 | |
 All rail lines operated by the B&O and subsidiaries | |
_train.jpg) Baltimore and Ohio Railroad'sColumbian crosses thePotomac River fromMaryland toHarpers Ferry, West Virginia, in 1949 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | B&O Railroad Headquarters Building, 2 NorthCharles Street,Baltimore,Maryland 1906–1987 |
| Reporting mark | BO |
| Locale | |
| Dates of operation | 1830–1987 |
| Successor | Chessie System/Chesapeake & Ohio Railway/CSX Transportation |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Length | 5,552 mi (8,935 km) |
TheBaltimore and Ohio Railroad (reporting marksBO,B&O) was theoldest railroad in the United States and the firststeam-operatedcommon carrier.[1] Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 until 1987, when it was merged into theChessie System. Its lines are today controlled byCSX Transportation.[1][2]
Founded to serve merchants fromBaltimore who wanted to do business with settlers crossing theAppalachian Mountains, the railroad competed with several existing and proposedturnpikes and canals, including theErie andChesapeake and Ohio Canal. The railroad began operation in 1830 on a 13-mile line betweenBaltimore andEllicott's Mill inMaryland. Horse-drawn cars were replaced by steam locomotives the following year.[3]
Over the following decades, construction continued westward. During theAmerican Civil War, the railroad sustained much damage but proved crucial to theUnion victory. After the war, the B&O consolidated several feeder lines inVirginia andWest Virginia, and expanded westward intoOhio,Indiana, andIllinois.
In 1962, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad gained control of the B&O, though it continued to operate separately.[4] By 1970, the B&O operated 4,535 miles (7,300 km) of mainline track, plus theStaten Island Rapid Transit system and theReading Railroad and its subsidiaries.[5][2] The B&O ended long-distance passenger service in 1971, although it continued limited commuter service at Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh.[1] In 1987, the B&O was formally merged into the C&O, which was by then a subsidiary ofCSX Transportation (CSX).[4]
The B&O is noted as a pioneer in railroading. It was the first U.S. railroad to operate asteam locomotive, it builthistoric infrastructure, and it operated prestigious passenger trains.[1] It also gained fame as one of the four railroads in the original version of the board gameMonopoly.[6]
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The railroad reached theOhio River in 1852, 24 years after the project started. From the railroad's founding, one of its primary goals was to link the East Coast transportation hub ofBaltimore across the Ohio River toMidwestern states. By crossing theAppalachian Mountains, a technical challenge, the railroad would link the new and booming territories of what at the time was the West, includingOhio,Indiana, andKentucky, with the east coast rail and boat network, fromMaryland northward. There was no rail link between Maryland andVirginia until the B&O opened theHarpers Ferry bridge in 1839.
Beginning in 1825, theErie Canal provided an animal-powered water facility, connectingNew York City with Ohio viaLake Erie. It took ten days to travel downstream fromBuffalo, New York, to New York City. TheCumberland Road, later the beginning of the federally financedNational Road, provided a road link for animal-powered transport betweenCumberland, Maryland, on thePotomac River andWheeling, Virginia, in present-dayWest Virginia, on the Ohio River, when it was completed in 1837. It was the second paved road in the country. However, the 1831DeWitt Clinton locomotive, running betweenAlbany andSchenectady, New York, demonstrated speeds of 25 miles per hour (40 km/h), dramatically decreasing the cost of transportation and announcing the coming end of the canal and turnpike (road) systems, many of which were never completed since they were or would soon be obsolete.
In New York, political support for the Erie Canal detracted from the prospect of building a railroad to replace it, whose full length did not open until 1844. Mountains inPennsylvania made construction in the western part of the state expensive and technically challenging, and thePennsylvania Railroad, linkingPittsburgh andPhiladelphia, did not open its full length until 1852, and there was no rail link west from Pittsburgh to Ohio for several more years.
The fast-growingport city of Baltimore, Maryland, faced economic stagnation unless it opened a route to the Western states. On February 27, 1827, twenty-five merchants and bankers studied the best means of restoring "that portion of the Western trade which has recently been diverted from it by the introduction of steam navigation."[7][8] Their answer was to build a railroad: one of the first commercial lines in the world.[9]
Their plans worked well, despite many political problems from canal backers and other railroads. Only thePennsylvania Railroad was allowed to build in its namesake state, requiring the B&O to skirt around a corner of the state, even though the Pennsylvania Railroad didn't even operate in that area of Pennsylvania.
