Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road
Encyclopedia
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) operated from Baltimore, Maryland, southwest to Washington, DC, from 1872 to 1902. The company was controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad
. It was the second railroad company to provide railroad service from Washington to the northeastern states, and became a major competitor with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
. The B&P route is now called the Northeast Corridor
, owned by Amtrak
.
, and wrote articles lobbying for this under the pen name Patuxent
Planter. After significant lobbying together with Thomas Fielder Bowie
, William Duckett Bowie
, and Oden Bowie
, the Maryland General Assembly
chartered the Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road Company on May 6, 1853. The company had the authority to construct a railroad from Baltimore via Upper Marlboro
and Port Tobacco to a point on the Potomac River
between Liverpool Point and the St. Marys River
, and any branches of, at most, 20 miles (32 km) in length.
The B&P was organized on December 19, 1858, and began surveying the route May 3, 1859. Construction started in 1861 but progressed slowly until 1867, when the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and its ally the Northern Central Railway
(NCRY) bought the company. The PRR at the time had access to Baltimore via its own lines (the NCRY from the north and the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad
from the northeast), but used the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
(B&O) and its Washington Branch to continue southwest to Washington. The PRR and B&O had trouble getting along, but Maryland refused to grant a charter to end the B&O's monopoly
on Baltimore-Washington travel. However, the Baltimore and Potomac charter allowed exactly that, via the clause that allowed branches; all the PRR had to do was take the line within 20 miles (32.2 km) of Washington. Congress
granted a charter for the section in Washington on February 5, 1867.
Thus the new Baltimore-Washington line opened on July 2, 1872, and the required "main line" to Popes Creek on the Potomac River, immediately relegated to branch status, opened on January 1, 1873. The final section, the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel
under Winchester Street and Wilson Street in Baltimore, opened on June 29, 1873, connecting the line to the PRR's Northern Central Railway and the new Baltimore Union Station. That year or the next, the Union Railroad also opened, extending the line east through another tunnel to the PRR's other Baltimore line, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.
The first B&P station in Washington was a simple wood frame structure. A more substantial brick and stone building opened in 1873 at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and B Street NW (later renamed Constitution Avenue
). This is the present site of the West Building of the National Gallery of Art
, on the National Mall
. The station was built over the old Washington City Canal
, which complicated the construction of the foundation. Tracks
ran south from the station along Sixth Street to a wye junction at Sixth Street SW, Maryland Avenue SW, and Virginia Avenue SW. Ironically, the tracks along Maryland Avenue ran over the Long Bridge to Virginia
, and the tracks along Virginia Avenue went east into Maryland
(see Landover Subdivision). On July 2, 1881, President James A. Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guiteau while awaiting a train at the station.
Continuing south in Virginia was the Alexandria and Washington Railroad, opened in 1857. The Baltimore and Potomac acquired this line after reaching it, operating it until 1901, when the Washington Southern Railway (the successor of the Alexandria and Washington) was taken over by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
, an independent bridge line
owned equally by the PRR and five other railroads. Soon after, in 1904, the line from the Long Bridge to Rosslyn, built by the Washington Southern, was split off into the Rosslyn Connecting Railroad, owned by the PRR.
(PB&W), also controlled by PRR.
and its Union Station
opened in 1907, serving the PB&W, the B&O and several other railroads. Subsequently the old B&P station at Sixth and B Street was demolished. All PB&W passenger trains from Baltimore were diverted to a new alignment called the Magruder Branch, splitting from the old one at Landover
and running west to run parallel with the B&O Washington Branch on the approach to the new station.
.
The Catonsville Short Line Railroad opened in 1884 and was immediately leased by the Baltimore and Potomac. This provided a short branch from just south of Baltimore to Catonsville.
Pope's Creek
The 48.7-mile (78.4 km) branch to Popes Creek was part of the original chartered main line, but from opening it was operated as a branch of the main line from the junction at Bowie. The main line from Bowie to Washington, a distance of 17.1 miles (27.5 km), was provided for in the charter as a branch.
