Rock Creek Railway

The Rock Creek Railway was founded by Francis Newlands as part of a plan to develop streetcar suburbs in northwestern D.C. and adjacent Maryland.

[3] The railroad's officers were the same as the Chevy Chase Land Company's: Newlands, president; Edward J. Stellwagen, vice-president; Howard S. Nyman, secretary; Thomas M. Gale, treasurer, and A. J. Warner, manager.

Overhead trolley poles were forbidden in this part of the city, so the railroad used the Love conduit system between the rails to provide power to the cars.

Returning to solid ground, the track joined the recently graded extension of Connecticut Avenue NW north of Rock Creek and turned then ran north-northwest.

Here the Rock Creek built a terminus complex that included a small station and the railroad's six-track car barn.

Coquelin Run, a small tributary of Rock Creek, was dammed to create a lake to supply water to the railroad's northern power house.

[1][11][12] On September 16, 1892, service opened on the six-mile extension of the line, making the Rock Creek Railway the first D.C.-based streetcar to operate in Maryland.

One was a northern spur to the National Zoo that was never built,[3] but the authorization to lay track east along Florida Avenue to North Capitol Street was eventually used.

[9] The downtown portion of the line used the underground Love conduit system,[12] while the Connecticut Avenue section used cheaper, more reliable overhead wires.

On March 1, 1895, Congress authorized the Rock Creek Railway to purchase the Washington and Georgetown Railroad as part of an attempt to consolidate the streetcar system.

"[20][21] The deal also took advantage of a peculiar facet of the Rock Creek Railway, whose revenues were rather sparse but whose charter placed no limits on the amount of money that might be raised through the sale of stock and bonds.

"This providential clause was turned to good advantage in the reorganization of the prosperous Washington and Georgetown Railroad which was severely crippled by its fixed capital ceiling of only $500,000", according to a 1966 history of D.C.

“The combination of a hot, fair Sunday and the reduction of the fare on the Chevy Chase electric line to five cents for a full trip from the city” drew an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 riders.