The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1866-06-15
The Air Line Railroad,

The National Lntelhgencer, in speaking of the
passage through the House of Representatives of
the bill incorporating what is known as the
"Air Line Railroad" Company, and of its ne
cessity and utility to the government, as well as
its great convenience to individuals, recon-
mends the following as the shortest and best
route:
From Washington to Ellicotts Mills, thence
to Port Deposit, thence to West Chester, thence
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, thence via Lambert
vile and Pennington, in New Jersey, TO Sum.
merville, on the Northern and T.ackawanna
Railroad, by way of Newark, to New York.
The proposed route, says the same paper,
would run in the general direction of the pres
ent line between New York and Washington,
but at some distance from it, above Underwater,
and avoid the. transit through or around cities,
and across rivers, creeks or arms of the bays.
The distance would not be materially greater,
but the transit would be uninterrupted by the
obstacles that now make trip to New York
thing of extreme toll. 1t is also urged, that by
adopting this route, connections could be made
west of Baltimore with the railroad running
from Baltimore towards Hagerstown, and north
of Baltimore, with the Baltimore and Pennsyl-
vania Central, connecting with the great Penn
sylvania Central road extending thence to FL
mira; also with the West Chester and Philadel-
phia railroad and west and northwest of Phila-
delphia, with the Reading Railroad, the North
Pennsylvania, the Delaware and Trenton, and
the Lackawanna road.
1t is claimed that the highest rate of speed
would be attained by adopting this route, the
run between Washington and New York would
be reduced to about seven hours and q half,
beside the advantages of the connections referred
to. In view of some of the States refusing or
neglecting to grant the right of way to this mon
ster monopoly, it is proposed that Congress es-
tablish this as a .postal route,' or give the
needed right of way, under its power of eminent
domain. This road is also urged by its friends,
upon the grounds that, in case of maritime
war-such as might arise out of any interference
with the Mexican throne-the present line from
Washington to New York could be cut by an
iron-olad heet at Baltimore, and at the Gun
powder and Bush rivers, at Havre de Grace and
Elkton, and at Wilmington and Philadelphia.
All this may be good logic, and the interests
of the nation greatly advanced by the incorpora-
ton of this ''National Railway Company" but
that the great railroad lines already established
between the cities of Washington and New York
will be more or less injured, there is very little
doubt. But the question is not whether the
establishment ofthis road would injure or hene-
fit any other road, but whether the necessities of
the government are such as to justify the incor-
poration of such huge concern as this would
be, with capital stock of ten millions of dol
lars. 1t is to run through the States of Mary
land, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, to the
Hudson river, which it is to cross by ferry into
the city of New York; and might it not be cut
by ''conquering iron-clad fleet at the Hud-
son, about as conveniently as the other lines
may be cut at other points by the same means 2
This line is 10 be under the auspices of the "Na-
tional Railroad Company" and the bill provides
that it shall have power to connect with any
railroad now constructed, leading in the direc-
ton of the line specified in the act
Should the bill finally pass, and the route
recommended by the National Lntelligencer and
other friends of the project be adopted, it will
bring the line of road-if it crosses the Susque-
hanna at Port Deposit-to location somewhere
between Bel Air and Abingdon, and not far
below this place, unless it adopts the Philadel-
phia and Baltimore Central as part of its bed,
IN which case the location through Hartford
county might be altered.