The railroad grew from a capital base of $3 million in 1827 (equivalent to $83 million in 2024) to a large enterprise generating $2.7 million of annual profit on its 380 miles (610 km) of track in 1854, with 19 million passenger miles. The railroad fed tens of millions of dollars of shipments to and from Baltimore and its growing hinterland to the west, thus making the city the commercial and financial capital of the region south of Philadelphia.[10]
Although theAlbany and Schenectady Railroad was chartered a year earlier, in 1826, the B & O Railroad was the first to open in the US.Philip E. Thomas andGeorge Brown were the pioneers of the railroad.[7][11] In 1826, they investigated railway enterprises inEngland, which were at that time being tested in a comprehensive fashion as commercial ventures.[11] Their investigation completed, they held an organizational meeting on February 12, 1827, including about twenty-five citizens, most of whom were Baltimore merchants or bankers.[11]Chapter 123 of the 1826 Session Laws of Maryland, passed February 28, 1827, and the Commonwealth of Virginia on March 8, 1827, chartered theBaltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, with the task of building a railroad from the port of Baltimore west to a suitable point on the Ohio River. The railroad, formally incorporated April 24, was intended to provide a faster route forMidwestern goods to reach theEast Coast than to the hugely successful but slowErie Canal acrossupstate New York. Thomas was elected as the first president and Brown the treasurer. The capital of the proposed company was fixed at $5 million,[12] but the B&O was initially capitalized in 1827 with a $3 million issue of stock. Half of this stock was reserved for the Maryland state government, which invested $1,000,000, and the municipal government of Baltimore, which invested $500,000. The remaining private equity was purchased by around 22,000 people, equivalent to one-quarter of the city's population at the time.[13]
Construction began on July 4, 1828.
The initial tracks were built withgranite stringers topped bystrap iron rails. The first section, from Baltimore west to Ellicott's Mills (now known asEllicott City), opened on May 24, 1830. While a steam locomotive (Tom Thumb) was demonstrated on the B&O in 1830, the railroad did not switch to steam until 1831, and the first trains on the 26-mile (42 km) round trip to Ellicott's Mills were pulled by horses.[14]
From Ellicott's Mills, the railroad followed thePatapsco River upstream to a high point near Parr's Ridge (now known asMount Airy), where it descended into theMonocacy and Potomac river valleys. Further extensions opened toFrederick (including the shortFrederick Branch) on December 1, 1831;Point of Rocks on April 2, 1832; andSandy Hook on December 1, 1834. Sandy Hook, on the north bank of the Potomac, remained the end of the line until 1836 when the railroad opened itsbridge over the Potomac River to reachHarpers Ferry (then Virginia, now West Virginia). A connection at Harpers Ferry with theWinchester and Potomac Railroad, running southwest toWinchester, Virginia, opened in 1837.
Pushing west from Harpers Ferry, the B&O reachedMartinsburg in May 1842;Hancock in June 1842; andCumberland on November 5, 1842, which remained the end of the line for a number of years. Additional sections opened toPiedmont on July 21, 1851, andFairmont on June 22, 1852. Later that year, the B&O finally reached theOhio River atMoundsville, where port facilities were built, followed shortly later byWheeling (then Virginia, now West Virginia) on January 1, 1853. Wheeling remained the terminus through theAmerican Civil War until a bridge could be constructed across the Ohio River.
The narrow strip of available land along the Potomac River between Point of Rocks and Harpers Ferry caused years of legal battles between the B&O and theChesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal, as both sought to exclude the other from its use.[15][16] A compromise eventually allowed the two companies to share theright of way. The B&O also prevailed in a lawsuit brought against it by the Washington and Baltimore Turnpike Road.[17][full citation needed]
![Note inscribed No. 121 Baltimore February 10, 1841 Baltimore and Ohio RAILROAD COMPANY. Transfer to the holder of this order TWELVE AND A HALF CENTS in the Stock of the City of Baltimore bearing Six per cent interest payable quarterly when said holder presents orders amounting to One Hundred Dollars or upwards. [Commissioners holding the Stock to redeem these orders]." The note is illustrated with an illustration of two standing women on the left, and one sitting woman on the right.](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRecto_Baltimore_and_Ohio_Railroad_Company_(Maryland)_12_and_a_half_cents_1841_urn-3_HBS.Baker.AC_1142257.jpeg)
The B&O wanted links to Virginia'sShenandoah Valley, as well as the parts of western Virginia draining into the Ohio River valley and ultimately theMississippi River, such asWheeling (where theNational Road crossed the Ohio River) and theKanawha River valley. However, many Virginia politicians wanted the minerals, timber and produce of those areas to instead ship throughRichmond and reach the Atlantic throughNorfolk, although theJames River Canal required substantial maintenance and was never completed through the Appalachians to the Ohio River watershed. Thus, while the B&O reached Wheeling in 1853, political compromises meant the B&O would only reachGrafton to connect toParkersburg on the Ohio River through a connection with theNorthwestern Virginia Railroad which was completed in 1857. During the "Great Railway Celebrations of 1857", a large group of notables boarded the B&O in Baltimore, then transferred to steamboats that took them from Wheeling toMarietta, Ohio, where they boarded a railroad to Cincinnati, where after another celebration, they boarded theOhio and Mississippi Railroad, which brought them to St. Louis, Missouri, three days after they had started their journey.[18] The B&O would only reachCharleston (at the confluence of the Kanawha and Elk Rivers) and ultimatelyHuntington (which was named after a major B&O investor) on the Ohio River more than a decade after the American Civil War and the creation of the state ofWest Virginia.
