Railroad Acronyms

[USS ALASKA]

NYO & W
New York, Ontario and Western
Not Yet Old and Weary
Now Young Out and Working
Old And Weary
Owen W.
The Old Woman
Old & Wobbly

'The New York, Ontario and Western Railway, more commonly known as the O&W or NYO&W, was a regional railroad with origins in 1868, lasting until March 29, 1957 when it was ordered liquidated by a US bankruptcy judge. The O&W holds the distinction of being the first notable U.S. railroad to be abandoned in its entirety.

The railroad began life as the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad, organized by Dewitt C. Littlejohn in 1868. Its mainline extended from Weehawken, New Jersey in the greater New York City area to Oswego, New York, a port city on Lake Ontario. It had branch lines to Scranton, Pennsylvania; Kingston, New York; Port Jervis, New York; Monticello, New York; Delhi, New York; Utica, New York and Rome, New York. The part south of Cornwall, New York was operated over the New York Central Railroad's West Shore Railroad via trackage rights.'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Ontario_and_Western_Railway

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USSALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

S B & B Railroad
Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick
Weak and Weary Railroad
Sweet By and By

The Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad, also known as the SB&B Railroad or the Weak and Weary Railroad, which referred to the fact that it was not a financial success, was a railroad in northeastern Pennsylvania until 1918. The route ran from Watsontown, Pennsylvania to Berwick, Pennsylvania. The railroad was 39.22 miles long, with 3.51 miles of branches, totaling 42.83 miles. The railroad was also known as the "Sweet By and By". Trains typically ran along the railroad six days a week. What remains of it is currently a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

Predecessors

The Susquehanna, Bloomsburg and Berwick began as the Wilkes-Barre and Western Railway, incorporated on June 22, 1886 to build from Watsontown to Shickshinny. It opened 22 miles (35 km) of line from Watsontown to Millville in 1887, and in 1891, opened an additional 9 miles (14 km) from Millville Junction, just south of Millville, to Orangeville.

The promoters of the Wilkes-Barre and Western envisioned it as part of a trunk line which would move bituminous coal east from the Clearfield Coalfield and anthracite west from Wilkes-Barre. Two affiliated railroads were chartered to help build these connections: the Turbotville and Williamsport Railroad was incorporated on November 18, 1892 to build from Turbotville to Williamsport, while the Orangeville and Lehigh Railroad was incorporated on December 12, 1892 to build 70 miles (110 km) north from Orangeville to Hauser's Mills, now Pocono Lake, on the line of the Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad. Neither of these two roads were constructed and they were consolidated with the Wilkes-Barre and Western on March 1, 1893 to form the Central Pennsylvania and Western Railroad. This railroad was reorganized on July 31, 1902 as the Susquehanna, Bloomsburrg and Berwick Railroad.

History

The Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad was originally called the Wilkes-Barre and Western Railroad, but renamed when its ownership was passed to a different company. Under this name, it was formed in 1885 and carried the first trains in 1887. The railroad was mostly constructed using manual labor. The laborers consisted of locals, Italian workers, and Hungarian workers. By 1891, the road extended as far east as Orangeville, but this course was abandoned in favor of routing the railroad to Berwick via Lightstreet. The Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad originally only ran from Watsontown to Lightstreet, Pennsylvania. However, in 1903 the railroad was extended from Berwick to Eyers Grove. In that year, the railroad company discontinued its branch line from Eyers Grove to Orangeville due to a lack of business. However, it retained its branch line from Eyers Grove to Millville. By 1911, the Pennsylvania Railroad owned nearly all of the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad Company's stock. The Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick railroad was absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1918. It carried passengers for some years longer, although by 1940, passenger trains stopped running along the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad. However, the rail line continued to be used for other purposes until the late 1960s, when the American Car and Foundry plant in Berwick closed. After the closing of the plant, the railroad's use was negligible and the tracks entered a state of disrepair. By the beginning of the 1980s, the tracks east of Washingtonville had been removed. However, as of 2009, the railroad tracks from Washingtonville to Watsontown are still used.

There were once plans to extend the railroad as far east as Shickshinny, but these plans were never put into practice. Additionally, there were plans to extend the railroad west from Watsontown to merge with railroads carrying coal from Clearfield County.

Financial information

In 1908, the total assets of the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad company were $1,826,856.48. The Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad, then known as the Wilkes-Barre and Western Railroad was sold in 1902. Some months later in 1902 the railroad was sold again, and this time renamed the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick railroad.

In 1905, the total cost of the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg and Berwick Railroad was $1,672,118.13. Between 1910 and 1916, the net income of the railroad ranged from $7342 in 1915 to $159,159 in 1916. Their gross revenue between 1910 and 1916 ranged from $108,687 in 1915 to $320,072 in 1916. The company's capital stock consisted of $1,000,000 in the form of $50 shares.

