Baltimore Maryland

The President Street Station

This is all that remains of the President Street Station that was constructed in Baltimore Maryland near the present-day Inner Harbor area. The station itself was erected in 1849-50 as the southern terminus for the Philadelphia Baltimore and Wilmington Railroad (PB&W). In the early years passengers arriving at this station from Philadelphia, had to disembark and take a “hack” down Pratt Street about 6 blocks to the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad’s Camden Street Station. There they could board cars that were pulled out to the B&O’s Mt. Clare Station where a locomotive was attached to the front of the consist and the train ran to Washington DC. The reason for this interruption in travel in Baltimore was caused, in part, by a Baltimore City Ordinance which did not allow the railroads to use steam engines within the inner city area because of the noise, smoke, congestion, etc. By 1860’s, a track had been laid down Pratt Street connecting the 2 stations, but still, steam locomotives were not allowed to pull the cars, they had to be pulled by horses. The events of Spring 1861 demonstrated that these arrangements were inadequate and even dangerous. Two historical events from that era demonstrate the validity of this statement.

The first involved the journey of then-President Elect Abraham Lincoln as he made his way, ever-so-slowly by train from Springfield IL to Washington DC. After leaving New York City, Lincoln made his way to Philadelphia PA. While he was in Philadelphia, one of his travelling aides was approached by the President of the PB&W Railroad, S.M. Felton, and Allan Pinkerton then the head of a well-known (both then and now) private detective agency. Pinkerton reported that there was a plot developing in Baltimore to kidnap and/or possibly kill Lincoln as he moved between the two stations to make his train connections. Both Felton and Pinkerton urged the official party to depart from their published itinerary and depart for Washington immediately. Lincoln was told of the plot, but decided to go on to Harrisburg from Philadelphia anyway so that he could address the State Legislature at the Capitol.

However, once Lincoln had finished his task in Harrisburg, he assented to a deviation from his announced schedule. The plan had been for him and his “party” to spend the night in Harrisburg and depart the next day for Washington through Baltimore. However, under the re-arrangement he agreed to, his “Party” (including his family) stayed in Harrisburg that night, while he and a trusted companion (Ward Hill Lamon) departed for Philadelphia in a special train run just for the two of them. As soon as they departed Harrisburg, the telegraph wires were cut isolating that city, and all the reporters in it, from the rest of the country. That way even if it was discovered Lincoln had left Harrisburg, the news could not get out.

When Lincoln arrived in Philadelphia, minus his trademark “Stove-Pipe Hat” he boarded a sleeping car that had been reserved for him by one of Pinkerton’s operatives. The ruse used when making the reservation was that the party traveling was an ill relative who was going to Washington DC.

When Lincoln arrived at the President Street station shortly after 3 in the early morning, his car was quietly and quickly pulled down Pratt Street by horses and attached to a Washington DC –bound train. Lincoln, who apparently was awake during his trip through Baltimore, arrived in DC at 6 AM. While much of the opposition press “ragged” him for his maneuver through Baltimore, later events were to prove that he made a wise choice. (Note: While I have read about this event in several different sources, I used BP Thomas’ Biography in constructing this sequence of events.)

It should be noted, given the posting of this dating, that this Philadelphia-Washington routing Lincoln took in 1861, is the same one taken January 16, 2009, by President Obama when he arrived in Washington for the Inauguration. While obviously the track alignment has changed somewhat from the original Lincoln train ride, and President Obama made his trip in the daylight, and stopped to make speeches, it was, in essence, the route Lincoln had followed in 1861.

On April 19, 1861, only a little over a month after Lincoln’s “Midnight Ride” through Baltimore, and a week after the firing on Fort Sumter SC had marked the beginning of hostilities, the 6th Massachusetts Volunteers arrived at the President Street Station bound for the defense of Washington DC (they and Seventh New York Volunteers were the first Union troops to arrive to defend that city). As the Regiment’s cars were pulled along Pratt Street they were pelted by an angry mob. Finally, the tracks were blocked and the soldiers had to dismount into the street. As they were forced to detrain and march down Pratt Street towards the Camden Street station a riot ensued. Later in the day another train filled with Volunteers from Philadelphia bound for the defense of Washington DC had to disembark at the President St. Station. They made it to the Camden Street Station only after being given a police escort.

