page_title: Towson, Maryland
section_title: "Ma and Pa" Railroad
hierarchical_section_title: Towson, Maryland / Transportation / "Ma and Pa" Railroad
caption_attribution_description: 中文（繁體）‎: 馬里蘭與賓夕法尼亞鐵路跨越馬里蘭州陶森的約克路上舊鐵橋的橋台English: Stone abutments remaining in Towson, Maryland, from the former Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad bridge over York Road
context_page_description: Towson is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorporated county seat in the United States.
context_section_description: Railroad service began to Towson on April 17, 1882, with construction of the Baltimore & Delta Railway Company, soon renamed the Baltimore & Lehigh Railroad, and later reorganized as the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad. The "Ma and Pa", as it was affectionately known locally, formerly operated between Baltimore and York, Pennsylvania, through Towson. Its passenger station was located just west of York Road on Susquehanna Avenue. Passenger service was discontinued on August 31, 1954, and the railroad line through Towson was finally abandoned altogether on June 11, 1958, leaving only the stone abutments where the tracks crossed York Road on a steel girder bridge. One passenger on the last passenger train recalled that many riders came from as far away as Boston and Washington, D.C., to participate in the historic event, along with members of the National Railway Historical Society. Historic Towson, a local group of history buffs, installed a bronze plaque on the west abutment in 1999, commemorating the defunct railroad's place in Towson's history.
caption: The remaining bridge abutments in 2014
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