Edmondson, Boston no strangers to rails
Sun file photo
A coalition of opponents of surface light rail in Canton and West Baltimore recently fired off a letter to elected officials urging them to abandon the city administration's preferred alternative for building the proposed Red Line.
One part of that letter read:
3. Neither Edmondson Avenue nor Boston Street were ever intended to carry a double-tracked surface light rail system and they are inadequate for that purpose.
A couple of readers challenged that statement, noting that Edmondson Avenue was served by a trolley line -- the light rail of a previous generation -- before the automobile crowded out other forms of transportation.
The picture of Edmondson Village above, dated 1950, seems to support their position. I don't suggest the opponents of surface light rail abandon their fight, but I would recommend they find another way to phrase that argument. L
Some readers also noted that Boston Street accommodated rail traffic in the days before the gentrification of Canton. I couldn't find any similar pictures in the Sun library, but reader Jon T. Merryman pointed the way to a gallery of photos from Canton's railroading past. Lee Weldon, the photographer who took the shots, which show the last Conrail train to operate on Boston Street, believes they were taken in the spring of 1987.
Comments
I wouldn't be surprised if most major thoroughfares in the area had trolleys or even cargo trains running on them in the past. I know the trolley system used to run all the way out to Dundalk (it ran where the grassy median is now). Suffice to say the grassy medians are often green remnants of rail lines long gone.
Posted by: Bill | July 16, 2009 10:30 AM
They have a lot of pictures of trolleys\streetcars running in both Edmonson ave and Canton at the Streetcar Museum in North Baltimore. Maybe you should contact them.
Posted by: Jake | July 16, 2009 11:37 AM
The Go Red Line website also has the streetcar photos on it. You can see them at this link: http://www.gobaltimoreredline.com/historic.asp
I've already figured out the NIMBY rebuttal to this however:
"These aren't streetcars, they are a big light rail."
I don't know how to counter that argument, but I do think it a bit of a stretch.
Also, what was traffic like on Edmonson during the streetcar years? Baltimore had about a million people then...was traffic just as bad as today?
Posted by: blarg | July 16, 2009 1:12 PM
I'm glad our photo could help illustrate this situation. That's partly what we're here for.
Don't forget those tracks down in Fells Point, they were all for heavy rail freight service too.
It's a shame that the NIMBY quotient even gets heard on stuff like this. It's selfishness, pure and simple.
Anyway, make sure to check out the rest of Lee's photos on the site. They really provide a great view of what the area used to be like.
Posted by: Ed K | July 16, 2009 4:29 PM
If the city wants to build something they should do it right or not at all. If you can't afford the put the rail underground use something you can afford... such as buses.... which are already running... and barely used (#11). I like the photos, but the Canton and Fells Point areas are no longer industrial, so comparing that to this doesn't make sense.
Posted by: Tom | July 17, 2009 9:08 AM
Tom,
I agree that something underground would be better. But the state can't afford that (at least with the current alignment). Using something we can afford would be putting rail above ground. Yes the bus already works, but the #11 does not duplicate the east west route. Further, ridership will be higher on a train, it's a plain and simple fact: Buses, for whatever reason, are associated with a lower class. I'm not saying its right, but it is what it is. More middle and upper middle class folks will consider riding a train.
Here--look at it this way--how many people ride buses to Camden Yards? They take the light rail.
Posted by: blarg | July 17, 2009 10:03 AM