Western Maryland Railway

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Western Maryland Railway began with Maryland’s May 27, 1852 charter of the Baltimore, Carroll & Frederick Rail Road. Renamed the Western Maryland Rail Road in 1853, it grew out of Baltimore toward western Maryland and the Appalachian country beyond.

By the 20th century, the Baltimore-based line had become a Class I carrier spanning Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Coal, heavy freight, docks, yards, mountain grades, and the proudly direct “Fast Freight Line” identity made the WM—also known as the Wild Mary—a railroad with plenty of uphill attitude.

The company was reorganized as the Western Maryland Railway effective January 1, 1910. Chessie System acquired the railroad as part of its 1973 holding-company structure, but the WM’s separate corporate ride ended when it was merged into the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad on May 1, 1983. Corporate consolidation: where beloved fireball heralds go to get buried under paperwork.

Our Western Maryland Railway collection celebrates the red-and-white fireball, hard-working freight power, and the stubbornly memorable character of a Baltimore railroad that made the Alleghenies look like a challenge rather than a warning label.