Meanwhile, the State of Maryland granted the B&O a charter to build a line from Baltimore toWashington, D.C., in 1831, and theWashington Branch was opened in 1835.[19]: 157 This line joined to the original mainline atRelay, Maryland, crossing the Patapsco River on theThomas Viaduct (which remains one of the B&O's signature structures). This line was partially funded by the state of Maryland, and was operated separately until the 1870s, with Maryland receiving a 25 percent cut of gross passenger receipts. The B&O's charter also forbade further taxation of the railroad, and that no-tax provision was upheld in the 1840s after Baltimore City tried to tax it.[20] This Washington Branch line was built in stone, much like the original mainline. By this time, however, strap rail was no longer used for new construction. Most of the stone bridges on theOld Main Line did not last long, being washed out by the periodic flooding of the Patapsco River and replaced at first byBollman Truss bridges. TheAnnapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad toAnnapolis connected to this line at Annapolis Junction in 1840. As an unwritten condition for the charter, it was understood that the state of Maryland would not charter any competing line between Baltimore and Washington, and no such charters were approved until well after the American Civil War, when the Pennsylvania Railroad acquired a railroad on the Delmarva Peninsula, which had the power to build short branch lines, so it was able to connect to Washington throughBowie, Maryland.
The B&O also wanted access to Pittsburgh and coal fields in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. Although the directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad sought a monopoly in their state, delays in laying track to Pittsburgh led the Pennsylvania legislature in 1846 to require construction to be completed within 10 years, else competition would be allowed. The Pennsylvania Railroad finished its trans-Allegheny track with two years to spare. Denied a direct route to Pittsburgh, the B&O supported development of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad, under the leadership of former B&O Chief Engineer Benjamin Latrobe, eventually gaining full control when the final connection toCumberland, Maryland was completed in 1871.
In the early 20th century, F. A. Durban, a former president of theDT&I andAnn Arbor railroads, served as general counsel until his sudden death in 1915 at age 60.[21][22]
When construction began on the B&O in the 1820s, railroad engineering was in its infancy. Unsure exactly which materials would suffice, the B&O erred on the side of sturdiness and built many of its early structures of granite. Even the track bed to which the iron strap rail was affixed consisted of stone.
Though the granite soon proved too unforgiving and expensive for track, most of the B&O's monumental bridges have survived to this day, and many are still in active railroad use by CSX. Baltimore'sCarrollton Viaduct, named in honor ofCharles Carroll of Carrollton, was the B&O's first bridge, and is the oldest railway bridge in the Americas still carrying trains (and the third oldest in the world, after theSkerne Bridge, Darlington, UK, of 1824–1825, and theBassaleg Viaduct, Newport, UK, of 1826).[23][24] TheThomas Viaduct atRelay, Maryland, was the longest bridge in the United States upon its completion in 1835. It also remains in use. The B&O made extensive use of theBollman iron truss bridge design in the mid-19th century. Its durability and ease of assembly aided faster railroad construction.
As the B&O built the main line west toParr's Ridge, nearMount Airy, Maryland, it had limited information about the capabilities of steam locomotives; at the time, the line had three, theYork, Atlantic, and theFranklin.[25]: 70 When planning the extension toSandy Hook, Maryland, and thenHarpers Ferry, the company was uncertain if the engines' metal wheels would grip the metal rails sufficiently to pull a train up to the top of the ridge. The railroad decided to construct twoinclined planes, one on each side of the ridge, along which teams of horses, and perhaps steam-powered winches, would assist pulling the trains uphill. The planes, about a mile long on each side, quickly proved an operationalbottleneck. Before the decade of the 1830s ended, the B&O built a 5.5-mile-long (8.9 km) alternate route that became known as the Mount Airy Loop. The planes were quickly abandoned and forgotten, though some artifacts survive to the present.
