The Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway (CH&D) was a railroad based in the U.S. state of Ohio that existed between its incorporation on March 2, 1846, and its acquisition by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in December 1917. It was originally chartered to build from Cincinnati to Hamilton, Ohio, and then to Dayton, a distance of 59 mi; further construction and acquisition extended the railroad, and by 1902 it owned or controlled 640 mi of railroad. Its stock and bond value plunged in late 1905 after "financial mismanagement of the properties" was revealed.[1] The company was reorganized as the Toledo and Cincinnati Railroad in 1917.
Acquisitions
The original CH&D was founded by John Alexander Collins, who was born on June 8, 1815, in Staffordshire, England. He came to the US as a child in 1825, and worked as a locomotive engineer until moving to Ohio in 1851 to open the CH&D. Collins remained with the line until 1872, six years before his death in Covington, Kentucky. Collins is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Dayton, where his tombstone details his life and its work.
The railway received a charter from the State of Ohio on March 2, 1846, as the "Cincinnati and Hamilton Railroad". The name was changed by the legislature to the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway on February 8, 1847.[2]