Washington, Brandywine and Point Lookout Railroad

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Washington, Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad
The Washington, Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad, then the Southern Maryland Railroad, as planned
Overview
LocaleWashington, D.C., to Seat Pleasant, Maryland, and Brandywine, Maryland, to Patuxent River, Maryland
Dates of operation1881–July, 1954
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Washington, Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad (WB&PL) (originally, the Southern Maryland Railroad) was an American railroad that operated in southern Maryland and Washington, D.C., from 1881 to 1954. Its single-track line connected Patuxent River in Maryland to the Pennsylvania Railroad. It operated in and out of bankruptcy and changed its name numerous times.

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

The Southern Maryland Railroad (SMR) was incorporated on March 20, 1868, “for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, and working a railroad from some point in Prince George’s County to Point Lookout.” As was typical of the railroads of the era, the alignment of the right-of-way bisected the peninsula created by the Potomac and Patuxent rivers. A rail line from the major north-south Potomac River crossings into Virginia near Washington, D.C., to a port on the Patuxent River near the Chesapeake Bay would be an ideal line to promote agricultural and mineral business and rail shipments from the counties of this peninsula.

WB&PL engine No. 5 at Mechanicsville, MD, 1 September, 1934.

[1] A commission was appointed, money was raised, and an engineer was hired to build an 80-mile rail line.

Washington City and Point Lookout Railroad[edit]

In 1872, a competitor railroad, the Washington City and Point Lookout Railroad was incorporated and authorized to run trains between Washington, D.C., and Point Lookout with connecting steamers to Norfolk, Virginia. It began building a line parallel to the SMR.[2] In 1876, the SMR was investigated for defrauding the state of Maryland, the sole shareholder in the company, and went bankrupt without running a single train.[3]

In 1878, the WC&PL was authorized to purchase the SMR but never did.[4]

Construction was later restarted in Brandywine where the SMR connected with the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (later the Pope's Creek branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad) and was built in a southeasterly direction. In 1881, the first train was run, serving Charlotte Hall and Mechanicsville. By 1884, the railroad had built 21 miles and graded 50 more in Maryland.[5] They also graded and partially laid out the right-of-way for 2.2 miles of railroad from Deanwood to the Maryland line in the District of Columbia.[6] By 1886, the railroad had laid down ties and some rail in D.C., but they never operated trains on this section, which later came under control of the Chesapeake Beach Railway.[7]

Washington & Potomac Railroad[edit]

The line declared bankruptcy in early 1886, and emerged on April 1 of that year as the Washington & Potomac Railroad (W&P).

In 1894, the W&P merged with the WC&PL, which was by then in receivership.[2]

Washington, Potomac & Chesapeake Railway[edit]

In 1900, the line went through another bankruptcy and emerged on July 24, 1901, as the Washington, Potomac & Chesapeake Railway.[8] The WP&C had a contentious relationship with the state. In 1910, it was ordered to run two trains a day, up from one, and to drop their prices.[9] The line had trouble fulfilling its obligations and in 1914 the state of Maryland threatened to withdraw their charter.[10]

Washington, Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad[edit]

At the end of 1917, the line again found itself in bankruptcy and was nearly scrapped due to the high price of scrap metal during World War I. In 1918, the state of Maryland attempted to have the U.S. government take over control of the railroad.[11] Farmers in the area bought the line from a salvage firm and in June 1918 the line began running again, this time under the name of the Washington, Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad, using a new gasoline engine. In November of 1921, work began on expanding the line to Hollywood and then to Esperanza (located on the Patuxent just downstream from the current Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge) with a spur off the main line south of California, where they hoped to gain access to an important freight terminal, and then later to Point Lookout. The work was made easier because much of the route had been surveyed and graded in the 1880's.[12] They had hoped to reach Hollywood by the summer of 1922, but work stalled and the extension only made it as far as Forrest Hall, where a new station opened in 1926.[13][14] In 1928, the railroad ended passenger service because it was no longer profitable.[15]

In the 1930s, revenues were dropping due to increased competition from the automobile and the line probably would have been gone for good, except for the intervention of World War II.