Course

The Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad started in Watsontown, and, passing through Jerseytown, Mordansville. From Mordansville, the railroad went down the Little Fishing Creek river valley, then turned east to cross Fishing Creek. The route also passed through Lightstreet and Briar Creek before terminating in Berwick. The Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad had two branch lines. One of them went from Eyers Grove to Millville and the other went from Eyers Grove to Orangeville.

Uses

When the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad was first built in 1887, it was intended to be used for the anthracite fields on the North Branch and West Branch Susquehanna River. Starting in 1902, the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad carried most of the cars manufactured by Berwick's American Car and Foundry Company to their owners. Despite usually running only six days a week, trains would sometimes go along the railroad on Sundays to the Bloomsburg fairgrounds and picnic grounds at Eyers Grove. These runnings of trains were termed "Special Sunday excursions". In the 21st century, the remaining part of the railroad is used to provide service to the Pennsylvania Power and Light plant.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susquehanna,_Bloomsburg,_and_Berwick_Railroad

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USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

R F & P
Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac
Rich Folks and Pedigrees
Run Fast and Push
The Doggie Railroad
Rich Folks and Preachers

The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was chartered on February 25, 1834, to run from Richmond north via Fredericksburg to the Potomac River. It opened from Richmond to Hazel Run in 1836, to Fredericksburg on January 23, 1837, and the rest of the way to the Potomac River at Aquia Creek on September 30, 1842. Steamboat service to Washington, D.C., and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was provided by the Washington and Fredericksburg Steamboat Company, later renamed the Potomac Steamboat Company, controlled by the railroad after 1845.

Badly damaged during the Civil War, on October 11, 1870, an extension to the north toward Quantico was authorized at a special meeting of the company's stockholders. The company's charter limited this branch to 10 miles, leaving it 1.7 miles short of the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railroad. This split from the existing line at Brooke and ran north to Quantico, also on the Potomac. The old line to the Aquia Creek wharf was abandoned on the opening of the Quantico wharf on May 1, 1872.

On the other end of the line the Alexandria and Washington Railroad was chartered on February 27, 1854, to build from the south end of the Long Bridge over the Potomac River south to Alexandria. That line opened in 1857. The railroad went bankrupt and was sold July 9, 1887, being reorganized November 23, 1887, as the Alexandria and Washington Railway. In 1873 the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad's branch over the Long Bridge opened, giving a route into Washington, D.C., over which the A&W obtained trackage rights.

The Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway was chartered February 3, 1864, to continue the line from Alexandria to Fredericksburg. It opened on July 2, 1872, only reaching Quantico, the north end of the RF&P. At Quantico the 1.7-mile (2.7 km) Potomac Railroad, chartered April 21, 1867, and opened May 1, 1872, connected the two lines. It was leased to the RF&P for 28 years from May 17, 1877. On March 31, 1890, the two companies terminating in Alexandria merged to form the Washington Southern Railway. Until November 1, 1901, it was operated by the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad and its successor the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad (part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system). The Potomac Railroad lease was transferred to the Washington Southern on June 30, 1904. On February 24, 1920, the Washington Southern was formally merged into the RF&P.

The Richmond-Washington Company was incorporated September 5, 1901, as a holding company, owning the entire capital stock of the two railroads. The stock of the company was owned equally by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Southern Railway, Seaboard Air Line Railway and Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Four of these companies (B&O, ACL, SAL, C&O) have since become part of CSX. The Southern Railway is now part of Norfolk Southern and does not use the former RF&P; the former Pennsylvania Railroad, in its later incarnation as Conrail, has been split between CSX and Norfolk Southern with most of PRR's routes becoming part of Norfolk Southern. However, the portion of the former PRR that connected to the very north of the RF&P's former Potomac Yard, across the Long Bridge and into Washington DC, became part of CSX following the takeover of Conrail by NS and CSX. The RF&P company became Commonwealth Atlantic Land V Inc., and a new corporation, named the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railway Company, was formed on October 9, 1991.

From 1902 to 1908, major sections of the main line totaling 21 miles (34 km) were relocated. On December 31, 1925, RF&P operated 118 miles of road and 432 miles of track; on December 31, 1970, mileages were 118 and 518.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_Fredericksburg_and_Potomac_Railroad

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USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

WP
Western Pacific
The Wobbly
Wasted Property
Wayside Property
Wear Protection
Weed Producers
Wobbly Pacific
Wobbly Pathetic
Worn-out Paint

The second company to use the name Western Pacific Railroad was founded in 1903. Under the direction of George Jay Gould I, the Western Pacific was founded to provide a standard gauge track connection to the Pacific Coast for his aspiring Gould transcontinental system. The construction was financed by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, a company in the Gould system, which lost access to California due to the attempted acquisition of the Southern Pacific Railroad by the Rio Grande's main rival, the Union Pacific Railroad. The Western Pacific Railroad acquired the Alameda and San Joaquin Railroad and began construction on what would become the Feather River Route. In 1909 it became the last major railroad completed into California. It used 85-lb rail on untreated ties, with no tie plates except on curves over one degree; in 1935 more than half of the main line still had its original rail, most of it having carried 150 million gross tons.

