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Pope's Creek Subdivision

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Bowie Junction, where the Pope's Creek Subdivision (left) meets the Northeast Corridor (right). The Bowie interlocking tower, no longer operational, has been restored and is part of the Huntington Railroad Museum.

The Pope's Creek Subdivision is a CSX Transportation railroad line in Maryland, running from Bowie the Morgantown Generating Station in Morgantown, Maryland.[1] The Herbert Subdivision to the Chalk Point Generating Station connects to it at Brandywine and the Indian Head-White Plains railroad used to connect to it at White Plains. Its name comes from Pope's Creek in Newburg, MD to where it originally ran.

History

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The Pope's Creek Subdivision was constructed by the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, which was organized on December 19, 1858. Surveying for the route began on May 3, 1859, with earlier surveys starting as early as 1855.[2] Construction began in 1861 but progressed slowly until 1867.[3] In that year, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and its ally, the Northern Central Railway (NCRY), acquired the company.[4]

At that time, the PRR had access to Baltimore via its own lines: the NCRY from the north and the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad from the northeast. However, to travel southwest to Washington, D.C., it had to use the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) and its Washington Branch. Since the PRR and B&O were rivals, the Maryland General Assembly refused to grant the PRR a charter to break the B&O's monopoly on Baltimore-Washington travel.

Fortunately for the PRR, the existing Baltimore and Potomac charter included a clause allowing branches to be built within 20 miles (32 km) of Washington. By acquiring this line, the PRR could circumvent the B&O's monopoly. On February 5, 1867, the PRR obtained a charter for the section in Washington.[5]: 335 

The new Baltimore-Washington line opened on July 2, 1872 with a spur to the Long Bridge and the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&P). The required "main line" to Pope's Creek on the Potomac River was opened on January 1, 1873, providing freight service to Southern Maryland and a connection via barge to the RF&P at Aquia Creek, and was immediately relegated to branch status.[5]: 339  [6]: 46  The main line didn't connect to the NCRY until the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel opened on June 29, 1873.[7]

In the spring of 1872, before the line to Pope's Creek had even opened, the Southern Maryland Railroad began to grade a rail line from Brandywine, off the Pope's Creek Subdivision, to Point Lookout, Maryland. Due to funding delays, the line didn't start running trains until 1883, and even then only to Mechanicsville, MD.

In 1902, the B&P was merged with the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad to form the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad.

In 1918 the Navy built a spur off the Pope's Creek Subdivision from White Plains to the Naval Powder Factory at Indian Head to aid in the production of smokeless powder (a propellant used in firearms and artillery). It continued to provide an important link for the production of powder during World War II.[8]

In 1926 the line off of Brandywine, now called the Washington, Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad, was extended to Forrest Hall, but the owners were unable to extend it to Esperenza or Point Lookout. In 1940, poor maintenance and light use led them to abandon the Mechanicsville to Forrest Hall segment. Two years later the Navy took control of the rail line and extended it to the new Patuxent River Naval Air Station at Cedar Point. The Navy ran passenger service on the line, until it was cancelled on Pope's Creek, as well as freight trains that delivered gasoline, coal, ammunition and airplane parts.

Passenger service declined in the 20th century and service from Bowie to Pope's Creek ended on October 29, 1949.[9] An excursion train road the line to Pope's Creek in 1955, possibly the last passenger train on the line that far south;[10] but in 1966, Democratic Congressional candidate Harry A. Boswell, Jr. rented a locomotive and rail car for a campaign ride that went to Brandywine - because of the weight of the car and the condition of the rail the PRR wouldn't let him go any farther south.[11] Boswell came in 3rd in the primary, losing to Hervey Machen.

