Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/ICC valuations/Baltimore and Sparrows Point Railroad

Interstate Commerce Commission, Volume 108, Valuation Reports

The Baltimore and Sparrows Point Railroad

Location and General Description of Property

The railroad of The Baltimore and Sparrows Point Railroad Company, hereinafter called the carrier, is a standard-gauge steam railroad located in Maryland, and extending from Colgate Creek, Baltimore, to Penwood Park, Md., a distance of 5.46 miles. Of this mileage 3.74 miles is owned and 1.72 miles is leased from the Maryland Steel Company, from which company the carrier also leases 1.641 miles of yard track and sidings. The carrier also owns 3.037 miles of second main track, and 3.159 miles of yard tracks and sidings, making a total of 9.936 miles of all track owned, and 13.297 miles used.

Jointly Used Property

The carrier has no jointly owned and used property, except certain jointly owned minor facilities, which are referred to in the statement of cost of reproduction new and cost of reproduction less depreciation.

Economic Conditions Relating to Traffic

The steel mills of the Maryland Steel Company, located at Sparrows Point, furnish the principal source of revenue.

Corporate History

The carrier was incorporated on July 25, 1887, under the general laws of Maryland, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a steam railroad from Baltimore to Sparrows Point. Its organization was perfected November 26, 1887. Its principal office is located at Baltimore, Md. The carrier is controlled by The Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company, through ownership of its capital stock, which was acquired from the Pennsylvania Steel Company. The development of the fixed physical property owned by the carrier is related in Appendix 2.

Physical Characteristics of Road

The grading is light. The excavated material is all common excavation, there being no rock whatever. Some of the material in embankments consists of slag, the waste product of the steel mills.

Development of Fixed Physical Property

The owned and used mileage of the carrier, on date of valuation, embracing 3.74 miles of first main track and 9.936 miles of all tracks, was built by the Pennsylvania Steel Company, acting as fiscal agent for the carrier, between July 25,1887, and February 11, 1889, and was opened for operation on the latter date.

Leased Railway Property

While the carrier has never operated any passenger trains, such trains were operated over the road by the Northern Central Railway Company from 1900 until July, 1914, and from that time to date of valuation by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as lessee of the Northern Central Railway Company. The carrier receives, as rental, a proportion of the revenue from these trains which amounted to $7,553.20 for the year ended June 30, 1915. Prior to the latter part of 1913, this rental was segregated to the credit of passenger, mail, and express revenue. No regular agreement exists for the operation of these trains.

The carrier uses 1.720 miles of road which it conveyed to the Maryland Steel Company in 1913. Under an agreement dated March 20, 1913, the carrier conveyed to the Maryland Steel Company, whose plant is located adjacent to the carrier's tracks, 16.53 acres of land with all tracks and fixed structures thereon, in return for which the Maryland Steel Company was to pay the carrier $25,000 in cash, convey to it 8.14 acres of land and build thereon, at its own expense, when required, a railroad and railroad structures of the same quality as were upon land conveyed to it. The Maryland Steel Company paid the cash and conveyed the land, as agreed, but, on date of valuation, had not constructed the road, and the carrier was still occupying and using the tracks and structures located on the property conveyed to the Maryland Steel Company.