1827 -- The Baltimore
& Ohio Railroad (B&O), our nation's first common carrier railroad,
was chartered on Feb. 28 in Baltimore.
1828 -- Construction of the B&O begins July 4, 1828.
1833 -- President Andrew Jackson boards a B&O passenger
coach at Relay, Maryland, in June and travels to Mt. Clare Depot
in Baltimore, becoming the first U.S. President to ride a railroad.
1844 -- The B&O Railroad signs its first commercial contract
in February to haul large quantities of coal from Western Maryland
coalfields from Mt. Savage, Md., to Mt. Clare, Md.
1844 -- On May 24, Samuel F.B. Morse sends the first telegraph
message from the basement of the Supreme Court Building in Washington,
D.C. to the Mt. Clare Depot. The message "What God hath wrought"
was transmitted across overhead wires following the B&O's Washington
Branch. The message was received by Alfred Vail and Ezra Cornell
in the little passenger depot at Mt. Clare. For the first time in
the history of mankind, two persons communicated out of sight and
40 miles apart.
1854 -- Construction begins on the original Sand Patch Tunnel.
1871 -- The line is completed and open from Baltimore to
Pittsburgh over the Allegheny Mountains, making a 339-mile route
accessible for freight over the mountains. The original Sand Patch
Tunnel is completed on April 10 with one track and measuring 4,777
feet.
1911 -- Work begins on May 1 on a second Sand Patch Tunnel
which will be 4,475 feet long and have two tracks.
1902 -- President William McKinley passed through Meyersdale
enroute to the Baer-McKinley wedding in September. A large number
of people were at the station.
1912 -- Dec. 13, a derailment of a freight train on the
Sand Patch grade near Glencoe takes five lives, four B&O employees
and a trespasser, and five employees are injured.
1913 -- The new Sand Patch Tunnel opens in February.
1917 -- The old Sand Patch Tunnel is closed on January 27.
1948 -- The B&O's last steam locomotive #5594, Class T-3C
rolls out of Mt. Clare's erecting shop in Baltimore on October 16.
1952 -- President Harry S. Truman stopped at the Meyersdale
station on a "whistle stop" campaign on behalf of Democratic candidates
running in the November election. More than 5,000 people were estimated
to be on hand to see him.
1952 -- A steam engine and twin-engine diesel engine sideswiped
in a violent crash that tore up track just east of the Keystone
Crossing near Sand Patch November 12. There were no injuries.
1964 -- The C&O (Chesapeake & Ohio) and B&O jointly filed
for permission to acquire control of the Western Maryland Railway
with the Interstate Commerce Commission.
1973 -- Chessie System Inc. was formed February 26, and
Chessie System Railroads was adopted as the new corporate identity
for the C&O, B&O and WM railroads.
1980 -- CSX Corporation came into being Nov. 1, resulting
from the merger of Chessie System Inc. and Seaboard Coast Line Industries
Inc.
1983 -- Operation of the Western Maryland Railway was taken
over by the B&O, and WM's ownership was assumed by the C&O.
1987 -- The B&O was merged into the C&O on April 30, and
the C&O was merged into CSX Transportation Sept. 2.
Meyersdale, PA