Now, the composition of this “mob” of attackers has been debated through the years. Some then, and now, maintain that the mob consisted of Southern Sympathizers of which Maryland (after all it was a slave-holding state) in general, and Baltimore in particular, had a lot of. Another version, told in the exhibits at the Baltimore Civil War Museum, maintains that the crowd was composed, at least in part, of sailors (who were not necesarily from the South) from the bars along the waterfront (then, as now, Pratt Street is right beside the old Main docking area of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and in 1861 there were a number of saloons catering to the sailors located along the north side of the street).

In the ensuing melee 4 (some say 3) of the soldiers, and 9 of the “mob” were killed. However, the both sets of troops finally made it to the Camden Street Station and continued onto Washington DC where they joined the hastily gathered DC Volunteers (including my Great Grandfather) in the defense of the city. As a direct result of this mob attack, further movements of Union troops through Balitmore were suspended for a few months. Instead of going through Baltimore, they disembarked from their trains at the head of the Chesapeake Bay and took boats down to Annapolis. Then they marched from Annapolis up to DC through Benning MD (and the home of my Great Grandmother on another “side” of my family). Eventually the Union “occupied” Baltimore, and were able to re-establish the rail link between the two stations (I have generally used Randall & Donald’s Civil War textbook as the basis for this account but I have added information I am aware from other sources including our family’s history.)

This entire arrangement of the Pratt Street tracks continued even after the Civil War, and became the focal point of an eventual “feud” between the railroads that became the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad that erupted in 1871. The feud began when the Pennsylvania Railroad formed the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) for the express purpose of building south to “the Potomac River.” The B&P began construction of its tracks at an interchange with the Pennsylvania controlled Northern Central Railroad southward. Then the P B & W built a branch up to this junction.

Under its charter from the State of Maryland the B&O had a monopoly into the city of Washington DC. However, the B &P was allowed to build branch lines not to exceed 20 miles in length. Accordingly when they extended their tracks south out of Baltimore to, eventually Pope’s Creek MD, they made sure that the line came with 20 miles of Washington DC. This allowed them to build a branch into DC along the Anacostia River. The line was complete into Washington DC in 1873. They erected a station in DC near the site of the present-day National Gallery of Art. This was the station where President James A. Garfield was assassinated.

The Pennsylvania assumed control of the PB&W in 1881 after a long fight with the Baltimore & Ohio. They began operating the PB&W and the B&P as one line with through trains from Washington DC all the way to New York City (on the Penny’s New Jersey lines). The Pennsy constructed the Baltimore Penn Station in 1911. This station was located further north in the city, on the site of the former Northern Central Railroad Depot. All passenger service to President Street Station ceased in 1922 and was shifted to Baltimore Penn Station. However, the President Street Station continued after that date for another 40 years or so as a freight station. Finally, that function ceased and the community took the building over.

The President Street Station still stands, albeit in a greatly truncated fashion. It is the Baltimore Civil War Museum noted above. I have visited there and found the exhibit to be very well-done and informative. However, since I was there, I understand that there has been a change in the ownership and operational arrangements. It is now owned by the Maryland Historical Society also located in Baltimore. It is hoped that they will maintain this museum, or even improve it, and not let it become a “useless appendage” to their Mt. Vernon area operation.

There is also talk of making the President Street Station a stop on a new subway line through Baltimore, or possibly a stop on new Commuter Rail, or Light Rail, service being proposed for that area. Whether/when that will happen is difficult to say as of the date of this posting.

Elkins West Virginia

The Western Maryland Railroad Terminal

For yours truly, this is the station that started me on the road of trying to photograph Railroad Passenger stations in the towns I visited. The particular day this shot was taken, we were on our way back home. We stopped in Elkins on this particular afternoon. And there I had a chance to get a close look at something I had only glanced at in all my previous brief passes through town. This beautiful, but sadly forgotten railroad station.

