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38-574: Even before its opening, the construction of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) prompted land speculation including the 1870 founding of Huntington City (renamed Bowie in 1880). In August 1870, Benjamin Plumb, who laid out the town, sold two lots to the railroad under the condition they be used as a station and an engine house by 1875. The line opened from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. via Huntington on July 2, 1872. The section from Washington to Bowie

76-574: A Howe truss bridge over the B&;P line near Cheverly, MD . In August 1873, the Western Maryland Railway was connected to the B&P just west of the B&P tunnel at Fulton Avenue, thus creating a new connection all the way to Hagerstown . The first Baltimore and Potomac station in Washington was a simple wood-frame structure. A more substantial brick and stone building opened in 1873 at

114-881: A former B&O Railroad caboose obtained from the B&;O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. The station building houses exhibits and artifacts, while the tower contains the National Railroad Historical Society's Martin O'Rourke Railroad Research Library. The buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Bowie Railroad Buildings in 1998. Baltimore and Potomac Railroad The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) operated from Baltimore , Maryland , southwest to Washington, D.C. , from 1872 to 1902. Owned and operated by

152-411: A single worker in an interlocking tower to control multiple railroad switches by means of electrical controls. The original Bowie Tower, which controlled the junction of the mainline, opened in the 1890s. It was destroyed by a fire in 1910. The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), which had controlled the B&P since the 1870s and acquired it outright in 1902, immediately constructed a replacement tower. In

190-538: The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) began subsidizing the service soon after. In 1978, Amtrak began operating the commuter-oriented Chesapeake between Washington and Philadelphia , making local stops including at Bowie. Amtrak took over the operation of the Baltimore-Washington service (retitled AMDOT) under contract to MDOT on January 1, 1983. Now largely redundant to Amtrak intercity and

228-891: The Pennsylvania Railroad , it was the second railroad company to connect the nation's capital to the Northeastern U.S. , and competed with the older Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . Part of the B&P route is now part of Amtrak 's Northeast Corridor , the most heavily traveled American intercity passenger line; and of the Penn Line of the Maryland Transit Administration 's MARC commuter train service. The Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel , bored under north Baltimore in 1871-73 remains in use, for now. The Virginia Avenue Tunnel built in Southeast Washington in 1870-72,

266-654: The "Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road Company", granting it the authority to construct a railroad from Baltimore via Upper Marlboro in Prince George's County and Port Tobacco in neighboring Charles County to a point on the Potomac River between Liverpool Point and the St. Mary's River in St. Mary's County , southernmost in the state. The charter also allowed the construction of branches of up to 20 miles (32 km) in length. Preliminary surveying began in 1855. The B&P

304-632: The AMDOT regional service, the Chesapeake was cut on October 30, 1983. The MARC brand replaced AMDOT in 1984. On February 27, 1989, MARC service moved to Bowie State station at Bowie State University , which had room for a large park-and-ride lot and more direct access to Route 197 . Bowie Tower was used until 1986, when the signal and interlocking system on the line was computerized. The three buildings – station, shelter, and tower – were boarded up and unused. A 2009 Maryland Transit Administration analyzed

342-612: The Anacostia. In 1872 construction continued and the first milestone was the completion of the Virginia Avenue Tunnel on January 13, 1872. Three days later they completed the bridge over the Canal at K Street and all of the track in Washington, DC. At the same time they had built a bridge over Collington Branch for the main line to Pope's Creek and by February they had built rail to within two miles of Upper Marlboro. On May 14, 1872,

380-621: The B&P was granted permission by Congress to extend their Washington branch across the Potomac River Railroad Bridge to Virginia, if they would maintain it. When the bridge was damaged by an October 1, 1870, flood they chose to build a replacement bridge which they began working on in November 1870. At the same time, the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway , chartered in 1864, was gaining permission to connect to Alexandria and thus

418-529: The Baltimore-Washington line started on July 2, 1872 - the same day the Alexandria and Fredericksburg line opened between Fredericksburg and Quantico. This allowed for service between Richmond and Baltimore, but only with service as far north as Lafayette Avenue in Baltimore because the tunnel there was not complete. Until the tunnel was complete people travelled between the Lafayette station and Calvert Station, where

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456-635: The Little Patuxent River, they began laying track north from Odenton to the Patapsco River - while grading the road and digging a long cut south of Odenton. By the summer a construction train was running on the line delivering materials. The bridge over the Big Patuxent was finished on August 21, 1871, and the Little Patuxent shortly before that and track was lain to Bowie by August 31. The track

