Baltimore Belt Line pulled by horses along Pratt Street between the B&O's Camden Station and the PW&B's President Street Station. In 1884, the PW&B was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), a major rival of the B&O, and the PRR cut off the connection. The B&O then proceeded to build its Philadelphia Branch (formally known as the Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad) to connect to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, in turn connecting with the Central Railroad of New Jersey for B&O's New York service. The combination also provided a connection to the Staten Island Railway, which served as the terminal switching company for
B&O Railroad Bridge and Baltimore Railroad. The winner, the rival Pennsylvania Railroad, gave the B&O until 1884 to build its own southwest line into the city before cutting off access. The new route required a new bridge over the Schuylkill to replace the use of the PW&B's Gray's Ferry Bridge, and so the B&O built a four-span iron through truss bridge with a center swing span to allow boats to pass. It opened on July 11, 1886. (The cost of building the new route, especially the Howard Street Tunnel on the connecting Baltimore Belt Line, led to the B&O's first bankruptcy.) In 1910,