CSX Susquehanna River Bridge

The CSX Susquehanna River Bridge is a railroad bridge that carries CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision across the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland, via Garrett Island. It was built in 1907-10 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) on the same alignment as an 1886 B&O bridge. Like its predecessor, it was the longest continuous bridge on the B&O system. History 1866-1884: PW&B Bridge The 1866 completion of the nearby Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore (PW&B) railroad bridge allowed trains between Baltimore and Philadelphia to cross the Susquehanna without the aid of a ferryboat for the first time. The B&O used trackage rights on the PW&B to operate trains to Philadelphia and Jersey City starting at about this time. In this way, the B&O was able to expand its service territory with minimal capital expenditure. In 1869, the B&O began advertising this route as the "New York and Washington Air Line Railway." Although the PW&B was an independent company at the time, the use of key sections of track in Philadelphia and New Jersey depended upon the cooperation of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). When the B&O's president John W. Garrett was outbid by the PRR for control of the PW&B in early 1881, Garrett realized that B&O's Philadelphia and New York connections were in jeopardy. B&O began planning immediately for its own line between Baltimore and Philadelphia, where a connection to the friendly Reading Railroad would provide access to the New York area.