Chesapeake Beach Railway

Chesapeake Beach Railway

Map of the Chesapeake Beach Railway in 1913
Locale	Washington, DC to Chesapeake Beach, Maryland
Dates of operation	December 5, 1898–April 15, 1935
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Headquarters	Denver, Colorado

The Chesapeake Beach Railway (CBR), now defunct, was an American railroad of southern Maryland and Washington, DC built in the 19th century. The CBR ran 27.629 miles from Washington, D.C. on tracks formerly owned by the Southern Maryland Railroad and then on its own single track through Maryland farm country to a resort at Chesapeake Beach. It was built by Otto Mears, a Colorado railroad builder, who planned a shoreline resort with railroad service from Washington and Baltimore. It served Washington and Chesapeake Beach for almost 35 years, but the Great Depression and the rise of the automobile marked the end of the CBR. The last train left the station on April 15, 1935. Parts of the right-of-way are now used for roads and a future rail trail.

In 1891, Baltimore lawyer (and later Maryland governor) Edwin Warfield and others organized the Washington & Chesapeake Beach Railway to connect Washington, DC with 3,000 acres (12 km²) of virgin bay front property at Fishing Creek where they would build a resort. Their Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, resort was to be a vacation spot for the rich and middle class alike, with two grand hotels, a boardwalk, racetrack, and amusements. A pier would accommodate Chesapeake Bay excursion steamers from Baltimore, Annapolis, and Eastern Shore points. In 1894 the W&CBR was granted a charter to incorporate the Town of Chesapeake Beach. The grand schemes of the W&CBR were never to be implemented, however and the railway was placed in receivership in 1895.