Navy control[edit]

In June 1942, the U.S. Navy took over the line, extended it to Millstone Landing on the Patuxent River the Patuxent River Naval Air Station's northernmost point and changed the name officially to the U.S. Naval Air Station Railroad although it was also known as the Brandywine and Cedar Point Railroad. The railroad included a wye just north of Lexington Park with a small stub into north Lexington Park.[16] The Navy operated an "accommodation" train that connected with the Pennsylvania Railroad in Brandywine until the PRR stopped passenger trains on the Pope's Creek Line in 1949. By 1952, the Navy had 55 miles of track, three diesel locomotives and three dozen railcars, but repairs became so costly by 1953 that the Navy decided to discontinue service and the last train ran in July 1954.[15]

Pennsylvania Railroad control[edit]

From 1954 to 1966, The PRR continued to run a weekly train through St. Mary's and used the line to deliver aviation fuel to the base. However, when fuel started coming in by barge, the importance of the line dwindled.[15]

In 1962, the Pennsy built a spur off of the line from the north side of Hughesville to the new Chalk Point Generating Station to deliver coal, bringing renewed value to the northern 11.5 miles of track.[17] This track is called the Herbert Subdivision.

In 1966, the line south of Hughesville was declared government excess.[15]

Downsizing[edit]

When train operation ceased on the section from Hughesville to Patuxent, it was offered for sale by the GSA, but there were no takers. On June 26, 1970, the St. Mary's County Commissioners purchased 28 miles of the abandoned right of way from Hughesville, Maryland, to Patuxent River, Maryland.[18]

The tracks were removed in the mid-1970s.

Stations on the line[edit]

Original line: pre-1942

  • Brandywine
  • Cedarville
  • Woodville
  • Gallant Green
  • Hughesville
  • Oaks
  • Charlotte Hall
  • New Market
  • Mechanicsville (original end-of-the-line)

In 1942, the federal government took over operations of the railroad and continued to make deliveries to stops on the original route. The line was extended and these stops added.

  • Oakville
  • Laurel Grove
  • Forrest Hall
  • Hillville
  • Hollywood
  • California
  • USN Pax River

After 1954: Pennsylvania Railroad operation

When the USN excessed the line in 1954 and the PRR took over operations, they delivered and took away freight shipments and occasionally carried a passenger car (USN) or caboose (also USN) for special movements to/from the Brandywine Junction, which became a Department of Defense Warehouse and shipping point until it was destroyed by fire. The Brandywine terminal was U.S. government property and was maintained by Public Works personnel from Patuxent River. The terminal was turned over to the Air Force just before it burned.

Surviving landmarks[edit]

  • CSXT trackage that runs from Brandywine to Hughesville, where it connects to a spur to the Chalk Point Generating Station. These tracks are now part of CSX's Herbert Subdivision
  • From Hughesville to the Patuxent River Naval Station, the railroad's right-of-way is being used to create the 28-mile Three Notch Trail. Its first mile opened on June 3, 2006; as of 2018, it had been extended to 11 miles.[19]
  • Mileposts, MP13 & W

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland". March 30, 1868.
  2. ^ a b "Maryland Session Laws, 1894". 1894.
  3. ^ "Proceedings and Acts of the Maryland General Assembly, 1876". 1876.
  4. ^ "Maryland Session Laws, 1878". 1878.
  5. ^ "Maryland Session Laws, 1884". 1884.
  6. ^ "Work on the Southern Maryland Railroad". The Evening Star. 9 June 1884.
  7. ^ "The Washington and Potomac Railroad". The Evening Star. 2 April 1886.
  8. ^ "Chesapeake Beach R Co v. Washington P & C R Co, 199 U.S. 247 (1905)".
  9. ^ "Session Laws of Maryland, 1910". 1910.
  10. ^ "Session Laws of Maryland, 1914". 1914.
  11. ^ "Maryland Session Laws, 1918". 1918.
  12. ^ "With Work Actually Under Way, St. Mary's Hopes to Have R.R.". The Baltimore Sun. 8 January 1922.
  13. ^ "Brandywine Road Plans Extension". The Washington Post. 16 January 1922.
  14. ^ "Trunk Line Association Docket". The Traffic Bulletin. 27: 24. 26 February 1926. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  15. ^ a b c d Leibe, Paul C. (27 December 2006). "Trains once rolled regularly through St. Mary's" (PDF). The Enterprise. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  16. ^ "Map of Calvert County Showing the Topography and Election Districts" (PDF). State of Maryland Department of Geology, Mines and Water Resources. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  17. ^ "Power Plant in a Hurry". The Washington Post. 23 January 1963.
  18. ^ "Amendments to Senate Bill 256" (PDF). 1998.
  19. ^ "Three Notch Trail Awarded $4.1 Million in Funding for 3.3 Mile Extension". 29 September 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2020.

External links[edit]

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