Freight service also declined. After World War II, the Navy decided to close smokeless powder production operations at Indian Head. The SMECO power plant at Pope's Creek, which it had supplied with coal, went out of service in 1953 and the Navy stopped running trains to Patuxent River the next year. However the rail line still served the Pope's Creek Salvage Company, which scrapped ships and sent the steel to the Bethlehem Steel plant at Sparrow's Point via gondola. When it closed in August of 1962, the railroads south of La Plata went out of service and by 1965 traffic south of Bowie had essentially discontinued.[10] The same year, the PRR stopped running trains on the Cedar Point line south of Hughesville, Maryland and the next year the Navy declared it excess.

New life came in the form of electricity plants. In 1962, the PRR built a spur off of the Cedar Point line from the north side of Hughesville to the new Chalk Point Generating Station to deliver coal starting in 1964. This spur was called the Herbert Subdivision. While the name of the line to Chalk Point is a not well documented, one source attributes it to John C. Herbert, who was a Vice-President of PEPCO at the time.[12]

A few years later, in the late 1960's, Pepco built 6 miles of rail from Faulker, MD\Lothair Station to the Morgantown Generating Station to facilitate construction of that facility. When the Morgantown plant opened in 1970 it used fuel brought by barge, and some coal brought- mostly by truck.[13] In 1973 traffic was so low that a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Economic and Community Development said that no trains had run on the line in 5 to 6 years.[14] However, due to the oil crises of 1973, the plant switched exclusively to coal and due to the volume brought it by train, thus increasing the importance of the Pope's Creek Branch.[10] The increased traffic necessitated significant rehabilitation of the line.[15]

In the early 1970's, the line from Faulkner to Pope's Creek was scrapped as was the Cedar Point line from Hughesville to Cedar Point.[10]

Ownership of the old B&P line passed from the PRR to the Penn Central Transportation Company in 1968 and to Conrail in 1976. In 1981, the section from Baltimore to Washington, known as the NorthEast Corridor (NEC), was sold to Amtrak, and the line from Bowie to Faulkner was retained by Conrail. When Conrail was split in 1999, CSX Transportation was assigned the line. The power company owns the railroad line south of Faulkner.[10]

After decades of non-use and efforts to start a tourist railroad, the spur to White Head was donated to Charles County as part of the Federal Lands-to-Parks program. The rails were removed and the line was converted to a rail trail in 2008.[16][8]

Chalk Point operator GenOn Energy Holdings closed the two coal-fired units at the plant in June 2021.[17] The plant is scheduled for full decommissioning in 2027.[18] Without coal trains there are no more regular customers on the subdivision and in 2022 the Chalk Point switchers were moved out of state.[19][20]

In 2022, the Morgantown Generating Station closed its two coal-fired units and thus stopped running regular coal trains to it.[21]

Current operation

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The Pope's Creek Subdivision currently hosts 2 to 3 trains a week (a down and back rock train to Aggregate Industries in La Plata; a rock train to Chaney Enterprizes in Waldorf and an occasional local serving a few businesses in the Waldorf and La Plata area)[citation needed] from its interchange at Bowie with Amtrak's Northeast Corridor main line.[21] A wye track exists at Bowie to allow trains to enter Amtrak's main line and go north or south, so that a second engine or cab car is not needed. Amtrak limits these trains to late night/very early morning runs and no more than 160 cars. The line is mostly single tracked, with long sidings in Collington, Upper Marlboro and Brandywine.[22][23]

The coal fired units at Morgantown and Chalk Point Generating Stations have been closed, and there is no longer regular service to these points, but the lines have not been abandoned.

