The Baltimore & Potomac Railroad was a vital part of the Pennsylvania Railroad's New York to Washington service in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. The right of way is still in use as part of Amtrak's and MARC's services. The Bowie Brothers of Charles County envisioned and championed the original railroad as a way of bringing tobacco crops and other freight from Southern Maryland into Baltimore. The Civil War halted progress because of labor and raw material shortages. After the war, the Pennsylvania Railroad became involved. Recognizing that an unforeseen loophole in the law would allow them to run a spur into downtown Washington, the subsidiary B&PRR was able to end a 35 year monopoly that the rival Baltimore & Ohio had enjoyed.
Over time, the company constructed the iconic B&P Tunnel in Baltimore, which is still in use today. The B&PRR's 6th Street Station in Washington was the site of the assassination of President James A Garfield. His funeral train passed over the D&P's tracks on its way from Washington to Cleveland, Ohio. That station, already controversial from its location on the National Mall, would eventually be replaced by Washington Union Station, one of the busiest terminals in the country during World War 2.
Eventually, the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad was merged into other lines, including the Penn Central, Conrail and Amtrak. Its rich legacy lives on in this pictorial history by frequent collaborators Robert Williams and Scott Mingus, which features more then 200 vintage photographs, as well as detailed track plans and diagrams for most of the station stops along the line. Separate chapters cover the original B&P mainline, the Pope's Creek Branch and the Macgruder Branch.
