Silver Spring station (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad) explained

Silver Spring, MD
Style:Amtrak
Style2:Amtrak old
Accessible:No
Opened:1878
Rebuilt:1945
Closed:1986[1] [2] (Amtrak)
Other Services Header:Former services
Nrhp:
Silver Spring Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station
Embed:yes
Location:8100 Georgia Avenue
Silver Spring, Maryland
Coordinates:38.99°N -77.0269°W
Architect:Engineer of Buildings, B & O RR Co.
Builder:Steiner Construction Co.
Architecture:Colonial Revival
Added:August 31, 2000
Refnum:00001035

Silver Spring station (listed as the Silver Spring Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station on the National Register of Historic Places) is a former train station on the Metropolitan Subdivision in Silver Spring in Montgomery County, Maryland. It was built in 1945 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on the foundation of a previous station, a Victorian-style brick structure built in 1878.[3] It served intercity trains until 1986 and commuter rail until 2000. Today, it is owned and operated as a museum by Montgomery Preservation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

History

The station was designed in the Colonial Revival style and built from standardized plans developed for B&O stations in the mid-1940s.

In the Baltimore & Ohio era, the station was the first stop out of Washington on westbound long-distance trains. The roster in 1956 included:[4]

Amtrak's Blue Ridge to Cumberland served the station from 1973 until it was discontinued in 1986.[5]

MARC Brunswick Line service at the station ended in 2000, and trains now stop at nearby Silver Spring station where transfer to the Washington Metro is available.

The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 and restored in 2002.[6] It retains its original 1940s waiting-room furniture and recessed fluorescent lighting fixtures. Exhibits on the history of Silver Spring and the B&O Station are provided by the Silver Spring Historical Society and Montgomery Preservation.[7]

The eastbound waiting room, a small rectangular building of similar design, stood on the south side of the tracks. Built along with the station in 1945, it was rebuilt in 1976 to make way for tracks laid for the Washington Metro. An underground pedestrian tunnel connected the two buildings beneath the track bed.[8] In 2008, the building was demolished to make way for other development.[9]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Amtrak Timetable - Effective April 27, 1986 . timetables.org . Amtrak . November 20, 2018 . 35 . April 27, 1986.
  2. Web site: Amtrak Timetable - Effective October 26, 1986 . timetables.org . Amtrak . November 20, 2018 . 36 . October 26, 1986.
  3. Book: Harwood, Jr., Herbert H. . Impossible Challenge: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Maryland . 1979 . Barnard, Roberts . Baltimore, MD . 0-934118-17-5 . 272 .
  4. Baltimore & Ohio Road, Table 13 . Official Guide of the Railways . National Railway Publication Company . 89 . 5 . October 1956.
  5. http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19811025&item=0033 Amtrak Timetables; October 25, 1981; Capitol Limited (Museum of Railway Timetables)
  6. Montgomery Preservation, Inc. Rockville, MD. "Historic Silver Spring Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station." Brochure. Accessed 2010-09-09.
  7. Web site: Silver Spring B&O Railroad Station. 2022-01-13. Montgomery Preservation. en-US.
  8. Web site: National Register of Historic Places Registration: Silver Spring Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station. February 2000. 2016-01-01 . Genevieve Courbois . Nancy Urban . Eileen McGuckian . amp . Maryland Historical Trust.
  9. Web site: Anderson . Sheldon . 2018-04-20. Silver Spring, Maryland Station. 2022-01-13. Backyard-Railways.Com. en-US.