At this time of crisis in our Nation's commuter railroads, a new threat to the continued operations of the New York Central has appeared in the form of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad's proposal for control of the Baltimore & Ohio railroads.

-- New York Central Railroad president Alfred E. Perlman said Tuesday his line would face the threat of bankruptcy if the Chesapeake & Ohio and Baltimore & Ohio Railroads merge.

Board Chairman Howard Simpson of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., testified the B & O was in its worst financial condition since the depression years and badly needed the economic lift it would get from consolidation with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad.

Industrialist Collis P. Huntington ( 1821 – 1900 ) provided crucial funding to complete the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad ( C & O ) from Richmond, Virginia to the Ohio River in the early 1870s.

Opened as Chesapeake Dry Dock & Construction Company, the shipbuilding was intended to build boats to transition goods from the rails to the seas.

A local train of the Buckingham Branch railroad passes the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway | C & O Depot and watertower in Louisa.

Also Clifton Forge serves a major locomotive fuel facility for CSX Transportation and is home to the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society and C & O Railway Heritage Center.

" The city of Huntington was named for Collis P. Huntington, who built it as the western terminus for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway ( C & O ) on the land west of the mouth of the Guyandotte River at the Ohio River.

The former Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad | C & O depot, restored and now used as the office for the adjacent bicycle trail

The junction brought in trains on the Michigan Central, Erie, Grand Trunk, Elgin Joliet & Eastern ( EJ & E ) and The Chesapeake & Ohio, many going to and from Chicago.

Rail transportation began to slowly replace the river's prominence as a mode of transportation as the Chesapeake & Ohio ( C & O ) railroad began construction of a bridge across the Big Sandy River linking Catlettsburg with Kenova, West Virginia in 1885.

The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway built a passenger depot in Catlettsburg in 1906 and operated the facility for over 52 years until 1958 when passenger service was transferred to nearby Ashland.

The area also has a large railroad classification yard, built by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad and now operated by CSX.

Its major attractions include a Railway Museum & Trail, the Chesapeake Beach Water Park, marinas, piers, charter boat fishing, and a Veterans Memorial Park.

The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal passes through the town, and the Western Maryland Rail Trail connects Hancock with Fort Frederick State Park.

Bellaire remained a transportation center until 1962, when the East Jordan and Southern abandoned their trackage through Bellaire, and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway ( which was using the former Chicago and West Michigan line ) followed suit in 1982.

Regular intercity passenger train service ended on September 1, 1962 after the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway ( C & O ) discontinued Traverse City, Michigan-Charlevoix-Petoskey, Michigan service.

Examples include the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Canal latéral à la Loire, Garonne Lateral Canal, and Canal latéral à l ' Aisne.

Some of his proposals were adopted, specifically the extension of the Cumberland Road into Ohio with surveys for its continuation west to St. Louis ; the beginning of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the construction of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and the Louisville and Portland Canal around the falls of the Ohio ; the connection of the Great Lakes to the Ohio River system in Ohio and Indiana ; and the enlargement and rebuilding of the Dismal Swamp Canal in North Carolina.

However, the city is connected to downtown Washington, D. C. ( some away ) by a continuous bike / running trail through the Alleghenies and along the Potomac Valley, known as the Great Allegheny Passage and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath.

A towpath on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

* Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Trail

The U. S. reasons for war included the humiliation in the " Chesapeake incident " of 1807, continued British impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy, restrictions on trade with France, and arming hostile American Indians in Ohio and the western territories.

* Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park ( part )

And there was a croquet court, where a Gibson Girl might be seen playing against a gentleman with a wonderful mustache ... It was quite the thing to elope by the old Chesapeake and Ohio canal boat, be married at the Ferry by the tolltaker, who was a retired parson, and honeymoon at Hilltop House.

** This community was named by L. R. White who had lost a leg in the service of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.

The town served as a central point for troops ' conducting major raids against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and turnpike and telegraph paths along those routes and the Potomac River Valley.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway ( running east to west ) and the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, which soon became the Norfolk and Western Railway ( running north to south ).

* Chesapeake and Indiana Railroad

The Town of Delmar grew slowly until 1884 when the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad Co. completed a railroad from Pocomoke City, Maryland to Cape Charles, Virginia and also established a ferry service across the Chesapeake Bay between Cape Charles and Norfolk, Virginia.

The town began to develop rapidly circa 1904-1905 after the establishment of a Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Station.

Significant development occurred after the coming of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and George D. Winn's ferry to Portsmouth, Ohio in the 1890s.

* Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Passenger and Baggage Depots

Map of old Chesapeake Beach Railroad from D. C. to Chesapeake Beach

Established along the now-defunct Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the town became a hub for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which built a six mile long rail yard along the Potomac from 1891 to 1912, boosting the population to over 5, 000, and making Brunswick virtually a company town.

The Town of Delmar grew slowly until 1884 when the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad Co. completed a railroad from Pocomoke City, Maryland to Cape Charles, Virginia and also established a ferry service across the Chesapeake Bay between Cape Charles and Norfolk, Virginia.

The Grand Trunk Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Depot is a state historical site.

The settlement saw some growth, but when the Chicago, Saginaw and Canada Railroad ( which became part of the Pere Marquette Railway and then the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway ) was built and a station was established nearer to the Flat River, Sumner subsequently sold his holdings and moved to Edmore.

Later the line was taken over by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, then by CSX Transportation.

In 1964, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway ( C & O ) and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ( B & O ) jointly filed for permission to acquire control of the Western Maryland Railway with the Interstate Commerce Commission ( ICC ).

However, the port status declined with the completion of more railroads to the ocean harbor area of Hampton Roads, notably including the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway at Newport News and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad at Portsmouth.

The town occupies a narrow stretch of flat land along the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad track, with no road between the tracks and the town.

* Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, Thurmond Depot, Northeast end of New River Bridge, Thurmond, Fayette County, WV: 16 drawings, 6 photos, 1 data page, 2 photo caption pages, 4 color transparencies, at Historic American Engineering Record