Welcome to Vintage Railroad Postcards!

Thank you for stopping by! This is the blog for the Russell P. Panecki Collection of vintage railroad-related postcards. The entire collection consists of nearly one thousand so far with images dating from circa 1904 to the 1950s. To leave a comment, ask a question, to contribute or correct historical information, a comment box is located to the left for your convenience.

Each page, including this homepage, has an index located in the lower portion of the page. In addition to the index, posts were updated with historical information, new postcards added from storage files, while some posts were completely rewritten or edited for corrections. Three articles have been added and are worth reading. They include how vintage postcards were made, the history of Pennsylvania Station, and the history of Grand Central Terminal.

My apologies, but the postcards in my collection and on this blog are not available for sale, copying, or for contribution to projects. Please keep in mind that I reserve all rights to the images and content of this blog.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway



The Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway served central Maryland and Washington, D.C. Originally built by two Cleveland, Ohio, businessmen, the line was incorporated in 1899 as The Potomac and Severn Electric Railway. The name was changed to the Washington and Annapolis Electric Railway in 1900 and again in 1902  when it became the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway. The railway used the most advanced technology of the time and, when running over its own tracks instead of shared right-of-way, express cars would often speed along at sixty miles per hour. The WB&A finally ended to passenger service in 1935 after losing the battle with the automobile. Below we see a multiple-unit (MU) train in Annapolis, circa 1912. Multiple-unit trains were coupled and electrically connected together allowing an entire train be controlled by a motorman in the first car.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where in Annapolis is this located? Does the caption on the postcard say anything?

Where did you obtain the card?

Russ Panecki said...

My apologies for this late reply...I've had to undergo another medical procedure and then my computer was in for much-needed repairs. I have no idea where this view is in Annapolis and if anyone does know, please comment. This card is a long-held part of my collection and I'm not certain of where I picked it up, although I have seen it for sale on Ebay from time to time.

Anonymous said...

This looks like the picture was taken from church circle looking up west st.The white pillars on the left look like the same ones today on the bb&t bank building at west st and church circle.

Russ Panecki said...

Thanks for helping out with the location!