Today, the concept of a train
operating along a city street is as unusual to most people as a fish out
of water, and in most ways this is true, as the last known operation of
actual railroad service along any of the city's remaining street trackage
was about 1997 along Wicomico Street. However, there was once a time
when a significant amount of the city's frieght traffic operated along
the streets along the rails. Street laid railroad trackage was common
in many places, including, but not limited to:
|
Street (from
entry to end)
|
Operator
|
Discontinuance
|
| Monument Street
(Fallsway to Central) |
Northern Central
/ Pennsylvania |
early 1970's. |
| Central Avenue (Madison
to Eastern) |
Northen Central
/ Pennsylvania |
early 1970's |
| Guilford Avenue
(Madison to Saratoga) |
Northern Central/
PRR/ Conrail |
ca. 1995 |
| Pratt Street (Parkin
to East Falls) |
B&O / Chessie |
ca. 1970 |
| East Falls Avenue
(Pratt to Aliceanna) |
B&O /Chessie |
ca. 1970 |
| Fleet Street (East
Falls to Boston) |
B&O / Chessie |
ca. 1982 |
| Aliceanna Street
(East Falls to Boston) |
B&O / Chessie |
ca. 1982 |
| Caroline Streeet
(Aliceanna to Thames) |
B&O / Chessie |
ca. 1982 |
| Boston Street (Fleet
to Clinton) |
B&O / Chessie |
1985 |
| Haven Street (Lombard
to Eastern) |
B&O |
1960's. |
| Light Street (Pratt
to Key Hwy,) |
B&O / Chessie
/ CSX |
1989 |
| Key Highway (Light
to McComas) |
B&O / Chessie
/ CSX |
1989 |
| Wicomico Street
(Monroe to Scott) |
B&O / Chessie
/ CSX |
1997 |
In addition, numerous other streets,
paricularly those in Fells Point, contained short stretches of street trackage
as well. These tracks provided crucial direct access to factories
and suppliers located deep within the city, as well as the city docks at
the Harbor on Pratt Street, and could be considerably busy during their
operation, particularly at night.
However, as many of these
suppliers
closed their doors and relocated, and others turned to trucks to ship
and
receive cargo, the importance of these rails began to wane. Among
the earlier ones to go was the stretch along Pratt Street passing the
Inner
Harbor, a route that had the added benefit of offering a detour around
the Howard Street Tunnel (you can bet that CSX wishes it was still
there after the 2001 Howard Street Tunnel fire). Gradually,
other once vital portions of this track were judged to be unnecessary
by
their operators, and have since been left to be gradually paved over in
stretches and spots. In 1985, the Chessie System officially
abandoned
all of the remaining Fells Point Trackage, once a labyrinth of
connections
and spurs.

An abundance of street laid railroad trackage from both the PRR and the
B&O could be found about the Fells Point area, as indicated by the
green lines in the above map. Orange lines indicate the presence
of streetcar tracks.
The last three sections of operating
street trackage were the Key Highway-Light Street section of CSX routing,
a portion of the Guilford Avenue trackage, and the Wicomico Street Spur
trackage. Eventually, even these three segments would bow out.
First to go was the Key Highway
stretch,
which was no longer needed once McCormick moved all of its operations
out
of its Light Street Location and into its newer Hunt Valley
properties.
Guilford Avenue was still used from Madison Street to Centre Street to
supply the Sunpapers with newsprint. However, when the Sun built
a new headquarters for its printing operations near the Hanover Street
bridge, the use of the spur became erratic, until finally being
abandoned
altogether by 1995. Today, new Central Air Conditioning units stand
where the spur was once located, while a landscaping project has
chopped off access to the trackage. The last spur to see use however
was a six block stretch along Wicomico Street, which still served a
drywall
manufacturer at Wicomico and Bayard Streets, where despite the presence
of several spurs offshooting it, any cars were simply left to be loaded
in the middle of the street. The last observed use of this stretch
was in 1997, although the segment was passable until a 2003 repaving of
Monroe Street buried the first crossing, thus isolating this stretch of
interesting rail.
So what remains of Baltimore's
Railroad Street Trackage?!? PLENTY!
Depite several years passing since their
use, almost all Baltimore Streets that once operated trains along them
show some sort of evidence of this former operation. Wicomico Street
and Guilford Avenue still remain useable, although many spurs have long
since been covered, removed, or made impassible from either patch paving
or rail damage. Key Highway recieved a startling amount of rebuilding
in the mid-1990's and bears little resemblence to the street it once was,
although spurs can be observed in spots. Central Avenue still retains
portions of rail and spurs visible in many areas, although most of Monument
Street recieved a major concrete resurfacing. Finally, the Fells
Point Trackage still remains in many disconnected spots. Interestingly,
in some points, the rail on Belgian Block Streets has been removed, and
the blocks patched in with new blocks, creating a mostly natural look.
Boston Street in trendy Canton, however, was victim to a beautification
project that involved the removal of virtually all traces of the old rail
line, thus destroying a good bit of the true historic character of the
artery.

|

The Wicomico Street Trackage in Southwest Baltimore abounds in
switches, though most are welded to the straight position, even though
the trackage has since been orphaned.
|

The Wicomico Street trackage passes a number of very charismatic old industrial buildings that also look in vain for use.
|

A two block stretch of street
trackage remains along Eden Street in Fells Point, although pretty well
severed from serving any real use.
|

Just adding some truly authentic
scenery to an otherwise "prettyfied" historic landscape is this service
track along Thames Street in Fells Point, one of the few street tracks
following a curved street.
|

An interesting run-around can still be seen on the southernmost block
of Wolfe Street in Fells Point, where two tracks run briefly parrallel.
|

Another view of the same trackage from the center of the street.
|

A bit further east in Canton, and looking north on Lakewood Avenue from
O'Donnell, one finds this generally sharp looking section of rail.
|

But upon looking South, one realizes just how orphaned this stretch of
track actually is. Before the rebuilding of Boston Street, the
rail connected to the lead track that rode the center of Boston Street
to connect with B&O/Chessie trackage.
|

Track along Guilford Avenue
runs along a "Service Drive" for a few blocks before resuming its run in
the center of the street. Diverging track coming off in background
was the lead to the spur used by the Sunpapers, the segment's last customer.
|

Rails at the B&O Museum
at Mount Clare dead end now at this bend in the Parking Driveway to the East, but once
continued straight ahead for a lengthy run in the middle of Pratt Street.
|

Thinly veiled is the rail
that once ran along Key Highway, ultimately leading to an interchange at
Pratt and Light Streets. Portions of the spur remain exposed, while
parts on the Northern end look like this.
|

Although the guideways have
been smoothed over with Popcorn mix, it's still easy to tell that there
was once a railroad spur here, particularly at the end. This is the
spur that once served the McCormick plant on Light Street, and was the
last use of the Key Highway track in the 1980's. In the backdrop,
the "mainline" remains uncovered.
|

Little Buren Street near
the City Jail is one of those odd thorofares where it is nearly impossible
to tell where the street ends and the sidewalk begins.
|

Nevertheless,
this trackage used by WM and PRR trains offers numerous clues of a once
busy past, including the interchange onto the Monument Street trackage
above.
|


A mish-mash of Rail, Belgian
Block, Brick, asphalt, and popcorn mix make up the Southbound flow lane
of Central Avenue above Orleans Street in East Baltimore by Dunbar High
School. Below here, the trackage fanned out into a sprawling network
of spurs and runarounds, before it was paved over with an asphault median
only recently.
|
|