494-787: The Long Bridge and the future B&P. By the summer of 1870, work was underway on both the Virginia Avenue Tunnel and the Anacostia Railroad Bridge ; and by the fall track was being laid in a few places. A short track was extended from the A&;ERR in Annapolis to deep water to allow for the unloading of rail and ties and the B&P began laying rail south from the crossing of the A&ERR in Odenton on May 15, 1871. When they reached

532-675: The Northern Central Railway was, by Renshaw's omnibuses. Service to Richmond was possible because the Potomac Railroad between Quantico and Fredericksburg had opened in May 1872. The B&P opened with temporary depots in DC and in Baltimore which were replaced later with permanent ones and 20 stations, many of which were still not complete. On the same day, telegraph operations started along the line. The B&P started running freight trains on

570-571: The PRR and NCRY. Together the new railroads connected Baltimore, and the northern railroads, to Richmond and all of the Southern rail. In late 1873-74, the Washington City and Point Lookout Railroad, working with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, built the Baltimore, Washington and Alexandria Branch Railroad between Hyattsville, MD and Shepherd's Landing in Washington, DC which required the construction of

608-505: The Pope's Creek Branch to Marlboro later in the summer of 1872 and passenger trains there by November. The line to Pope's Creek was finished in late December, formally opened on January 1, 1873, and the first trains were run the next day. It was immediately relegated to branch status. The final section of the B&P, the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel under Winchester Street and Wilson Street in Baltimore, opened on June 29, 1873, connecting

646-400: The Pope's Creek Line, including a passenger and freight station at Collington . Today, a 5,200-foot railroad siding is all that remains of this stop, although the spur is still in use. It is located at milepost 3.0 on the spur, just south of where the spur crosses under Maryland Route 450 near Maryland Route 197 . Railway museum A railway museum is a museum that explores

684-623: The Potomac. The B&P was working with the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and its ally, the Northern Central Railway (NCRY), which wanted its own route to Washington, DC and Virginia. Congress granted permission in an act approved February 5, 1867, the PRR then purchased a controlling share of the B&P Stock and construction of the railroad started for the section between the Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad (A&ERR) and Upper Marlboro in

722-452: The buildings were restored to their Pennsylvania Railroad livery of gray with burgundy trim. The complex of buildings are significant for their contribution to the development of rail transportation in the region, and as examples of the types of buildings commonly associated with small-scale rail junctions in the early 20th century. The railroad depot structures in Old Bowie are rare survivors of

760-510: The control of the PRR. The Washington Terminal Company and its Union Station opened in 1907, serving the PB&;W, the B&O and several other railroads. 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

798-402: The early 1930s, the PRR began straightening and upgrading the main line. A new station building was built at the same site, with a small passenger shelter across the tracks. In 1934, the PRR moved a 1913-built interlocking tower from Severn to Bowie Junction. Passenger service from Bowie to Pope's Creek ended on October 29, 1949, though the line continued to be used for freight service. The PRR

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836-528: The line to the PRR's Northern Central Railway (north to Harrisburg ) and Baltimore's existing Calvert Street Station . A month later, on July 24, 1873, the Union Railroad also opened, extending the line eastward through another tunnel to the PRR's other Baltimore line, the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) northeast to Delaware and Pennsylvania. It was almost entirely paid for by

874-462: The morning of July 2, 1881, U.S. President James A. Garfield was shot in the waiting room of the B&P station in Washington, D.C. Although the shot was not fatal, he died in September 1881 as a result of infections from the injury. On November 1, 1902, B&P was consolidated with PW&B to form the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PB&W) and the new railroad came under

912-462: The new Long Bridge opened and the B&P was able to use it to bring in supplies from the south. Around the same time, Congress granted the B&P permission to build a depot at the corner of 6th and B (Now Constitution) NW on a site previously reserved for a park. The final spike for the "Main Line" to Pope's Creek was driven on June 10, 1872, but trains did not start running yet. Passenger service on

950-521: The new station. In 1968, the B&P came under the control of Penn Central . Amtrak took over intercity passenger service on the Washington Branch in 1971, while Penn Central continued to operate commuter service, without subsidy, until it went bankrupt in 1976. Conrail gained ownership after the Penn Central bankruptcy and it continued to provide commuter services on the line until 1983, when

