List of Washington, D.C., railroads
Defunct railroads
Table:
Name

Reporting mark

System[nb 1]

From

To

Successor

Notes

Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway

RF&P

1872

1890

Baltimore and Potomac Railroad

Alexandria and Washington Railroad

RF&P

1854

1872

Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

B&O, BO

B&O

1831

1987

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway

Baltimore and Potomac Railroad

PRR

1867

1902

Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad

Chesapeake Beach Railway

1896

1935

East Washington Railway

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway

C&O, CO

C&O

1891

1987

CSX Transportation

Consolidated Rail Corporation

CR

1976

1999

CSX Transportation/Norfolk Southern Railway

East Washington Railway

1935

1976

N/A

Georgetown Barge, Dock, Elevator and Railway Company

B&O

1888

1972

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Orange, Alexandria and Manassas Railroad

SOU

1872

1872

Virginia and North Carolina Railroad

Penn Central Transportation Company

PC

1968

1976

Consolidated Rail Corporation

Pennsylvania Railroad

PRR

PRR

1918

1968

Penn Central Transportation Company

Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad

PRR

1902

1976

Consolidated Rail Corporation

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad

PRR

1891

1902

Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad

Richmond and Danville Railroad

SOU

1886

1894

Southern Railway

Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad

RF&P, RFP

RF&P

1920

1991

Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railway

Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railway

RFP

1991

Still exists as a subsidiary of CSX Transportation

Southern Railway

SOU

SOU

1894

1990

Norfolk Southern Railway

Southern Maryland Railroad

1882

1886

Washington and Potomac Railroad

Virginia Midland Railway

SOU

1880

1886

Richmond and Danville Railroad

Considering the table as well as the background passages provided at the end.

Respond to the question below: When did the railroad on a system that stretched about 113 miles open ? Provide just your answer in a JSON object {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}.