And the sight of it set me to thinking. I guess it was the grandeur of the building, built to standards equal to, or in many cases better than other contemporary buildings in the town that caught my eye. Why had this happened? Was it a fluke, or were similar structures still extant? And thus began the “quest.”

Elkins WV was originally created as a railroad town by Henry Gassaway Davis and his West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway (WVC&P). The WVC&P began from an interchange with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Piedmont WV. Davis had been working in Piedmont for the B&O for a number of years when he began “his” railroad in 1880. In 1890 Davis and a business partner, Stephen Elkins founded a town on the Tygart Valley River and named it after Elkins. The WVC&P reached Elkins in the late 1890’s.

Shortly after building through to Elkins, Davis sold the WVC&P Railroad to George Jay Gould who at the time controlled the Western Maryland Railroad. Gould had dreams of building a transcontinental line and saw the Western Maryland as the eastern portion of that dream. His original goal had been to make his west-east link through Pittsburgh.

How Gould saw the WVC&P fitting into this scheme is still not clear to me. According to Alan Clarke in his book on the Coal and Coke Railroad (Henry Gassaway Davis’ “retirement project”), Davis expected Gould to send his Western Maryland transcontinental trains through Elkins, down his Coal and Coke to Burnsville WV. Then the trains would follow another rail line that was supposedly going to be constructed through the southern portions of the Little Kanawha River drainage into Parkersburg WV where it would link up with a supposedly new line of the Wabash. Whether this was indeed Gould’s plan, or just a diversion that Gould promoted in his “war” with the Pennsylvania Railroad, is unknown to me (perhaps some reader of this posting can enlighten us all).

At any rate, presumably in anticipation of this transcontinental role for Elkins, Gould had the Western Maryland build this station in Elkins. Hence, this was the rationale, supposedly, for the station’s ornate features. This was going to be a “Transcontinental Line” (nevermind that the Western Maryland for years advertized itself as a “Fast Freight Line” and ran comparatively few long distance passenger trains).

The Western Maryland is “long gone,” absorbed into the Chessie System, and thence into CSX. And the trackage into Elkins is almost all gone as well. What was once a giant yard hosting many train cars is now largely a patch of weeds. And while CSX was at it when they “tore up” the track in the area, they also destroyed a key bridge just south of the station that tied the station trackage into the tracks then still left in the Elkins area thus effectively taking it “off line.” (It is rumored that they did this at night to avoid detection.)

The station, itself, has been extensively renovated both inside and out. And as beautiful as the picture above shows the outside to be, the inside is even more elegant, particularly the woodwork. The Station serves as a Visitor’s Center for the town of Elkins. Among other things, the town and many citizens in the area are attempting to create a West Virginia Railroad Museum on the “patch of weeds” in the back where the freight yards used to be. Presumably the station will become part of that overall idea.

The bridge south of the station that CSX “destroyed” has been replaced, and now tourist trains run by the West Virginia Central, utilize the Elkins terminal for some of their runs down the Tygart Valley and also up towards Cheat Bridge. The railroad has also moved its headquarters into the station building.

Martinsburg West Virginia

The Baltimore and Ohio Station

This station was built in 1842. It was actually a hotel owned by a private individual that had a shed for train passengers to use while waiting attached to it. It had a status in relationship to the B&O similar to the status enjoyed by the many taverns and inns found along the roads back then, and even today. That is to say, it was dependent upon the B&O for providing it with customers even though it did not belong to the B&O. This building is still the site of a train stop today. Amtrak train numbers 29 and 30, The Capitol Limited, stop here. In addition, at present, there are two MARC Commuter trains that leave from here for DC in the morning, and two MARC Commuter trains that arrive here from DC in the evening.

I say at present, because MARC has announced that due to reduced funds from the gasoline taxes, they are going to cut one in-bound and one out-bound train from Martinsburg WV. They will have a public hearing on this on the 24th of November. If you are interested, and are geographically able to attend, do so. The hearing will be from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Martinsburg City Hall, J. Oakley Seibert City Council Chambers, 232 North Queen Street Martinsburg, WV 25401.