988-662: The next year. Work on the line from Bowie to the District started around the same time. In 1869, the railroad was granted permission to use a right-of-way through the city of Baltimore, and to build an 800 foot long tunnel in the northwest of the city, to connect to the Northern Central Railway (NCRY). By the end of that year, the right-of-way had been graded from the Patapsco to the District Line and from Bowie to Upper Marlboro; and several small bridges had been constructed. In 1870,

1026-600: The numerous early 20th century railway stations in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The buildings were reopened as the Huntington Railroad Museum , later the Bowie Railroad Museum , a small railway museum maintained by the city government. A wooden 1922 Norfolk and Western Railroad caboose was also located on the museum grounds. Its deteriorating condition led to it being replaced in August 2016 by

1064-753: The other to Naval Proving Ground, Indian Head . The Mechanicsville line was eventually extended to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station at Cedar Point. Later a line was built off the Cedar Point line that went to the Chalk Point Generating Station - called the Herbert Subdivision. The Cedar Point line south of Hughesville was abandoned in the 1960's and the Indian Head line There were several passenger and freight stations on

1102-494: The possibility of restoring passenger rail service to La Plata and Lexington Park via the Pope's Creek Branch. Under that proposal, a Bowie Center station would have been built to the south near Route 50 to serve the new MARC branch. In 1992, the City of Bowie bought the buildings and moved them about 100 feet (30 m) away from the mainline off Amtrak property. The Maryland Historical Trust assisted with restoration, under which

1140-487: The railroad transferred its commuter rail services in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and the Baltimore-Washington area to local and state governments. In the case of the Washington Branch, MARC took over commuter rail service but did not buy the line as in 1981 Amtrak had bought it. But MARC did buy some other property, like the Odenton train station which was not served by Amtrak. The Pope's Creek Subdivision to Faulkner

1178-627: The southwest 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. On

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1216-488: Was merged into the Penn Central Transportation Company in 1968. When Amtrak took over intercity passenger service on the line from Penn Central in May 1971, Bowie and most other local stations between Washington, and Wilmington were left with only limited commuter service still operated by Penn Central. Conrail took over the unsubsidized Baltimore-Washington service at its creation on April 1, 1976;

1254-579: Was organized on December 19, 1858, and began surveying the route in earnest on May 3, 1859. Construction was then delayed by the American Civil War . In 1866, the B&P sought permission to build a branch into Washington from a point within 2 miles of the Collington (now Bowie) Post Office in Prince George's County and also signed a contract to begin construction of the main line between Baltimore and

1292-451: Was originally a branch line but soon became the more important route. The Pope's Creek Branch , the original mainline, opened from Huntington in January 1873. By this time, Bowie station was open at the junction. It was named after Oden Bowie , the railroad's proprietor, who served as the governor of Maryland from 1869 to 1872. In the 1880s, the development of the interlocking system allowed

1330-400: Was part of the original chartered main line, but from opening in 1873 (It started running freight to Marlboro in 1872) 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. Two lines were built off of off Pope's Creek, one going to Mechanicsville and

1368-516: Was replaced in 2016-18. The leading advocate for expanding the railroad system into southern Maryland was Walter Bowie , who wrote newspaper articles and columns under the pen name Patuxent Planter and who joined Thomas Fielder Bowie , William Duckett Bowie , and Oden Bowie (later Governor of Maryland ), in lobbying the Maryland General Assembly to approve the idea. Their efforts bore fruit on May 6, 1853, when lawmakers chartered

1406-446: Was retained by Conrail. Following the breakup of Conrail in 1999, Norfolk Southern provided freight service over the Washington Branch and CSX Transportation handled the Pope's Creek freight traffic. The Catonsville Short Line Railroad opened in 1884 and was immediately leased by the Baltimore & Potomac. This provided a short branch from just south of Baltimore to Catonsville . The 48.7-mile (78.4 km) branch to Popes Creek

1444-524: Was the heaviest track ever used in Maryland up to that time. By September 1871, The B&P was actively building bridges across the Potomac, the Patapsco, Gwynn Falls and Anacostia ; and working on the tunnels in DC and Baltimore. The first freight service was performed by October 1871. By Oct 25, the tacks had been lain all the way from Bowie to Beaver Dam. By late November the bridges over Beaver Dam and Watts Branch were complete and track had been extended to

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