Oldest existing railroad?

[Anonymous]

Anybody know what is the oldest existing railroad, railroads that have been purchased but retained the same name (IE the D&H) don't count nor do railroads that have closed and reopened (IE Strasburg) nor do railroads that have reorganized (IE UP). Thanks!

Edited for bad spelling

[FJ and G]

possibly B&O; chartered, I think, by a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The railroad still exists but not the name.

Oldest existing NAMED class 1 railroad would be the fee-bilking UP.

I don't know about oldest existing shortline. probably one up in the Northeast somewhere. D&H I think was absorbed by CP

[AltonFan]

I believe that the B&O was finally consolidated with CSX just before or after the Chessie System - Family Lines merger. It had been kept alive for many years as a separate entity because of tax breaks that had been given to the line at its inception, but these became didn't offset the costs of maintaining the separate organization, hence the merger.

[Allen Jenkins]

As everybody knows, when you look at the new CSX paint scheme, your seeing B&O, C&O heritage. And as I believed all along, If you got all the money, you say what colors the locomotives are painted. The B&O was chartered around 1830, The Seaboard, around 1831, with both roads construction beginning soon thereafter. This is the why Consolidated Systems, is a holding company(X), Just like the NS fans know this is true, that Alabama Great Southern, The Central of Georgia, The Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific, roads still exist.