Historic losses: DC to Annapolis by rail

History

Historic losses: DC to Annapolis by rail

by Malcolm Kenton • October 27, 2010 1:34 pm

Have you ever wondered why the H Street/Benning Road NE corridor is wider, flatter and straighter than most surrounding streets? The answer lies in a little-known chapter of mid-Atlantic railroad history that may also point a way towards a better transportation future for our region.

The Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway (WB&A) provided passenger and freight service on an electrified route between its namesake cities from 1908 to 1935. The line provided a third rail route between Washington and Baltimore, complementing (and competing with) the Pennsylvania Railroad (which is now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor) and the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O, now the MARC Camden Line).

Long-gone WB&A station at the "starburst" intersection in Northeast DC.
Image from rockcreek on Flickr.

The WB&A entered Washington from Seat Pleasant, MD, via Benning Road NE, which was widened and graded to accommodate the trains. It originally terminated at its own station (misnamed "White House Station") at the "starburst" intersection of Bladensburg, H & 15th Streets and Maryland and Florida Avenues. Hechinger Mall on Benning Rd. NE in Carver/Langston was built on the site of the WB&A's rail yard and maintenance shop.

15th Street NW in the early 1900s. Image from Wikipedia.

Eventually, the line was extended west on H Street all the way to 15th Street NW at the Treasury building, sharing infrastructure with Capital Transit streetcars. At one point, the current site of the Greyhound/Peter Pan bus depot in NoMa was also a WB&A station.

The WB&A also offered direct train service from Baltimore to Annapolis, and riders from DC could disembark at Naval Academy Junction, near Odenton, and connect to Annapolis-bound trains (which also connected with the Pennsylvania at Odenton, and with the B&O at Annapolis Junction, the station for which is now called Savage).

Despite that a trip from downtown DC to Baltimore took an hour and 20 minutes on the WB&A, versus 50 minutes on the B&O, the WB&A remained popular for its cleanliness, lower fares, half-hourly service and better downtown terminal locations than the other two railroads. Imagine being able to hop on an electrified train in the heart of downtown DC and ride directly into the heart of downtown Baltimore.

The former WB&A right-of-way northeast from Seat Pleasant is mostly intact. It roughly paralleled what is now Martin Luther King Jr. Highway through Glenadren. Electric Avenue and Railroad Avenue in Glenn Dale are named for the former rail line over which they were paved, as is WB&A Road in Severn, near BWI Airport. Parts have been retained as a bike trail, with plans to extend the trail along the entire right-of-way from Lanham to Odenton.

The federally-funded construction of Defense Highway (U.S. 50) in the early 1950s, combined with improved service on the competing railroads, doomed WB&A's service to DC, though the Baltimore-Annapolis section continued passenger service up to 1950, and freight service into the 1970s, as the Baltimore & Annapolis Railway (B&A). This right-of-way is now used by Maryland MTA light-rail trains as far south as Glen Burnie, and exists as a bike trail from there to Arnold, across the Severn River from Annapolis.

Today, by contrast, downtown-to-downtown service between the capital city and Charm City is offered only at weekday rush hours, while faster, more frequent daily Amtrak trains serve Penn Station, a fair hike from Baltimore's downtown core (though now connected to it by light rail). If you want to take a train from either city to Annapolis, you're out of luck.

A southbound light rail train, using the B&A right-of-way, passes B&A's former Linthicum Heights, MD station (Wikimedia Commons)

From Baltimore, you can take light rail as far as Glen Burnie, then change for the number 14 bus, running on a roughly half-hourly schedule, with hour-and-a-half headways on Sundays.

But Washington's only connection to the Maryland capital's walkable downtown, universities and state government buildings—aside from changing at Baltimore or BWI Airport—are rush hour-only Maryland MTA commuter buses 922 & 950, and two daily Greyhound round-trips (one direct, one via Baltimore) that continue to Ocean City.

The Odenton-Annapolis WB&A line, which passed through the middle of what is now Westfield Mall on its way into Annapolis, is mostly lost. Restoring light rail service along either this right-of-way, or the old B&A south of Glen Burnie, would be less expensive than building a new one, but is likely to encounter significant NIMBY opposition.

Other options are to put rail in the median of U.S. 50 (not so conducive to walkability, but less likely to face the ire of NIMBYs), or to extend the Blue Line east from Largo, paralleling Central Avenue and Riva Road or Solomons Island Road. Via this alignment, the rail distance from Metro Center to Annapolis is only 5 miles greater than the rail distance from Metro Center to Dulles Airport via the Orange and Silver Lines.

The Maryland DOT should seek federal assistance to study options for rail service roughly paralleling heavily-congested U.S. 50, which would better connect the Annapolis area with the job centers on the Washington-Baltimore corridor. Some form of rail transit serving these communities would be a wise investment in a future where rising travel demand and more expensive gasoline will lead people along this corridor to seek a better travel alternative—and the walkable communities that would come with it.