In 1843, Congress appropriated $30,000 for construction of an experimental 38-mile (61 km)telegraph line between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore along the B&O's right-of-way. The B&O approved the project with the agreement that the railroad would have free use of the line upon its completion. An impressive demonstration occurred on May 1, 1844, when news of theWhig Party's nomination ofHenry Clay for U.S. president was telegraphed from the party's convention in Baltimore to theCapitol Building in Washington. On May 24, 1844, the line was officially opened asSamuel F. B. Morse sent his famous words, "What hath God wrought", from the B&O's Mount Clare station to the Capitol by telegraph.[26]
Contrary to legend, the B&O was not the first chartered railroad in the United States;John Stevens obtained a charter for theNew Jersey Railroad in 1815.[27] The B&O was, however, the first company to operate a locomotive built in America, with theTom Thumb in 1829. It built the first passenger andfreight station (Mount Clare in 1829) and was the first railroad to earn passenger revenues in December 1829, and publish a timetable on May 23, 1830. On Christmas Eve 1852, the B&O line was completed between Baltimore and the Ohio River nearMoundsville, West Virginia.[28]
Partial government ownership caused some operational problems. Of the thirty members on itsboard of directors, twelve were elected by shareholders, while eighteen were appointed either by Maryland or theBaltimore City Council.[29] Many had conflicting interests: the directors appointed by the state and city desired lowfares and all construction to be funded from corporate revenues, while the directors elected by shareholders desired greaterprofits anddividends. These conflicts became more intense in the 1850s after the completion of the C&O Canal, which brought additional competition to the B&O. In 1853, after being nominated by large shareholder and directorJohns Hopkins,John W. Garrett became president of the B&O, a position he would hold until his death in 1884.[30] In the first year of his presidency, corporateoperating costs were reduced from 65 percent of revenues to 46 percent,[29] and the railroad began distributing profits to its shareholders.
The B&O played a major role, and got national attention, in the response toabolitionistJohn Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (since 1863, West Virginia), in October 1859. Black porterHayward Shepherd, to whom there is amonument in Harpers Ferry, was the first man killed; stationmaster Fontaine Beckham, who was also the town's mayor, was killed the next day. Raiders had cut the telegraph line, and stopped the 1:30 am Wheeling to Baltimore express, but after several hours the train was allowed to continue and at the first station with a working telegraph (Monocacy) the conductor sent a telegram to B&O headquarters.[31][32] After confirming from the Martinsburg station (via Wheeling, because of the cut telegraph line) that the report was not a hoax, Garrett telegraphed PresidentJames Buchanan, theSecretary of War,the Governor of Virginia, and Maryland Militia GeneralGeorge Hume Steuart about the insurrection in progress.[33] The B&O made its rolling stock available to the military. At 3:20 pm a train left Washington Depot with 87 U.S. Marines and two howitzers, and a 3:45 p.m. train from nearerFrederick, Maryland, carried three Maryland militia companies under Col. Edward Shriver. These trains stopped before the bridge atSandy Hook, Maryland (end of the line before the bridge was built), and troops continued across the bridge on foot. Soon Garrett's Master of Transportation William Prescott Smith left Baltimore City, together with Maryland Gen. Charles G. Egerton Jr. and theSecond Light Brigade, which train also picked up the Marines on the federal troop train at the junction inRelay, Maryland. All awaited Lt. Col.Robert E. Lee and Lt.J.E.B. Stuart, who had received orders from the Secretary of War to retake Harpers Ferry and capture the insurgent abolitionists, which they quickly did.[31][34][35] Garrett reported with evident relief the next day that aside from the cut telegraph line, which was quickly repaired, there had been no damage to any B&O track, equipment, or facilities.
The government of Maryland published in a book the many telegrams sent by B&O employees and management during the raid.[36]
At the outset of theCivil War, the B&O possessed 236 locomotives, 128 passenger coaches, 3,451 rail cars and 513 miles (826 km) of rail road, all in states south of theMason–Dixon line, as Garrett had noted before the war began. Although manyMarylanders had Southern sympathies, Garrett and Hopkins supported theUnion. The B&O became crucial to the Federal government during the Civil War, being the main rail connection between Washington, D.C., and the northern states, especially west of the Appalachian mountains.
