{{other uses}} {{Infobox rail |railroad_name = |logo_filename = |logo_size = |logo_alt = |system_map = {{maplink-road|from=Gettysburg Railroad.map}} |map_caption = |map_size = |map_alt = |image = Gettysburg spring 09 0523.jpg |image_size = 300px |image_caption = The Gettysburg Railroad Station was used as a hospital during the Battle of Gettysburg |image_alt = |marks = |locale = Pennsylvania |start_year = {{Start date|1851}} |end_year = {{End date|1871}} |predecessor_line = |successor_line = Susquehanna, Gettysburg and Potomac Railway |gauge = {{track gauge|ussg}} |old_gauge = <!-- This needs a separate line --> |electrification = |length = |hq_city = |website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> }} The '''Gettysburg Railroad''' was a railway line in Pennsylvania that operated from 1858 to 1870 over the 17-mile (27&nbsp;km) main line from the terminus in Gettysburg to the 1849 Hanover Junction. After becoming the Susquehanna, Gettysburg & Potomac Railway line in 1870, the tracks between Gettysburg and Hanover Junction became part of the Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad in 1874, the Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway in 1886, and the Western Maryland Railway in 1917. Today, its line is part of the CSX Hanover Subdivision.

==History== {{For|the connecting east-west tracks between Hanover Junction and Hanover, Pennsylvania|Hanover Branch Railroad}} On March 4, 1851, Robert McCurdy, Josiah Benner, and Henry Myers secured a charter for the Gettysburg Railroad Company.<ref name=Bennett>{{Cite book |last=Bennett |first=Gerald |year=2006 |orig-year=1999 |title=The Gettysburg Railroad Station: A Brief History |publisher=Gettysburg Railroad Station Restoration Project |pages=4–6}}</ref> The groundbreaking was on February 22, 1856;<ref name=Bennett/> the first mortgage was issued in 1857,<ref name="Poor1860">{{Cite book |last=Poor |first=Henry V |year=1860 |chapter=Gettysburg Railroad |title=History of the Railroads and Canals of the United States |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BO8cAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA443 |via=Google Books |location=New York |publisher=John H. Schultz and Co |access-date=May 10, 2011|page=443}}</ref> and the railroad opened between Hanover Junction<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shaffer |first=Roger E |title=The Hanover Branch Railroad (The Old Branch) |url=http://www.hanoverjunction.net/stories/Hanover_Branch.htm |publisher=HanoverJunction.net |access-date=May 9, 2011 |archive-date=July 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723142515/http://www.hanoverjunction.net/stories/Hanover_Branch.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and New Oxford on January 6, 1858<ref name=Baer1858/> (the first passenger train had entered Adams County on September 14, 1857).<ref name=Bennett/> After construction commenced from New Oxford on June 24, 1858,<ref name=Baer1858>{{cite web| last=Baer| first=Christopher T.| url=http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1858%20Mar%2005.pdf| title=PRR Chronology, 1858| work=A General Chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company Predecessors and Successors and Its Historical Context| publisher=Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society| access-date=June 21, 2009}}</ref> a locomotive first entered the Gettysburg borough on November 29.<ref name=Bennett/> Service from Goulden's Station had begun by September 27,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oYYlAAAAIBAJ&dq=gettysburg%20railroad&pg=4168%2C1638619| title=The Gettysburg Railroad: Two Daily Trains| newspaper=The Adams Sentinel| date=September 27, 1858}}</ref> the line was "completed" at Gettysburg on December 1, 1858, with operations over the Gettysburg Railroad Company tracks managed from that date by the Hanover Branch RR until June 12, 1859.<ref name="Poor1860" /> The last spike was driven at Gettysburg on December 16, 1858 (12:30&nbsp;a.m.); and that day at Hanover, company representatives met an official "party of Baltimoreans" with the Blues Band from Calvert railway station. The group arrived at Gettysburg at 3 p.m. where a reception was held at "a large and recently furnished building near the [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=woYlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CvMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2601,2793193&dq=gettysburg+railroad&hl=en depot".]<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 18, 1858 |title=Opening of the Gettysburg Railroad |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_pdBAAAAIBAJ&pg=4081,5685889&dq=gettysburg+railroad&hl=en |via=Google News Archives |newspaper=American and Commercial Advertiser -- reporting the Baltimore American story |access-date=May 10, 2011}}</ref> The Gettysburg Railroad Station contracted in the fall<ref name=AC1859>{{Cite news |date=January 17, 1859 |title=Railroad Report: To The Stockholders Of The Gettysburg Railroad Company |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sYYlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1655,2193002&dq=gettysburg+railroad&hl=en |via=Google News Archives |newspaper=The Adams Sentinel |access-date=May 10, 2011 |quote=''The Grading and Bridging of the road was completed by Messrs Irwin & Taylor … During the fall a contract was concluded with Messrs. Warner of Gettysburg for the erection of an Engine-house, a Freight-House and a Passenger station at Gettysburg. … ground from Messrs. 'Doersom & Codori ''[for the houses]'' and from Geo. W. McClellan, for the passenger station on the Corner of Carlisle and Railroad street''}}</ref> opened in May 1859 after the railroad had been the site of a New Oxford riot at the end of December 1858.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 1, 1859 |title=Riot on a Railroad |url=https://www.google.com/search?q=gettysburg#q=gettysburg+railroad&hl=en&tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:1858,cd_max:12/31/1859&tbm=nws&ei=l2vJTfymJ47PiAL91p2FBQ&start=20&sa=N&fp=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&cad=b |via=Google search synopsis |location=Baltimore |newspaper=The Sun |access-date=June 29, 2011}}</ref>

===Civil War=== On June 27 prior to the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, the line at Gettysburg was disabled when the nearby Rock Creek bridge was demolished by Confederate forces. On November 18, 1863, President Lincoln used the line to attend the consecration of the Soldiers' National Cemetery where he delivered the Gettysburg Address.<ref>{{cite web| publisher=Library of Congress| location=Washington, D.C.| url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/| title=The Gettysburg Address (Library of Congress Exhibition)| access-date=July 6, 2005| date=1995-01-12}}</ref>

===Successors=== The Susquehanna, Gettysburg and Potomac Railway purchased the Gettysburg Railroad on January 20, 1871.{{sfnp|ICC|1932|p=145}} That company was consolidated with the Hanover Branch Railroad in 1874 to create the Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad. The Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad was consolidated with the Bachman Valley Railroad in 1886 to form the Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway. The Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway was one of many companies consolidated in 1917 to create the Western Maryland Railway.{{sfnp|ICC|1932|p=61}} In 1973, the Western Maryland became a part of the Chessie System, which later became CSX Transportation on November 1, 1980.

==See also== {{Portal|Railways}} * List of defunct Pennsylvania railroads

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==References== * {{Cite web |author=Interstate Commerce Commission |date=1932 |title=Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Valuation reports |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-F1VRbNq74C |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en | ref={{harvid|ICC|1932}}}}

Category:Defunct Pennsylvania railroads Category:Predecessors of the Western Maryland Railway Category:Railway companies established in 1851 Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1871 Category:1851 establishments in Pennsylvania Category:American companies established in 1851