Baltimore Sun photos
View attachment 39137
Then - Southbound Pennsylvania Railroad steam engines pull coal cars over the Susquehanna river on a winter day in 1951 (A. Aubrey Bodine / Baltimore Sun)
View attachment 39138
Now - Northbound Amtrak Acela crossing the Susquehanna river (Jerry Jackson / Baltimore Sun)
History (of the Susquehanna river crossing/bridge) from Wikipedia
The vicinity of the bridge has been used as a river crossing for more than 300 years. In 1695, the colonial
General Assembly granted the first licenses to operate a ferry between Perryville and what is now Havre de Grace. In 1837, railroad lines south from
Wilmington, Delaware, and north from
Baltimore arrived at the riverbanks. For 29 years, including the duration of the
American Civil War, a
train ferry carried passengers (on foot) and freight cars between the two towns. In 1854, a larger ferryboat began to transport entire passenger cars across the river.
[1]:37–40,111
In 1866, after 12 years of intermittent construction, the
Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) completed a wooden
single-track railroad bridge. Iron reinforcements were added between 1874 and 1880. In 1881, when the
Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) formally took control of the PW&B, it cut rival
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's access to the PW&B. The B&O was forced to construct a parallel route between Baltimore and
Philadelphia, including
a new bridge about 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream.
In 1904-06, the PRR replaced the PW&B crossing with a new bridge just a few yards upstream.
[1]:40–43,117–118 Opened on May 29, 1906,
[3] it includes a center swing span to increase vertical clearance for water traffic from the nominal 52 feet (15.8 m).
[2] In 1934, the PRR began installing
catenary on the span to help extend
11,000-volt electrification south from Wilmington to
Washington, D.C. Regular electrified passenger service across the bridge began on February 10, 1935.
[1]:44–45
Ownership of the bridge passed to Amtrak in 1976 when it acquired much of the Northeast Corridor infrastructure.
[5]
