The PRR's Cambridge, MD Rail Yard As Seen for 48 Years

I wanted to post some photos of the PRR's freight yard that was adjacent to the Cambridge, MD passenger & freight stations, running parallel to Trenton Street & Cambridge Creek. It occupied the rectangular area between Fletcher Street (when it crossed the railroad, just above modern day Green Street) running northwest to Maryland Avenue.

Three photos come from the excellent book, “Cambridge Past & Present, A Pictorial History,” by Donald L. Reid, Roger Guy Webster, & Hubert H. Wright IV, published by The Donning Company/Publishers in 1986 (ISBN 0-89865-491-2). The other photo comes from Dallin Aerial Survey Company collection from the Hagley Museum and Library.

The first photo of the Cambridge rail yard was taken on November 3, 1936, by T. Holliday Hicks looking northwest (from Reid's, Webster's, & Wright's book "Cambridge Past & Present, A Pictorial History"), on the top of Page 207. Note the team tracks to left of the freight house & right off of Trenton Street.

The second photo (& I used this for the banner on my Facebook page that mirrors this blog) is from the Dallin Aerial Survey Company taken on May 7, 1937 (Hagley Museum Collection). This is looking, roughly, southwest. The team tracks are pretty obvious here because you can see the two trucks parked adjacent to the box cars/refrigerator cars.

The third photo was taken by J. Williams Robbins (from the collection of W. Grason Winterbottom III) up Cambridge Creek facing almost due north sometime in 1949 (from Reid's, Webster's, & Wright's book "Cambridge Past & Present, A Pictorial History"), on the center spread from Pages 40 & 41 (I apologize for the dark crease almost vertically off-center in the photo). You get the see the back of the freight house (the lighter colored building, just below the station) off of Trenton Street. It appears that the box car on the far right is from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (the CB&Q or its subsidiaries).

The last photo is the sad remains of the rail yard on May 13, 1984, by Hubert H. Wright IV (from Reid's, Webster's, & Wright's book "Cambridge Past & Present, A Pictorial History"), on the middle of Page 207. Notice that the team tracks are now occupied by a feed mill.

I also included a link to the Google map of modern-day Cambridge & you can see what occupies the same area today: condos.

PRR Cambridge, MD real estate today.

Well, at least I can recreate the yard back in its heyday.