Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad
Encyclopedia
The Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad was a railroad line built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
(B&O) from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
to Baltimore, Maryland. It was built in the 1880s after the B&O lost access to its previous route to Philadelphia, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad
(PW&B). The B&O had lost an attempt to acquire the PW&B in a stock takeover battle with the Pennsylvania Railroad
(PRR). The cost of building the new route, especially the Howard Street Tunnel on the connecting Baltimore Belt Line
, led to the B&O's first bankruptcy
. The Baltimore and Philadelphia line is now used by CSX Transportation
for freight train
s.
in Baltimore ran from the B&O's Mount Clare terminal east along Pratt Street and East Falls Avenue to the PW&B's President Street Station
. From there the PW&B ran east on Fleet Street and Boston Street before leaving onto its own right-of-way
.
In 1881 the PRR acquired the PW&B. The B&O needed to build a new route to Philadelphia, as it was allowed to use the PW&B line only until 1884. The B&O acquired the Delaware Western Railroad, which had a charter
but no track, merged it into the Baltimore & Philadelphia (called the Philadelphia Branch in Maryland) in 1883, and began construction. The line was in full operation by 1886.
Except at its two ends, the line was built within a few miles to the northwest of the PW&B. At the Baltimore end, the line ended in the Canton neighborhood, with a car ferry
across the Patapsco River
to Locust Point. At the Philadelphia end, the new line crossed the PW&B and its old alignment (part of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway's branch to Chester) and crossed to the east side of the Schuylkill River
just south of Grays Ferry
. A branch split there towards the Delaware River
, while the main line continued north along the Schuylkill, with a station downtown, and then passed through the Art Museum Tunnel to Park Junction with the Philadelphia and Reading Railway's main line; this tunnel, probably the last part of the line, opened on December 15, 1886.
The Reading, originally using the Junction Railroad
west of the Schuylkill to access its Chester branch, obtained trackage rights
over the Baltimore and Philadelphia, and the B&O obtained trackage rights over the Reading's lines from Philadelphia to Jersey City, New Jersey
, across the Hudson River
from New York City
. (This route via the Reading originally ran via the main line, Port Richmond Branch, North Pennsylvania Railroad
, North Pennsylvania Railroad Delaware River Branch, Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad and Central Railroad of New Jersey
, later using the shortcut of the Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad
and New York Short Line Railroad rather than the North Pennsylvania.) The Baltimore and New York Railway and Staten Island Rapid Transit Railway provided their own freight terminal, at St. George on Staten Island
.
Though a surface alignment through downtown Baltimore was authorized by the Maryland legislature
, the B&O instead obtained a charter for the Baltimore Belt Line to provide a completely grade-separated route. This new route entered the long Howard Street Tunnel at Camden Station, running north under downtown, and then turning east through two shorter tunnels to a junction with the Philadelphia Branch at Bay View Yard. The Baltimore Belt Line was completed in 1895, and its expenses drove the B&O to bankruptcy
in 1896.
The last passenger trains ran through the tunnel and over the Baltimore and Philadelphia in 1958; since then all traffic has been freight. The route is now operated by CSX as its Philadelphia Subdivision.
Crum Creek
Market Street
South Washington
Landenberg
Providence
In Baltimore
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
(B&O) from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
to Baltimore, Maryland. It was built in the 1880s after the B&O lost access to its previous route to Philadelphia, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad
The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad was the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania southwest to Baltimore, Maryland in the 19th and early 20th centuries...
(PW&B). The B&O had lost an attempt to acquire the PW&B in a stock takeover battle with the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
(PRR). The cost of building the new route, especially the Howard Street Tunnel on the connecting Baltimore Belt Line
Baltimore Belt Line
The Baltimore Belt Line was constructed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the 1890s to connect the railroad's newly constructed line to Philadelphia with the rest of the railroad at Baltimore, Maryland. It included the Howard Street Tunnel, the Mount Royal Station and the first mainline...
, led to the B&O's first bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. The Baltimore and Philadelphia line is now used by CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
for freight train
Freight train
A freight train or goods train is a group of freight cars or goods wagons hauled by one or more locomotives on a railway, ultimately transporting cargo between two points as part of the logistics chain...
s.
