Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1910-07-30
BAL |MORE & OHIO
OLDEST RAILROAD
Was First Built in 1927 When 1t
Received Its Charter.
FIRST USED WOODEN RAILS

| Original Design of Road Was One
From Underwater to Ohio River
Trains Had Speed of Nine Miles an
Hour in Those Days-Today They
Make a Mile a Minute Between New
York and Philadelphia.
The oldest railroad in the United
States is the Baltimore and Ohio, hay-
ing been continuously in existence
since 1927. the year it received its
charter. The first rail OF this road
was laid on July 81. 1928, by Charles
Carroll, the last surviving signer of
the Declaration OF independence.
Several short railroads were in ex-
istence previous to this time, but they
were small private enterprises. What
may be considered the first railway
built in the United States was from
the granite quarries of Quincy, Mass,
| to tidewater, a length of five miles,
which was completed in 1927 II was
built to supply the granite for the
Bunker Hill Monument, and was
made of wooden rails laid on granite
stills, with a strap rail of rolled iron.
The second railroad was begun in
January, 1927, and completed In May
of the same year, and extended from
the coal mines to the Lehigh River, at
Mauch Chunk, Pa, distance of nine
miles. The loaded cars passed down
the incline by gravity, and the empty
cars We're drawn up my mules. TIE
rails were OF timber covered with
strap OF iron.
In 1928 the Delaware and Hudson
Calal Company constructed railway
sixteen miles from it's mines at Homes
dale, Pa, the terminal Of the canal.
to transport the anthracite coal to
tidewater.
These private roads were followed
rapidly by the Baltimore and Ohio,
the Mohawk and Hudson, the South
Carolina. the Camden and Amboy. the
ithaca and Oswego, and the Lexington
and Ohio, which at the close OF the
year 1880, had ninety-two miles built
and 463 miles projected or under con-
struction All OF these roads were
built for and operated by horsepower.
Ten years after this, in 1910, there
were 2,816 miles of railroads in the
United States, since which time rail-
road building advanced and in 1909
there was in operation in the United
States 230,084 miles of railroad, with
second tracks and sidings amounting
to 103,691 miles additional.
The original design of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad was a road from
tidewater to the Ohio River. The
road originally consisted of iron-plat-
ed wooden rails, and a speed OF nine
miles an hour was considered very
wonderful in those days. Today the
ninety miles between New York and
Philadelphia is covered in ninety min
utes. The journey to Chicago from
New York. Gil miles, takes less than
twenty-four hours; from Chicago to
San Francisco, eighty-nine hours, and
to cross the entire continent from
New York, four days and eight hours.
The speed OF American expresses
was, fifteen years ago, from thirty to
! forty miles an hour. It has now been
raised to considerably over forty.
, Less than forty years ago Jules Verne
wrote his entertaining romance,
around the World in Eighty Days.
He was thought to have exceeded all
bounds OF possibility; at that time the
decentralization of the globe never
had been accomplished in less than
121 days. In 1873 it was done in 1)9
days. Eventually an American per
formed the feat in ninety days, and
in 1891 a Miss Bisland (Nellie Bly,
lowered the time to seventy-two days
Since then the record has stood at
sixty-nine days, the main obstacle be-
ing to travel speedily the mighty tract
of Asia
The first locomotives used were
brought from England. and the drst
locomotive built in the United States
was made by the West Point Foundry
for the South Carolina Railroad Com
pany after plans by the chief engt
neer, Horatio Allen, and was first put
upon the road on November 2. 1880
Thus was begun an industry that has
grown TO be one of the most import
ant in the United States.