However, its initial problem became Lincoln's first Secretary of War,Simon Cameron, a major stockholder in the rival North Central Railroad, which received long haul freight destined for Baltimore from the rivalPennsylvania Railroad.[37] Furthermore, the Pennsylvania Railroad and other investors sought permission to construct rail lines which threatened the B&O's monopolies on the Washington Branch (between Relay and Washington DC) and westward through Cumberland, Maryland. Raids and battles during the war also cost the B&O substantial losses, many never indemnified. Master of Transportation Prescott Smith kept a diary during the war years, describing incidents such as the June 1861 derailment of a 50 car coal train, which plunged into a ravine after a bridge was destroyed (the wreckage burned for months and melted the metal coal hoppers), as well as later ironclad trains (one only disabled by an artillery shell piercing the boiler).[38]
On April 18, 1861, the day after Virginia seceded from the Union, Virginia militia seized the federal arsenal atHarpers Ferry, which was also an important work station on the B&O's main westward line. The following day,Confederate rioters in Baltimore attempted to prevent Pennsylvania volunteers from proceeding from the North Central Railway's Bolton station to the B&O's Mount Clare station, and Maryland's governor Hicks and Baltimore MayorGeorge W. Brown ordered 3 North Central and 2Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) bridges destroyed to prevent further federal troop movements through (and riots in) the city.[39] Soon B&O presidentJohn Work Garrett received letters from Virginia's GovernorJohn Letcher telling the B&O to pass no federal troops destined for any place in Virginia over the railroad, and threatening to confiscate the lines.Charles Town's mayor also wrote, threatening to cut the B&O's main line by destroying the long bridge over the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry, and Garrett also received anonymous threats. Thus he and others asked Secretary of War Cameron to protect the B&O as the national capitol's main westward link. Cameron instead warned Garrett that passage of any rebel troops over his line would be treason. The Secretary of War agreed to station troops to protect the North Central, the Pennsylvania Railroad, and even the PW&B, but flatly refused to help the B&O, his main competition.[40]
The B&O had to repair damaged line at its own expense, and often received late or no payment for services rendered to the federal government.[41] In May, CSA ColonelJackson's operations against the B&O Railroad (1861) began. Stonewall Jackson initially permitted B&O trains to operate during limited hours over the approximately 100 miles (160 km) from Point of Rocks to Cumberland.[42] On June 20, 1861, Jackson's Confederates seizedMartinsburg, a major B&O work center, having blown up the Harpers Ferry railroad bridge on June 14. Confederates confiscated dozens of locomotives and train cars and ripped up double track in order to ship rails for Confederate use in Virginia (14 locomotives and 83 rail cars were dismantled and sent south, and another 42 locomotives and 386 rail cars damaged or destroyed at Martinsburg, with the B&O water station and machine shops also destroyed and 102 miles (164 km) miles of telegraph wire removed by the time federal control was restored in March 1862).[43] By the end of 1861, 23 B&O railroad bridges had been burned and 36.5 miles (58.7 km) of track were torn up or destroyed.
Since Jackson cut the B&O main line into Washington for more than six months, the North Central and Pennsylvania Railroads profited from overflow traffic, even as many B&O trains stood idle in Baltimore. Garrett tried to use his government contacts to secure the needed protection, from Maryland DelegateReverdy Johnson to GeneralGeorge McClellan and Treasury SecretarySalmon P. Chase. As winter began, coal prices soared in Washington, even though the B&O in September arranged for free coal transport from its Cumberland, Maryland, terminal down the C&O Canal (which reduced prices somewhat, although Confederates also damaged the C&O canal that winter). Furthermore, western farmers could not get their produce to markets because of the B&O shutdown, only partially alleviated by the summer 1861 Union army victories at theBattle of Philippi (West Virginia) andRich Mountain, and vigorous army and company work crews which reduced the main-line gap to 25 miles between Harpers Ferry and Back Creek.[44]
Finally at year end,Samuel M. Felton, the PW&B President, wrote newspapers about the War Department's discrimination against his cooperating railroad line, which competed with Cameron's favored North Central and Pennsylvania Railroads. President Lincoln (familiar with railroad law since his days as an Illinois lawyer) in January 1862 replaced Cameron with Pennsylvania lawyerEdwin M. Stanton, who had been serving as Cameron's legal advisor.[45] Furthermore, on January 31, 1862, Congress passed the Railways and Telegraph Act of January 31, 1862, creating theUnited States Military Railroad and allowing it to seize and operate any railroad or telegraph company's equipment, although Stanton and USMRR SuperintendentDaniel McCallum would take a "team of rivals" approach to railroad management and allow civilian operations to continue.[46] In February 1862, Union forces recaptured Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry, and work crews continued replacing wrecked bridges and equipment, althoughbushwhacker raids continued.[47]Even then train movements were sporadic and subject to frequent stoppages, derailments, capture and attack. Prominent raids on the B&O railroad during this period were:
| Engine Name | Eng. No. | Type |
|---|---|---|
| ? | No. 17 | Norris 4-2-0 |
| ? | No. 34 | Mason 4-4-0 |
| ? | No. 187 | Camel 0-8-0 |
| Lady Davis (CSA name) | No. 188 | Tyson 4-4-0 "Dutch Wagon" |
| ? | No. 193 | Camel 0-8-0 |
| ? | No. 198 | Hayes Camel 0-8-0 |
| ? | No. 199 | Camel 0-8-0 |
| ? | No. 201 | ? |
The second half of the Civil War was characterized by near-continuous raiding, which severely hampered the Union defense of Washington, D.C. Union forces and leaders often failed to properly secure the region, despite the B&O's vital importance to the Union cause.
