Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad Marble Track Bed-Tucked safely beneath the MTA Light Rail tracks sits a line of undisturbed marble track bed. This is one of the two oldest extant segments of the Baltimore & Susquehanna (B&S) Railroad Line, which stretched north from Baltimore into Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley.
Completed in 1832, the original B&S rail line between Baltimore City and Timonium was built with wood ties supporting the rails. By the time the railroad resumed construction north of Timonium in 1835, the original wood had deteriorated leading the company to find an alternative construction material. Using marble from nearby Cockeysville Quarry the B&S line adopted Great Britain's process of laying a stone foundation for the track, to complete the railroad bed in what is now known as the Padonia Road Section of the line.
Due to excessive time, labor cost and climatic changes affecting rail stability, stone track bedding proved a financial and operational disaster. Thus stone track bed construction quickly fell out of favor, and railroad companies reverted back to wooden crossties.
Today, the B&S marble track bed remains virtually undisturbed as an example of the experimentation and primitive technologies common in the early days of railroad construction in the United States. The nineteenth century marble track bed is a reminder of the steadfast popularity and utility of public transportation throughout the history of the United States.
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