West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad

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West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad
Locale	Chester, Delaware, and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania
Dates of operation	1848 – 1881
Successor line	Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
Length	26.22 miles
Headquarters

The West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad was incorporated 11 April 1848, and on 17 January 1852, the contract for building the road, except laying the rails, entered into with Gonder, Clark & Co., who were to receive three hundred thousand dollars in cash and two hundred thousand dollars in stock of the road for the work.

On 16 July 1855, the middle span of the railroad bridge, then being constructed over Ridley Creek, gave way, precipitating five men to the earth, one hundred and nine feet below, and three were instantly killed. In the autumn of that year the road had been completed, and trains were running to Media; at the close of 1856 the road had extended from Rockdale to Lenni, and by 1 January 1857, to Grubb's bridge, the present Wawa.

The road was an expensive one to build, due to the deep valleys and many streams it crossed, so that at one time its stock had fallen to almost nominal value. In the latter half of the year 1858 the road was pushed onward with remarkable rapidity, the rails being laid from Wawa to West Chester, so that the first train of cars from Philadelphia by the direct road reached West Chester on Tuesday, 11 November 1858, and on the following Thursday a celebration was held in the borough in honor of the event.

In May 1880, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad purchased the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad, and on October 31, 1881, the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad Company was consolidated into the Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad Company.^[1]