Long Description:The Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, Americas first common
carrier, was chartered on February 28th 1827 by a group of
Baltimore businessmen to ensure traffic would not be lost to the
proposed Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. Construction began on July
4th 1828 with the laying of the first stone in a grand ceremony
attended by the honorable Charles Carroll, the last living signer
of the Declaration of Independence. The early horse drawn rail
lines were made of wood rails with iron straps laid upon stones.
The first stone, now located in the B&O museum in Baltimore,
contained a copy of the original charter. President John Quincy
Adams, believing that canals where the way of the future, broke
ground the same day at a ceremony for the C&O Canal.
The first "official" passengers rode in horse-drawn carts from
Mount Clair in Baltimore to the Carrollton Viaduct being
constructed on January 7th 1830. On May 24th the line was complete
all the way to Ellicott's Mills, Md. Progress to the Potomac was
restricted by the C&O Canal, which had the blessing of the
federal government and had already acquired the best route. The
first trial run of Peter Cooper's Tom Thumb in August of 1830
brought steam to the railroad along with many other improvements.
Cast iron rails replaced wood, trains of carts divided the weight
upon the rails, flanged iron wheels held to the rail better than
wood, and a breaking system was developed.
Produce was flowing from Point of Rocks, Md. on the Potomac by
1832 and the B&O expanded steadily with a branch reaching
Washington in 1835. US Mail began flowing on the line on January
1st 1838. The B&O reached Cumberland, Md. by June 1851, but to
reach Wheeling, Va. (West Virginia did not yet exist) 11 tunnels
and 113 bridges had to be constructed. On June 22nd 1852 the line
reached the Monongahela River at Fairmont, Va. (now WV) and on
Christmas Eve the last spike was laid east of Wheeling. On January
1st 1853 the first train arrived in Wheeling from Baltimore in 16
hours, a trip that had once taken several days. The "West" was now
open.
As the Western Frontier continued to move, new cities began to
grow in importance. Cinncinnati, St. Louis, and Chicago were the
new targets for the B&O. During the Civil War the railroad
moved Union troops and supplies and was the target of many attacks.
Bridges were burned and rebuilt, tracks were torn up and replaced,
telegraph lines pulled down and restored. Steel rails began use and
prefabricated iron bridges sped repairs. The first bridge across
the Ohio was begun in 1868 and took 37 months to complete, a second
bridge was begun on the Parkersburg line in 1869 and completed in
January of 1871. The B&O finally reached Chicago in November of
1874 after completing 811 miles of track. At the same time the
B&O increased its control of the Marietta & Cincinatti
Railroad, the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, and others to reach
St. Louis. These lines became part of the B&O in 1893.
By the end of the 19th century the B&O had achieved almost
5,800 miles of track and connected Chicago and St. Louis to
Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, and New York City. Depressions
and hard times brought receivership of the B&O to the
Pennsylvania Railroad on February 29th 1896. Improvements continued
with a tunnel under the streets of Baltimore and new lines
purchased. The US government took control of America's rail lines
in 1917 during the First World War and left them severely weakened
by 1920. The B&O however continued to grow and in 1927 acquired
a 40 percent share in the Western Maryland Railway. The railroad
celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1927 with two events, a private
dinner in February and The Centenary Exhibition and Pageant of the
Baltimore & Ohio in September. Some of the B&O's original
locomotives and equipment were on hand as where replicas of the
first steam engines, along side the latest in steam technology
found on the B&O, Pennsylvania, and NYC. Total attendance for
the three week event was over 1.3 million people.
The first diesel locomotive on the B&O was a 60 ton, 300
horse power switcher, used for yard work in 1925. The first road
diesel, purchased for the Washington-New York Royal Blue in 1935,
was a two unit EMD EA "shovel nose" set. During World War II, 5400
hp four unit EMD freight sets came to the B&O. Great steam
mallets continued to be purchased until 1945. With the scarcity of
gasoline and tires, huge amounts of oil and coal and 97 percent of
all troups were carried by America's Railroads. After the war, as
revenue declined and truck traffic increased, the B&O was faced
with more financial difficulties. Many of the eastern railroads
were declaring bankruptcy and proposing mergers. The NYC proposed a
merger with the B&O and C&O, but the C&O had already
acquired 61 percent of the B&O by 1961 and on New Year's Eve,
1962 the merger was approved. The combined system controlled 11,000
miles of track.
In 1972 the Chessie System was born with engines and equipment
repainted in yellow, blue and orange, and wearing the Chessie-C
logo and their orignal markings on the cab. In 1974 the B&O
acquired total control of the Western Maryland. The Chessie System
and the Seaboard System, under the control of the C&O, merged
on November 1st, 1980 under the holding company name CSX
Corporation. CSX standing for Chessie, Seaboard, and many times
more. The combined road at that time had over 27,000 miles of
track. In 1986 CSX merged all the railroads into CSX Transportation
thus ending the history of the great Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
Nearly all locomotives and most freight cars are now in the latest
CSX paint and markings. Many miles of B&O track, including most
of the St. Louis main line, have been abandoned, and the
traditional B&O color position signals are being replaced with
C&O style stop lights. The name may be gone, but the road will
always be remembered.
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