Trolleys of Maryland
Part Two: The End of the Line
Richard D. L. Fulton
As previously stated in “Trolleys of Maryland, Part I: The 1800s Start-Ups” (The Catoctin Banner, August 2025), as far as the history of transportation is concerned, the period from the late 1800s through the early-to-mid 20th century has generally come to be termed/known as The Age of the Trolleys.
Prior to 1888, public transportation conveniences were powered—literally—by horsepower, such as horse-pulled carriages on tracks, to and from their destinations.
However, in 1888, Frank J. Sprague, of Richmond, Virginia, invented the electric-powered, motorized trolley (which operated off of overhead wires, and not by the previously attempted, dangerous, third-rail powered system), and within only a matter of a few years, electric trolley systems across the country were conveying passengers (as well as mail and freight) throughout all the many cities in our nation, small and large, (including countrysides).
Of course, trolleys (also known as streetcars by more modern jargon) derived their name from the fact that a mechanism on the vehicle known as the “trolley-wheel” drew electric current from an overhead-wire, which it then redirected to the electric-powered engine within the vehicle.
The following are a few of the Maryland trolleys that survived into the 1920s and 1960s, as the Age of Trolleys reached the end of the line:
Cumberland Railway Company
The Cumberland Railway Company (CRC) was organized in 1908, commenced operations in 1910, and almost made it into the Roaring Twenties.
The CRC was, for all intents and purposes, doomed to fail from the start, having been constructed primarily along Newville Road, parallel to the Cumberland Valley Railroad, which itself was running passenger car service between Carlisle and Newville, while Newville Road was seeing an uptick of automobile traffic between points, due to the increase of the ownership of automobiles, according to “Cumberland Railway – Newville Trolley,” a presentation conducted by Randy Watts, author of Atlas of the Cumberland Valley Railroad in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, before the Cumberland County Historical Society on October 18, 2017.
Nevertheless, construction began on the line in July 1908 and was completed to its full extent in 1914. The rights of way were generally established with farm owners and did not appear to be difficult to obtain. The company only owned two combination (combine) cars, meaning they each could haul passengers in their fronts, and cargo in their rears.
“There’s nothing too fancy about this trolley operation,” Watts said. They would even stop at the farmhouses. “It was a pretty laid back operation… It wasn’t a high-speed trip.”
In the hopes of increasing revenues, the cash-strapped trolley company also built Newville Park near Cemetery Hill, at the top of a rise where there were no roads, “so you had to take the trolley to get to the park,” Watts stated. The park opened in 1913 with a roller coaster, dance pavilion, and a few other attractions.
Even with whatever revenues the park had generated, the hardly ever profitable trolley company continued to bleed money, and on October 31, 1920, the CRC “gave up the ghost,” ceased to exist, and was ultimately sold for scrap.
Washington and Rockville Electric Railway Company
The Washington and Rockville Electric Railway Company of Montgomery County (W&R) was incorporated in 1897, one of the 1800s startups that would ultimately make it into the 1930s.
In 1897 the W&R assumed control of the trackage of the Georgetown and Tenallytown Railway Company, thereby enabling the W&R to create a trolley line running from Georgetown to Rockville and points in between, including Tenallytown, Friendship Heights, Alta Vista, Bethesda, Kensington, and Silver Spring, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration.
According to an article published by Peerless Rockville (peerlessrockville.org), entitled The Trolley Era in Rockville, 1900-1935, the W&R got off to a rough start when, in 1900, the Rockville mayor and council refused to allow the trolleys to operate until the company completed trackage from the courthouse square to the Woodlawn Hotel.
Regarding the specific route of the W&R, Peerless Rockville reported that the trolley ran “from the Washington terminus at Wisconsin and M streets, N.W., up Wisconsin and then Old Georgetown Road, over a steel trestle just before the cars approached Georgetown Prep, through dense woods at Montrose and onto the Rockville Pike, through Rockville on Montgomery Avenue, to Laird Street, and back again.”
The outcome of the effort to do away with the Rockville trolley came to fruition when an article published on August 1, 1935, in the Montgomery County Sentinel had announced, “Saturday (August 3) marks the last time street cars will be apt to run between Rockville and the District Line.”
The newspaper noted that “operation of a bus line to take its place will be begun… and service on the same basis as furnished (previously) by streetcar.”
Hagerstown & Frederick Railway
The Hagerstown & Frederick Railway (H&F) was established on April 19, 1913, as the result of the consolidation of the Hagerstown Railway and the Frederick Railway.
The merger was rendered official on the above date when the articles of agreement were filed on April 19, 1913, “which marks the completion.”
One of the highlights of the many services to the public by the H&F was the access it had gained to the Braddock Heights (amusement) Park, wherein the trolley company had also created “The Grove of the Golden Stars” in 1921 to commemorate (Frederick County?) soldiers who had perished in World War I. In 1920, the trolley line purchased the Watts Park and Willow Grove Park.
At the peak of the H&F’s operation, the trolley line was comprised of more than 87 miles of track, and had grown to provide passenger and freight transportation, operating in Frederick and Washington counties in Maryland, and in Franklin County in Pennsylvania, according to the Frederick Magazine.
But the H&F soon found itself making more money on selling electricity than on trolley service, and in 1922, the H&F ceased to exist as a name, and the company’s name was then changed to Potomac Public Service Company, then to Potomac Edison Company.
Trolley service was still maintained, with the last trolley running on February 20, 1954.
Baltimore Transit Company
The Baltimore Transit Company (BTC) was essentially established in 1935 as the result of the reorganization of the 35-year-old United Railways and Electric Company (UREC) of Baltimore and operated the last trolley in Maryland.
The reorganization had been initiated in February 1935, and after going though the necessary amendments to the old UREC charter to accomplish the organization, the name change was formally approved on July 9, and, as the various documents transferring UREC monies and assets continued, the change of names did not actually affect the provision of trolley service, which continued seamlessly, without interruption.
Upon acquiring the UREC, the final steps of “rehabilitating” the former operations of the UREC were published in the July 25, 1935 edition of The (Baltimore) Evening Sun, and included: rebuilding seven stretches of track, the purchase of 25 new buses, the purchase of 25 trackless trolleys (sometimes referred to as electric buses), and the purchase of 25 “noiseless” trolleys.
The multi-faceted transportation company continued to operate all of its transportation services until 1963, when BTC began to offer only bus services. The last BTC streetcar to operate in Maryland ran on November 3, 1963. In 1970, the state took over the operation of the BTC’s system, thereby creating the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA).
Conclusion: The End of the Line
The number of trolley companies operating in Maryland began to wane in the 1950s, with the last commercial trolley making its final run in 1963.
The increasing use of gasoline-powered buses, no longer tethered to overhead wires for power, accompanied by an explosion in the ownership of motor vehicles sealed the fate of the once-prolific trolleys.
For the vast majority of the trolleys, their last stop was in the local scrapyards. Trolleys awaiting destruction. The end of the line…stacks of trolleys waiting to be scrapped