At any rate, to the best of my knowledge these train stops make this the oldest Train Station still in active use by Amtrak. Now the reality is that today a new re-modeled and expanded basement is the actual "station," and even it is really little more than a waiting room. But at least it is still a "station" in the broadest sense of the word.

Obviously, this station saw a lot of "action" during the Civil War. It is located just across the tracks from what was, at one time, one of the larger collection of railroad shops on the B&O. In late June, early July 1861, Confederate forces under the command of Thomas J. (soon to be called "Stonewall") Jackson occupied Martinsburg. While there they proceeded to attempt to completely destroy the B&O Railroad and deny its use to the Union forces. Towards that end, they destroyed or removed all pieces of rolling stock in the area. In addition, they took machines and machine tools from the shops, and burned the shop buildings to the ground. Finally, they also tore up most of the tracks in the area, and burned or otherwise attempted to destroy all the bridges nearby.


Some of the operating equipment Jackson seized at Martinsburg was moved over land, drawn on wagons by teams of horses, down the "old wagon road" (which became US 11 and later parts of I-81 down the Shennandoah Valley) to Strasburg VA. Here it was placed in use on the Manassas Gap Railroad. Less than a month later, Jackson and his men used this hi-jacked rail equipment to ride from the Valley over to Bull Run to participate in the battle called "Bull Run" by those loyal to the north, and "Manassas" by those loyal to the south (It all depends upon where your lines were located).

But Jackson did not let his men touch this station across the tracks from the shops. At that time, the state of Maryland (which had stayed with the Union) and the City of Baltimore were major stock-holders in the B&O. That fact made the B&O a function of the Union Government in Jackson's eyes. And thus, since his forces were operating against the forces loyal to the Union Government, that made the B&O, its tracks, equipment, and buildings, "Fair Game" for appropriation and/or destruction. Jackson reasoned, however, that this station was, in reality, a hotel owned by a private individual who was a resident in Martinsburg (and a potential loyal supporter of the secessionist cause). Thus, it was not "B&O" (i.e. Union government) property, but "private property." And so it was spared. (Note, the famous Belle Boyd, who later earned "fame" as a Confederate spy lived just around the corner from the station. Her house is still there and is open for tours.)

Wheeling West Virginia

The Baltimore and Ohio Terminal

This 1908 structure was noteworthy among West Virginia Passenger Train stations both then and now. At one time it functioned as the largest "Terminal" in the state and the busiest one as well. But maybe the term "Terminal" needs a little explanation.

As I understand it, a Passenger Station (or Depot) has passenger trains that may start or end at the structure. But it also will have trains, indeed the majority, that start or stop elsewhere but pause at this particular structure as part of their regular schedule. A "Terminal" on the other hand is noted primarily for being a place where most of the trains either begin or end their routes. There may be through trains pausing in route, but they do not comprise the majority of the traffic seen at the station.

One of the peculiarities of West Virginia Railroads, is that most of them are in the process of going from someplace and going to a different place. Thus in the far south you have the old Norfolk and Western line (now Norfolk Southern). It runs from Cincinnati Ohio to Norfolk Virginia. Passenger trains using the main line stopped at several places, but except for the occassional branch local up some hollow in the southern coal fields, there were few trains that stopped and/or ended at any of these stations.

In the south central area you have a collection of lines which were operated by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (now CSX). The main line goes from Cincinnati Ohio in the west, to Tidewater Virginia in the east. However, it had numerous branches serving various mines up various hollows in the area that became known as the Kanawha Coal Fields. Again, as with the Norfolk and Western, there were a few local trains, many of them mixed" (combinations of passengers and freight), but most C&O passenger trains at any one station, were through trains.

