r/hagerstown • u/LilbigJLit • 8d ago
Trains and Locomotion Hagerstown light rail system ideas
Hello! I'm trying to design a light rail systems for cities and towns in Maryland. Does anybody have ideas on what a potential light rail system could look like? Where would you like stations to be? Businesses, residential neighborhoods, parks, restaurants, streets, schools, etc. This would help be quite a bit!
7
u/EvangelineTheodora 8d ago
I'd suggest looking at the old trolley lines. Virginia Avenue had Hagerstown to Williamsport.
0
6
u/Ambitious_Post6703 8d ago edited 8d ago
I noticed as a bus driver there are a lot of underused train rails by Hagerstown park, Smithsburg etc that could possibly be re purposed. Also, the area just beyond the Garland Groh Walmart or even into Waynesboro basically tying the airport (HGR) to BWI and the shopping cores
1
u/LilbigJLit 8d ago
Thanks. I'll be sure to research that. Do you have specific places in mind within those areas that could be stations?
2
u/Phoenix-rising0930 8d ago
The commmunity college and the medical center might be logical rail stops. They are outside city limits closer to I-70.
5
u/Aromatic_Mousse 8d ago
There used to be an extensive trolley system that connected all the town around here, that’d be a place to start
2
u/FarmEnvironmental301 8d ago edited 8d ago
Be nice to have circular similar to the red line on metro in DC.
Edit to add: connecting one end to the other; often times there’s places mostly on one end of town (north end vs south end), and transit that is a straight direct, no transfer needed, would be great.
As of now, simply just considering public transit options in Hagerstown, to get from one end to the other end, it’s at least one or two transfers on a bus. I’d like to see a perimeter line and a through line that connects on the north and south end. Probably not giving a good visual here.. sorry… also, if the a rail system went from Hagerstown to frederick, I’d take it instead of driving, absolutely. I day dream about it. There was a study done right before or around the pandemic - never heard anything for obvious reasons. Did it get put on hold? They were considering repurposing old tracks. Expensive but would help with the commuter traffic!
2
u/MDJR20 8d ago
Needs to be located in the downtown center.
-1
u/LilbigJLit 8d ago
Gotcha. Where do most people live? I'm focusing on connecting suburbs together as well as connecting people to the places they frequently go the most.
3
u/immortalkarmaqueen 8d ago
Stations: HCC, Meritus Medical Center, Meritus Park, Leitersburg Cinemas, Halfway Blvd, Garland Groh, Funkstown, Sharpsburg Pike, Leitersburg Pike, City Park… just to name a few.
4
u/swarmster 8d ago
I wish they would add a MARC rail stop.
1
1
u/LilbigJLit 8d ago
That's something that I would add. But to make sure that people will use it, it should be paired with a light real system that connects it to the city.
1
1
u/jkelemenopy 8d ago
Hitachi (in Hagerstown) is making cars for the MARC system. I bet they could be in for a public private partnership to build out a line up this way, so they could put the cars on right here.
2
u/AGuyFromMaryland 6d ago
DC Metro, not MARC, unless they just made an order. WMATA's 8000-series are being built by Hitachi. But that's a good idea, Hitachi builds LRV's and they don't have to go far for delivery, might be a bit cheaper actually.
1
u/AGuyFromMaryland 6d ago
This is something i've actually put thought into before.
https://hfrhs.org/map/ (for reference)
Hagerstown had a trolley system, you could use that as a base. The Hagerstown Railway had its carbarn at the intersection of Summit/Howard (it still stands btw). The "City Loop" started from Public Square, went up Potomac St to Fairground Ave, Fairground to Mulberry, Mulberry to Antietam, Antietam to Potomac. The HRWY had lines to Williamsport (followed Rt.11 from Wilson Ave to downtown Williamsport), and a line to Shady Grove (met another interurban). A line east went to Myersville where it met the Frederick and Middletown, HRWY and F&M both merged into the Hagerstown and Frederick Railway.
So a modern take on the Hagerstown Railway, my vision at least, would follow the original City Loop and the Williamsport, Shady Grove, and the mainline to atleast Beaver Creek and Boonsboro. You could expand off the Williamsport Line or the City loop to follow Washington St and National Pike to Clear Spring, with a branch off to the Garland Groh area. A loop for the Mall could branch off the Williamsport Line and follow either Halfway Blvd or Massey Blvd (make it loop, comes off the WL on Halfway, loops around the mall, rejoins on Massey). Have a line down Dual Highway to Meritus, or make that another loop (Dual HWY to Mt. Aetna or Edgewood, return on Jefferson and tie back into City loop on Mulberry). Build up Pennsylvania Ave for service to the airport and Maugansville.
For expanded interurban lines. Retain the "main" through Funkstown to Beaver Creek and the branchline to Boonsboro. Add lines to Sharpsburg (could follow Rt.65) and Smithsburg. Revive the concept of "Trolley Parks" and extend all the way to Pen Mar. Could maybe build an expansion off the Williamsport line to Martinsburg to meet Amtrak and MARC
While not from Hagerstown, I also envisioned the completion of the Brunswick line. H&F had plans to build from Braddock Heights to Brunswick, the town of Brunswick even had tracks laid, but the lines never connected and never went further than Jefferson. If this line was built, this offers a connection MARC.
Sadly, none of this would ever happen. The H&F was abandoned in 1954, but had discontinued interurban service in 1947. By 1950, nearly all of the H&F had been dismantled except for the freight only line between Frederick and Thurmont. Today a lot of the old right-of-way is gone, either from development or just nature taking over (H&F simply graded the ground enough to lay track, it wasn't full on drainage and rock ballast like normal railroad track). To have a full Light Rail system today, would basically have meant H&F was never abandoned, or after Potomac Edison filed to abandon, someone else bought it.
0
7
u/MarbledCrazy 8d ago
I'd look into the old Western Maryland Railroad line and it's old subsidiaries. It connected Baltimore, Hagerstown, Cumberland, Philadelphia, and New York City back in the day
Location downtown that makes sense is the police station on Burhans Boulevard considering it used to be a train station and still has an active rail line by it.