 the baltimore and ohio railroad  was the first common carrier and class i railroad in the u.s. as well as one of the oldest. during its peak years, the railroad extended as far east as staten island, new york, and as far west as illinois. most surviving trackage is operated by csx transportation; trackage on staten island is operated by the staten island railway as a branch of the new york city transit authority.nycsubway.org ==history== ===19th century=== thumb|left| junction with parkersburg branch, grafton, west virginia, 1872 the baltimore & ohio railroad (b&o) was not the first railroad in the u.s., but it was the first common carrier railroad and the first to offer scheduled freight and passenger service to the public. the most important american east coast seaports in the early 1800s were boston, new york city, philadelphia, baltimore, and charleston, south carolina.an 1827 report shows the motivations of early boosters: baltimore had an advantage in being farther inland than the others (and therefore closer to many markets), being located almost at the head of navigation on chesapeake bay, the estuary of the susquehanna river. new york gained an advantage in 1825 with the opening of the erie canal, permitting navigation as far
Baltimore_and_Ohio_Railroad Chesapeake_and_Ohio_Railway Defunct_Delaware_railroads Defunct_Illinois_railroads Defunct_Indiana_railroads Defunct_Kentucky_railroads Defunct_Maryland_railroads Defunct_Michigan_railroads Defunct_Missouri_railroads Defunct_New_Jersey_railroads Defunct_New_York_railroads Defunct_Ohio_railroads Defunct_Pennsylvania_railroads Defunct_Virginia_railroads Defunct_Washington,_D.C._railroads Defunct_West_Virginia_railroads Defunct_companies_based_in_Baltimore,_Maryland Former_Class_I_railroads_in_the_United_States Predecessors_of_CSX_Transportation Railroads_in_the_Chicago_Switching_District Railway_companies_disestablished_in_1987 Railway_companies_established_in_1827 Railway_lines_opened_in_1830 Standard_gauge_railways_in_the_United_States Transportation_in_Gary,_Indiana Transportation_in_Pittsburgh,_Pennsylvania