Train Station of the WB&A

Maryland Historical Society

Once one of the country's finest and fastest electric interurban railways, the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis (WB&A) served the three cities in its title for only 27 years before succumbing to an early death. But, while alive, it not only provided fast, clean rail service to the area, but was responsible for the creation of two Maryland institutions--Fort Meade and the Bowie (BOO-wee) racetrack.

During the brief but heady “interurban era” in the early 1900s, a group of Cleveland, Ohio, electric railway entrepreneurs decided that the Baltimore-Washington market was ideal for a high-speed, showpiece line using the most advanced technology of the time. It was risky because the Baltimore-Washington corridor was already well-served by the steam-powered Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) and Pennsylvania Railroads. But they reasoned that cheap, clean, and frequent electric service would win business.

Thus, the Ohio railway men laid out an almost straight, double-track route paralleling the two steam railroads, but located slightly to the east in less populated territory. The route entered both Baltimore and Washington over city streets--in the case of Washington, a long stretch shared with local streetcars. To reach Annapolis, they bought and electrified the Annapolis, Washington & Baltimore (the onetime Annapolis & Elk Ridge Railroad), a steam railroad that ran at right angles to their main line and crossed it midway between Baltimore and Washington.

The Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis began running in 1908 from Liberty Street in Baltimore to the Washington outskirts, and later reached the heart of downtown on 15th Street at the Treasury. The single-track Annapolis branch began at Annapolis Junction on the B&O, crossed the WB&A main line at a spot just east of Odenton, and headed east to Annapolis via Millersville and Crownsville.

Once onto their own right-of-way, the WB&A’s expresses regularly hit 60 mph, but unfortunately, street running in their terminal cities slowed their overall time. A typical B&O express made the trip in 50 minutes, but the best the WB&A could do was an hour and 20 minutes. Offsetting these handicaps were its cleanliness, lower fares, half-hourly express service, and better-located downtown terminals.

The company also found creative ways to generate new business. In 1914, for example, it enticed the Southern Maryland Agricultural Fair Association to establish its planned new racetrack next to the WB&A’s main line at Bowie. However, its biggest coup came as America prepared to enter World War I and the Army scrambled for a training camp site near Washington. George Bishop, the WB&A’s well-connected president, persuaded the brass to look at a large tract of woods and farmland on the WB&A’s Annapolis branch just west of Odenton. It was a sale, and Camp Meade was hurriedly born in September 1917. While the B&O and Pennsylvania Railroad also had access to the camp for long-distance troop trains and freight shipments, the WB&A carried all the camp construction workers, troops taking leave, and visitors. At one point, it scheduled no less than 84 special trains a day out of Camp Meade.

With prospects looking bright, in 1921 the WB&A bought the neighboring Annapolis Short Line, another electric line that ran directly from Baltimore to Annapolis. Afterward, it could boast an 81-mile system consisting of its Baltimore-Washington main line and two routes to Annapolis. Until the Defense Highway was built in the late 1920s, the WB&A was the only practical way to get from Washington, D.C., to Maryland’s capital in Annapolis.

But in the end, automobile, railroad, and bus competition doomed the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis, and the Depression finished it off. Death came in August 1935, and the superb main line--beautifully maintained to the end--was dismantled along with the branch between Odenton and Annapolis. The former Annapolis Short Line route was saved, however, and as the Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad, it continued running electric trains until 1950.

Merriken, John E. Every Hour on the Hour: A Chronicle of the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis Electric Railroad. Published jointly by LeRoy O. King Jr., Dallas, Texas, and Central Electric Railfans Association, Chicago, 1993.