Washington, Brandywine and Point Lookout Railroad
The Washington, Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad, then the Southern Maryland Railroad, as planned
|
|
| Locale | Washington, DC to Seat Pleasant, Maryland and Brandywine, Maryland to Patuxent River, Maryland |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1881–July, 1954 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Washington, Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad (WB&PL), now defunct, was an American railroad of southern Maryland and Washington, DC built in the 19th century. The troubled WB&PL, originally the Southern Maryland Railroad operated in and out of bankruptcy and changed its name numerous times. It consisted of two pieces, one serving Washington, D.C. and Seat Pleasant, MD and the other, a single track line connecting Patuxent River, MD to the Pennsylvania Railroad. Despite numerous problems, the railroad was able to survive for 73 years before shutting down in 1954. The Washington, DC section was absorbed by the Chesapeake Beach Railway and later became the East Washington Railway, which stayed in business until 1978. Parts of the right-of-way are now used for homes, a rail spur and a rail trail.
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 roads 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, DC, 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. A commission was appointed, money was raised, and an engineer was hired to build an eighty-mile rail line.
In 1871, the SMR began construction on its East Washington line by laying its tracks close to the Old Bladensburg-Piscataway Road and building a station near the Sheriff farm. Construction began at Chesapeake Junction and two miles of line were built connecting with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Deanwood.
...
Wikipedia