The Richmond , Fredericksburg , and Potomac Railroad ( reporting mark RFP ) was a railroad connecting Richmond , Virginia , to Washington , D.C . The track is now the RF & P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system ; the original corporation is no longer a railroad company . The RF & P was a bridge line , with a slogan of Linking North & South , on a system that stretched about 113 miles . Until around 1965 RF & P originated less than 5% of its freight tonnage , probably less than any other Class I railroad . For much of its existence the RF & P connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway , the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad at Richmond . At Alexandria and through trackage rights to Union Station in Washington , D.C. , connections were made with the Pennsylvania Railroad , Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Southern Railway . It connected to the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad at Potomac Yard and interchanged with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway at Doswell . It and the former Conrail properties are the only CSX lines to have cab signal requirements on their entire system .
The Richmond , Fredericksburg , and Potomac Railroad ( reporting mark RFP ) was a railroad connecting Richmond , Virginia , to Washington , D.C . The track is now the RF & P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system ; the original corporation is no longer a railroad company . The RF & P was a bridge line , with a slogan of Linking North & South , on a system that stretched about 113 miles . Until around 1965 RF & P originated less than 5% of its freight tonnage , probably less than any other Class I railroad . For much of its existence the RF & P connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway , the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad at Richmond . At Alexandria and through trackage rights to Union Station in Washington , D.C. , connections were made with the Pennsylvania Railroad , Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Southern Railway . It connected to the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad at Potomac Yard and interchanged with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway at Doswell . It and the former Conrail properties are the only CSX lines to have cab signal requirements on their entire system .
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad ( B & P ) operated from Baltimore , Maryland , southwest to Washington , D.C. , from 1872 to 1902 . Controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad , it was the second railroad company to connect the nation 's capital to the Northeastern States , and competed with the older Baltimore & Ohio Railroad . Part of the B & P route is now part of Amtrak 's Northeast Corridor , the most heavily traveled American intercity passenger line ; and of the Penn Line of the Maryland Transit Administration 's MARC commuter train service . Its Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel , bored under north Baltimore in 1871 , remains in use .
The Richmond , Fredericksburg , and Potomac Railroad ( reporting mark RFP ) was a railroad connecting Richmond , Virginia , to Washington , D.C . The track is now the RF & P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system ; the original corporation is no longer a railroad company . The RF & P was a bridge line , with a slogan of Linking North & South , on a system that stretched about 113 miles . Until around 1965 RF & P originated less than 5% of its freight tonnage , probably less than any other Class I railroad . For much of its existence the RF & P connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway , the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad at Richmond . At Alexandria and through trackage rights to Union Station in Washington , D.C. , connections were made with the Pennsylvania Railroad , Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Southern Railway . It connected to the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad at Potomac Yard and interchanged with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway at Doswell . It and the former Conrail properties are the only CSX lines to have cab signal requirements on their entire system .
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ( reporting marks B & O , BO ) was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States , with its first section opening in 1830 . Merchants from the city of Baltimore , which had benefitted to some extent from the construction of the National Road early in the century , wanted to continue to compete for trade with trans-Appalachian settlers with the newly constructed Erie Canal ( which served New York City ) , another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania ( which would have connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh ) , the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal ( which connected to the nation 's capital , Washington , D.C. ) , and the James River Canal , which directed traffic toward Richmond and Norfolk , Virginia . At first the B & O was located entirely in the state of Maryland , its original line extending from the port of Baltimore west to Sandy Hook . Because of competition with the C & O canal for trade with coal fields in western Maryland , it could not use the C & O right of way . Thus , to continue westward while minimizing high-cost track through the Appalachian Mountains , the B & O chose to cross the Potomac River into Virginia ( now West Virginia ) , near the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers . From there track continued through Virginia from Harpers Ferry to a point just west of the junction of Patterson Creek and the North Branch Potomac River , where it crossed back into Maryland to reach Cumberland , the terminus of the National Road . From there the B & O extended to the Ohio River at Wheeling and a few years later also to Parkersburg , West Virginia ( below rapids which made navigation difficult during parts of the year ) . It proved crucial to Union success during the American Civil War , although the conflict also caused considerable damage ( and repair costs ) . After the war 's end , the B & O consolidated several feeder lines in Virginia and West Virginia , as well as expanded westward into Ohio ( including a junction at Portsmouth ) , Indiana and Illinois . B & O advertising later carried the motto : Linking 13 Great States with the Nation . After several mergers , the B & O became part of the CSX Transportation ( CSX ) network . The B & O also includes the Leiper Railroad , the first permanent horse-drawn railroad in the U.S. At the end of 1970 , the B & O operated 5,552 miles of road and 10,449 miles of track , not including the Staten Island Rapid Transit ( SIRT ) or the Reading and its subsidiaries .