Just north of that line, you did have the only lines that "ended" in West Virginia. These lines, which actually connected and thus made through service for freight possible, were the Kanawha and Michigan (later New York Central, later Penn Central, later Conrail, and now Norfolk Southern), and the Virginian (later Norfolk and Western, now Norfolk Southern). They did have a "Terminal" in Charleston WV that served the Kanawha and Michigan (later New York Central), the Virginian, and the Elk River line of the Baltimore and Ohio (originally built as the Coal and Coke Railroad). However, on none of these lines was passenger traffic ever a major concern.

Still further north you had the two B&O lines, the "Old Main" (the original line completed in 1852) that ran up to Benwood and Wheeling WV, and the early "branch line" constructed as the "Northwestern Virginia Railroad" (later known by the B&O as the "National Limited Line). The eastern part of this route (through Clarksburg and Fairmont WV) still exists. The western part has been abandoned. The Clarksburg-Parkersburg section has become The North Bend Rail Trail. Again, as with the Norfolk and Western and the C&O, these lines had some branches, and these branches had some "local" passenger service which started and ended at various points. But again, as with the previous roads mentioned, trains serving these branches were not as numerous or as prominent at any particular station as the through passenger service.

Finally, in the "northern panhandle" section of West Virginia there was one more East West route. This was the Pennsylvania Railroad line that went from Pittsburgh to Columbus. It made only one station stop, Weirton WV.

With all these east-west lines, there were only 2 lines that went north-south, and one of them went only part way. There was a line in the east that consisted of the Western Maryland, down through Elkins and Durbin, where it met up with the Greenbrier Branch of the C & O. This line ended at Ronceverte WV. However, passenger traffic on this line was minimal though for a time a north-south passenger connection did exist between the 2 roads. The other north-south line was the B&O line which hugged the eastern bank of the Ohio River, all the way from above Weirton, down to Huntington WV. And this is where the above "Terminal" comes into place. For this line did see a lot of local traffic between points on the river.

The Wheeling Terminal was the busiest train "terminal" in West Virginia when measured in terms of the number of trains that either started, ended, or stopped en route. Further, it had more trains starting or ending than an other Passenger Train facility in West Virginia. At one point in the operational history of the B&O there were 19 trains that started, ended, or paused at this station. Historically, this made perfect sense. Because the originally projected western terminous for the B&O in 1828 was to be "Wheeling." Now once Wheeling was reached, the B&O started trying to cross the Ohio. In these efforts they met some resistance from the government of the state of Virginia, and . . . as they like to say, the rest is history.

Today, the B&O tracks through Wheeling, both the east-west line which went from Pittsburgh across the Ohio River and on to Zanesville and points beyond, and the north-south Ohio River line, have been adandoned and the tracks pulled (in the case of the Ohio River line, they are in place south of Moundsville WV). And obviously, this station no longer functions as a railroad terminal. Instead, it is part of the campus of the Northern West Virginia Community College. (Incidentally, I took this shot from the 2nd floor of West Virginia's Independence Hall, where the state was formed in 1863).

On a more personal note: I notice I have a follower, Ed. Welcome, I hope you enjoy this site as much as I enjoy posting to it.

Smithton West Virginia

The Baltimore and Ohio Station

This is a very normal, ordinary wooden station building, plain in design. It probably resembles many other railroad station buildings that still exist, or used to exist. About the only thing out of the ordinary about it, is that despite the fact that the railroad called it "Smithton" it is actually located in the town of Smithburg WV. But that, in and of itself, is not really all that extraordinary. In plenty of other places, the railroad would give a station a name that was different from what the locals called their settlement.


Sometimes there were understandable reasons for a difference between a station name, and the name of the community it served. For example, several places railroads changed the station name in order to avoid confusion with other stops in the area with similar sounding names. The Norfolk and Western had two stations, Shepherdstown WV, and Sharpsburg MD, separated only by the single track bridge spanning the Potomac River. Accordingly they re-named the Sharpsburg MD depot, Antietam. This change not only avoided confusion on the operation of the railroad, but also assisted Civil War veterans who desired to return to the scene of battles they were in.


