Baltimore Belt Line
Encyclopedia
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
(B&O) in the 1890s to connect the railroad's newly constructed line to Philadelphia (with trackage rights
Trackage rights
Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....
to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
) with the rest of the railroad at Baltimore, Maryland. It included the Howard Street Tunnel, the Mount Royal Station
Mount Royal Station
The Mount Royal Station and Trainshed was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's third train station in Baltimore, Maryland, at the north end of the Baltimore Belt Line's Howard Street tunnel in the fashionable Bolton Hill neighborhood...
and the first mainline railroad electrification
Railway electrification system
A railway electrification system supplies electrical energy to railway locomotives and multiple units as well as trams so that they can operate without having an on-board prime mover. There are several different electrification systems in use throughout the world...
in the United States. The line is currently operated by CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
as part of its Baltimore Terminal Subdivision.
Origins
The B&O's original connection to New York in Baltimore was through surface street transfers to the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore RailroadPhiladelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad
The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad was the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania southwest to Baltimore, Maryland in the 19th and early 20th centuries...
(PW&B), pulled by horses along Pratt Street between the B&O's Camden Station
Camden Station
Camden Station, now also referred to as Camden Yards, is a train station at the intersection of Howard and Camden Streets in Baltimore, Maryland, served by MARC commuter rail service and local Light Rail trains. It is adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards...
and the PW&B's President Street Station
President Street Station
thumb|Back of the Baltimore Civil War Museum, 2008The President Street Station in Baltimore, Maryland is a former train station. Built in 1850, it is the oldest surviving big city railroad terminal in the United States...
. In 1884, the PW&B was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
(PRR), a major rival of the B&O, and the PRR cut off the connection. The B&O then proceeded to build its Philadelphia Branch
Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad
The Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad was a railroad line built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Baltimore, Maryland. It was built in the 1880s after the B&O lost access to its previous route to Philadelphia, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad...
(formally known as the Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad
Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad
The Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad was a railroad line built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Baltimore, Maryland. It was built in the 1880s after the B&O lost access to its previous route to Philadelphia, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad...
) to connect to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, in turn connecting with the Central Railroad of New Jersey
Central Railroad of New Jersey
The Central Railroad of New Jersey , commonly known as the Jersey Central Lines or CNJ, was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s, lasting until 1976 when it was absorbed into Conrail with the other bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States...
for B&O's New York service. The combination also provided a connection to the Staten Island Railway
Staten Island Railway
The Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority, publicly known as MTA Staten Island Railway or SIR, is the operator of the lone rapid transit line in the borough of Staten Island, New York City, USA...
, which served as the terminal switching company for the B&O's New York freight
Freight train
A freight train or goods train is a group of freight cars or goods wagons hauled by one or more locomotives on a railway, ultimately transporting cargo between two points as part of the logistics chain...
service.
Construction
Connecting the new Philadelphia Branch to the rest of the B&O system was a considerable engineering challenge. A new surface line across the center of town was politically impossible and prohibitively expensive. Building around the outskirts of town would have required massive regradingRegrading
Regrading is the process of raising and/or lowering the levels of land; such a project can also be referred to as a regrade. Regrading may be done on a small scale or on quite a large scale...
and bridging, as the terrain is extremely hilly and the line would cut across every watershed flowing into the harbor. As a temporary expedient, traffic was handled through Baltimore on carfloats, but it was clear that a direct connection would have to be built.
Inner Harbor
The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and iconic landmark of the City of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as “the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the World.” The Inner Harbor is actually the end of the...
. A tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
was constructed directly under Howard Street, heading north until just before it crossed the existing PRR line.
At the north portal of the tunnel, Mount Royal Station
Mount Royal Station
The Mount Royal Station and Trainshed was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's third train station in Baltimore, Maryland, at the north end of the Baltimore Belt Line's Howard Street tunnel in the fashionable Bolton Hill neighborhood...
was constructed. The track then curved around to the east, passed through six other (much shorter) tunnels, continued across town, finally heading southeast to meet the already constructed line just north of the Canton neighborhood. The cost of construction drove the railroad into bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
shortly after the line opened in 1895.
Initially there were plans to build three new stations, but concern for interference with freight haulage and expense reduced this to a single station at Mount Royal, which opened on September 1, 1896. Lower-level platforms were added at the east end of B&O's Camden Station in 1897.