In 1931 Western Pacific opened a main line north from the Feather River Canyon to the Great Northern Railway in northern California. This route, the "Highline", joined the Oakland – Salt Lake City main line at the Keddie Wye, a unique combination of two steel trestles and a tunnel forming a triangle of intersecting track. In 1935, the railroad went bankrupt because of decreased freight and passenger traffic caused by the Depression and had to be reorganized.

WP attracted rail enthusiasts from around the world. It operated the California Zephyr passenger train with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The WP handled the "Silver Lady" from Oakland, California, to Salt Lake City, Utah from 1949–1970. The Western Pacific owned several connecting short-line railroads. The largest was the Sacramento Northern Railway, which once reached from San Francisco to Chico, California. Others included the Tidewater Southern Railway, the Central California Traction, the Indian Valley Railroad and the Deep Creek Railroad. At the end of 1970 WP operated 1,187 miles (1,910 km) of road and 1,980 miles (3,190 km) of track, not including its Sacramento Northern and Tidewater Southern subsidiaries.

In 1983, the Union Pacific Corporation purchased the Western Pacific and the WP became part of a combined Union Pacific rail system: the Union Pacific Railroad, the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and the WP. The Western Pacific and the Missouri Pacific was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad by the Union Pacific Corporation. In 1996, Union Pacific purchased the WP's long-time rival, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company. In July 2005 Union Pacific unveiled a brand new EMD SD70ACe locomotive, Union Pacific 1983, painted as an homage to the Western Pacific.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Pacific_Railroad

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USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

UP
Union Pacific
The Borg
Ewe Pee
The Yellow Borg
Onion Pacific
Ugly Pathetic
Ugly Power
Ultimate Privy
Un Painted
Un Professional
Unable to Perform
Uncompromising Pricks
Undelivered Perishables
Undelivered Phreight
Under Powered
Under Prepared for SP
Under Pressure
Unemployment Pending
Unimaginative Paint
Union Pathetic
Unlimited Parking
Unlimited Power
Unlimited Purchasing
Unrecognizable Performance
Unstoppable Power
Uppity Pacific
Uppity Pee
Usually Parked
Usually Prostrate
Utterly Pathetic
Utterly Putrid
You can't spell stUPid without UP
yoU Pee

slogan: We Can Handle It
We _Can't_ Handle It
We Can Mangle It
We Can't Manage It

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USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

Amtrak
AmCrash
AmTrash
AmWreck
Amcrap
Amquack
Animaltrak
Anthrax
Slamtrack
Animal Krackers

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USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

ATSF
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
After Tonnage, Safety First
All Tonnage and Slow Freight
All Tramps & Son of a guns Free
All Tramps and Soldiers Free
All Tramps Sent Free
Annoying, Tempermental and Stupid Fans
Ashcan, Toiletbowl & Sani-Flush
Ate Tamales and Spat Fire
Ate Tamales and Spit Fire
Chico
Sani Flush
Santa Flush
Suffering Fools
Uncle John
Scuzzy Fe

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[USS ALASKA]

CRI&P
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific
Rock Island
The Rock
Baby Railroad
Come Right In & Pee
Conductors Rob Innocent Passengers
Corroded, Rusty, Indigent and Pathetic
Crip or Crippy
Pet Rock
Rockin Eye
Rotten Island
Rusty Iron
The Cry 'n' Pee
The Rot
Wreck Island

Its predecessor, the Rock Island and La Salle Railroad Company, was incorporated in Illinois on February 27, 1847, and an amended charter was approved on February 7, 1851, as the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad. Construction began October 1, 1851, in Chicago, and the first train was operated on October 10, 1852, between Chicago and Joliet. Construction continued on through La Salle, and Rock Island was reached on February 22, 1854, becoming the first railroad to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River.

In Iowa, the C&RI's incorporators created (on February 5, 1853) the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Company (M&M), to run from Davenport to Council Bluffs, and on November 20, 1855, the first train to operate in Iowa steamed from Davenport to Muscatine. The Mississippi river bridge between Rock Island and Davenport was completed on April 22, 1856.

In 1857, Abraham Lincoln represented the Rock Island in an important lawsuit regarding bridges over navigable rivers. The suit had been brought by the owner of a steamboat which was destroyed by fire after running into the Mississippi river bridge. Lincoln argued that not only was the steamboat at fault in striking the bridge but that bridges across navigable rivers were to the advantage of the country.