But other times, there was spite and vengance involved in changing a station's, and even the town's name. The best example of this situation I know of, was when Collis P. Huntington decided that the citizens of Coalsmouth WV were not sufficiently cooperative with the crew building his new Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. So, he simply had the name of the town changed by his chief lawyer, a man by the name of Parsons. The lawyer decided to name it after his home town, St. Albans VT. And thus was born "St. Albans WV."

At any rate, Smithton, Smithburg, whatever you want to call it, is no longer an active station. Further, the tracks that used to serve the station are no longer in existence. The tracks, which dated back to the historic Northwestern Virginia Railroad, a subsidiary of the Baltimore and Ohio, known for many years as the "National Limited Line" of the Baltimore and Ohio, were pulled in 1985 and the line was "railbanked." Through this section of the country, the line became the North Bend Railtrail.

Smithton depot, located roughly at the half-way point, has been repainted and restored on the inside to resemble a typical country station of the late 1800's in West Virginia. It is a very ordinary station. But even so, it still has a story to tell. You just have to listen and know where to look.

Jersey City New Jersey

The Central of New Jersey Station

For many years this structure, originally built in 1889 to replace an earlier out-dated one, meant for many people, the beginning of not just a train trip, but a whole new life. This was the closest rail station to Ellis Island, the first destination for so many immigrants into the United States during the latter half of the 19th century. This station was so close, it could be seen from the north-facing windows of the facility.

This station saw not only Central of New Jersey trains, it also saw the "Royal Blue Line" trains of the Baltimore and Ohio. And there-in lies the problem. Because unlike the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore and Ohio did not go into New York. It stopped here, and you had to make a bus/ferry connection to get into downtown New York. During World War I and up until 1926 an exception was made and the B&O came into Penn Station. But then the exception was ended and the B&O came back to Jersey City.

And that was too much for many people. And so, while the Pennsylvania struggled to hold onto the New York Passenger Train market, the Baltimore and Ohio finally gave up.


Today, the station is part of Liberty State Park. It has a small exhibit about its role in the Ellis Island Operation. It also is one of two places where you can catch the ferry boat out to Ellis Island, and to the Statue of Liberty (Battery Park on the tip of Manhattan is the other place). Because it is not as well known, it does not appear to be as busy as the Manhattan stop, so if you want to visit Ellis or the Statue, this might be your best bet.


There is also a Science Museum at the entrance to the park. It has been recently remodeled.


All of this can be reached by using the Jersey City Light Rail Line (you can get it at the old Lackawanna Station in Hoboken which is now called "Exchange Place", and then use a shuttle bus.


The Station is obviously in good condition both inside and out. The authentic Bush Train shed out back, alas, is in a very advanced state of decay. I expect before too long they will either have to do a major renovation, or tear it down out of a concern for the safety of the visitors.

Washington DC

Union Station

I will start off this blog, fittingly, with the station located scarcely 4 blocks from the hospital where I was born (this hospital no longer exists in this location). It is also located 3 blocks from the house where my father was born (the house no longer exists either, does this tell you something?). Washington Union Terminal, or Union Station as the "locals" called it (and still call it), was a child of, what else in DC, politics.

About 1900 Congress, both then and now the true "city council" of Washington DC decided that it was time to end the inconvenience, smoke, noise etc. that resulted from having two separate train stations, one for the B&O, one for the Pennsylvania RR (and the southern connections). The B&O was located on the NE corner of the Mall (roughly were the Taft Memorial is today) and the Pennsy on the south central border of the mall (near the Smithsonian and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing). While Congress initially told the railroads to each build a station, by the time the "politics" of the situation panned out, through something called "The McMillian Commission" the result was, as signed into law by Teddy Roosevelt, a single Union Station.

The architect chosen, Daniel Burnham, of Chicago's World Fair fame, had close ties to both the McMillian Commission and the Pennsy (have things ever be otherwise in DC?). He took as the basis of his design Baths of Diocletian. The result, Union Station, not only set the tone for the re-establishment of a Washington DC according to the original plans of Pierre L'Enfant, complete with its Mall and many monuments, but also a whole school of Public Architecture, Beax-Arts.