SEVERNA PARK RAILROAD STATION

First published August 1996 by "The Severna Park Voice" (a village newspaper).

© 1996, Clayton Davis

Joggers go puffing along a trail that once was an old railroad bed that furnished much of the transportation between Baltimore and Annapolis, and points in between. Bicycle riders chug and pump down the same pathway that has been refurbished. As they pass the Severna Park train station, some may think it is abandoned and empty.

Not so. The old station still lives to serve trains, very small model trains. They have been laid out all around inside this beautiful building that saw a sprawling town grow. These delightful model trains belong to the Severna Park Model Railroaders Club.

The earliest recording of the name Severna Park is found on an old faded, yellow parchment in the possession of Skip Carr. He is Senior Vice President of O'Conor Piper & Flynn, Realtors. Their offices are in the Carr Building, just a stone's throw from the old railroad station.

"Look at this plat created by Severn Realty," says Mr. Carr. "The date on it is August 1910. Severna Park was a name in use at least that early."

"Been here long?"

"Since 1925. And I returned in 1950 when I came back from the sea," he answers and smiles.

Nearly a hundred years ago a steam train would have scattered these joggers and bicycle riders with, "Toot, toot. Get out of my way. I came from Camden station in Baltimore. Passengers are on their way to Annapolis. Toot, toot. Puff, puff. Chug, chug. Clatter, clatter."

Electric cars came along a little later in the early 1900s. They didn't puff and their whistles weren't as melodious.

As they go puffing, pumping and chugging along, today's bicyclists and joggers should review the history of this railroad that ran through Severna Park.

I am indebted to Nelson J. Molter for the dates and facts reported here. In 1988 he published a book titled: "Severna Park, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. A History of the Area."

Skip Carr told me, "At the time he wrote the book, Mr. Molter was the longest resident of Severna Park. His family moved here around 1911 or 1912. They owned a number of the lots on this plat of 1910."

Skip's family rented from the Molters from 1926 to 1935.

Forty five years Mr. Molter was Director of Maryland State Library. It is now the State Law Library and located in the Court of Appeals Building on Rowe Boulevard in Annapolis. He was, therefore, exacting and precise in his writing. You can trust what he said.

The Annapolis and Baltimore Short Line Railroad began service in 1887, using steam engines from Camden Station in Baltimore to Annapolis.

Mr. Carr continued, "Thomas and Elizabeth Boone sold a strip of land to the railroad in 1896. They were owners of considerable land in what is now known as Severna Park and Linstead."

They got a railroad station named after themselves when Boone Station was constructed in 1906 on part of the land they sold. It was no more elegant than all the other stations up and down the line, six by eight feet, a three-sided shed, open in front.

Electric cars started on the line in 1908. Many people missed the steam trains. They had character. Electric cars were so impersonal. They sort of hummed along, wheels squeaking against rails that had started life expecting steam locomotives.

In 1919, the railroad paid $500 and the Severna Park Improvement Association paid $800 to construct a more sturdy building to replace Boone Station. Mr. Molter's book shows the station's name was changed to Severna Park in 1921. It is still standing there, waiting for a lonesome steam whistle. But today all it sees are people jogging and bicycle wheels speeding past.

Since before World War One many people in Severna Park went through the same morning ritual. They glared at their alarm clocks, drank coffee, got dressed and rode to work by rail, playing cards and swapping stories, real companionship. They did that until 1950 when passenger service was terminated and busses took over.

Freight kept chugging along, up and down this historic railroad, until 1968. That was when the Severn River railroad bridge was declared unsafe.

Well, finally, motorcars and paved roads got better. The trains saw fewer and fewer passengers. And here we are in this future everyone said would finally arrive. But some folks may think transportation is worse.

There they sit, all those people trapped by traffic lights. Large clusters of automobiles sit motionless on Ritchie Highway, bound for Baltimore and Annapolis. Sometimes a few motorists gaze covetously at the track where joggers and bicyclist are free to go puffing and chugging along.

The trains ran on time and got people to work, hardly ever getting trapped by traffic lights. And they certainly didn't cluster. There is no published record of any train engineer meeting another engineer in the middle of the track and physically accosting him. Nor did any engineer or conductor ever give the other an obscene hand gesture, some even blood related.

Bring back the trains. Make those joggers and bicyclists move over.

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