The M&M was acquired by the C&RI on July 9, 1866, to form the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company. The railroad expanded through construction and acquisitions in the following decades.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago,_Rock_Island_and_Pacific_Railroad

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USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

C B & Q
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Cheap, Broken and Quarantined
Cheapest, Best and Quickest
Clearly Busted and Quiet
Crummy, Bumpy and Quick
Charlie Burlington

History
1848–1882

The earliest predecessor of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Aurora Branch Railroad, was chartered by act of the Illinois General Assembly on October 2, 1848. The charter was obtained by citizens of Aurora and Batavia, Illinois, who were concerned that the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad would bypass their towns in favor of West Chicago on its route; at the time, that was the only line running west from Chicago. The Aurora Branch was built from Aurora, through Batavia, to Turner Junction in what is now West Chicago. The line was built with old strap rail and minimal, if any, grading. Using a leased locomotive and cars, the Aurora Branch ran passenger and freight trains from Aurora to Chicago via its own line from Aurora to Turner Junction and one of the G&CU's two tracks east from there to Chicago. The G&CU required the Aurora Branch to turn over 70 percent of their revenue per ton-mile handled on that railroad; as a result, in the mid-1850s, surveys were ordered to determine the best route for a railroad line to Chicago.

The line from Aurora to Chicago was built through the fledgling towns of Naperville, Lisle, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Berwyn, and the west side of Chicago. It was opened in 1864, and passenger and freight service began. Regular commuter train service started in 1864 and remains operational to this day, making it the oldest surviving regular passenger service in Chicago. Both the original Chicago line, and to a much lesser extent, the old Aurora Branch right of way, are still in regular use today by the Burlington's present successor BNSF Railway.

With a steady acquisition of locomotives, cars, equipment, and trackage, the Burlington Route was able to enter the trade markets in 1862. From that year to date, the railroad and its successors have paid dividends continuously, and never run into debt or defaulted on a loan—the only Class I U.S. railroad for which this is true.

After extensive trackwork was planned, the Aurora Branch changed its name to the Chicago and Aurora Railroad in June 1852, and to Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad in 1856, and shortly reached its two other namesake cities, Burlington, Iowa and Quincy, Illinois. In 1868 CB&Q completed bridges over the Mississippi River both at Burlington, Iowa, and Quincy, Illinois giving the railroad through connections with the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad (B&MR) in Iowa and the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad (H&StJ) in Missouri. The first Railway Post Office was inaugurated on the H&StJ to sort mail on the trains way across Missouri, passing the mail to the Pony Express upon reaching the Missouri River at St. Joseph, Missouri.

The B&MR continued building west into Nebraska as a separate company, the Burlington & Missouri River Rail Road, founded in 1869. During the summer of 1870 it reached Lincoln, the newly designated capital of Nebraska and by 1872 it reached Kearney, Nebraska. That same year the B&MR across Iowa was absorbed by the CB&Q. By the time the Missouri River bridge at Plattsmouth, Nebraska was completed the B&MR in Nebraska was well on its way to the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado. That same year, the Nebraska B&MR was purchased by the CB&Q, which completed the line to Denver by 1882.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago,_Burlington_and_Quincy_Railroad

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USS ALASKA

 

[Waterloo50]

A common pastime for bored railroaders and small town residents has long been coming up with funny alternative acronyms for American railroad name abbreviations. I'll get everyone started with a few examples. I'll list the acronym, the actual name, then the pop culture name. There are literally hundreds of instances, maybe thousands! We'll try to keep it PG-rated!

CSX
Chessie / Seaboard
Crash, Spill, & Explode

B&O
Baltimore & Ohio RR
Body Odor

SBD
Seaboard System
Silent But Deadly (gas)

ET&WNC
East Tennessee & Western North Carolina RR
Eat Taters and Wear No Clothes (to live a long and healthy life)

HPT&D RR
High Point, Thomasville, and Denton Railroad
High Priced Ticket and a D*mn Rough Ride

Oh I want to play but I only know a couple of Brit acronyms.
Somerset and Dorset Railway S&D otherwise called the slow and dirty or swift and delightful.
Great Western Railway GWR Gods Wonderful Railway.
I have to say though that the acronym for CSX appears more than accurate.

 

[USS ALASKA]

H & T C
Houston and Texas Central
Hell On Texas Contractors (nonpayment to builders)
Hoboes and Tin Cans
Hen and Ten Chicks

Ebenezer Allen, a man from Galveston, Texas, obtained the charter to establish a railroad company on March 11, 1848. A series of meetings about the establishment of the company occurred in Chappell Hill and Houston. In 1852, the Galveston and Red River Railway (G&RR) company became active.

