The history of Brunswick Maryland and the surrounding area serves as a singular representation of the evolution and social impacts of transportation in the United States.  The community itself owes its existance to those changing modes of travel over the past two centuries.  Early expansion west along the Potomac River, a ford and then ferry across the river for local farms, and then becoming a town that grew along with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. 

However Brunswick is best known for its railroad connection.  A whistlestop community along the first commercial railroad line in America became the home of the largest railroad yard owned by a single company in 1907.  At 5 miles long and with a capacity for over 6000 railcars at a time, the yard employed thousands of workers in its day to day switching and maintenance operations.  With the yard came a new community, the old canal town becoming a new turn of the century company town with all of the modern conveniences that could be had.

Though the yard is no longer what it had once been, the shops closed in the 1960s, and the C&O Canal greatly reclaimed by nature, Brunswick still boats over 65 trains passing through daily, and offers access to the C&O Canal National Historic Park Towpath and Potomac River.

The long term mission of "B.A.T.T.S." is to promote the improvement of railroad and C&O Canal themed tourism and public safety around active transportation routes in the Brunswick area through programs, events, and by encouraging area capital improvements.  Our first capital project will be the planning and possible construction of an extensive railroad viewing and education park in the downtown Brunswick area, a project which is currently sponsored and in close partnership with Brunswick Main Street, Inc.  To learn about this project, browse the Railroad View Park section of this site.