Did You Know? #24 The Patuxent Branch Railroad Line was almost
Recommissioned?

The Patuxent Branch Railroad Line was almost Commissioned Again in the 1960s?

Wincopin Green Trail and the Patuxent Branch Trail that many of us visit and enjoy was almost turned into a railway again in the 1960s. The railroad was to serve the General Electric appliance plant that was to be built adjacent to Guilford between the new I-95 and Snowden Blvd covering what used to be Lark Brown Road. It is now called the Gateway Commerce Center.

One of the most critical parts of Columbia’s development was establishing large business enterprise that would serve as an employment anchor for the new town. A large expanse of land owned by Arundel Corporation in eastern Columbia seemed ideal for this venture. Rouse Company sought many potential employers but only General Electric agreed to anchor Columbia and build a large plant to manufacture and ship appliances. But they needed a means of stable transportation and in the 1960s that still meant the railroad.

According to records at the Columbia Archives, the planning for this started by 1966 and in 1967 negotiations were underway with the B&O railroad to select a route from the main Washington Branch Line to the new GE Appliance Park. Their first initial choice was to commission the Patuxent Branch Line from Savage through Guilford up Oakland Mills Road to GE. The cost would have been between $1.5 and 2 million.

In October of 1967, it was clear that James Rouse preferred the railroad come through Savage and the Patuxent Branch rather than an alternative that was proposed going through Waterloo, which was the one finally accepted by the B&O. In the summer of 1968 the announcement was the new rail would go from Annapolis Junction over Dorsey Run Road, Route 1, Mission Road, and under I-95. The GE plant opened in 1971 and closed in 1989. It never created the jobs planned and it left the community with a toxic waste legacy as a “Superfund” hazardous waste site.