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway ( reporting marks C & O , CO ) was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century . Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington , it reached from Virginia 's capital city of Richmond to the Ohio River by 1873 , where the railroad town ( and later city ) of Huntington , West Virginia , was named for him . Tapping the coal reserves of West Virginia , the C & O 's Peninsula Extension to new coal piers on the harbor of Hampton Roads resulted in the creation of the new City of Newport News . Coal revenues also led the forging of a rail link to the Midwest , eventually reaching Columbus , Cincinnati and Toledo in Ohio and Chicago , Illinois . By the early 1960s the C & O was headquartered in Cleveland , Ohio , USA . In 1972 , under the leadership of Cyrus Eaton , it became part of the Chessie System , along with the Baltimore and Ohio and Western Maryland Railway . The Chessie System was later combined with the Seaboard Coast Line and Louisville and Nashville , both the primary components of the Family Lines System , to become a key portion of CSX Transportation ( CSXT ) in the 1980s . C & O 's passenger services ended in 1971 with the formation of Amtrak . Today Amtrak 's tri-weekly Cardinal passenger train follows the historic and scenic route of the C & O through the New River Gorge in one of the more rugged sections of the Mountain State . The rails of the former C & O also continue to transport intermodal and freight traffic , as well as West Virginia bituminous coal east to Hampton Roads and west to the Great Lakes as part of CSXT , a Fortune 500 company which was one of seven Class I railroads operating in North America at the beginning of the 21st century . At the end of 1970 C & O operated 5067 miles ( 8 155 km ) of road on 10219 miles ( 16 446 km ) of track , not including WM or B & O and its subsidiaries .
The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR , legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company , also known as the Pennsy ) was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and was headquartered in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . It was so named because it was established in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . By 1882 , the Pennsylvania Railroad had become the largest railroad ( by traffic and revenue ) , the largest transportation enterprise , and the largest corporation in the world . Its budget was second only to the U.S. government . The corporation still holds the record for the longest continuous dividend history : it paid out annual dividends to shareholders for more than 100 consecutive years . Over the years , it acquired , merged with or owned part of at least 800 other rail lines and companies . At the end of 1926 , it operated 11,640.66 miles ( 18,733.83 kilometers ) of rail line ; [ notes 1 ] in the 1920s , it carried nearly three times the traffic as other railroads of comparable length , such as the Union Pacific and Atchison , Topeka & Santa Fe railroads . Its only formidable rival was the New York Central ( NYC ) , which carried around three-quarters of the Pennsy 's ton-miles . In 1968 , the Pennsylvania Railroad absorbed its rival New York Central Railroad and the railroad eventually went by the name of Penn Central Transportation Company , or Penn Central for short , the railroad filed for bankruptcy within two years . : Chapter 1 Bankruptcy continued and on April 1 , 1976 , the railroad gave up its railroad assets , along with the assets of several other failing northeastern railroads , to a new railroad named Consolidated Rail Corporation , or Conrail for short . Conrail was itself purchased and split up in 1999 with 58 percent of the system going to the Norfolk Southern Railway ( NS ) , including nearly all of the remaining former Pennsylvania Railroad . US passenger carrier Amtrak received the electrified segment of the Main Line east of Harrisburg .
The Philadelphia , Baltimore and Washington Railroad ( PB & W ) was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania , Delaware , Maryland , and the District of Columbia in the 20th century , and was a key component of the Pennsylvania Railroad ( PRR ) system . Its 131-mile ( 211 km ) main line ran from Philadelphia to Washington . :228 The PB & W main line is now part of the Northeast Corridor , owned by Amtrak .
The Chesapeake Beach Railway ( CBR ) , now defunct , was an American railroad of southern Maryland and Washington , D.C. , built in the 19th century . The CBR ran 27.629 miles from Washington , D.C. , on tracks formerly owned by the Southern Maryland Railroad and then on its own single track through Maryland farm country to a resort at Chesapeake Beach . It was built by Otto Mears , a Colorado railroad builder , who planned a shoreline resort with railroad service from Washington and Baltimore . It served Washington and Chesapeake Beach for almost 35 years , but the Great Depression and the rise of the automobile marked the end of the CBR . The last train left the station on April 15 , 1935 . Parts of the right-of-way are now used for roads and a future rail trail .
The Washington , Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad ( WB & PL ) , now defunct , was an American railroad of southern Maryland and Washington , D.C. , built in the 19th century . The troubled WB & PL , originally the Southern Maryland Railroad operated in and out of bankruptcy and changed its name numerous times . It consisted of two pieces , one serving Washington , D.C. , and Seat Pleasant , MD and the other , a single track line connecting Patuxent River , MD to the Pennsylvania Railroad . Despite numerous problems , the railroad was able to survive for 73 years before shutting down in 1954 . The Washington , D.C. , section was absorbed by the Chesapeake Beach Railway and later became the East Washington Railway , which stayed in business until 1978 . Parts of the right-of-way are now used for homes , a rail spur and a rail trail .
