Guide to "Pennsylvania Railroad Tours to Washington" map , C0534

Use Restrictions

Public Domain. There are no known restrictions.

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

"Pennsylvania Railroad Tours to Washington" map, C0534, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Donated by Jeffry Haggquist and Heidi Worley.

Processing Information

Processing completed by Meghan Glasbrenner in May 2025. Finding aid completed by Meghan Glasbrenner in July 2025.

Historical Information

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was the largest of the trunkline railroads in the United States that connected states on the East Coast with those in the interior portion of the country. It was first chartered in 1846 by the Pennsylvania legislature to establish a direct rail line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh and its first passenger train began running in 1848 between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In 1856, following purchases of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railways, the railroad expanded it reach into Chicago, Illinois. Following the Civil War it continued its expansion, creating lines that reached other major cities on the east coast and beyond including New York City, St. Louis, Missouri, Cincinnati, Ohio, Norfolk, Viginia, and Washington, D.C., ultimately expanding to a 10,000 mile rail system by the early 1900s.

In February 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with its main competitor, the New York Central Railroad, to form the Penn Central Transportation Company. However, following financial difficulties, the company filed for bankruptcy in June 1970 and its passenger services were taken over by the National Railway Passenger Corporation (also known as Amtrak) in 1971. In April 1976 the assets of the Penn Central Transportation Company were acquired by the Consolidated Rail Corporation (also known as Conrail) and operation of the New York to Washington, D.C. route was later transferred to Amtrak, with the company soon after diversifying its business and leaving the railroad industry entirely.

Scope and Content

A single-sided map titled "Pennsylvania Railroad Tours to Washington" engraved by Allen, Lane & Scott showing railroad routes through Washington, D.C. and their proximity to hotels. The railroad lines are represented in red, with the rest of the map consisting of a black outline of Washington, D.C. streets, with an insert in the upper right corner providing a closer look at the area immediately around Capitol Hill. A Legend in the bottom left corner lists the names of the hotels indicated on the map by numbers.

Latest approximate date for the map's creation is based on the inclusion of the Arlington Hotel, which was demolished in 1912.