Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad

Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad

1895 map of the P&BC, labeled as "PW&B," reflecting its control by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad
Locale	Pennsylvania and Maryland
Dates of operation	1854–1916
Successor	Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	110 miles (180 km)
Headquarters	Philadelphia

The Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad (P&BC) was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It operated a 110-mile (180 km) main line between West Philadelphia and Octoraro Junction, Maryland (near Port Deposit), plus several branch lines.

The P&BC was chartered in Pennsylvania in 1854 and quickly absorbed the Baltimore & Philadelphia Railroad and its Maryland charter. Starting from a connection with the West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad (WC&P) at Wawa, Pennsylvania (formerly called Grubb's Bridge), the initial plan was to build southwest for 78 miles (126 km) to a junction with the Northern Central Railway, north of Baltimore. As built, however, the line would reach only from Wawa (where the WC&P line arrived from Philadelphia in 1856) to the northern bank of the Susquehanna River, in Cecil County, Maryland, near Port Deposit.

P&BC construction began in 1855 at Concordville, Pennsylvania. The first section of the line, between Wawa Junction and Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, opened in 1859. Rails reached Oxford, Pennsylvania by the following year, and the first train arrived there on December 22, 1860.

P&BC reached Rising Sun, Maryland, in 1865. By December 1868, it reached 46 miles (74 km) and its southernmost point at Rowlandsville (4 miles (6.4 km) north of Port Deposit, along Octoraro Creek), where it connected with the Columbia & Port Deposit Railroad (C&PD). Instead of building its own bridge over the Susquehanna to continue service toward Baltimore, the P&BC simply leased the C&PD line for a few miles to Perryville, where trains could proceed south over the new bridge built by the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad (PW&B).