Philadelphia & Columbia RR - Original Railway Track
N 39° 59.734 W 075° 12.991
18S E 481517 N 4427286
A portion of the original stone block railway track is still in existence in Fairmount Park - dating back to 1832 when trains were pulled by horses.
Waymark Code: WMFFXM
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 10/13/2012
Views: 7
From the marker: 'One of America's earliest railroads, authorized by the state legislature in 1828 and completed in 1834. Stretching 82 miles west to the Susquehanna, it was powered first by horses, later by steam. Part of a state-owned transportation system, including the Pennsylvania Canal, built in response to intense competition from adjacent states. Acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. in 1857. Stone blocks placed for the original track have remained visible here.'
This is one of the oldest remains of railway track in the United States. (There may be another
site, with stone sill track, near Baltimore, Maryland). This stone block track predates the use of rolled rail and crossties, a system that is still in common use today. It gives us one of the few connections to the early concept of American railway track design still in existence.
In the waymark gallery is included a plan from the B&O Railroad showing what this track may have looked like if it was
strap rail, as is most likely. Another possibility is that this track used
edge rail, an earlier version of railway track.
Also in the waymark gallery is a 'snip' of a Google aerial map, showing the arrangement of the stone blocks and giving an idea of the track alignment in this location. Wikipedia has a map showing about where this track was located, just west of the Belmont inclined plane.