The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1927-08-25
B. & o. WOODEN RAILS ARE
TO BE SHOWN AT EXHIBIT
Century Old Rails Were Used on
First Railroad.

First Railroad.
Century-old wooden rails used on
the original Baltimore to Frederick
main line of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad have been taken from the
framework of dilapidated farm
house in Carroll county, Maryland,
and will be placed on display among
other rare historical exhibits at the
Centenary Exhibition and Pageant to
be held at Baltimore, September "a
to October s.
The track is part of one of the first
railroad lines laid down in this coun-
try, dating back to 1880, when the
'Tom Thumb" engine, first American
built locomotive, rumbled over the
line.
A. E. Droman, who possesses the
original deed of the farmhouse prop
erty dating back to the first quarter
of the nineteenth century, discovered
the rails. The ancient dwelling, set
picturesquely in Carroll county hills,
near Henryton, about Is miles from
Baltimore on the main line of the Bal
timore and Ohio Railroad, is occupied
by tenants of Mr.. Droman.
Old-timers in this section, who re-
call the days when ox-carts rolled
over the rough country roads in the
vicinity, told Mr.. Droman that some
of the lumber used in the construction
of his house once supported the
wheels of quaint old locomotives dur
ing the first years Of the railroad in
America. They had heard their par
ents talk about it.
Wishing to prove the authenticity
of the story, Mr.. Droman took rep
resentatives of the Baltimore and
Ohio out to see his house recently and
they found four 22-foot rails holding
up the back porch. Further inspection
revealed more historic timber support
ing the first floor and still more used
as part of the framework of a large
barn near the house. G. W. Hunt,
maintenance inspector of the Balti-
more and Ohio, estimated that there
was nearly fifth of a mile of single
track represented in the building of
the two structures.
The rails, of tough Georgia yellow
pine, were used in system of track
laying very different from thatof the
present time. They were fastened to
heavy "sleepers," which were long
rectangular blocks of stone embedded
in the earth. On top of the wood,
along the inside edge, was laid an
iron strap, the rail proper, over which
the wheels of the locomotives and
cars ran.
This track remained in standard SER
vice for about four years and was
then replaced by the "T' type rail.
The long wooden timbers, stout and
heavy, were thrown to one side as the
new track progressed, and made ex-
cellent building material for those
who cared to haul them away.
The house owned by Mr.. Droman is
decaying, but the yellow pine rails,
fat with rosin, have stood strong and
sound through years of weathering.
Originally, the property was owned
by Henry DeVries, whose immediate
forbears were farmer emigrants from
Holland. Lumber was plentiful in the
days when this man began the con-
struction of his home, but it had to be
hewn and cut to proper lengths, which
took time and great deal of labor.
Naturally, when farmer DeVries
found the railroad abandoning their
fine timber, the story goes, he lost no
time in securing some of it for his
house and barn.
Enough of the rails have been taken
from the house to complete 80 feet of
track, which will be part of an as
sembly of ten sections of rail showing
successive improvements in track
buinding from the earliest days to the
nracapt