FROM RAILS to TRAILS

Mural Reflects A By-Gone Era of Transportation

 

In the 1880s, a group of residents banned together to bring a railroad line into Catonsville.  These visionaries believed that railroad transportation would bring prosperity to Catonsville  In the early 1960′s, the Baltimore Beltway I-695 cut a path through Catonsville and demolished most of the gracious homes in the Eden Terrace neighborhood.   It was at this time that a new green railroad bridge was constructed over the beltway to carry the Short Line Railroad from the Paradise area to the Spring Grove Hospital area and other points west.

In April of 1972, the last train ran on the Short Line tracks and by the mid 1980s, the green bridge was removed when the Beltway was widened. All traces of the route of the Short Line were forgotten except for a few rails still in the ground near Shady Nook Ave. and the Beltway.

Sheldon Smith, a CRTT volunteer and Board Member, did not want the Short Line Transportation history to be forgotten and he began to form an idea for a mural that would depict what the train and bridge looked like in 1972.  He found a photo and called on Edward Williams, a local artist who is known for his mural art.  Wes Peter of the Wes Peters Group, Keller Williams jumped on board and agreed to sponsor the project.   The result is a beautiful mural that reflects the railroad history of this history.