Maryland Railroad Preservation Society

The Maryland Railroad Preservation Society was founded in September 2015 by Edward P. Bombaro, a local architect, community planner, designer, and life-long rail-fan.

In the summer of 2013, Edward was approached by local officials to assume the architecture and planning behind the restoration of the historic, circa 1890, Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Station Building located in Railroad Memorial Park in Ridgely, Maryland. Already the central part of a railroad interpretive display featuring a restored Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company class ‘NH’ caboose (which is credited to be the caboose the A.C. Gilbert and Co. modeled for their American Flyer brand of ‘S Gauge’ toy trains), Edward came to realize the importance of the heritage of the railroads that passed through Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

During the two years of design to restore Ridgely Station to its c. 1890s appearance, research from the original Pennsylvania Railroad Engineering Department became available through the Hagley Library in Wilmington, DE. The research pointed to many similar stations, many of which remain standing throughout Maryland’s Eastern Shore and Delaware. Some are served by major railroads like ConRail and Norfolk Southern, some by local short-line railroads like the Maryland and Delaware Railroad, but still many sat derelict, abandoned, and forgotten along out-of-service or abandoned branches like Goldsboro Station, standing derelict and abandoned next to the out-of-service Oxford Branch of the former Pennsylvania Railroad.

Presently, there are up-start tourist lines like the Preston and Hurlock Railroad who seek to reopen the long out-of-service branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad from Hurlock to Preston, MD as a tourist route and possibly a freight short-line. The station locations will have to be completely rebuilt as the originals have been demolished long ago. In Centreville, MD historic Pennsylvania Railroad stations stand in need up restoration; a c.1900 turntable has also recently been uncovered.

Although there are many individuals, private groups, companies, and local residents who have called for the restoration of these railroad buildings and rights-of-way, there has been very little communication between these groups and many restoration projects stand still, sometimes beyond the point of restoration.
The Maryland Railroad Preservation Society wishes to be the means to unify all interested parties as a volunteer society of rail-fans, local residents, and local historians as well as private railroads, both big and small, as well include the local and state government in public presentations highlighting the value, public benefit, and community and economic growth potential that grows from these railroad restoration projects!