History
The B&O began service from Baltimore to Philadelphia using the PW&B line in 1838. Connecting trackageRail tracks
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...
in Baltimore ran from the B&O's Mount Clare terminal east along Pratt Street and East Falls Avenue to the PW&B's President Street Station
President Street Station
thumb|Back of the Baltimore Civil War Museum, 2008The President Street Station in Baltimore, Maryland is a former train station. Built in 1850, it is the oldest surviving big city railroad terminal in the United States...
. From there the PW&B ran east on Fleet Street and Boston Street before leaving onto its own right-of-way
Right-of-way (railroad)
A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...
.
In 1881 the PRR acquired the PW&B. The B&O needed to build a new route to Philadelphia, as it was allowed to use the PW&B line only until 1884. The B&O acquired the Delaware Western Railroad, which had a charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
but no track, merged it into the Baltimore & Philadelphia (called the Philadelphia Branch in Maryland) in 1883, and began construction. The line was in full operation by 1886.
Except at its two ends, the line was built within a few miles to the northwest of the PW&B. At the Baltimore end, the line ended in the Canton neighborhood, with a car ferry
Train ferry
A train ferry is a ship designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ferries are sometimes referred to as "car ferries", as...
across the Patapsco River
Patapsco River
The Patapsco River is a river in central Maryland which flows into Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal portion forms the harbor for the city of Baltimore...
to Locust Point. At the Philadelphia end, the new line crossed the PW&B and its old alignment (part of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway's branch to Chester) and crossed to the east side of the Schuylkill River
Schuylkill River
The Schuylkill River is a river in Pennsylvania. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River.The river is about long. Its watershed of about lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch is in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in...
just south of Grays Ferry
Grays Ferry, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Grays Ferry, also known as Gray's Ferry, is a neighborhood in South Philadelphia bounded by 25th Street on the east, the Schuylkill River on the west, Vare Avenue on the south, and Grays Ferry Avenue on the north. The section of this neighborhood west of 34th Street is also known as The Forgotten...
. A branch split there towards the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
, while the main line continued north along the Schuylkill, with a station downtown, and then passed through the Art Museum Tunnel to Park Junction with the Philadelphia and Reading Railway's main line; this tunnel, probably the last part of the line, opened on December 15, 1886.
The Reading, originally using the Junction Railroad
Junction Railroad (Philadelphia)
The Junction Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, connecting lines west of downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It came under Pennsylvania Railroad control in 1881, and was eliminated by merger in 1908.-History:...
west of the Schuylkill to access its Chester branch, obtained trackage rights
Trackage rights
Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....
over the Baltimore and Philadelphia, and the B&O obtained trackage rights over the Reading's lines from Philadelphia to Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
, across the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. (This route via the Reading originally ran via the main line, Port Richmond Branch, North Pennsylvania Railroad
North Pennsylvania Railroad
North Pennsylvania Railroad was a railroad company formed in 1855, and served Philadelphia, Montgomery County, Bucks County and Northampton County, Pennsylvania.-History:...
, North Pennsylvania Railroad Delaware River Branch, Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad and Central Railroad of New Jersey
Central Railroad of New Jersey
The Central Railroad of New Jersey , commonly known as the Jersey Central Lines or CNJ, was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s, lasting until 1976 when it was absorbed into Conrail with the other bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States...
, later using the shortcut of the Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad
Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad
The Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad was a railroad in southeastern Pennsylvania that is now a part of the SEPTA commuter rail system...
and New York Short Line Railroad rather than the North Pennsylvania.) The Baltimore and New York Railway and Staten Island Rapid Transit Railway provided their own freight terminal, at St. George on Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
.
Though a surface alignment through downtown Baltimore was authorized by the Maryland legislature
Maryland General Assembly
The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is a bicameral body. The upper chamber, the Maryland State Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber, the Maryland House of Delegates, has 141 representatives...
, the B&O instead obtained a charter for the Baltimore Belt Line to provide a completely grade-separated route. This new route entered the long Howard Street Tunnel at Camden Station, running north under downtown, and then turning east through two shorter tunnels to a junction with the Philadelphia Branch at Bay View Yard. The Baltimore Belt Line was completed in 1895, and its expenses drove the B&O to bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in 1896.
The last passenger trains ran through the tunnel and over the Baltimore and Philadelphia in 1958; since then all traffic has been freight. The route is now operated by CSX as its Philadelphia Subdivision.
Branches
In PhiladelphiaCrum Creek
Market Street
South Washington
Landenberg
Providence
In Baltimore