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....
. It was the second railroad company to provide railroad service from Washington to the northeastern states, and became a major competitor with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
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...
. The B&P route is now 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...
, owned by 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...
.
Competition with the B&O
Walter Bowie was a major advocate of expanding the railroad system into southern MarylandSouthern Maryland
Southern Maryland in popular usage is composed of the state's southernmost counties on the "Western Shore" of the Chesapeake Bay. This region includes all of Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties and sometimes the southern portions of Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties.- History...
, and wrote articles lobbying for this under the pen name Patuxent
Patuxent
-People:* Patuxent people, an Algonquian people indigenous to what is now the Mid-Atlantic United States-Places and geological features:* Patuxent, Maryland, an unincorporated community in Charles County* Patuxent Range, a mountain chain in Antarctica...
Planter. After significant lobbying together with Thomas Fielder Bowie
Thomas Fielder Bowie
Thomas Fielder Bowie was an American politician.Born in Nottingham, Maryland near Queen Anne, in Prince George's County, Maryland Bowie attended Charlotte Hall Academy in St. Mary's County, Maryland and Princeton College. In 1826, Bowie was elected to the New York Alpha of Phi Beta Kappa...
, William Duckett Bowie
William Duckett Bowie
William Duckett Bowie , was an American politician. The eldest child of William Bowie and Kitty Beanes Duckett, he was born at Fairview Plantation in Prince Georges County, Maryland.-Career and Wealth:...
, and Oden Bowie
Oden Bowie
Oden Bowie , a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 34th Governor of the State of Maryland in the United States from 1869 to 1872.-Childhood:...
, the Maryland General Assembly
Maryland General Assembly
The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is a bicameral body. The upper chamber, the Maryland State Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber, the Maryland House of Delegates, has 141 representatives...
chartered the Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road Company on May 6, 1853. The company had the authority to construct a railroad from Baltimore via Upper Marlboro
Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Upper Marlboro is a town in and the county seat of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The live-in population of the town core proper was only 648 at the 2000 census, although Greater Upper Marlboro is many times larger....
and Port Tobacco to a point on 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...
between Liverpool Point and the St. Marys River
St. Marys River (Maryland)
The St. Marys River is a river in southern Maryland in the United States. It rises in southern St. Mary's County, and flows to the southeast through Great Mills, widening into a tidal estuary near St. Marys City, approximately wide at its mouth on the Potomac River, near the Chesapeake...
, and any branches of, at most, 20 miles (32 km) in length.
The B&P was organized on December 19, 1858, and began surveying the route May 3, 1859. Construction started in 1861 but progressed slowly until 1867, when the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and its ally the Northern Central Railway
Northern Central Railway
The Northern Central Railway was a Class I Railroad connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1861, when the PRR acquired a controlling interest in the Northern Central's stock to compete with the...
(NCRY) bought the company. The PRR at the time had access to Baltimore via its own lines (the NCRY from the north and the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad
Philadelphia, 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...
from the northeast), but used the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
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) and its Washington Branch to continue southwest to Washington. The PRR and B&O had trouble getting along, but Maryland refused to grant a charter to end the B&O's monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
on Baltimore-Washington travel. However, the Baltimore and Potomac charter allowed exactly that, via the clause that allowed branches; all the PRR had to do was take the line within 20 miles (32.2 km) of Washington. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
granted a charter for the section in Washington on February 5, 1867.
Thus the new Baltimore-Washington line opened on July 2, 1872, and the required "main line" to Popes Creek on the Potomac River, immediately relegated to branch status, opened on January 1, 1873. The final section, the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel
Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel
The Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel is a double track, masonry arch railroad tunnel beneath Baltimore, Maryland. It now serves Northeast Corridor rail service operated by Amtrak and MARC Train passenger railroads with an average of 135 trains per weekday traversing the tunnel.Whether considered a...
under Winchester Street and Wilson Street in Baltimore, opened on June 29, 1873, connecting the line to the PRR's Northern Central Railway and the new Baltimore Union Station. That year or the next, the Union Railroad also opened, extending the line east through another tunnel to the PRR's other Baltimore line, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.
