Whats the oldest US railroad ROW still in use? Of course if it was laid in 1860 its been relaid a few times since then.
OK, strictly off the top of my head - without any research or looking things up to check or confirm, so anyone please feel free to jump in and correct or supplement, etc.:
The Baltimore & Ohio, in the vicinity of Thomas Viaduct to Relay, Maryland, from 1832.
The very first U.S. R-O-W - the Camden & Amboy, in Southern NJ - became a part of a PRR predecessor, but was later abandoned. I believe a few years ago some of the original stone block “sleepers” (kind of like twin-block concrete ties) were uncovered, preserved, and signed, but I don’t have a reference to that handy right now.
- Paul North.
The first railroad in the U.S. was the Baltimore & Ohio, so their roadbed would probably be considered as the oldest in continual use.
The first COMMON CARRIER railroad was the B&O. I think there were other (non-common carrier, e.g. a quarry road) railroads before that, although I doubt their roadbeds are still in use.
The original B&O alignment from Mt.Clare Station in Baltimore (B&O Museum) to Ellicott’s Mills (now Ellicott City) is still in existence. The segment from Mt.Clare Station to Mt.Clare B Yard is used by the B&O Museum. The segment from Mt.Clare B Yard to Mt.Clare A Yard is yard trackage. The segment from Mt.Clare A yard to Curtis Bay Jct. is a major yard running track. From Curtis Bay Jct. to Ellicott City the route is Main Line trackage, with the Old Main Line Subdivision beginning at the interlocking at St. Denis. The Old Main Line Sub continues on it’s original alignment to Point of Rocks, MD. The area around Plane Siding, near Monrovia, MD, was relined in the 1840’s to eliminate the inclined planes that were originally needed to surmount the grade in the area.
The first schedule steam-powered passenger service ran in Charleston, SC in 1830. Is any of that six mile route still in existence?
You’ve got a lot of eastern and New England lines that go back to 1830-1850. Lackawaxen PA to Hawley and Honesdale (former Erie, now under Morristown and Erie control) for starters. Then the Morris and Essex-DL&W-EL-NJT; what was once called the Jamesburg Secondary by PRR and CR used to have a monument of original rail and ties near Jamsburg that had to date back into the late 1830s of the Camden and Amboy, track still used today. The list along the east coast has to be lengthy…B&O-CSX lines, Owego and Harford on LV’s Southern Central track is on the ROW of the Ithaca and Owego/Cayuga and Susquehanna that the DL&W used back in the 1840s albeit about a hundred feet. Oh, there’s lots and lots of examples…