Happy 140th Birthday for the Catonsville Short Line Railroad
140 years ago (November 10, 1884), the Catonsville Short Line (CSL) Railroad began operations.
The Background: Catonsville is only 5 miles west of Baltimore City and was an emerging Baltimore suburb in the 1860-1880’s time frame. It had numerous supporting businesses along Frederick Road to support East/West travel to and from the city and was dotted with large summer homes of affluent Baltimore residents. It was also served by horse-drawn trolley service beginning as early as 1862.
In 1881, a committee of Business and Community leaders decided that a short line railroad connecting Catonsville to Baltimore City would further foster the growth of Catonsville. The new railroad was officially incorporated as the Catonsville Short Line (CSL) Railroad Company on February 25, 1882. The Short Line was to be operated by the Baltimore and Potomac (B&P) Railroad pursuant to a 99-year lease from CSL. Ground was broken on December 6, 1883, and on November 10, 1884, the first revenue run was made from Catonsville. Over 500 people rode the railroad in the first week of operation.
The railroad ran from the Catonsville business district down the Mellor Ave corridor (behind today’s Catonsville Elementary School), crossed into the Spring Grove Hospital grounds (which opened 1872), then into the Paradise and Kenwood communities, then by the St Charles College (today’s Charlestown Retirement Community), then into the Louden Park cemetery, where it connected to the main line of the Baltimore and Potomac (B&P) Railroad (later the Pennsylvania Railroad) and proceeded to Calvert Station in Baltimore City. The total distance was approximately 3.7 miles, and the railroad made 7 trips per day to Baltimore City and back.
In 1897, the new Catonsville electrified trolley line had the effect of drawing away a great deal of the Short Line's passenger traffic, causing the Railroad to discontinue passenger service in 1898. The B&P continued to offer freight service on a flexible schedule.
Many businesses were served during the first half of the twentieth century at the Catonsville end of the Short Line. John S. Wilson's Lumber Yard, J. Allen Muir Hardware, and Heidelbach's grocery, as well as many local builders received freight and coal at the Mellor Avenue yard. By 1950, Johnson Chemical, Seven-Up Bottling, Howard County Supply, Talbot Lumber of Ellicott City, and DCA Food Industries were also doing business with the Short Line. In the 1950s, newly-invented frozen food was shipped and stored to supply the grocery stores in Catonsville. In addition, the Short Line delivered large quantities of coal to St. Charles College and Spring Grove State Hospital.
However, the railroad found itself facing a pattern of dwindling revenues throughout the 1930s as a result of the Great Depression that had gripped the nation. Eventually filing for bankruptcy, the Short Line was sold to the Hudson Realty Company and was reincorporated as the Caton & Loudon (C&L) Railway in October 1945.
Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, the C&L lost one customer after another, as over-the-road trucks took control of the movement of goods to and from local businesses. In 1970, the power plant at Spring Grove State Hospital was converted from coal to oil and the C&L lost one its few remaining customers. After the last load of coal was delivered to Spring Grove State Hospital in December 1970, trips over the C&L became very sporadic and often consisted of only a single car. Citing a lack of customers and mounting losses, Penn Central (Pennsylvania Railroad's successor) petitioned for the abandonment of the C&L. After running the last carload to Catonsville in April 1972, the abandonment became official on July 28, 1973, when the Interstate Commerce Commission granted Penn Central's abandonment petition.
The Catonsville Rails to Trails (CRTT) nonprofit organization has converted 2.7 miles of the former CSL into walking and biking trails, spread out over 8 separate trail sections. Some trail sections (Spring Grove and Beechfield) retain the original 140-year-old rails, which CRTT filled with gravel to create the trail. If you walk these trails, wish the CSL a Happy 140th Birthday.