The start of construction occurred on January 1, 1853, when Paul Bremond and Thomas William House broke ground in Houston. Track-laying of the 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) gauge railroad began in early 1856. On July 26, 1856, the track-laying reached the 25-mile (40 km) point, at Cypress. The railroad company name changed from G&RR to H&TC on September 1, 1856. By April 22, 1861 the railroad construction had reached the 81-mile (130 km) point at Millican. Because of the American Civil War, the railroad construction was halted. In 1867, with the Civil War over, construction resumed.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_and_Texas_Central_Railway

Map of the line can be found here - http://www.csa-railroads.com/ - at @DaveBrt 's site.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

N & W
Norfolk and Western
Narrow and Wobbly
Needless and Worthless
Never Works
Nickel Plate and Wabash
Nights and Weekends
Norfolken Way
Nothing and Worse

The Norfolk and Western Railway (reporting mark NW), was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precision Transportation"; it had a variety of nicknames, including "King Coal" and "British Railway of America" even though the N&W had mostly articulated steam on its roster.

Predecessors
City Point, Southside and Virginia and Tennessee railroads
NW's earliest predecessor was the City Point Railroad (CPRR), a 9-mile (14 km) short-line railroad formed in 1838 to extend from City Point (now part of the independent city of Hopewell, Virginia), a port on the tidal James River, to Petersburg, Virginia, on the fall line of the shallower Appomattox River. In 1854, CPRR became part of the South Side Railroad, which connected Petersburg with Lynchburg, where it interchanged through traffic with the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad (V&T) and the James River and Kanawha Canal.

Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad
William Mahone (1826–95), an 1847 engineering graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), was employed by Francis Mallory to build the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad (N&P) and eventually became its president in the pre-Civil War era. Construction of N&P began in 1853. Mahone's innovative corduroy roadbed through the Great Dismal Swamp near Norfolk, Virginia, employed a log foundation laid at right angles beneath the surface of the swamp. It is still in use 150 years later and it withstands immense tonnages of coal traffic.

Mahone married Otelia Butler, from Smithfield in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, a daughter of Robert Butler (1784–1853), a Virginia state treasurer. Popular legend has it[citation needed] that Otelia and William Mahone traveled along the newly completed N&P naming stations along the 52-mile (84 km) tangent between Suffolk and Petersburg from Ivanhoe, a book she was reading by Walter Scott. From Scott's historical Scottish novels, Otelia chose the place names of Windsor, Waverly and Wakefield. She tapped the Scottish Clan "McIvor" for the name of Ivor, a small Southampton County town. When they could not agree, it is said that the young couple invented a new word in honor of their "dispute", which is how the tiny community of Disputanta was named. The N&P was completed in 1858.

Civil War
Of small stature, dynamic "Little Billy" Mahone became a major general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He was widely regarded as the hero of the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864–65. Otelia Mahone served as a nurse in the Confederate capital of Richmond.

The N&P was severed by the war. The portion east of the Blackwater River at Zuni, Virginia, was held by the Union for most of the war. The eastern portion of the City Point Railroad played a crucial role for Union General Ulysses S. Grant during the Siege of Petersburg, and was operated by the United States Military Railroad. The South Side Railroad was also heavily damaged.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_and_Western_Railway

More info on the predecessor lines ( Southside, Virginia and Tennessee, Norfolk and Petersburg) can be found here - http://www.csa-railroads.com/ - at @DaveBrt 's site.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

M K T
Missouri Kansas Texas
The Katy
Penn Central - Western Division
Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch
Muddy Kinky Track
Many Killed and Torched

The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railway (reporting mark MKT) is a former Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1988, it merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad and is now part of Union Pacific Railroad.

The Katy was the first railroad to enter Texas from the north. Eventually the Katy's core system would grow to link Parsons, Fort Scott, Junction City, Olathe, and Kansas City, Kansas; Kansas City, Joplin, Columbia, Jefferson City, and St. Louis, Missouri; Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Temple, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Galveston, Texas. An additional mainline between Fort Worth and Salina, Kansas, was added in the 1980s after the collapse of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad; this line was operated as the Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad (OKKT).

At the end of 1970, MKT operated 2623 miles of road and 3765 miles of track.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri%E2%80%93Kansas%E2%80%93Texas_Railroad

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

This railway and builder has a great story...

GN
Great Northern
Goes Nowhere
Going Nowhere
Great Nothing

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rWJUQcebQxU/TO_ysSl1vAI/AAAAAAAAAeU/YfihyeEJLJ4/s1600/GN_Route_Map.png

The Great Northern Railway (reporting mark GN) was an American Class I railroad. Running from Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, it was the creation of 19th-century railroad entrepreneur James J. Hill and was developed from the Saint Paul & Pacific Railroad. The Great Northern's (GN) route was the northernmost transcontinental railroad route in the U.S.

