Baltimore and Ohio Rail-Road Co. - 1860's dated Railway Stock Certificate with Revenue Stamp

Stock with Revenue stamp. 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 benefited 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., although it never reached Ohio), and the James River Canal, which directed traffic toward Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia.

Other railroads included in the B&O were:

• Winchester and Potomac Railroad and Winchester and Strasburg Railroad from 1867. This pair of lines connected with the B&O at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, and constituted the only significant B&O trackage in present-day Virginia.
• Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark Railroad leased through the Central Ohio in 1869
• Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad from 1871. This was the B&O entry into Pittsburgh, thwarting the denial of a Pennsylvania charter to the B&O.
• Somerset and Cambria Railroad from 1879
• Buffalo Railroad from 1880
• Pittsburgh Southern Railroad acquired 1883. Originally a narrow gauge railroad, it was converted to standard gauge and renamed the Baltimore & Ohio Short Line.
• West Virginia and Pittsburgh Railroad from 1890
• Columbus and Cincinnati Midland Railroad leased through the Central Ohio in 1890
• Monongahela River Railroad from 1900
• Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad from 1882. This was initially renamed the Cincinnati, Washington and Baltimore Railroad and then again to the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern Railroad in 1889. The B&OSW absorbed the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in 1893, giving the B&O a connection to St. Louis, Missouri, and finally the B&OSW disappeared into the rest of the system in 1900.
• Ohio River Railroad from 1901
• Pittsburgh Junction Railroad from 1902
• Pittsburgh and Western Railroad from 1902. This was originally a narrow gauge system which was standard gauged from 1883 to 1911. It formed the main B&O line west from Pittsburgh. The line passed the Mars Train Station in Mars, Pennsylvania, northwest of Pittsburgh.
• Cleveland, Terminal and Valley Railway from 1895. This was the B&O's entry into Cleveland, Ohio.
• Cleveland, Lorain and Wheeling Railroad from 1909
• Chicago Terminal Transfer Company, reorganized in 1910 as the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad. This switching line was always operated as a separate company.
• Salisbury Railroad near Pittsburgh, operated from 1912
• Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad from 1912
• Morgantown and Kingwood Railroad from 1920
• Coal and Coke Railway from 1916
• Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Western Railroad from 1927. This was originally part of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton, and gave the B&O a connection to Springfield, Illinois.
• Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway in 1932. This gave the B&O a line into New York state.
• Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad from 1932. Part of the line was severed from the rest of the system by flooding, and became part of the Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad in 1955.

Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_and_Ohio_Railroad

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