Origins

The WB&A was originally incorporated in 1899 as The Potomac and Severn Electric Railway. On April 10, 1900, it changed its name to the Washington and Annapolis Electric Railway^[2] and finally, on April 8, 1902, to the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway.^[3]

In 1903, the WB&A purchased the Annapolis, Washington & Baltimore Railroad (AW&B) — formerly the Annapolis & Elkridge Railroad — which was closed, electrified and reopened.^[4] At the same time, it laid an almost straight double-track route parallel to the B&O and Pennsylvania railroads, but slightly to the east in less populated territory. On February 7, 1908, service began from Liberty Street in Baltimore to its Washington terminal at 15th and H Streets NE.^[5] After 1910, the line reached the heart of downtown on 15th Street near the Treasury.^[5] Another single track began at the B&O main line at Annapolis Junction, crossed the WB&A main line just east of Odenton, and headed east via Millersville and Crownsville to Annapolis.^[1]

A postcard advertising WB&A's interurban service from the Democratic National Convention of 1912, held at the Fifth Regiment Armory on North Howard Street to nominate Woodrow Wilson for U.S. president.^[6]

The line built by the WB&A, later called the Main Line, ran from Baltimore to Washington through Bowie, Glenn Dale Hospital, and Glenarden to Fairmont Heights where it met with the Chesapeake Beach Railway just outside Washington at Chesapeake Junction. From there, it continued to Deanwood on the Washington Railway and Electric Company's Seat Pleasant Line, running parallel to the Chesapeake Beach Railroad tracks and across the Benning Road Bridge into downtown Washington.

Once onto their own right-of-way, the WB&A's expresses regularly hit 60 mph, but street running in the 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.^[1]

Business along the route

6-car excursion extra departing Annapolis for Washington in 1910

Always looking for new sources of business, the railroad, in 1914, convinced the Southern Maryland Agricultural Fair Association to establish Bowie Race Track along the Main Line.^[1]

In September 1917, as the U.S. entered World War I, George Bishop, the WB&A's well-connected president, persuaded the U.S. Army to acquire land owned by the railroad and open a training facility. Camp Meade was established in the area roughly bounded by the B&O Washington Branch on the west, the Pennsylvania Railroad on the east, and the South Shore Line of the WB&A to the south. The installation was supposed to be a temporary facility, used only for the duration of the war (it is still in use today). The WB&A saw record traffic during this time as a result of freight and passenger service to the camp. In 1918, the railroad was running as many as 84 special trains a day.^[1]

Expansion

Share of the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railroad Company, issued 17. May 1921

With the business seemingly successful, the WB&A purchased the Baltimore & Annapolis Short Line in 1921.^[1] It became known as the "North Shore Line" and the Annapolis to Odenton line as the "South Shore Line". At this time, the B&A gave up its terminus at the Camden Street Station of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and started using the WB&A terminal on Liberty Street (between Lexington and Fayette) in Baltimore. Prior to 1921 the WB&A and B&A had run on separate, parallel tracks from Linthicum to Baltimore. But on March 16, 1921, a crossover connected the two parallel tracks at Linthicum operations ceased on the B. & O. track, and a new terminal was built at the southwest corner of South Howard and West Lombard Streets (current site after the early 1970s of Holiday Inn hotel) across from the Baltimore Civic Center (1st Mariner Arena).^[7] The WB&A now consisted of 81 miles of track and the only practical way to get from Washington, D.C., to Annapolis.

Equipment

WB&A arch window coach shown in 1908 timetable

WB&A arch window coach in 1908

Initial passenger equipment running from Baltimore-Washington to Annapolis was the "classic" 1900-1910 arch window all wood body truss rod frame interurban coach. In the 1920s when passenger business was good, the line purchased and operated steel two car articulated (attached body with a common center truck/boogie) coaches from Baltimore to Annapolis.^[8][9] This equipment later went to the Milwaukee Electric Line in Wisconsin.^[10]

Decline

Around the time of the purchase of the ASL, the Defense Highway was built providing an alternative route into Annapolis.^[1] As a result, gross receipts for the railroad began to decline. The railroad only survived because of a law exempting it from taxes. In January 1931, during the Great Depression, the extension of the law failed to pass by one vote and the line went into receivership.^[11] The line remained in operation for four more years and was eventually sold at auction in 1935. Evans Products Company of Detroit negotiated to buy the railroad in June 1935, but those negotiations failed and the railroad officially ceased operations on August 20, 1935.^[12][13] Scrap dealers eventually bought most of the rolling stock. Evans bought the Arlington and Fairfax railroad the next year. Over time, the rails were hauled away, though by the beginning of World War II some remained and at least one post-War home in the area used old rails in lieu of I-beams. The right of way within Washington, D.C., remained under the ownership of WRECo and then the old Capital Transit Company.^[14] At some point between 1951 and 1956, the tracks in D.C. were removed.^[15]

The right of way of the North Shore Line and some equipment was bought by the Bondholders Protective Society, who then formed the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad Company, which continued to operate rail passenger service between Baltimore and Annapolis until 1950 and freight service along with diesel passenger buses into the early 1970s to Brooklyn in South Baltimore, connecting with the #6 transit line for streetcars and buses of the old Baltimore Transit Company.

While the vast majority of the South Shore division was abandoned and sold for scrap in the 1930s, the portion between Annapolis Junction and Odenton was purchased and operated by the B&O to serve Fort Meade until sometime between 1979 and 1981. It too was removed. Only the junction tracks at Annapolis Junction, which are used by an aggregates terminal, and an abandoned spur to the old Nevamar plant in Odenton remain.

Accidents

On June 5, 1908, two of WB&A's single-car trains collided at Camp Parole, Maryland. Nine people died as a result of the crash, including Railroad Policeman J.G. Schriner.^[16] The trains were ferrying riders to and from the United States Naval Academy for graduation ceremonies at the time of the accident.

Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail and the Northeast Maglev

In the 2010s, an effort to build a maglev railroad between Washington and Baltimore led the Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail company (BWRR) to acquire a passenger railroad franchise previously held by the WB&A. The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) approved BWRR's application in 2015. BWRR, with its sister company Northeast Maglev, proposes to use the Japan-developed SCMaglev system to transport passengers from city to city in 15 minutes.^[18]

As of 2020, Northeast Maglev was working with the Federal Railroad Administration and Maryland Department of Transportation, the project sponsor, to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed railroad.^[19]

In 2021, BWRR attempted to take control of a 43-acre parcel of land for its planned station in Baltimore's Westport neighborhood through eminent domain. It argued that its purchase of the WB&A franchise gave it authority to take the land.^[20]