CSX Transportation ( reporting mark CSXT ) is a Class I freight railroad operating in the eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec . The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles ( 34,000 km ) of track . The company operates as a subsidiary of CSX Corporation , a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Jacksonville , Florida .
Conrail ( formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation , with reporting mark CR ) was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999 . The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company 's legal name , and while it no longer operates trains , it continues to do business as an asset management and network services provider in three Shared Assets Areas that were excluded from the division of its operations during its acquisition by CSX Corporation and the Norfolk Southern Railway . The Federal Government created Conrail to take over the potentially-profitable lines of multiple bankrupt carriers , including the Penn Central Transportation Company and Erie Lackawanna Railway . After railroad regulations were lifted by the 4R Act and the Staggers Act , Conrail began to turn a profit in the 1980s and was privatized in 1987 . The two remaining Class I railroads in the East , CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway ( NS ) , agreed in 1997 to acquire the system and split it into two roughly-equal parts ( alongside three residual shared-assets areas ) , returning rail freight competition to the Northeast by essentially undoing the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad that created Penn Central . Following approval by the Surface Transportation Board , CSX and NS took control in August 1998 , and on June 1 , 1999 , began operating their respective portions of Conrail . The old company remains a jointly-owned subsidiary , with CSX and NS owning respectively 42 percent and 58 percent of its stock , corresponding to how much of Conrail 's assets they acquired . Each parent , however , has an equal voting interest . The primary asset retained by Conrail is ownership of the three Shared Assets Areas in New Jersey , Philadelphia , and Detroit . Both CSX and NS have the right to serve all shippers in these areas , paying Conrail for the cost of maintaining and improving trackage . They also make use of Conrail to perform switching and terminal services within the areas , but not as a common carrier , since contracts are signed between shippers and CSX or NS . Conrail also retains various support facilities including maintenance-of-way and training , as well as a 51 percent share in the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad .
The Norfolk Southern Railway ( reporting mark NS ) is a Class I freight railroad in the United States . With headquarters in Atlanta , Georgia , the company operates 19,420 miles ( 31,250 km ) route miles in 22 eastern states , the District of Columbia , and has rights in Canada over the Albany to Montréal route of the Canadian Pacific Railway , and previously on CN from Buffalo to St. Thomas . NS is responsible for maintaining 28,400 miles ( 45,700 km ) , with the remainder being operated under trackage rights from other parties responsible for maintenance . The most common commodity hauled on the railway is coal from mines in Indiana , Kentucky , Pennsylvania , Tennessee , Virginia , and West Virginia . The railway also offers the largest intermodal network in eastern North America . NS is a major transporter of domestic and export coal . The railway 's major sources of the mineral are located in : Pennsylvania 's Cambria and Indiana counties , as well as the Monongahela Valley ; West Virginia ; and the Appalachia regions of Virginia , Kentucky , and Tennessee . In Pennsylvania , NS also receives coal through interchange with R.J. Corman Railroad/Pennsylvania Lines at Cresson , Pennsylvania , originating in the Clearfield Cluster . NS 's export of West Virginia bituminous coal begins transport on portions of the well-engineered former Virginian Railway and the former N & W double-tracked line in Eastern Virginia to its Lambert 's Point coal pier on Hampton Roads at Norfolk . Coal transported by NS is thus exported to steel mills and power plants around the world . The company is also a major transporter of auto parts and completed vehicles . It operates intermodal container and TOFC ( trailer on flat car ) trains , some in conjunction with other railways .
The Orange and Alexandria Railroad ( O & A ) was a railroad in Virginia , United States . It extended from Alexandria to Gordonsville , with another section from Charlottesville to Lynchburg . The road played a crucial role in the American Civil War , and eventually became an important part of the modern-day Norfolk Southern rail system .
The Southern Railway ( reporting mark SOU ) ( also known as Southern Railway Company and now known as the current incarnation of the Norfolk Southern Railway ) is a name of a class 1 railroad that was based in the Southern United States . The railroad is the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined , reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s , formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894 . At the end of 1971 , the Southern operated 6,026 miles ( 9,698 km ) of railroad , not including its Class I subsidiaries Alabama Great Southern ( 528 miles or 850 km ) Central Of Georgia ( 1729 miles ) Savannah & Atlanta ( 167 miles ) Cincinnati , New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway ( 415 miles ) Georgia Southern & Florida ( 454 miles ) and twelve Class II subsidiaries . That year , the Southern itself reported 26111 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 110 million passenger-miles ; Alabama Great Southern reported 3854 and 11 , Central Of Georgia 3595 and 17 , Savannah & Atlanta 140 and 0 , Cincinnati , New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway 4906 and 0.3 , and Georgia Southern & Florida 1431 and 0.3 . The railroad joined forces with the Norfolk and Western Railway ( N & W ) in 1982 to form the Norfolk Southern Corporation . The Norfolk Southern Corporation was created in response to the creation of the CSX Corporation ( its rail system was later transformed to CSX Transportation in 1986 ) . Southern and N & W continued as operating companies of Norfolk Southern until 1982 , when Norfolk Southern merged nearly all of N & W 's operations into Southern to form the Norfolk Southern Railway . The railroad has used that name since , though N & W continued to exist on paper until 1982 .
