Silver Spring station (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad)

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.[4] 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.[5]

Silver Spring, MD
Silver Spring station in 2012
Construction
AccessibleNo
History
Opened1878
Closed1986[1][2] (Amtrak)
Rebuilt1945
Former services
Preceding station MARC Following station
Kensington Brunswick Line
Closed 2000
Union Station
Terminus
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Rockville Blue Ridge
Discontinued 1986
Washington, D.C.
Preceding station Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Following station
Woodside
toward Chicago
Main Line North Takoma
Silver Spring Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station
Silver Spring station (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad) is located in Maryland
Silver Spring station (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad)
Silver Spring station (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad) is located in the United States
Silver Spring station (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad)
Location8100 Georgia Avenue
Silver Spring, Maryland
Coordinates38°59′24″N 77°1′37″W / 38.99000°N 77.02694°W / 38.99000; -77.02694
Area0.5 acres (0.20 ha)
Built1945 (1945)
Built bySteiner Construction Co.
ArchitectEngineer of Buildings, B & O RR Co.
Architectural styleColonial Revival
NRHP reference No.00001035[3]
Added to NRHPAugust 31, 2000

History

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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:[6]

Amtrak's Blue Ridge to Cumberland served the station from 1973 until it was discontinued in 1986.[7]

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.[3][5] 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.[8]

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.[9] In 2008, the building was demolished to make way for other development.[10][unreliable source?]

References

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  1. ^ "Amtrak Timetable - Effective April 27, 1986". timetables.org. Amtrak. April 27, 1986. p. 35. Archived from the original on October 7, 2024. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  2. ^ "Amtrak Timetable - Effective October 26, 1986". timetables.org. Amtrak. October 26, 1986. p. 36. Archived from the original on November 21, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  4. ^ Harwood, Jr., Herbert H. (1979). Impossible Challenge: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Maryland. Baltimore, MD: Barnard, Roberts. p. 272. ISBN 0-934118-17-5.
  5. ^ a b Montgomery Preservation, Inc. Rockville, MD. "Historic Silver Spring Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station." Archived 2011-06-27 at the Wayback Machine Brochure. Accessed 2010-09-09.
  6. ^ "Baltimore & Ohio Road, Table 13". Official Guide of the Railways. 89 (5). National Railway Publication Company. October 1956.
  7. ^ "Amtrak Timetables; October 25, 1981; Capitol Limited (Museum of Railway Timetables)". Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
  8. ^ "Silver Spring B&O Railroad Station". Montgomery Preservation. Archived from the original on 2024-10-07. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  9. ^ Genevieve Courbois; Nancy Urban & Eileen McGuckian (February 2000). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Silver Spring Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  10. ^ Anderson, Sheldon (2018-04-20). "Silver Spring, Maryland Station". Backyard-Railways.Com. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
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