Future conversion possibility

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It has been suggested that the line be used for transit, but a 2009 study considered the route for commuter rail and found it to be circuitous, slow, and costly.[18] A 2017 study proposed running a light rail line alongside the Pope's Creek Subdivision from the White Plains north to the county line and then from the rail line to the Branch Avenue Metro, but if the line were ever abandoned that plan might be modified to use the rail corridor.[24]

Remnants

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Much of the railbed of the abandoned section between Pope's Creek and Faulkner, including a rail trestle over Pope's Creek remains.[10] The county acquired the abandoned Popes Creek Railroad corridor (and several adjacent properties) in 2014 which it had been planning to turn into a rail trail since at least 2007.[25][26][27] Despite completed plans in 2017 and a 2018 groundbreaking, the trail has yet to be constructed.[28][29] In 2024, Phase I of the trail received a $1.8 grant from MDOT.[30]

In 2021, the county acquired Gilligan’s Pier, a 17.54-acre site located along Popes Creek, bordered on the north by the rail line.[31][32]

See also

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pope's Creek Subdivision.
  1. ^ "P0-Popes Creek Sub - the RadioReference Wiki".
  2. ^ "AFFAIRS IN PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY". The Baltimore Sun. 16 February 1855.
  3. ^ "PRR Chronology 1859" (PDF). PRR Research. Philadelphia Chapter Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. March 2005. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  4. ^ "PRR Chronology 1867" (PDF). PRR Research. Philadelphia Chapter Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. June 2004. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  5. ^ a b Wilson, William B. (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates.
  6. ^ Schafer, Mike; Solomon, Brian (1997). Pennsylvania Railroad. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks Intl. ISBN 0-7603-0379-7.
  7. ^ Wilson, William Bender (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company: With Plan of Organization. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates. p. 339. tunnel.
  8. ^ a b "The Story - Indian Head Rail Trail". Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  9. ^ Baer, Christopher T. (30 June 2003). "PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY DISCONTINUANCE/LAST RUNS OF PASSENGER SERVICE BY LINE SEGMENT" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society.
  10. ^ a b c d e f "POPE'S CREEK BRANCH". Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  11. ^ Homan, Richard (30 August 1966). "Boswell's 2-Car Campaign Train Finds Few Voters in Boondocks". The Washington Post.
  12. ^ Roloson, Kenneth F. (September 2003). "Herbert Subdivision". Railfan & Railroad. 22: 6.
  13. ^ "Pepco Set to Start $133-Million Plant". The Washington Post. 26 January 1967.
  14. ^ "Penn Central freights deemed unsafe kept open". The Baltimore Sun. 17 October 1973.
  15. ^ "A CONDENSED HISTORY OF THE POPES CREEK LINE as interpreted by Dave Goldsmith". Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  16. ^ McConaty, Nancy Bromley (2008-12-05). "Trail Officially Open". Maryland Independent. La Plata, MD. Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  17. ^ Shwe, Elizabeth (2020-08-14). "Two Coal Plants in Prince George's County Will Shut Down By Next Year". Maryland Matters. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  18. ^ a b "2022 Maryland State Rail Plan" (PDF). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  19. ^ "CSX's Popes Creek Subdivision". Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  20. ^ "CSX Freight Train Hauling Two Chalk Point EMD Switchers". Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  21. ^ a b "CSX's Popes Creek Subdivision". Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  22. ^ "HB-Herbert Sub - the RadioReference Wiki".
  23. ^ http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/CSX/CSX%20ETTs/CSX%20Baltimore%20Div%20ETT%20%234%201-1-2005.pdf CSX Baltimore Division Timetable
  24. ^ "Southern Maryland Rapid Transit Final Report" (PDF). Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  25. ^ "State Approves $146.5K for Pope's Creek Rail Trail". Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  26. ^ "Hoyer Announces $1.6 Million in Grants to Support Conservation in Charles County". Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  27. ^ "Popes Creek Rail Trail Property Acquired". Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  28. ^ "Charles County Commissioners May 8 update". 8 May 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  29. ^ Cranor, David. "Pope's Creek Rail Trail construction could start next year". Thewashcycle.com. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  30. ^ "FFY 2024 MDOT Grant Awards - Transportation Alternatives Program and Recreational Trails Program" (PDF). Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  31. ^ "County Acquires Open Space Funding for Pope's Creek Park". Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  32. ^ "POPES CREEK WATERFRONT PARK MASTER PLAN". Retrieved 7 August 2024.
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