The Penn Central Transportation Company , commonly abbreviated to Penn Central , was an American railroad name that was used at the Class I railroad level from 1968 until 1976 . The railroad system that applied the Penn Central name was a combination of railroad systems from three railroads : the Pennsylvania Railroad ( PRR ) , New York Central Railroad ( NYC ) and the New York , New Haven and Hartford Railroad ( NH ) . The railroad system began as a merger between the PRR and the New York Central in 1968 ; the New York , New Haven and Hartford was added in 1969 . The company remained headquartered in Philadelphia after its merger with the New York Central . By 1970 , the company had filed for what was , at that time , the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history . The company has since escaped bankruptcy and is now known as American Premier Underwriters and currently serves as a subsidiary of Carl Lindners American Financial Group .
The Philadelphia , Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad ( PW & B ) was an American railroad company itself a result of merger of four small lines dating from the earliest days of American railroading in the late 1820s and early 1830s , that operated from 1836 , until being bought by a larger regional line in 1881 , with a merger into a longer Northeast Corridor railway in 1902 . It built the first rail line south from Philadelphia into The South . Founded in 1831 as the Philadelphia and Delaware County Rail-Road Company , the PW & B had within six years changed its name and merged with three other state-chartered railroads in three Middle Atlantic states to create a single line between Philadelphia and Baltimore . In 1881 , the PW & B came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad ( PRR ) , the larger one of then two dominant rail line companies in the Northeast United States . An 1895 historian of the PRR had this to say about the significance of the PW & B , which it had acquired and gained control of fourteen years before :
The Richmond and Danville Railroad ( R & D ) Company was a railroad that operated independently from 1847 until 1894 , first in the U.S. state of Virginia and later on 3,300 miles ( 5,300 km ) of track in nine states . Chartered on March 9 , 1847 , the railroad completed its 140-mile ( 230 km ) line between Richmond and Danville in 1856 . During the American Civil War , the railroad was a vital link between Richmond , the Confederate capital , and the rest of the Confederacy . After the Civil War , the railroad grew to become the 3,300-mile Richmond and Danville Railroad Company System . Placed in receivership in 1892 , the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company was sold in 1894 and conveyed into the new Southern Railway Company in 1896 and 1897 .
The Richmond , Fredericksburg , and Potomac Railroad ( reporting mark RFP ) was a railroad connecting Richmond , Virginia , to Washington , D.C . The track is now the RF & P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system ; the original corporation is no longer a railroad company . The RF & P was a bridge line , with a slogan of Linking North & South , on a system that stretched about 113 miles . Until around 1965 RF & P originated less than 5% of its freight tonnage , probably less than any other Class I railroad . For much of its existence the RF & P connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway , the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad at Richmond . At Alexandria and through trackage rights to Union Station in Washington , D.C. , connections were made with the Pennsylvania Railroad , Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Southern Railway . It connected to the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad at Potomac Yard and interchanged with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway at Doswell . It and the former Conrail properties are the only CSX lines to have cab signal requirements on their entire system .
The Washington , Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad ( WB & PL ) , now defunct , was an American railroad of southern Maryland and Washington , D.C. , built in the 19th century . The troubled WB & PL , originally the Southern Maryland Railroad operated in and out of bankruptcy and changed its name numerous times . It consisted of two pieces , one serving Washington , D.C. , and Seat Pleasant , MD and the other , a single track line connecting Patuxent River , MD to the Pennsylvania Railroad . Despite numerous problems , the railroad was able to survive for 73 years before shutting down in 1954 . The Washington , D.C. , section was absorbed by the Chesapeake Beach Railway and later became the East Washington Railway , which stayed in business until 1978 . Parts of the right-of-way are now used for homes , a rail spur and a rail trail .
The Washington , Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad ( WB & PL ) , now defunct , was an American railroad of southern Maryland and Washington , D.C. , built in the 19th century . The troubled WB & PL , originally the Southern Maryland Railroad operated in and out of bankruptcy and changed its name numerous times . It consisted of two pieces , one serving Washington , D.C. , and Seat Pleasant , MD and the other , a single track line connecting Patuxent River , MD to the Pennsylvania Railroad . Despite numerous problems , the railroad was able to survive for 73 years before shutting down in 1954 . The Washington , D.C. , section was absorbed by the Chesapeake Beach Railway and later became the East Washington Railway , which stayed in business until 1978 . Parts of the right-of-way are now used for homes , a rail spur and a rail trail .