Howard Street Tunnel
The Howard Street Tunnel, originally a 1.4 miles (2.3 km) long tunnel under Howard StreetHoward Street (Baltimore)
Howard Street is a major street that runs north-south through the central part of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. The street, which is approximately 2½ miles in length, begins at the north end of I-395 near Oriole Park at Camden Yards and ends near Johns Hopkins University. At this point, this...
in downtown Baltimore, took four and a half years to build (1890-95) and was the longest tunnel on the B&O's system. The tunnel is brick-lined with iron-arched centerings. At the time of completion it was considered innovative for its use of electicity for illumination and powering of locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s. Inside the tunnel, there was an underground platform for trains serving Camden Station. The Howard Street Tunnel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Electrification
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
. However by 1890 electric locomotion was beginning to appear possible, and in 1892 the B&O thus contracted with General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
(GE) for electric locomotives, powerhouse
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
equipment, and an electrical distribution system. This equipment was delivered beginning in 1895, and the first train pulled by an electric locomotive operated through the Howard Street Tunnel on June 27, 1895.
The grade on the electrified portion was downhill to Camden Station; therefore traffic heading southbound ("westbound", in B&O timetables), from Mount Royal Station, simply drifted through the tunnels. Since the engine was not working, the smoke produced was relatively light. Going upgrade northbound ("eastbound", in B&O timetables) the electric locomotives were coupled to the front of the train at Camden Station and pulled the entire train, including the steam locomotive, through the Howard Street tunnel. When northbound passenger trains stopped at Mt. Royal Station at the north end of the tunnel, the electric locomotive was uncoupled. Northbound freight trains were pulled by electric locomotives for another two miles, until reaching Huntingdon Avenue in east Baltimore. There the steam locomotive closed its cylinder cocks, took up the load, and the electric locomotive uncoupled on the fly, accelerating ahead to a pocket siding between the tracks.
General Electric installed rotary converter
Rotary converter
A rotary converter is a type of electrical machine which acts as a mechanical rectifier or inverter. It was used to convert AC to DC or DC to AC power before the advent of chemical or solid state power rectification...
s in B&O's powerhouse near Mt. Royal Station, having a combined capacity of 5,000 kW to convert 13,200-volt, 3 phase, 25-cycle AC
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
to 675 volts DC
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
. In 1936, these rotary converters were replaced by mercury arc rectifier
Mercury arc valve
A mercury-arc valve is a type of electrical rectifier used for converting high-voltage or high-current alternating current into direct current . Rectifiers of this type were used to provide power for industrial motors, electric railways, streetcars, and electric locomotives, as well as for...
s.
Initially power was supplied through a unique system in which a pickup shoe rode in a channel above and to one side of the track. This proved vulnerable to contamination from coal smoke, and after a short time it was replaced by a conventional third rail
Third rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...
system. When the Howard Street track was made into a gantlet
Gantlet track
Gauntlet track or interlaced track is an arrangement in which railway tracks run parallel on a single track bed and are interlaced such that only one pair of rails may be used at a time. Since this requires only slightly more width than a single track, all four rails can be carried on the same...
to allow higher clearances, the pickup contacts on one side were mounted on swinging arms to accommodate the varying distance to the third rail. The electrification was finally discontinued in 1952 when dieselization
Dieselisation
Dieselisation or dieselization is a term generally used for the increasingly common use of diesel fuel in vehicles, as opposed to gasoline or steam engines.-Water Transport:...
made it unnecessary.
Latter day operation
Throughout much of its history until the end of passenger trains in 1958, the line had relatively low passenger traffic, averaging six daily New York–WashingtonWashington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
trains each way. Freight traffic was also limited by the scarcity of online industry east of Baltimore and B&O's lack of a connection across the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
at Washington, D. C., to the southern railroads. The massive Pennsylvania main line carried most traffic to the northeast.
By the 1970s, however, both railroads were failing financially. The PRR had been merged into Penn Central in 1968, and two years later the new company declared bankruptcy. The B&O became part of the Chessie System
Chessie System
Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway , the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , the Western Maryland Railway , and several smaller carriers. It was incorporated in Virginia on February 26, 1973, and it acquired the C&O on June 15...
in 1973, which in turn was merged into CSX in 1980.
In 1976 the PRR line became part of the newly formed Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
system. The line was subsequently called the Northeast Corridor
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor is a fully electrified railway line owned primarily by Amtrak serving the Northeast megalopolis of the United States from Boston in the north, via New York to Washington, D.C. in the south, with branches serving other cities...
(NEC), and its role as a freight line became relatively minor. The 1987 accident at Chase, Maryland
Chase, Maryland rail wreck
The Chase, Maryland train collision occurred at 1:04 pm on January 4, 1987, on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor main line in the Chase community in eastern Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, at Gunpow Interlocking, about northeast of Baltimore...
, involving a Conrail locomotive led to further reductions in freight traffic on the NEC. The Belt Line (now operated by CSX) is therefore a key link in what has now become the principal rail freight line from Baltimore to Philadelphia and beyond. See Baltimore Terminal Subdivision.