Shuttered since early 2011, Sanders
' Corner will be reopening, it looks like. The Loch Raven landmark on Cromwell Bridge Road is in new hands, scouts report.
The scouts happen to be members of the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Society, who have been concerned about memorabilia inside Sanders' Corner relating to the rail line fondly remembered as the Ma & Pa — the line's Loch Raven Station, destroyed by fire in 1949, stood just by what is now Sanders' Corner.
So, when advance scouts noticed that the For Sale sign at Sanders' Corner recently had been removed and pre-construction activity had begun, the members sprung into action.
One member visiting the Sanders' Corner site approached the proprietary looking folks gathered there, identified his affiliation, and asked what they intended to do with the Ma & Pa memorabilia. He was not only assured that the artifacts will be displayed when the property reopens but was told that that a Ma & Pa theme will be prominent in its new incarnation.
The most recent edition of Sanders' Corner was shuttered suddenly in early 2011 by John Naudain, who purchased the restaurant in April 2008 from the Sanders family.
Folks remember when Sanders' Corner was a general store where you'd go for ice cream before the family expanded it into a full-service restaurant. And older folks remember it from its days as a post office and general store.
These are good times for Ma & Pa buffs. Read Frederick N. Rasmussen's Baltimore Sun story on a recently published history ("The Ma & Pa Remembered: A History of the Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad," by Henry C. Peden Jr. and Jack L. Shagena Jr.) of the departed rail line.
For more information about the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Society visit www.maparailroadhist.org