Back on the line to Annapolis... utility poles cutting through a forest? That's a good indication that a railroad once plied the route, as had the A&ER at this spot near MD 3 in Millersville.

Roughly 90 years after A&ER had arrived in Millersville, the State of Maryland sought to link northern and southern parts of the state. The result was Crain Highway, Maryland Route 3, built near Millersville during the 1920s as the first state road on a new alignment. WB&A, which then owned the old A&ER route, eschewed grade crossings, so built this bridge in 1923 over the not-yet-completed Crain Highway, crafting it from a disused turntable at Bladens Street in Annapolis that it had inherited from ASL.

The bridge is unseen in a 1938 aerial, likely sold for scrap during the Great Depression. There was no rail service along this part of the line when Maryland 3 was twinned during the 1950s.

Link: William E. Ross study

You can walk some of the old right-of-way in Millersville by following the South Shore Trail that opened during 2018.

Depicted is not a real menorah, of course, but in 2018 the power company planted it where the trains had run, so the trail must navigate around it. A small train station had stood just beyond at Cecil Avenue.

As of this writing, the South Shore Trail follows most of a 2.5 mile straight stretch the A&ER had cut during the 1830s. The trail veers a bit here to get around a swampy section. Original A&ER culverts that existed along the trail have been replaced by modern ones.

The I-97 - MD 32 interchange obliterated part of the A&ER's ROW. It looks to me the ramp to I-97 N (in this view, on the left and behind) sits right atop the old ROW.

For the Road Geeks: I-97 is the highest number interstate! I-99 doesn't count since it is out of place. For about 2 miles here I-97 and MD 32 share a route, the only known stretch in Maryland where an interstate and a state road are so cozy.

Apologies for the poor picture. Obviously the weather didn't pay attention that April 1 was a day I could do some railfooling, err, railfanning. Fortunately, there does not appear to be a whole lot of the A&ER we're missing since very little is left to see. And that's no April Fools.

In the vicinity of Crownsville MD 178 parallels what is left of the A&ER's ROW. This mound had once hosted tracks, and a bridge had once spanned the break in the mound where a small stream flows below.

OK, I promise this is the last picture of damp utility poles; they were all I could find during this photo trip. This is one of the more significant hillside cuts made by the A&ER.

There has been discussion of a rails-to-trails project here.

At last an artifact! Because the A&ER chose a route to Annapolis along the high ground of the peninsula between the Severn and South Rivers, few stream crossings were required. The only intact, original A&ER culvert I have found is this small one at Saltworks Creek. Its rough cut stonework attests to a mid-1800s construction date.

Best Gate Station was found ahead where Callahan Lane and Bestgate Road meet. An electrical substation is off photo left, hence the green utility boxes and poles.

Many stations were little more than shacks adjacent to a clearing that served as a platform.

Here is a list of stations dating from the period after the A&ER had been acquired by the WB&A, and their current location:

Camp Meade Junction (Fort Meade?)
Portland (Fort Meade?)
Disney (Fort Meade)
Admiral (Fort Meade)
Fairall (Fort Meade?)
Odenton (Town Center Blvd)
Naval Academy Junction (Telegraph Rd)
Sappington (Sappington Station Road)
Gambrills (Gambrills Rd and Maple Rd)
Holladay (Holladay St and Holliday Park Rd)
Millersville (Millersville Rd and Cecil Av)
Arundel (Waterbury Rd between Millersville Rd and Severn Chapel Rd?)
Waterbury (Waterbury Rd and Ticker Ln)
Gott (Black Horse Farm, east of Gum Bottom Rd at Generals Hwy)
Crownsville (Crownsville Rd and Generals Hwy)
Belvoir (near Belvoir Farms Rd and Generals Hwy)
Arth (Bridgewood Ln and Generals Hwy?)
Iglehart (west of Covington Rd at Generals Hwy)
Woytych / BethGap (south corner at Epping Forest Rd)
Hockley (near Woodlore Rd?)
Best Gate (near Bestgate Rd and Callahan Ln)
Camp Parole / Roll Camp (south side of Annapolis Mall)
Homewood (Poplar Av at Glen Av)
Cedar Park (Poplar Av near Homeland Av?)
Bay Ridge Junction (Poplar Av east of Taylor Av)
Annapolis (West Street)
Annapolis (U.S. Naval Academy)

From the rooftop parking of Annapolis Mall one can look back to the location of the prior photo. Thanks to the WB&A's electrification of the route, utility poles continue to helpfully trace where the A&ER had previously operated steam trains.

Since the mall was built over the old right-of-way, and Camp Parole, all those wires go underground only to re-emerge here on the south side and continue into the distance to Annapolis.

Fueled by the nearby Naval Academy plus state capital, Westfield Annapolis Mall is managing relatively well versus online shopping.

Link: Camp Parole 1864

East of the mall some of the route has been converted into a trail. The railroad's Homewood stop had been here where Glen Avenue meets Poplar Avenue, but I found no remants of it.

Reader Joan Owens wrote with some info:

"I was born and raised just outside of Annapolis, and when I was a very young child, the trains still ran to Annapolis. The tracks went by Germantown Elementary School, parallel to Poplar Avenue, if I'm remembering correctly."

Before the A&ER evolved into the WB&A's South Shore Division, it met the Annapolis Short Line at this spot, the site of an old A&ER wye, then christened it Bay Ridge Junction.

No obvious railroad artifacts survive here, only echoes such as the electrical substation, the utility poles, the pavement of Poplar Avenue and Lowes Access Road, and a few scratches in the dirt.

From 1886 to closure in 1904 the Bay Ridge and Annapolis Railroad carried passengers from here southeast about 5 miles to Bay Ridge, Maryland, a beach town along the Chesapeake Bay. The B&O held a controlling ownership stake in the BR&A. Amos Garrett Boulevard now occupies some of the BR&A's alignment.

This first A&ER Annapolis station stood within the parking area behind (north of, at time of writing) the Loews Annapolis Hotel at Lafayette Avenue and West Street. After the WB&A took control of the line during 1908 it moved the station about a block east to Calvert and West Streets.

Trees shade the WB&A's West Street Station as a train approaches on the right in this circa 1910 view. From here trains continued eastward via street running along West Street toward the Annapolis waterfront.

This station replaced the A&ER's engine house and machine shop formerly at the site.

In this similar century-later view where West and Calvert Streets meet, spring blooming trees happen to grace the same spot they did in 1910. The station building is no longer extant.

At Church Circle the A&ER turned trains by operating in a clockwise fashion, opposite that of automobiles, much to the chagrin of the local government.

St. Anne's Church occupies the center of the circle. The current church building was constructed in 1858, but the parish dates back to 1692.

When not turning at the circle, trains followed College Avenue northeast, King George Street southeast to the Annapolis-Clairborne ferry, Randall Street southwest, then Main Street west back to Church Circle.

That's Main Street coming from the waterfront to the circle. If the statehouse building poking from behind looks familiar, you may have seen it on the Maryland State Quarter.

This was as far east as the A&ER reached.

At Baltimore Boulevard and King George Street is one of several academy entrances, this one more directly served in the past via the WB&A's North Shore Division, of which you can also tour.