The Southwark Rail-Road was a small part of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

system in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania.

History

The Southwark Rail-Road was chartered on April 2, 1831. The company constructed tracks in 1835, along Broad Street from South Street to Washington Avenue, and along Washington Avenue from Broad Street to the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

. At the intersection of Broad Street and Washington Avenue, the

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad, headquartered in Philadelphia, that operated in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland from 1836 to 1902. It was part of an 1838 merger of four state-chartered railr ...

ended at the Southwark Rail-Road. The PW&B's passenger station was just west of Broad Street; the Southwark Rail-Road was intended for freight, and was leased to and operated by the PW&B. At the South Street end, the

Philadelphia and Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called the Reading Railro ...

continued north on Broad Street. The tracks on Broad Street were removed in 1870. Around the same time, tracks were built along the riverfront from the yard at the river north to Almond Street (now Kenilworth Street), connecting it to the

's Delaware Extension. On March 28, 1877, the Southwark Rail-Road was merged into the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, along with several other railroads. In 1881, the

bought up the majority of the PW&B's stock. The company was later merged into the

Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad The Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad (PB&W) was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, District of Columbia, the District of Columbia from 1902 until 1976. A key component of the Pennsylvania R ...

, another PRR subsidiary.

References

Corporate Genealogy - Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Southwark Railroad American companies established in 1831 Companies affiliated with the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Defunct Pennsylvania railroads Predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Railway companies disestablished in 1877 Railway companies established in 1831