to me with the growth and rash of commuters to DC from AA County, that this should be a natural?

Back in 1995-6 there used to be a preserved strech of track
running from behind the old Coca Cola Plant almost to the
State House. I walked it while having my (then) new truck
serviced at Tate Dodge. I think it was about 1 1/2 miles of
track? Is is still there? It had signs designating it as historical
posted along its length.

If you ride around on West Street and use Merriken's book
about the WB&A (Every Hour on the Hour) as a guide, you
can find a lot of traces of the old railroad. The lumber company
off of West Street is still pretty much as it was back in the day
as far as layout is concerned.