Constitution Avenue
In Washington, D.C., Constitution Avenue is a major east-west street running just north of the United States Capitol in the city's Northwest and Northeast quadrants...
). This is the present site of the West Building of the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
, on the National Mall
National Mall
The National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service , and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
. The station was built over the old Washington City Canal
Washington City Canal
The Washington City Canal operated from 1815 until the mid-1850s in Washington, D.C. The canal connected the Anacostia River, called the "Eastern Branch" at that time, to Tiber Creek, the Potomac River, and later the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal...
, which complicated the construction of the foundation. Tracks
Rail tracks
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...
ran south from the station along Sixth Street to a wye junction at Sixth Street SW, Maryland Avenue SW, and Virginia Avenue SW. Ironically, the tracks along Maryland Avenue ran over the Long Bridge to Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and the tracks along Virginia Avenue went east into Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
(see Landover Subdivision). On July 2, 1881, President James A. Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guiteau while awaiting a train at the station.
Continuing south in Virginia was the Alexandria and Washington Railroad, opened in 1857. The Baltimore and Potomac acquired this line after reaching it, operating it until 1901, when the Washington Southern Railway (the successor of the Alexandria and Washington) was taken over by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. It is now a portion of the CSX Transportation system....
, an independent bridge line
Bridge line
A bridge line or bridge route is a rail carrier tasked primarily with moving traffic from one major carrier to another . Bridge lines often were located between two major cities, connecting rail carriers that served those cities and interchanging their cars...
owned equally by the PRR and five other railroads. Soon after, in 1904, the line from the Long Bridge to Rosslyn, built by the Washington Southern, was split off into the Rosslyn Connecting Railroad, owned by the PRR.
Consolidation
On November 1, 1902, the Baltimore and Potomac was consolidated with the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad to form the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington RailroadPhiladelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad
The Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia in the 20th century was a key component of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. Its 131 mile main line ran from Philadelphia to Washington...
(PB&W), also controlled by PRR.
New Washington Union Station alignment
The Washington Terminal CompanyWashington Terminal Company
The Washington Terminal Company was a corporation created in Washington, D.C. to provide support to railroads using Washington's Union Station. The company was established in 1901 and was jointly owned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad. The...
and its Union Station
Union Station (Washington, D.C.)
Washington Union Station is a train station and leisure destination visited by 32 million people each year in the center of Washington, D.C. The train station is served by Amtrak, MARC and Virginia Railway Express commuter rail services as well as by Washington Metro subway trains and local buses...
opened in 1907, serving the PB&W, the B&O and several other railroads. Subsequently the old B&P station at Sixth and B Street was demolished. All PB&W passenger trains from Baltimore were diverted to a new alignment called the Magruder Branch, splitting from the old one at Landover
Landover, Maryland
Landover is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, within the census-designated place of Greater Landover. The Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Complex is in Landover...
and running west to run parallel with the B&O Washington Branch on the approach to the new station.
Late 20th century
Since then, the line has passed under control of Penn Central in 1968, followed by Conrail and Amtrak. Since the breakup of Conrail in 1999, Norfolk Southern has provided freight service over the main line. However, the Pope's Creek Subdivision (originally part of the chartered main line) is operated by CSX TransportationCSX 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...
.
Branches
CatonsvilleThe Catonsville Short Line Railroad opened in 1884 and was immediately leased by the Baltimore and Potomac. This provided a short branch from just south of Baltimore to Catonsville.
Pope's Creek
The 48.7-mile (78.4 km) branch to Popes Creek was part of the original chartered main line, but from opening it was operated as a branch of the main line from the junction at Bowie. The main line from Bowie to Washington, a distance of 17.1 miles (27.5 km), was provided for in the charter as a branch.