What Happened to the B&O? America's First Railroad, Retired in 1987

Why did the Baltimore and Ohio, 160 years old, end in 1987 with no bankruptcy, no last train and no auction? America's oldest railroad company was merged into a sister line on April 30, and its trains ran the next morning. The B&O was chartered on February 28, 1827, the first American railroad licensed as a common carrier of freight and passengers. It needed 25 years to build 379 miles to the Ohio River, then borrowed for decades to catch younger rivals. By 1922 it had 61,950 employees and more than 5,200 miles of main line. In 1961 its bond terms stopped its dividends, and regulators found it could not borrow for repairs. What this video covers: • 1828: Charles Carroll, age 90, breaks ground beside the First Stone • 1852: Christmas Eve at the Ohio River • 1896: receivership, then control by the rival Pennsylvania Railroad • 1960: a takeover decided by Swiss shareholders • 1963: the Chesapeake and Ohio takes control at midnight • 1987: the charter goes out of use inside CSX The B&O was never liquidated. It was absorbed. If you remember the Capitol dome on a blue diesel, or blue china in a dining car, tell us where you saw it. Subscribe for more quiet histories of the railroads that built the country.