Railroad Tracks

The winter of 1851-52 was one of the coldest on record in the Mid-Atlantic, with the longest stretch of continuous, below freezing temperatures since 1834. This caused the Susquehanna River to freeze over, causing a disruption to train travel on the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad.

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Chartered in 1836, the PW & B was the first rail line to connect New York and New England with Baltimore, Washington and Virginia. By 1837, there was a continuous track from Baltimore to Wilmington, except at Havre de Grace, where the line had to cross the Susquehanna River. Here, train cars were carried across the river by the Susquehanna, a steam powered ferry boat, from a dock at the foot of St. Clair Street, now Pennington Avenue.

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In January of 1852, large sheets of ice made their way down the Susquehanna and stalled here at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. The Baltimore Sun reported that this created an ice wall 10-20 feet thick, almost as tall as a two-story building, making it impassible for boat traffic, including the ferry that transported the railroad cars.

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With both passenger and freight traffic, including the U.S. Mail, halted, and no end to the winter cold in sight, the PW & B needed to overcome the problem as quickly as possible. Chief Engineer Isaac Trimble’s solution was to lay railroad tracks across the ice. By January 15, tracks were laid, and for the next 41 days, over 10,000 horse-drawn railroad cars made their way across the frozen Susquehanna. Passengers were transported across by horse drawn sleigh. Although this incident caused officials to begin to call for the construction of a railroad bridge crossing the Susquehanna, a continuous rail connection between Philadelphia and Baltimore was not complete until 1866.