History: Rail Transportation In The United States

Numerous short lines were built, especially in the south, to provide connections to the river system. From 1829-1830, the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad, the first railroad constructed west of the Appalachian Mountains, was built connecting the two Alabama cities of Decatur and Tuscumbia. The Pontchartrain Rail-Road, a 5-mile (8.0 km) route connecting the Mississippi River with Lake Pontchartrain at New Orleans, Louisiana was completed in 1831, starting over a century of operation.
Soon, other roads that would themselves be purchased or merged into larger entities, formed. The Camden and Amboy Railroad (C&A), the first railroad built in New Jersey, completed its route between its namesake cities in 1834. The C&A eventually became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
• 1851–1900
The B&O's westward route reached the Ohio River in 1852, the first eastern seaboard railroad to do so.