Baltimore Belt Line
| Baltimore Belt Line | |
|---|---|
 B&O's overhead third-rail system at Guilford Avenue in Baltimore, 1901, part of the Baltimore Belt Line. The central position of the overhead conductors was dictated by the many tunnels on the line: the ∩-shaped rails were located at the highest point in the roof to give the most clearance[1] | |
| Overview | |
| Status | Operational |
| Locale | Baltimore, Maryland, United States |
| Operation | |
| Owner | Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (Original) CSX Transportation (Current) |
| Events | |
| Electrified via overhead rail | 1895 |
| Electrification removed | 1952 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Electrification | formerly electrified |
The Baltimore Belt Line was constructed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in the early 1890s to connect the railroad's newly constructed line to Philadelphia and New York City/Jersey City with the rest of the railroad at Baltimore, Maryland. It included the Howard Street Tunnel, the Mount Royal Station for B&O's Royal Blue Line passenger trains, and the first mainline railroad electrification in the United States. The line is currently operated by CSX Transportation as part of its Baltimore Terminal Subdivision.
Origins[edit]
The B&O's original connection to New York in Baltimore was through surface street transfers to the old Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B), with passenger / freight cars (also known then as rail carriages) pulled by horses along the east/west running East Pratt Street route, first between the B&O's old Pratt Street Depot at Pratt and South Charles Streets, then later using the new terminal and B.& O.'s general headquarters of Camden Street Station (built 1857-1865) to the PW&B's President Street Station (built 1849-1850) at President and Fleet Streets, east of the harbor past the waterfront piers from the early 1830s to early 1870s. This transfer process was also used because of ordinances passed by the Baltimore City Council in 1831 prohibiting the use of early steam locomotives within the city limits on downtown streets in the more primitive years of early American railroading. [2] In 1884, the PW&B was purchased and absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), the growing dominant regional line in the Northeast states and a major rival of the B&O, and the PRR cut off the connection to the East Coast seaboard's main line. The B&O then proceeded to build its Philadelphia Branch (formally known as the Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad) to connect to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, in turn connecting with the Central Railroad of New Jersey for B&O's New York service across the Hudson River to Manhattan. The combination also provided a connection to the Staten Island Railway, which served as the terminal switching company for the B&O's New York freight service across the Hudson River or Upper New York Bay to Manhattan. New B&O president Charles F. Mayer made the Belt Line a priority by the 1870s, and recruited young railroader Samuel Rea to work on it as Chief Engineer.[3][4]
Construction[edit]
Connecting the new Philadelphia Branch to the rest of the B&O system was a considerable engineering challenge. A new surface line across the center of town was politically impossible and prohibitively expensive. Building around the outskirts of town would have required massive regrading and bridging, as the terrain is extremely hilly and the line would cut across every watershed flowing into the harbor. As a temporary expedient, traffic was handled through Baltimore on carfloats across the Patapsco River / Baltimore harbor and port from Canton to Locust Point, but it was clear that a direct connection would have to be built.
The route the B&O chose started from the existing end of track at Camden Street Station, at the west end of the "The Basin" (modern Inner Harbor) of the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River. A tunnel was constructed directly under Howard Street, heading north/south until just before it crossed the existing PRR line.
At the north portal of the tunnel, Mount Royal Station was constructed between 1891-1896. The track then curved around the northwest corner of the center city going east, passed through six other (much shorter) tunnels, continuing across the northern outskirts of downtown, curving around the Northeast corner of the old City, finally heading southeast to meet the already constructed line just north of the Canton neighborhood and connecting with the East Coast route. The cost of construction drove the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad into bankruptcy shortly after the line opened in 1895, 68 years after the line was founded in 1827 as America's first passenger / freight raiload.
Initially there were plans to build three new stations in Baltimore, but concern for interference with freight haulage and expense eventually reduced this to a single station at Mount Royal Avenue< just west by the Jones Falls stream, which opened on September 1, 1896. Lower-level platforms were added later at the east end of B&O's Camden Street Station in 1897.[2][5]
Howard Street Tunnel[edit]
{{Infobox station | name = Howard Street Tunnel | image = Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Howard Street Tunnel, 1300 Mount Royal Avenue (Baltimore, Maryland).jpg | image_caption = Howard Street Tunnel | coordinates = 39°18′17″N 76°37′15″W / 39.30472°N 76.62083°WCoordinates: 39°18′17″N 76°37′15″W / 39.30472°N 76.62083°W | structure = | platform = | line = Baltimore Terminal Subdivision | depth = | tracks =
- ^ "A ninety-six ton electric locomotive". Scientific American. New York. 10 August 1895.
- ^ a b Herbert W. Harwood, Jr., Impossible Challenge. Baltimore, Md.: 1979. (ISBN 0-934118-17-5)
- ^ Jonnes, Jill, 1952- (2007). Conquering Gotham : a Gilded Age epic : the construction of Penn Station and its tunnels. New York: Viking. pp. 39-40. ISBN 978-0670031580. OCLC 71266589.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- ^ Stover, John F. (1995). History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (1st pbk. print. 1995 ed.). West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press. p. 174. ISBN 1557530661. OCLC 34099225.
- ^ Herbert H. Harwood, Jr., Royal Blue Line. Sykesville, Md.: Greenberg Publishing, 1990. (ISBN 0-89778-155-4)
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