The Great Northern was the only privately funded – and successfully built – transcontinental railroad in U.S. history. No federal subsidies were used during its construction, unlike all other transcontinental railroads.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Railway_(U.S.)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0873512618/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0806128607/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0816683646/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

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USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

LV
Lehigh Valley
Leaky Valley
Like Vomit
Little Value
Lost Venture
The Route of the Leaky Valley

The Lehigh Valley Railroad (reporting mark LV) was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846, for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, wares, merchandise and minerals in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the railroad was incorporated/established on September 20, 1847, as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company. On January 7, 1853, the railroad's name was changed to Lehigh Valley Railroad. It was sometimes known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the anthracite it transported. At the time, anthracite was transported by boat down the Lehigh River; the railroad was meant to be faster transportation. The railroad ended operations in 1976 and merged into Conrail along with several northeastern railroads that same year.

During its existence, the Lehigh Valley Railroad used a rail line that later became known as the Lehigh Line in order for it to operate. The Lehigh Line was the railroad's first rail line constructed which was built in 1855 between Easton, Pennsylvania, and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and it served as the main line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Serving as the main line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the rail line expanded past Allentown to Buffalo, New York and past Easton to New York City, bringing the Lehigh Valley Railroad to these metro areas. During the early years, the line served as the body of the Lehigh Valley Railroad until the railroad either built more rail lines or railroads, acquired more rail lines or railroads, and merged other railroads into their system. The line was known as the Lehigh Valley Mainline during the majority of its time under the ownership of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, starting in the 1930s. The line was absorbed with the Lehigh Valley Railroad into Conrail and they maintained the line as a main line into the New York City area; the line became known as the Lehigh Line during the Conrail ownership. Conrail shortened the line by abandoning most of its route to Buffalo. The Lehigh Line still exists and retains its original route but it now also doesn't reach close to New York City but still maintains trackage into the New York City area. The Lehigh Line is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway and has lost its trackage miles between Manville, New Jersey, and Newark, New Jersey.

As of 31 Dec 1925, 1363.7 miles of road, 3533.3 miles of track; as of 31 Dec 1970, 927 miles of road and 1963 miles of track.

1870 map

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehigh_Valley_Railroad

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

SP
Southern Pacific
Espee
Slow Poke
Smelly Perch
Soot Princess
Sorry and Pathetic
Southern Pathetic
Spare Parts
Stand Proud
Stupid Police
Sufferin' Pathetic
Suffering Pacific
Suffering Painfully
Super Prick
Supreme Procrastinator
Surrendered Peacefully
The Octopus


The Southern Pacific (reporting mark SP) (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was a name of multiple American Class I railroads that existed from 1865 to 1998 and all operated in the Western United States. The names that represented the Southern Pacific were Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Company and Southern Pacific Transportation Company.

The original Southern Pacific began in 1865 as a land holding company. The last incarnation of the Southern Pacific, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, was founded in 1969 and took over the Southern Pacific system. The Southern Pacific Transportation Company was taken over by the Union Pacific Corporation and merged with their Union Pacific Railroad. The Southern Pacific Transportation Company was the surviving railroad as it absorbed the Union Pacific Railroad and changed its name to "Union Pacific Railroad", the Southern Pacific Transportation Company is now the current incarnation of the Union Pacific Railroad.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Pacific_Transportation_Company

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USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

MP
Missouri Pacific
Miserable Pacific
Miserly and Parsimonious
Misery Pacific
Morons Prevail
The MOP

The Missouri Pacific Railroad (reporting mark MP), commonly abbreviated MoPac, with nickname of The Mop, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (SLIMS), Texas and Pacific Railway (TP), Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (C&EI), St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway (SLBM), Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway (KO&G), Midland Valley Railroad (MV), San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad (SAU&G), Gulf Coast Lines (GC), International-Great Northern Railroad (IGN), New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway (NOTM), Missouri-Illinois Railroad (MI), as well as the small Central Branch Railway (an early predecessor of MP in Kansas and south central Nebraska), and joint ventures such as the Alton and Southern Railroad (AS).

In 1967, the railroad operated 9,041 miles of road and 13,318 miles of track, not including DK&S, NO&LC, T&P and its subsidiaries, C&EI and Missouri-Illinois.

On January 8, 1980, the Union Pacific Corporation, parent company of the Union Pacific Railroad, agreed to buy the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Lawsuits filed by competing railroads delayed approval of the merger until September 13, 1982. After the Supreme Court denied a trial to the Southern Pacific, the merger took effect on December 22, 1982. However, due to outstanding bonds of the Missouri Pacific, the merger with the Union Pacific Railroad by the Union Pacific Corporation became official only on January 1, 1997.

On July 4, 1851, at St. Louis, ground was broken on the Pacific Railroad, the earlier predecessor of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The first section of track was completed in 1852; in 1865, it was the first railroad in Kansas City, after construction was interrupted by the American Civil War. In 1872, the Pacific Railroad was reorganized as the Missouri Pacific Railway by new investors after a railroad debt crisis. Because of corporate ties extending back to the Pacific Railroad, Missouri Pacific at one time advertised itself as being The First Railroad West of the Mississippi.

