Western Maryland Railroad photograph collection

The Western Maryland Railway Company began as the Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick Railroad in 1852. Originally intended to provide transportation between Baltimore and the Cumberland Valley and to handle trade in this region that was otherwise being diverted to Philadelphia, it grew by the mid-20th century to incorporate more than 30 railroads, including the Hanover Branch and Gettysburg Rail Roads, over which route President Lincoln made his famous trip to Gettysburg in November 1863. The railroad operated to Hagerstown by 1872, was extended to Cumberland in 1906, and reached Connellsville, Pennsylvania by 1912.

The railway's tidewater terminal was at Port Covington (South Baltimore), site of a fort of the same name which was significant in the War of 1812. At this port, trains met ships as part of a freight network the branches of which extended into Pennsylvania and into the coal and timber areas of West Virginia, handling a range of products that included grain, molasses, ore, rubber, chemicals, steel, machinery, and automobiles. The route followed by the railway was among the shortest from the Atlantic seaboard over the Appalachian Mountains to the American mid-west.

Where the railroad crossed the Catotoctin Mountains in Western Maryland, the engineering difficulties encountered were only overcome at a cost of $13,000,000: the railroad tunneled five mountains and crossed the Potomac River and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal eight times. Extending the line through the Alleghany Mountains to Connellsville, Pennsylvania required an additional four tunnels.

Although most profitable as a freight line, the Western Maryland Railroad was also an important conveyance for excursion travelers bound for hotels and summer cottages at destinations such as Blue Ridge Summit, Highfield, Buena Vista and Pen-Mar. In the center of Baltimore city, the trains made stops at the Hillen Street and Pennsylvania Stations, although the railway's original city station was Fulton Junction. Passenger service on the Western Maryland Railroad tapered off gradually in the 1940s through the 1960s.