Winchester and Potomac Railroad

The Winchester and Potomac Railroad (W&P) was a railroad in the southern United States, which ran from Winchester, Virginia to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia on the Potomac River, at a junction with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O). It played a key role in early train raids of the B&O during the beginning months of the American Civil War.

The W&P Railroad was acquired by the B&O in 1902, and subsequently became part of CSX Transportation.

Most railroads built in Virginia before the Civil War connected farming and industrial centers to ports such as Alexandria and Norfolk. Towns west of the Blue Ridge Mountains needed rail transportation to connect with port cities but were hampered by the ability to cross the mountains because of the Allegheny Front escarpment. When the newly formed B&O Railroad (estab. 1827) was planned to cut across the northern end of the lower Shenandoah Valley, the Virginia General Assembly chartered the W&P Railroad in 1831. Routes were then surveyed by the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers from 1831 to 1832. Construction of the W&P began in 1833 with Moncure Robinson as head engineer. It was completed by 1836, beginning its first operations on March 14 of that year. The B&O had reached Harpers Ferry in 1834. A final rail connection with the B&O was completed in January 1837 when the Winchester and Potomac was connected by the first B&O Railroad Bridge completed across the Potomac River, tying the lines together in a junction on the Virginia side of the river. This was also the first ever intersection of two railroads in the United States.

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