Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad (P&CR) (1834) was one of the earliest commercial railroads in the United States, running 82 miles (132 km) from Philadelphia to Columbia, Pennsylvania, it was built by the Pennsylvania Canal Commission in lieu of a canal from Columbia to Philadelphia; in 1857 it became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is currently owned and operated by Amtrak as its electrified Keystone Corridor. The Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad's western terminus was located near the former ferry site known as Wright's Ferry, in the town once of that name, but now Columbia in Lancaster County. There the P&CR met with the Pennsylvania Canal—navigations and improvements on the Susquehanna River east bank approximately 30 miles (48.3 km) south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Most of its right-of-way was obtained by the actions of the Pennsylvania Canal Commission which operated the railroad under the various enabling acts of the Pennsylvania legislature known as the Main Line of Public Works in support of a far sighted plan to link the whole state by canals. With an engineering study reporting back a finding that obtaining sufficient waters to flood the intended 80+ mile canal from Philadelphia to Columbia, the Canal Commission and legislature authorized the railway on the right of way intended for the canal.
In 1857 as one of the properties legally denoted as the Main Line of Public Works, with rapidly improving railroad technology driving rapid changes in capabilities, the Railroad was sold along with most of the Pennsylvania Canal system, to the young Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) which acquired properties of the Pennsylvania Canal Commission as far west as Pittsburgh and included the Allegheny Portage Railroad with the proviso that the Railroad had to link Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. At the time, the PRR had begun building its famous Horseshoe Curve cutting across several of the streams forming the gaps of the Allegheny. Hence, the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad became a key integral part of what grew to be the largest railroad in the world.
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PhiladelphiaandColumbiaRailroad (P&CR) (1834) was one of the earliest commercial railroads in the United States, running 82 miles (132 km) from Philadelphia...
(/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ RED-ing) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from...
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operates Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad (PBL) CSX (CSX) Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad (DL) East Erie Commercial Railroad (EEC) East Penn Railroad (ESPN)...
returned to private practice in 1819 and helped found the Pennsylvania Railroadand the PhiladelphiaandColumbiaRailroad. From 1828 to 1829, Ellmaker served...
Germantown and Norristown Railroad, opened in 1832 north to Germantown. At the end of 1833, the state-built PhiladelphiaandColumbiaRailroad, part of...
success on the Boston and Providence Railroadand the PhiladelphiaandColumbiaRailroad in the early 1830s. Long later left the firm and William Norris was...
Pennsylvania Railroad, incorporated to build a connection between the Philadelphiaand Trenton Railroadand the PRR in the city of Philadelphia. The PRR controlled...
on the Philadelphia & ColumbiaRailroad. Two are their sons were Joseph Boyd Campbell (1836-1891), a graduate of West Point (Class of 1861) and civil war...
ColumbiaRailroad Bridge, also known as Columbia Bridge, is a 1920 concrete arch bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that carries CSX Trenton Subdivision...
constructing the PhiladelphiaandColumbiaRailroad in 1831. A railroad was easier and more cost effective to build than a canal. Because the new railroad would...
Juniata Division, the Western Division, the PhiladelphiaandColumbiaRailroad, and the Allegheny Portage Railroad. North–south divisions operated along the...
The Philadelphiaand Baltimore Central Railroad (P&BC) was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the 19th and early 20th centuries....
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