"The Ma & Pa Comes to Harford" with guest speaker Walt Holloway!
Details
Ever hike in Gunpowder Falls State Park and wonder why the trail is so straight? You could be walking on an old railroad track! Come join us to learn the history under your footsteps!
The Historical Society of Harford County presents "Ma & Pa Railroad expert Walt Holloway as he shares his photographs and stories of the heyday of the Ma & Pa."
Tickets are $15. Please register here:
https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E358615&id=46
I look forward to seeing you there!
Warmly, Julia
From The Historical Society of Harford County:
"The Ma & Pa Railroad stretched between Baltimore at North Avenue & Howard Streets, on to Towson, and through Long Green Valley into Harford County. It ended at Market Street in York, Pennsylvania. Even by the day’s standards, it passed through some of the East Coast’s most wooded, curvaceous, and beautiful scenery.
The Ma & Pa Railroad was an important part of life in Harford County, especially for the towns between Baltimore and York. The early morning run from Harford County to Baltimore City carried so much milk that locals called it “The Milky Way.” For the owners of the County’s many canneries, quarries, and mines, the railroad was an essential part of their livelihood. The trains chugged through 23 miles in Harford County at an average speed of only 15–20 miles per hour because of the route’s many grade changes and curves. At the turn of the twentieth century, the railroad trip from Baltimore City to Sharon (north of Forest Hill) took about 1 ¾ hours.
In addition to mail and a wide range of Harford County products, the Ma & Pa also carried people—travelers, shoppers, theatergoers, and relatives. They welcomed the screeching whistles and billowing steam clouds of the Ma & Pa Railroad as a way to see what lay beyond their hometowns. Like other railroads of the time, the Ma & Pa began a slow decline as buses, trucks, and Model Ts carried people and products between Baltimore and Bel Air on Rt. 1."