Cross-posted at the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) Blog. Special thanks to Ken B. for his research assistance.

18 comments

Tags: Annapolis, commuter rail, history, Maryland

Dulles needs an express rail line (Oct 9, 2009)
Could Virginia reactivate the W&OD? (Oct 12, 2009)
Washington's rails, part 3: Maryland's wish list (Sep 3, 2009)
MARC shares more information including on-time issues (Oct 8, 2010)
Washington's rails, part 1: The network (Sep 1, 2009)

Malcolm Kenton lives in the DC neighborhood of Bloomingdale. Hailing from Greensboro, NC and a graduate of Guilford College, he is Director of Outreach and Engagement for the National Association of Railroad Passengers, where he blogs about national transportation issues. He is also interested in the quality of the built environment and in blending cities with the natural world. The views he expresses on GGW are his own and not necessarily those of NARP.

Comments
Add a comment »

Thanks for this, Malcolm! I just spent a day in Chesapeake Beach, which used to be a major destination for DCers, because it was served by train. Now you have to drive, and it's been in decline for a while now (though some progress is being made.) With such a focus on high speed rail, I think our region in particular would do well to consider re-establishing rail links to short-hop cities and towns. I for one would take the train to Anapolis, or Baltimore (but MARC doesn't run on the weekends), especially if it were reasonable priced.

Keep up the good work! It would be neat to see this become a series.

by Allison on Oct 27, 2010 1:43 pm

North Bowie already has a MARC stop, but South Bowie would definitely benefit from greater rail access. I bet a Bowie-to-Downtown express line would do pretty decent business, considering how many drive downtown from Annapolis.

Many of these old streetcar lines deserve to be resurrected. The GW Parkway is built on the old Mount Vernon line that stopped in front of the Treasury building. With a short extention, a new one could go to Fort Belvoir and make that area less car-dependent.

by monkeyrotica on Oct 27, 2010 1:44 pm

Excellent idea. To the comment about high speed rail I also think in the end the money would be better spend on better regional and local rail lines.

by Matt R on Oct 27, 2010 2:34 pm

Thank you for posting this heart-breaking story. I'm new to the area and would love to visit parts of MD, including B-more, on the weekends. Sadly, because I don't like to drive and don't have a car, my options are limited. Even NJ Transit runs on the weekend, and looks who's the governor there!

by Jess on Oct 27, 2010 2:34 pm

For the last 4 years I've wished there was a rail from DC to Annapolis and from Baltimore to Annapolis. While working in Frederick MD, I was assigned to go to Baltimore for a meeting.I don't have a car. So I took the morning MARC from Frederick to DC and the from DC to Baltimore. I was then informed that the meeting was in Annapolis.

also, the fact that there is no train between Frederick and Baltimore is criminal.

by CarterL on Oct 27, 2010 2:45 pm

Additionally, West Virginia Ave NE is an old railroad grade from the days before the completion of Union Station. This old map (Copryright date of 1908) shows the old track along WV Ave, as well as the newer Union Station tracks that used the Delaware Ave right of way:

http://usgwarchives.net/maps/usa/hammonds1910/cities/washington-dc.jpg

by Alex B. on Oct 27, 2010 2:45 pm

Could CSX's railroad infrastructure be reused for such a service, should that freight bypass ever get built?

by andrew on Oct 27, 2010 3:16 pm

@CarterL - no, what's criminal is the fact that a town like Frederick has doubled in size over the past 20-30 years creating sprawl far outside the established commercial areas of DC and Baltimore. Frederick has lost alot of forest and farmland to build the strip malls and housing developments you see there now.

@Allison - FYI, Amtrak runs to Baltimore on the weekends.
Also, please refrain from pronouncing Chesapeake Beach "in decline for some time now" based on a one-day visit. Or perhaps I should ask, why did you come away with that impression based on your visit?

A rail connection between DC and Annapolis would be brilliant - my friends and I were just talking about this the other day. It seems that extending the Orange Line along Rt 50 would be the best option (or building a new MTA line with a direct transfer at New Carrollton) - otherwise wouldn't it have to cut through forest/farmland to the south of Rt 50? I don't think it's as important to have walkability along the middle section of this proposed rail line (although it would hopefully foster TOD in already-developed areas along 50).

by grumpy on Oct 27, 2010 3:36 pm

AMEN! Well done and well written.

Now to tell O'Malley I won't support him until he supports this.

by Redline SOS on Oct 27, 2010 3:48 pm

At one point, the current site of the Greyhound/Peter Pan bus depot in NoMa was also a WB&A station.

You make reference to the wrong Greyhound station. The former Greyhound terminal on New York Avenue, N.W. between 11th and 12th was where the WB&A terminal was once located.

Defense Highway (today's Maryland Route 450) pre-dates the 1950's.

