Six miles of the WB&A's route northeast from the DC line near Seat Pleasant has been repurposed into the wide Martin Luther King Boulevard, aka Maryland State Road 704.

WB&A has not operated here since 1935 so I did not search for surviving artifacts along the boulevard since I doubt any are to be found. If you know better, pass the word.

During 2000, J. L. Toth published the following list of WB&A stops in PG County:

District Line
Gregory
Huntsville
East Columbia Park
Dodge Park
Glenarden
Ardmore
McCarthy
Cherry Grove
Vista
Lincoln
Randle
Bell
Hillmeade
High Bridge
Lloyd
Bowie Road
plus others at the link below

Link: Toth's archived page

At Lottsford Vista Road, MLK Boulevard veers off the old right of way, revealing a stand of shorter trees near photo center. That's the first sign of the WB&A.

At the north corner of Lottsford Vista Road and MD 450 the WB&A Trail begins its trek over 5 miles northeast to the Patuxent River. This rails-to-trails effort dates to the 1990s.

The first clear evidence of the route's prior purpose comes at Folly Branch where old WB&A concrete bridge abutments are wider than those for the trail's bridge.

Link: basic trail info and map

Several houses are scattered along the WB&A route with no access other than the old right of way. Some of these houses may date to the period when electricity was available only near the railway.

So in various places automobiles share the trail with hikers, bikers, and cats.

Already we're encountering overhead high voltage power lines. Many substations adjoin the WB&A route.

The trail swerves to go under Glenn Dale Boulevard. The swerve also appears in aerial photos from 1993, but surely WB&A's track had been straight.

After World War II, the disused WB&A alignment was under consideration for repurposing into an automobile road connecting Baltimore and Washington. When the B-W Parkway arrived during the 1950s, it ended up about 4 miles west of here.

Sometimes WB&A took the low road (grade crossing), but more often the high road (bridge).

The stones covering the abutments of the trail bridge over Hillmeade Road are merely facade, which suggests the original abutments are hiding underneath, meaning WB&A had bridged Hillmeade Road.

Autumn colors on a mild day bring out more trail users. Near Highbridge Road, WB&A needed two bridges, one over the road and another (distance) over the Pennsylvania Railroad's Pope's Creek Branch.

WB&A's bridge here over the railroad was called High Bridge, hence the name of the adjacent road.

The inset photo taken at this location appears on one of the trailside signs. None of WB&A's steel bridges survive today. The bridge extant at the time of the main photo was built for the trail.

Deep zoom from that bridge takes us north toward Bowie where a Pennsylvania RR signal remains on duty even though the Pope's Creek line has been transferred to CSX.

Though the high-voltage lines go another way, lower voltage lines give this biker something to follow.

This section was actively under consideration at photo time for a trails-to-rails project of a high-speed superconducting maglev train connecting Baltimore and Washington. The line would perhaps extend in the future to both Richmond, Virginia and Boston, Massachusetts. As with all such projects, understandably there are also NIMBYs.

Competing for a route in the area is Elon Musk's Hyperloop. Nusk announced during October 2017 Hyperloop construction would begin in Hanover / Jessup, Maryland at the northeast corner of MD 295 and 175. The site (right) showed no change by the end of 2017 , except the hastily-erected fencing surrounding a ceremonial plot was beginning to come apart. At photo-left beyond the trees is a tour bus on MD 295 (B-W Parkway) under which the Hyperloop is proposed to run.

Links: Baltimore Washington SCMaglev site, Hyperloop in Maryland

Unlike its steel bridges, a few of WB&A's boxy masonry bridges are still to be found, such as this one on the southwest side of MD 197.

It no longer carries anything but itself and some plants -- even the trail bridges over it -- but it does illustrate the railway's preferred construction style.

Link: Concrete Railroad Bridge (PDF)

The longest of the trail's bridges is that over MD 197. It was built around 2001.

WB&A and MD 197 had met at grade, though not for very long since Route 197 arrived here around 1930 and WB&A operated for only five more years afterward. The gap in guardrail marks the old right of way.

WB&A Trail crosses Horsepen Branch via this repurposed old rail bridge. I am not a structural engineer, but the size of those cracks and the way that concrete slab is bulging outwards give me pause. This bridge was open for trail use at photo time; I assume someone (PG County?) inspects these structures from time to time. Though that loose block at top center is not essential to the bridge's integrity, only plant roots are preventing it from falling into the stream below.

All other extant WB&A concrete bridges have concrete at 45 degree angles in the corners where the walls meet the top. This one does not, suggesting it dates to a different era. Its poor condition compared to other WB&A bridges implies this bridge is older, or perhaps lacking revisions applied to others, but I have seen no confirming data.

Link: Cooper Union's Engineering building appears modeled on this

Race Track Road gets the oval tube treatment. Ink stamping on the metalwork indicates it was made in 1999. The stretch from here to the Patuxent River had been owned by the Washington Surburban Sanitary Commission until purchased for the trail.

At this spot known to the railroad as Boyle, WB&A built spurs to Bowie Race Track (right), as well as to gravel pits (left). These were solely WB&A operations initially, and electrified, but when the WB&A went under in 1935 the Pennsy temporarily operated steam specials to the race track by connecting to the WB&A at Naval Academy Junction (Odenton). In time for the 1937-38 racing season, the Pennsy, after acquring property from the Massaponax Gravel Corporation, connected to the two ex-WB&A spurs from a spur of its own to the gravel pits. Rail service to the race track continued until spring 1971.

Link: Pennsy sends special train to rescue those snowbound at Bowie Race Track 1958

Along the race track spur, this 1946 trestle over Horsepen Branch survives with rusty rails still on top.

Change for: Bowie Race Track Branch tour at this site

Back along WB&A, we have arrived at the Patuxent River, one of the railway's more significant water crossings. Concrete piers that are probably original construction poke from sandy soil. Erosion control efforts are themselves being eroded away. The iron portions of the bridge were sold for scrap during the 1930s, but only after the Pennsylvania RR had stopped using the line from Odenton to run Bowie Race Track Specials after WB&A closed.

Link: 1936 abandonment

For more than 10 years, the WB&A trail abruptly ended at the Patuxent River, stymied by a property dispute on the Anne Arundel County side. Another segment of the trail exists in Anne Arundel County and can be reached via a detour west along the former WB&A rail spur to a mine. A bridge was built to connect the segments in 2024.

Links: who owns the right of way?, WB&A passenger car, land history (PDF)