Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O)

Probably the most iconic of the early American railroads, the Baltimore & Ohio was Baltimore, Maryland’s economic development plan for the 19th century. The Erie Canal was wildly successful in New York State, linking the Hudson River with the Great Lakes, which tapped the trade of the interior, especially the wild western lands of northern Ohio. If Baltimore was to survive as a trade center, it had to tap interior trade as well. Canals seemed to be the next dotcom at the time, but there was already in the works the nearby Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, to run from Washington, DC to the Ohio River (it never made it past Cumberland, Maryland). Baltimore’s prominent merchants opted for a railroad, to run from Baltimore to the Ohio (through acquisitions, it eventually made it well past the Ohio to the Mississippi River).

There were other earlier railroads in America, but these were relatively simple and short lines. The B&O is notable because it had to cut through some of the most unforgiving terrain east of the Ohio. B&O engineers became legendary for their ability to overcome the insurmountable, tunneling through solid rock, spanning wide valleys and formidable rivers, and clinging to precipitous mountainsides. Other companies looked to the B&O’s experiences and successes when planning and executing their own roads. Some B&O structures were known as much for their architectural beauty as well as for their engineering designs. The Tray Run Viaduct married an almost spiritual architecture with the necessary Atlas-like engineering muscle needed to shoulder the road between two spurs of the Allegheny Mountains, the Cheat River churning one thousand feet below. This stunning engineering marvel was replaced with a less-inspiring stone structure in the 20th century. The Thomas Viaduct, finished in 1835 spanning the Patapsco River and valley near Relay, Maryland, is still in use today, even though modern engines and the trains they pull are significantly heavier than those for which the viaduct was built. The B&O built for the long run.

The Baltimore & Ohio only temporarily terminated at the Ohio River, and was never fully blocked by that stream. Until a bridge was built at Parkersburg in 1871 carrying the Parkersburg Branch of the road over the river, cars were ferried over the water on specialized barges or car ferries, where rails laid down to the very water’s edge on both sides of the river connected with rails laid on the ferries; the cars were simply let down or pulled up the banks of the Ohio on matching rails. Another bridge near Wheeling, WV carried what was known as the main stem of the road over the Ohio at that point.

To truly reach the interior of the nation, the Baltimore & Ohio company made arrangements with, and then eventually bought, connecting railroads. In Ohio, the B&O main stem connected with the Central Ohio Railroad at Wheeling (actually Benwood, WV; Bellaire on the Ohio side), and with the Marietta & Cincinnati, through the Northwestern Virginia Railroad, at Parkersburg (Belpre in Ohio). The Northwestern Virginia Railroad was initially a joint venture between the city of Baltimore and the B&O; by 1865, the B&O had gained full control and ownership, when the line, beginning at Grafton, became officially known as the Parkersburg Branch.

During the war, the B&O ran through some of the most contested land of the conflict. The very presence of the road in large part was responsible for the constant warfare along some parts of its line. Though never commandeered as an official military railroad, the B&O nevertheless was a crucial element in the Union’s arsenal: B&O cars transported troops and supplies through two of the border states (Maryland and the Virginia counties that would later become West Virginia), and the road connected the Union capital at Washington with the west and with that other critical border state, Kentucky. B&O President John Garrett kept his trains running and the tracks open with remarkable effort. Rebel forces were constantly tearing up tracks and pulling down telegraph poles, burning cars and engines and support structures, stealing equipment (even pulling off the stunning theft of 18 locomotives from the Martinsburg railyard). But B&O crews repaired damage almost as fast as it occurred, earning an extremely rare compliment from management, published in the company’s 1864 Annual Report (filed in 1866):

When the history of the present war, in connection with railroad affairs, is properly written, the wonderful fidelity, courage, and success with which the men generally of our service have acted their part, in these eventful times, must occupy an honorable place in such a record. The most daring bravery, in protecting the property of the Company, and the lives of its passengers, was frequently shown, while the admirable judgment and discretion exhibited, even in many instances, by the humblest men connected with the trains, or other duties, is entitled to the highest favor of the Company, and challenges, indeed, the applause of the community.

Respectfully submitted by
W. P. SMITH,
Master of Transportation.

After the war, the B&O began buying smaller lines, adding mileage to their tracks, access to ever more cities and markets, and, most importantly, shutting out the competition, especially the Pennsylvania Railroad. One of the first railroads to come under B&O control after the war was the Winchester & Potomac, a short 30-mile line that began in Harper’s Ferry and initially terminated at Winchester, Virginia. Later it was extended to Strasburg, Virginia.