There is no interest suffering here except the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and I will not divide my forces to protect it.
— GeneralPhilip Sheridan[48]
This military strategy, or lack thereof, allowed Confederate commanders to contribute significantly to the length of the war, by conducting free-ranging military operations against the region and railroad.
Before theBattle of Monocacy, B&O agents began reporting Confederate troop movements eleven days prior to the battle, and Garrett had their intelligence passed to authorities in the War Department and to Major GeneralLew Wallace, who commanded the department responsible for defense of the area. As preparations for the battle progressed, the B&O provided transport for federal troops and munitions, and on two occasions Garrett was contacted directly by PresidentAbraham Lincoln for further information. Though Union forces lost this battle, the delay allowedUlysses S. Grant to successfully repel the Confederate attack on Washington at theBattle of Fort Stevens two days later. After the battle, Lincoln paid tribute to Garrett as:
The right arm of the Federal Government in the aid he rendered the authorities in preventing the Confederates from seizing Washington and securing its retention as the Capital of the Loyal States.
— Abraham Lincoln[49]
The Confederate leaders who led these operations and specifically targeted the railroad included:
Bases of operation involved in raiding the B&O Railroad:
A steel and stone bridge was built across the Ohio River betweenBellaire, Ohio, and Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1871, connecting the B&O to theCentral Ohio Railroad, which the B&O had leased starting in 1866. This provided a direct rail connection toColumbus, Ohio, and the lease marked the beginning of a series of expansions to the west and north.
Other railroads included in the B&O were:
(This list omits certain short lines.)
TheChicago and Alton Railroad was purchased by the B&O in 1931 and renamed theAlton Railroad. It was always operated separately and was eventually bought by theGulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad after receivership in 1942.
As a result of poor national economic conditions in the mid-1870s following thePanic of 1873, the B&O attempted to reduce its workers' wages. After a second reduction in wages was announced in the same year, workers began theGreat Railroad Strike of 1877 on July 14 inMartinsburg, West Virginia. Striking workers would not allow any of the trains, mainly freight trains, to roll until the third wage cut was revoked.West Virginia GovernorHenry M. Mathews sent in state militia units to restore train service but the soldiers refused to fire on the strikers. The strike spread toCumberland, and whenMaryland GovernorJohn Lee Carroll attempted to put down the strike by sending the state militia from Baltimore,riots broke out resulting in 11 deaths, the burning of parts of Camden station, and damage to several engines and cars.[53] The next day workers inPittsburgh staged asympathy strike that was also met with an assault by the state militia; Pittsburgh then erupted into widespread rioting. The strike ended after federal troops and state militias restored order.
In 1866 the B&O began constructing theMetropolitan Branch west out of Washington, which was completed in 1873 after years of erratic effort. Before this line was laid, rail traffic west of Washington had to travel first to Relay or Baltimore before joining the main line. The line cut a more or less straight line from Washington toPoint of Rocks, Maryland, with many grades and large bridges. Upon the opening of this line, through passenger traffic was rerouted through Washington, and the Old Main Line from Point of Rocks to Relay was reduced to secondary status as far as passenger service was concerned. The Washington toGaithersburg section of the Met Branch was double-tracked during 1886–1893.[54] Rebuilding in the early 20th century and complete double-tracking of the branch by 1928 increased capacity; the "branches" became thede facto mainline, though the Old Main Line was retained as a relief route.
