Navigable waterways serve as conduits for carrying on commerce and trade; hauling supplies and moving people, just as roads and railways do.
By the time the nation had celebrated its 44th anniversary in 1820, a bevy of such land- and watercourse routes were already established. In fact, work on the National Road was already well underway, it having begun being constructed in year 1811. The total 620-mile-long thoroughfare, completed in 1837, not only was it a major transport route for thousands of westward settlers, but it connected both the Ohio and Potomac Rivers.[1]
Navigable inland channels, roadways and railways all wanted and got in on the action. The “action” of course being referred to here is the lucrative cargo market and the transport thereof. Either that alone or they wanted a healthy slice of the market having to do with the conveyance of passengers, or both.
Oh, and one further point that needs stressing. It is important to note and should be noted that in the early years of U.S. railway development, settlements followed the iron high road, a common practice being to advance in a westwardly direction. For the C&O Railway, it was little different. It traces its origins to one railroad located along the mid-Atlantic seaboard: the Louisa Railroad Company (which was chartered in 1836). Meanwhile, a midwestern-based common carrier later came on board, it being the Pere Marquette Railroad (which had its official beginnings in 1899 — a relative late-comer). Along with these there were host of other railroads, all of which had a direct impact on and were doubtless somewhat influential in determining the directional path the Chessie took when it came to the railway’s developmental growth and progress, and when it came to expanding and extending the physical plant.
Where The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Fit In
The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, more than anything else, was remembered for being both a principal coal hauler and passenger train service provider.
This railroad, like many of its contemporaries, were built to convey cargo and people speedily and efficiently, more so than what could commonly be achieved via conventional (roadway) land and typical (canal and river) inland water travel. Railways were the superior form of surface travel during their heyday, hands down! The C&O, for one, besides conveying passengers — what railway pikes seemed to do best and were especially adept at doing, was also a hauler of coal.
Reach
Major cities reached included the District of Columbia; Chicago in Illinois; Ashland, Lexington and Louisville in Kentucky; Bay City, Bay View, Detroit, Lansing and Port Huron in Michigan; Buffalo and Niagara Falls in New York; Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo in Ohio; Newport News, Norfolk and Richmond in Virginia; and Charleston, Hinton and Huntington in West Virginia. The railroad even crossed the border between Canada and the United States at, not one, not two, not three, but for locations total making the C&O an “international” ‘road.
And, for those trains or railcars destined to and from either Kankakee, Manitowac or Milwaukee in Wisconsin, these either rode aboard company-owned ferryboats across Lake Michigan or traveled via rail through the Chicago hub. The gathering/dispersing point on Lake Michigan’s eastern shore was at Ludington, Michigan. Bay City and Port Huron, meanwhile, both ports of import and points on the C&O system map, are both situated on Lake Huron.
In-house Creation
Oh, and lest it be forgotten, the Chesapeake & Ohio “Road-Railers” (aka “Railvans”) experiment — the highway tractor-semi-truck trailers with retractable railroad wheels for over-the-road and over-the-railroad use alike with their attachable/detachable bogies (devices that allow the Road-Railers to be coupled together and to a locomotive or other piece of railroad rolling stock) and first created by the C&O in 1955 — certainly deserves mention as well. It should be noted that the concept never really caught on to any appreciable degree. The concept was ultimately able to experience considerable success, though.
In shedding additional light, in a Sept. 18, 2015 company news release, Norfolk Southern Corporation announced: “Triple Crown Services specializes in the use of RoadRailer® equipment in dedicated trains. TCS will continue RoadRailer service for automobile parts between Detroit and Kansas City for the foreseeable future but will transition to containers in other NS lanes.”[2]
And Speaking Of Chessie…
“Chessie,” that lovable Cheshire cat, the one that C&O’s principals opted to use as its signature trademark herald? Accompanied by the “Purr-fect Transportation” slogan which was done not only for public relations purposes but as a way of branding and promoting the company. Chessie’s silhouette — encased inside the letter “C” in “Chessie” — was subsequently emblazoned on railroad-owned locomotives, cabooses and rolling stock all throughout the Chessie System era in the 1960s and ‘70s.
Chessie was finally retired in 1980 when the C&O/B&O/WM (Chessie System’s component ‘roads) were blended together with Seaboard System (its component ‘roads were many: Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line, Clinchfield, Louisville & Nashville among them) to form CSX Transportation.
The Story Behind The C&O Being Nicknamed “George Washington’s Railroad”
As an aside, the Kanawha and James rivers figured prominently in a navigable trade route being created between the Ohio River and Chesapeake Bay.
On Jan. 5, 1785 the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill that allowed for opening up and extending James River navigation.
Seven months later the James River Company was formed. In 1820, meanwhile, the JRC was assumed by Virginia (the state), all made possible by an official Virginia edict.[3]
Now, given that a goodly proportion of a key Chesapeake & Ohio Railway mainline followed that same navigable trade route, it is because of this reason that the C&O Railway earned the nickname “George Washington’s Railroad.” Why George Washington’s Railroad? Well, keep in mind that it was this very man himself, America’s first President, who also served as the JRC’s first president. This was also in 1785. And, that the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway was nicknamed “George Washington’s Railroad” seems highly apropos.
Notes
“National Road,” Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Road
Norfolk Southern Corporation, “Norfolk Southern restructures Triple Crown Services subsidiary,” Sept. 18, 2015 news release. https://www.triplecrownsvc.com/sites/default/files/newsletters/NS%20News%20Release%20-%20TCS%20Restructure%202015-09-18.pdf
Patrick C. Dorin, The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway: George Washington’s Railroad, Superior Publishing Company, 1981, p. 10
An earlier version of this post pointed out that the origins of the C&O Railway were tied to the Louisa Railroad Company (LRC) which was first chartered in 1836. What was incorrect was that the LRC was stated to be a midwestern common-carrier railroad which it was not. Appropriate adjustments were made and the information in question is now correct.
Updated on Sept. 3, 2024 at 4:49 p.m. PDT.
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