The WB&A went bankrupt in the early 1930's (likely a casualty of the Great Depression), but kept operating until 1935, when it ceased operations because the Maryland General Assembly declined to extend property tax breaks to the railroad (I read that the bill to provide those tax subsidies failed by one vote, though I don't know in which house of the legislature).

Suggest you read John E. Merriken's book, Every Hour on the Hour: A Chronicle of the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis Electric Railroad, 1993, now out of print but probably available online someplace.

Also read this:

Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis Electric Railroad on the Maryland Online Encyclopedia.

by C. P. Zilliacus on Oct 27, 2010 4:17 pm

And this:

TRACKING CHANGE: THE SIGNIFICANCE, IDENTIFICATION, AND PRESERVATION OF RAILROAD TOWN DEVELOPMENT IN ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MARYLAND (Adobe Acrobat .pdf, about 4.5 MB).

by C. P. Zilliacus on Oct 27, 2010 4:31 pm

How did it get from Seat Pleasant to Benning Road since Benning Road goes nowhere near Seat Pleasant ?

East Capitol ST
Minnesota Ave + N.H. Burroghs Ave/Sheriff RD
Blaine ST.
Central Ave
Keniworth Ave
Southern Ave

by kk on Oct 27, 2010 4:33 pm

Coincidentally, IMGoph and I were discussing the WB&A over lunch yesterday.

A few items of note:

- Both Generals Hwy (Route 178) and Annapolis Mall are built right on top of the old ROW northwest of Annapolis.

- South of Glen Burnie, Marley Station Mall is built right on top of the old right-of-way in that area.

- While a new commuter rail or Metro line to Annapolis would be nice, it'd require a Metrorail/freight rail kind of engineering that would be obscenely expensive and difficult given the right-of-way constraints getting out to Annapolis. More realistic, and more adaptable to those ROW constraints would be a light-rail line, either extending the Baltimore LRT line south (which would still require a new bridge over the Severn) or a new LRT line heading out from New Carrollton and paralleling Route 50.

by Froggie on Oct 27, 2010 6:33 pm

Froggie wrote:

Both Generals Hwy (Route 178) and Annapolis Mall are built right on top of the old ROW northwest of Annapolis.

Not entirely. Md. 178 runs parallel to, but not exactly on, the WB&A bed. It is possible to see exactly where the WB&A ran between Annapolis and Odenton, because when the railroad ceased operation, the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company purchased the land, and it is used for transmission lines, mostly on wood poles. The WB&A line ran right through the half interchange where Md. 178 runs into I-97, so at that point, the power lines were extensively relocated when I-97 was built in the late 1980's and early 1990's.

The WB&A rail line did cross where Annapolis Mall now stands, and the BG&E line runs under the mall (on both sides of the mall, there are small enclosures where the overhead lines transition to underground conduit).

The WB&A line did run along present-day Md. 175 in Odenton, roughly from the roundabout at Sappington Station Road west to Md. 170 (Telegraph Road).

by C. P. Zilliacus on Oct 28, 2010 8:38 am

Sure would be nice if a line was extended out Rte 50 to Annapolis from New Carrollton. Even down the middle of I-97 from BWI to Annapolis.

by CarterB on Oct 28, 2010 11:52 am

To answer the question about the line the line that ran out to Seat Pleasant... it was part of the Chesapeake Beach Railway and in later years, the East Washington Railway, which died in the '80's. The terminus for the EW was in Seat Pleasant where the Addison Plaza shopping Center now stands. The line ran from there through the back yards of homes roughly paralleling Addison Road where it crossed MLK Hwy (George Palmer Hwy) and Eastern Avenue, up Dix St and then down Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave (Deane Ave.) and terminated at a place the RR called Chesapeake Jct., which was in the vicinity of Burroughs and Minnesota Aves. If you look at a good aerial photo, you can still follow the right of way. Apparently, at one time, you could catch a train from the B & O station in Hyattsville, MD and go all the way to Chesapeake Beach.

by JP on Oct 29, 2010 2:27 pm

would be cool to do a full-ish chart of major rail service in the DC metro area that existed 100 years ago and compare it to today -- routes, departure intervals, travel times, costs in today's dollars, etc.

once we put that together, it would help us stop all the nonsensical 'high speed rail' talk and focus on what we really need -- conventional rail that goes reasonable distances at reasonable times/intervals for reasonable prices, all so we can have a reasonable transportation system that would actually effect a reasonable mode shift, helping to make us reasonably sustainable, etc.

by Peter Smith on Nov 3, 2010 3:32 am

Compared with Europe that has almost every major interconnected by trains, I was surprised to see that there was no direct way to reach DC from Annapolis, besides that bus. Although the bus is fine for the commuters, tourists will find its schedule alittle fustrating as one will need to leave early from Annapolis and then wait in DC until 5pm when the last bus departs.

by melissa on Nov 18, 2010 3:26 pm