Meanwhile, thePennsylvania Railroad (PRR) outmaneuvered the B&O to acquire the B&O's northern connection, thePhiladelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, in the early 1880s, cutting off the B&O's access toPhiladelphia andNew York. The state of Maryland had stayed true to its implicit promise not to grant competing charters for the Baltimore/Washington line, but when a charter was granted in 1860 to build a line from Baltimore toPope's Creek in southern Maryland, lawyers for the Pennsylvania RR picked up on a clause in the unfulfilled charter allowing branches up to 20 miles (32 km) long, from any point and in any direction. The projected route, passing through what is nowBowie, Maryland, could have a "branch" constructed that would allow service into Washington. The Pennsylvania picked up the charter through the agency of theBaltimore and Potomac Railroad and in 1872 service between Baltimore and Washington began. (SeePope's Creek Subdivision.) At the same time, the PRR outmaneuvered the B&O and took control of theLong Bridge across the Potomac River into Virginia, the B&O's connection to southern lines.
In response, the B&O chartered thePhiladelphia Branch in Maryland and theBaltimore and Philadelphia Railroad in Delaware and Pennsylvania and built a parallel route, finished in 1886. The 10th president,Charles F. Mayer, spearheaded the development of theBaltimore Belt Line, which opened in 1895, and recruited engineerSamuel Rea to design it.[55] This belt line connected the main line to the Philadelphia Branch without the need for acar ferry across the Patapsco River, but the cost of constructing theHoward Street Tunnel drove the B&O to bankruptcy in 1896.
Two other lines were built in attempts to reconnect to the south. The Alexandria Branch (now called theAlexandria Extension) was built in 1874, starting fromHyattsville, Maryland, and ending at a ferry operation at Shepherd's Landing. The ferry operation continued until 1901 when the trackage rights agreement concluded as part of the construction ofWashington Union Station saw the south end of the branch realigned to link to the PRR trackage in Anacostia, across theAnacostia Railroad Bridge, into theVirginia Avenue Tunnel, throughSouthwest Washington, D.C., toPotomac Yard inAlexandria, Virginia. (SeeRF&P Subdivision.) The Alexandria Branch trackage to Shepherd's Landing was heavily used duringWorld War II when traffic congestion on theLong Bridge caused theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct a bridge along the original plan of the B&O: Alexandria to Shepherd's Landing, Washington. Trains of emptyfreight cars were routed north and south over the structure, which was demolished after the end ofWorld War II.[56]
Before either connection was made, however, another branch was built around the west side of Washington. During the 1880s the B&O had organised a group of bankrupt railroads in Virginia into theVirginia Midland Railroad. The VM track ran fromAlexandria toDanville, Virginia. The line projected west across the Potomac River was intended to cross the Potomac just north of the D.C. line, to continue southwest to a connection with the B&O-controlled Virginia Midland (VM) inFairfax (nowFairfax Station, to distinguish it from what wasFairfax Court House and is now theCity of Fairfax, Virginia), and if possible to a connection with theRichmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad inQuantico. The branch was started in 1892 and reachedChevy Chase, Maryland, the same year. Financial problems in both the VM and B&O forced a halt to construction and led to the B&O's loss of control of the VM. Following bankruptcy, and control by the Pennsylvania Railroad, by the time the line was completed in 1910 there was no longer any point to the river crossing. Thus, the renamedGeorgetown Branch came to serve a wide range of customers in Maryland and inGeorgetown, such as thePotomac Electric Power Company, theWashington Milling Company, and the U.S. government. The line cut directly across various creeks, and includes what was said to be the longest woodtrestle on the railroad overRock Creek; and a short tunnel,Dalecarlia Tunnel, under theWashington Aqueduct. The line was almost completely abandoned in 1986 by CSX and is presently used in part as the right-of-way for theCapital Crescent Trail.