From 1879 Missouri Pacific was under the control of successful but controversial New York financier Jay Gould until his death in 1892. Gould developed a system extending through Colorado, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana. His son George Gould inherited control upon his father's death. The younger Gould lost control of the company after it declared bankruptcy in 1915. In 1917 the line was merged with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (SLIMS) and reorganized as the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Missouri Pacific later acquired or gained a controlling interest in other lines in Texas, including the Gulf Coast Lines, International-Great Northern Railroad, and the Texas and Pacific Railway.

MoPac declared bankruptcy again in 1933, during the Great Depression, and entered into trusteeship. The company was reorganized and the trusteeship ended in 1956.

By the 1980s the system would own 11,469 miles of rail line over 11 states bounded by Chicago to the east, Pueblo, Colorado, in the west, north to Omaha, south to the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas, and southeast along the Gulf seaports of Louisiana and Texas. MoPac operated a fleet of more than 1,500 diesel locomotives, almost all purchased within the previous 10 years. Under the leadership of Downing B. Jenks, who became president and chief executive in 1961 the company became a pioneer in the early days of computer-guided rail technology. It was a major hauler of grain, TOFC (Trailer on Flat Car), coal, ore, autos and dry goods. At the time of their mega-merger in 1982 the MoPac owned newer locomotives, more locomotives and operated more track than partner Union Pacific Railroad.

On December 22, 1982 the Missouri Pacific was purchased by the Union Pacific Corporation and they combined the Missouri Pacific, the Western Pacific Railroad and of course their Union Pacific Railroad into one large railroad system and labeled it "Pacific Rail Systems," under the Union Pacific Corporation, but all three railroads maintained their own corporate and commercial identity. On December 1, 1989, the Missouri Kansas Texas and the Galveston, Houston & Henderson were merged into the Missouri Pacific after acquisition by the Union Pacific Corporation in 1988.

By 1994 all motive power of the Missouri Pacific was repainted and on January 1, 1997, the Missouri Pacific was officially merged into the Union Pacific Railroad by the Union Pacific Corporation. UP continued to use the MoPac headquarters building at 210 N. 13th St. in downtown St. Louis for its customer service center until February 15, 2005. The former MoPac building has undergone rehab as apartments and is now known as Park Pacific.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Pacific_Railroad

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...lFn3Q/s1200/missouri-pacific-railroad-map.jpg

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

D L & W
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Desperately Lacking Wampum
Destitute, Lacksadasical and Weary
Lack - O - Money
Delayed, Late and Waiting
The Delay, Linger and Wait Railwait Company

Incorporated in 1853, the DL&W was profitable during the first two decades of the twentieth century, but its margins were gradually hurt by declining traffic in coal and competition from trucks. In 1960, the DL&W merged with rival Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad.

The Leggett's Gap Railroad was incorporated on April 7, 1832, but stayed dormant for many years. It was chartered on March 14, 1849, and organized January 2, 1850. On April 14, 1851, its name was changed to the Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The line, running north from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Great Bend, just south of the New York state line, opened on December 20, 1851. From Great Bend the L&W obtained trackage rights north and west over the New York and Erie Rail Road to Owego, New York, where it leased the Cayuga and Susquehanna Railroad to Ithaca on Cayuga Lake (on April 21, 1855). The C&S was a re-organized and partially re-built Ithaca and Owego Railroad, which had opened on April 1, 1834, and was the oldest part of the DL&W system. The whole system was built to 6 ft (1,829 mm) broad gauge, the same as the New York and Erie, although the original I&O was built to standard gauge and converted to wide gauge when re-built as the C&S.

The Delaware and Cobb's Gap Railroad was chartered December 4, 1850, to build a line from Scranton east to the Delaware River. Before it opened, the Delaware and Cobb's Gap and Lackawanna and Western were consolidated by the Lackawanna Steel Company into one company, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, on March 11, 1853. On the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, the Warren Railroad was chartered February 12, 1851, to continue from the bridge over the river southeast to Hampton on the Central Railroad of New Jersey. That section got its name from Warren County, the county through which it would primarily run.

The rest of the line, now known as the Southern Division, opened on May 27, 1856, including the New Jersey section (the Warren Railroad). A third rail was added to the standard gauge Central Railroad of New Jersey east of Hampton to allow the DL&W to run east to Elizabeth via trackage rights (the CNJ was extended in 1864 to Jersey City).

On December 10, 1868, the DL&W bought the Morris and Essex Railroad. This line ran east-west across northern New Jersey, crossing the Warren Railroad at Washington and providing access to Jersey City without depending on the CNJ. The M&E tunnel under Bergen Hill opened in 1876, also relieving it of its use of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railway in Jersey City. Along with the M&E lease came several branch lines in New Jersey, including the Boonton Line (opened in 1870), which bypassed Newark for through freight.

