The (WB&A), now defunct, was an
American Railroad of central
Maryland and
Washington, DC built in the 19th and 20th century. The WB&A absorbed two older railroads, the
Annapolis And Elk Ridge Railroad and the
Baltimore & Annapolis Short Line , and added its own electric
Streetcar Line between
Baltimore and
Washington, D.C. It was built by a group of
Cleveland, Ohio , electric railway
Entrepreneur s to serve as a high-speed, showpiece line using the most advanced technology of the time. It served Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, MD and
Annapolis, MD for 27 years, but the
Great Depression and the rise of the
Automobile marked the end of the WB&A. Passenger service ceased in 1935 and only the
Baltimore & Annapolis portion continued to operate. Parts of the
Right-of-way are now used for
Light Rail ,
Rail Trails and roads.
The WB&A was originally incorporated in
1888 as . On April 10, 1900, it changed its name to the '''Washington and Annapolis Electric Railway'''
1 and finally, on April 8, 1902, to the '''Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway'''.
2 In 1903 the WB&A purchased the Annapolis, Washington & Baltimore Railroad (AW&B) - formerly the Annapolis & Elkridge Railroad - which was closed, electrified and reopened. At the same time an almost straight double-track route was laid out parallel to the B&O and Pennsylvania railroads, but located slightly to the east in less populated territory. On
February 7 ,
1908 service began running from Liberty Street in Baltimore to its terminal at 15th and
H Streets NE in Washington. After 1910 the line reached the heart of downtown on 15th Street near the
Treasury . Additional single-track service ran from Annapolis Junction on the B&O, crossed the WB&A main line at a spot just east of Odenton, and headed east to Annapolis via Millersville and Crownsville.
The line built by the WB&A, later called the ''Main Line'', ran from Baltimore to Odenton through Bowie, Glenn Dale Hospital, and Glenarden to Fairmont Heights where it met with the
Chesapeake Beach Railroad just outside the Washington, D.C., line at Chesapeake Junction. From there, it continued to
Deanwood on the
Washington Railway And Electric Company 's
Seat Pleasant Line , running parallel to the Chesapeake Beach Railroad tracks and across the
Benning Road Bridge into downtown Washington.
Once onto their own right-of-way, the WB&A’s expresses regularly hit 60 mph, but street running in the terminal cities slowed their overall
Time . A typical B&O express made the trip in 50 minutes, but the best the WB&A could do was an
Hour and 20 minutes. Offsetting these handicaps were its cleanliness, lower fares, half-hourly express service, and better-located
Downtown terminals.
Always looking for new sources of business, the railroad, in 1914, convinced the Southern Maryland Agricultural Fair Association to establish
Bowie Race Track along the Main Line.
In September 1917, as the U.S. entered
World War I , George Bishop, the WB&A’s well-connected president, persuaded the
U.S. Army to acquire land owned by the railroad and open a training facility.
Camp Meade was established in the area roughly bounded by the B&O Washington Branch on the west, the Pennsylvania Railroad on the east, and the South Shore Line of the WB&A to the south. The installation was supposed to be a temporary facility, used only for the duration of the war (it is still in use today). The WB&A saw record traffic during this time as a result of freight and passenger service to the camp. In
1918 , the railroad was running as many as 84 special trains a day.
With the business seemingly successful the WB&A purchased the
Baltimore & Annapolis Short Line in 1921. It became known as the ''North Shore Line'' and the Annapolis to Odenton line as the ''South Shore Line''. At this time, the B&A gave up the terminus at Camden Station and started using the WB&A terminal on Liberty Street (between Lexington and Fayette) in Baltimore. Prior to 1921 the WB&A and B&A had run on separate, parallel tracks from Linthicum to Baltimore. But on
March 16 ,
1921 , a crossover connected the two parallel tracks at Linthicum, operations ceased on the B&O track, and a
new terminal was built at Howard and Lombard Streets. The WB&A now consisted of 81 miles of track and the only practical way to get from Washington, D.C., to Annapolis.
Around the time of the purchase of the ASL, the Defense Highway was built providing an alternative route into Annapolis. As a result gross receipts for the railroad began to decline. The railroad only survived because of a law exempting it from taxes. In January 1931, during the
Great Depression , the extension of the law failed to pass by one vote and the line went into receivership.
3 The line remained in operation for four more years until operation officially ceased on
August 20 1935 .
4 The WB&A was sold at public auction with scrap dealers buying most of the rolling stock. The right of way of the North Shore Line and some equipment was bought by the Bondholders Protective Society who then formed the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad Company. Over time, the rails were hauled away, though by the beginning of World War II some remained and at least one post-War home in the area used old rails in lieu of I-beams.
- Baltimore
- Westport
- English Consul (Magnolia Avenue)
- Rosemont
- Baltimore Highlands (between Georgia and Illinois Avenues, across from the Baltimore And Annapolis Short Line Railroad station)
- Pumphrey
- North Linthicum
-
- Downs
- Wellham
- Kelly
- McPherson (WB&A Rd)
- Elmhurst
- Delmont
- Clark
- Severn Run
- Naval Academy: Junction with South Shore Line
- Waugh Chapel (Waugh Chapel Rd)
- Francis
- Bragers (Bragers Rd)
- Conway (Conway Rd)
- Meyers (Meyers Station Rd)
- Bowie
- Lloyd
- High Bridge
- Hillmeade
- Bell
- Randle
- Lincoln
- Vista
- Cherry Grove
- McCarthy
- Ardmore
- Glenarden
- Dodge Park
- East Columbia Park
- Huntsville
- Gregory
- District Line where the WB&A entered Washington, D.C. , and the trains transferred to tracks interior to the city line.
(Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad)
(Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad)
- The WB&A Terminal in Baltimore, now a bank at North Liberty Street & Marion Street
- The Scott Street substation on the NE corner of Scott & Ostend Streets
- The Westport tunnel, its southern portal is visible just north of the B-W Parkway's Annapolis Road exit.
- The Hunt Valley-Glen Burnie line of Baltimore's Light Rail system uses the rail's right-of-way from Baltimore Highlands through North Linthicum to a point north of Maple Road and again from south of Linthicum to BWI Airport (at other times it uses the Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad's parallel right-of-way).
- Linthicum railroad station {Link without Title}
- WB&A Boulvard in Severn was built on the right-of-way.
- A section of Railroad track exists in Odenton , Maryland starting from a location inside Crossroads Business Park and Crossing Maryland Route 175 as a railroad crossing. The tracks turn right and cross Maryland Route 170 as another railroad crossing. The track continue and merges onto Amtrak's Northeast Corridor which, at the time was part of Pennsylvania Railroad .
- Two portions of the WB&A Trail , one in and around Odenton and another 5.8-mile section from the Patuxent River to Glenn Dale run on the old Right-of-way of the Main Line. Anne Arundel County plans to connect those trails in the next few years.
- The Race Track Spur, connecting the Penn line at Lemon Bridge to the WB&A and to the Bowie Race Track, now serves as an ATV trail
- Martin Luther King Jr. Highway was built on the right-of-way.
- A freight motor, Washington Baltimore & Annapolis #1, is maintained at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, California .