After a flood damaged the C&O Canal in 1877, the B&O acquired a majority interest in the canal mainly to keep its property and right of way from potential use by theWestern Maryland Railroad.[15] The canal was operated by the B&O until 1924 when it was damaged in another flood. The canal's property was later transferred to the U.S. government in 1938 in consideration for obtaining a loan from the federalReconstruction Finance Corporation.[15]
In 1895 the B&O introducedelectric locomotives over 3.75 mi (6.04 km) of line near Camden, initially using an overhead electric slot system.[57]
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Following its emergence from bankruptcy, control of the B&O was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1901, though the two kept separate corporate identities. A rising young PRR Vice President,Leonor F. Loree, was appointed president. Loree shared the Pennsy management's belief in infrastructure and the B&O at that time needed some of that. New classes of engines were built to haul longer, heavier trains faster. TheOld Main Line was reworked, sections of the original right-of-way cut off by the straightening of curves and replacement of old, weight-restricted bridges with newer, heavier bridges. Most of Loree's work on the B&O physical plant remains evident today. Many iron and steel bridges on the railroad were replaced with stone (Pennsy preferred stone to the preference of theReading andLackawanna Railroad for concrete). With the adoption of anti-trust legislation in 1906, the relation between the two companies was severed.[58]
The railroad's passenger numbers were at a disadvantage with the railroad's major competitor in the northeast, thePennsylvania Railroad. That railroad had a tunnel into Manhattan, thus carrying passengers directly intoNew York City. The B&O had no tunnel rights, and its New York City market trains actually terminated at theCentral Railroad of New Jersey Terminal inJersey City. From Philadelphia to Jersey City the B&O traveled overReading Railroad tracks to Bound Brook and there joiningCentral Railroad of New Jersey tracks to Jersey City. Passengers rode CNJ ferries or B&O busses to Manhattan. Suffering from its weaker market position from Baltimore to New York, the B&O discontinued all passenger service north of Baltimore on April 26, 1958. One day later, the railroad had declared itself fully dieselized.[citation needed]
TheChesapeake and Ohio Railway took financial control of the B&O in 1963.[59] On May 1, 1971,Amtrak had taken over all of the remaining non-commuter routes of the B&O. The B&O already had a controlling interest in theWestern Maryland Railway. In 1973 the three railroads were brought together under one corporate identity, theChessie System, although they continued to operate as separate railroads.[60] In 1980 the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries, a holding company that owned theSeaboard Coast Line, theLouisville & Nashville, theClinchfield, and theGeorgia Railroad, agreed to formCSX Corporation. SCL Industries was renamed theSeaboard System Railroad (SBD) in 1983, the same year that theWestern Maryland Railway was completely absorbed into the B&O. SBD was renamedCSX Transportation (CSX) in 1986. On April 30, 1987, the B&O's corporate existence ended when it was absorbed into the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, which merged into CSX Transportation on August 31 of that year.[61]
In railroading's golden age, the B&O was one of several trunk lines uniting the northeast quadrant of the United States into a wide industrial zone. It was the southern border as theNew York Central was the northern border. The Pennsylvania Railroad controlled the center, and smaller roads like theLackawanna,Lehigh Valley, and theErie in the center surviving largely through theInterstate Commerce Commission. The corners of this map are Baltimore in the southeast,Boston in the northeast,Chicago in the northwest, andSt. Louis in the southwest.
| B&O | SIRT | BR&P | CI&W | D&U | ICV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | 19459 | 6 | 1585 | 376 | 3 | 15 |
| 1933 | 12111 | 6 | (incl in B&O) | (incl in B&O) | (incl in B&O) | (incl in B&O) |
| 1944 | 34802 | 9 | ||||
| 1960 | 24840 | 15 | ||||
| 1970 | 28594 | ? |
| B&O | SIRT | BR&P | CI&W | D&U | ICV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | 878 | 67 | 47 | 14 | 0.004 | 0.1 |
| 1933 | 435 | 52 | (incl in B&O) | (incl in B&O) | (incl in B&O) | (incl in B&O) |
| 1944 | 2758 | 81 | ||||
| 1960 | 533 | 37 | ||||
| 1970 | 64 | ? |
The B&O'snamed passenger trains included:
When CSX established theB&O Railroad Museum as a separate entity from the corporation, it donated some of the former B&OMount Clare Shops in Baltimore, including theroundhouse, to the museum.
Baseball fans at theBaltimore Orioles' current home,Oriole Park at Camden Yards, see theBaltimore & Ohio Warehouse at Camden Yards over the right-field wall.
The B&O acquiredlocomotives andcab units built by these companies[62]:
In 2021, CSX repainted threeEMD F40PHs into an honorary B&O scheme: CSX 1, CSX 2 and CSX 3.
In May 2023,GE ES44AH unit #1827 entered service, being repaired and painted at CSX shops inWaycross,GA under the honorary B&O scheme similar to that of the three F40PH locomotives. It is CSX's first heritage unit.
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