For more than 150 years, the railroad running through Brandywine, Southern Prince George’s County and Charles County has played an important role in the region’s development. What began as the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad’s Pope’s Creek Branch eventually became part of today’s freight-rail network, closely tied to Southern Maryland’s power-generation industry.
The Railroad That Helped Create Brandywine Maryland
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad was chartered in 1853 with plans for a railroad running from Baltimore south to Pope’s Creek on the Potomac River in Charles County. Construction was delayed by financing difficulties and the Civil War, but work finally began in 1868.
The first trains operated over the Pope’s Creek line in January 1873. The railroad passed through agricultural communities including Upper Marlboro, Brandywine, Waldorf and La Plata before reaching the Potomac River.
Its effect on Brandywine was particularly significant. Maryland historical records indicate that construction of the railroad contributed to population and commercial growth in southern Prince George’s County. In fact, the Brandywine Election District was established in 1872, during construction of the railroad.
From Passengers and Tobacco to Electricity
Originally, the railroad carried both passengers and agricultural products. Tobacco and other Southern Maryland farm products could be transported to larger markets much more efficiently.
Passenger service eventually disappeared as automobiles and improved highways changed transportation patterns. By the early 1960s, freight traffic had also declined substantially.
Then Southern Maryland’s growing electric-power industry gave the railroad a new purpose.
When the Chalk Point Generating Station opened near Aquasco in the 1960s, a rail connection was constructed east from the former Brandywine–Cedar Point railroad corridor near Gallant Green to deliver coal to the plant.
Another major customer arrived when the Morgantown Generating Station opened along the Potomac River in Charles County around 1970. The lower portion of the Pope’s Creek railroad was redirected to serve that facility.
For decades, long coal trains traveling through Brandywine, Waldorf and Charles County became a familiar sight.
Chalk Point Has Changed Dramatically
The Chalk Point Generating Station, located near Aquasco and Eagle Harbor along the Patuxent River, began operating in 1964. Its original coal-fired Units 1 and 2 provided a combined 728 MW of coal capacity, and coal was historically delivered by rail.
But today’s Chalk Point is very different.
Recent generation information shows the operating facility is now overwhelmingly fueled by natural gas, with a small amount of distillate fuel oil, rather than the coal that once arrived aboard trains.
That transformation raises an important question for communities along the railroad:
What is the long-term future of the Pope’s Creek rail corridor if its traditional power-plant customers no longer need coal trains?
Morgantown Is Changing Too
The transformation is even more dramatic at Morgantown.
Charles County reports that the former Morgantown coal-fired generating station closed in 2022. In early 2026, TeraWulf purchased the approximately 355-acre property, with plans that include environmental remediation, modernization of energy-generation facilities, battery storage and a future data-center campus.
This could potentially change the type of freight or infrastructure activity associated with the southern end of the historic railroad corridor.
Don’t Confuse Morgantown With the Original Pope’s Creek Power Plant
There is also another piece of Southern Maryland energy history that can cause confusion.
The old Pope’s Creek Generating Plant near Newburg was a much earlier facility. It was built in 1938 and helped bring electricity to rural Southern Maryland. It operated for only about 15 years and is now abandoned.
That historic facility is different from the much larger Morgantown Generating Station that later operated in the same general part of Charles County.
https://thebaynet.com/abandoned-popes-creek-generating-plant-charles-county/
A Transportation Corridor That Shaped Southern Maryland
The Pope’s Creek railroad has survived several economic eras:
Agriculture ? passenger transportation ? coal and electricity ? today’s changing energy economy.
Its importance to Brandywine should not be overlooked. The railroad helped transform what had been primarily rural farmland into a transportation and commercial center. Brandywine became one of the more substantial railroad communities along the route, and the tracks remain one of the most visible reminders of that history.
Today, with coal generation disappearing and major energy properties being redeveloped, the next chapter of this historic Southern Maryland rail corridor may again be determined by changes in the region’s economy.
https://www.gem.wiki/Chalk_Point_Generating_Station
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BrandywineMD.com will continue following the future of the Pope’s Creek rail corridor, Chalk Point, Morgantown and other major infrastructure developments affecting Southern Prince George’s and Charles counties.
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