The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in West Virginia

In 1827, A Group Of Baltimore Capitalists Feared Their City Would Be Left Out Of The Lucrative East Coast-to-midwest Trade That Other Eastern Cities Were Developing; Thus, The Baltimore And Ohio Railroad Was Chartered. Political Pressure Kept The B&o Out Of Pennsylvania At First, And So Track Crews Headed For What Is Now West Virginia, Building Mountainous Routes With Torturous Grades To Wheeling And Parkersburg. Eventually The B&o Financed And Acquired A Spiderweb Of Branch Lines That Covered Much Of The Northern And Central Parts Of The Mountain State. This Book Takes A Close Look At The Line’s Locomotives, Passenger And Freight Trains, Structures, And, Most Importantly, Its People Who Endeared Their Company To Generations Of Travelers, Shippers, And Small Appalachian Communities.