The DL&W bought the Syracuse, Binghamton and New York Railroad in 1869 and leased the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad on February 13, 1869. This gave it a branch from Binghamton north and northwest via Syracuse to Oswego, a port on Lake Ontario. The Greene Railroad was organized in 1869, opened in 1870, and was immediately leased to the DL&W, providing a short branch off the Oswego line from Chenango Forks to Greene. Also in 1870 the DL&W leased the Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley Railway, continuing this branch north to Utica, with a branch from Richfield Junction to Richfield Springs (fully opened in 1872).

The Valley Railroad was organized March 3, 1869, to connect the end of the original line at Great Bend, Pennsylvania to Binghamton, New York, avoiding reliance on the Erie. The new line opened October 1, 1871. By 1873, the DL&W controlled the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad, a branch from Scranton southwest to Northumberland (with trackage rights over the Pennsylvania Railroad's Northern Central Railway to Sunbury). On March 15, 1876, the whole system was re-gauged to standard gauge in one day. The New York, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was chartered August 26, 1880, and opened September 17, 1882, to continue the DL&W from Binghamton west and northwest to Buffalo. The main line ran to the International Bridge to Ontario, and a branch served downtown Buffalo. On December 1, 1903, the DL&W began operating the Erie and Central New York Railroad, a branch of the Oswego line from Cortland Junction east to Cincinnatus. By 1909, the DL&W controlled the Bangor and Portland Railway. This line branched from the main line at Portland, Pennsylvania southwest to Nazareth, with a branch to Martins Creek.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware,_Lackawanna_and_Western_Railroad

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rrpa_photos/1606/dlwmap.jpg

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

B & M
Boston and Maine
Bankrupt and Moribund
Banks and Money
Bashed & Maimed
Beguiled and Misribule
Blind and Misguided
Broken and Maimed
Broken and Missing
Busted & Maimed
Busted & Mined
Busted and Mangled
Bowel Movement

The Boston and Maine Corporation (reporting mark BM), known as the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M), was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. It became part of what is now the Pan Am Railways network in 1983.

At the end of 1970, B&M operated 1,515 route-miles (2,438 km) on 2,481 miles (3,993 km) of track, not including Springfield Terminal. That year it reported 2,744 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 92 million passenger-miles.

The Andover and Wilmington Railroad was incorporated March 15, 1833, to build a branch from the Boston and Lowell Railroad at Wilmington, Massachusetts, north to Andover, Massachusetts. The line opened to Andover on August 8, 1836. The name was changed to the Andover and Haverhill Railroad on April 18, 1837, reflecting plans to build further to Haverhill, Massachusetts (opened later that year), and yet further to Portland, Maine, with the renaming to the Boston and Portland Railroad on April 3, 1839, opening to the New Hampshire state line in 1840.

The Boston and Maine Railroad was chartered in New Hampshire on June 27, 1835, and the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts Railroad was incorporated March 12, 1839, in Maine, both companies continuing the proposed line to South Berwick, Maine. The railroad opened in 1840 to Exeter, New Hampshire, and on January 1, 1842, the two companies merged with the Boston and Portland to form a new Boston and Maine Railroad.

On February 23, 1843, the B&M opened to Agamenticus, on the line of the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad in South Berwick. On January 28 of that year, the B&M and Eastern Railroad came to an agreement to both lease the PS&P as a joint line to Portland.

The Boston and Maine Railroad Extension was incorporated March 16, 1844, due to a dispute with the Boston and Lowell Railroad over trackage rights rates between Wilmington and Boston. That company was merged into the main B&M on March 19, 1845, and opened July 1, leading to the abandonment of the old connection to the B&L (later reused by the B&L for their Wildcat Branch). In 1848 another original section was abandoned, as a new alignment was built from Wilmington north to North Andover, Massachusetts, in order to better serve Lawrence, Massachusetts.

A new alignment to Portland opened in 1873, splitting from the old route at South Berwick, Maine. The old route was later abandoned. This completed the B&M "main line" which would become known as the Western Route to distinguish it from the Eastern Route (described below) which also connected Boston and Portland.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_and_Maine_Corporation

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

T P & W
Toledo, Peoria and Western
Take Pity and Walk
The Tip-up
Tip Up
Tired Poor and Weary
Toilet Paper and Western
Tired, Poor and Weary
Tried, Proven and Willing

The Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway (reporting mark TPW) is a short line railroad that operates 247 miles (398 km) of track from Mapleton, Illinois, through Peoria across Illinois to Logansport, Indiana. TP&W has trackage rights between Galesburg, Illinois, and Peoria, between Logansport and Kokomo, Indiana, and between Reynolds, Indiana, and Lafayette, Indiana. TPW has connections with UP, BNSF, NS, CSXT, CN, CP, CERA, CIM, KBSR and T&P. The railroad is now owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc.

The railroad's traffic comes largely from agricultural products, including both raw and processed grain products, as well as chemicals and completed tractors. The TPW hauled around 26,000 carloads in 2008

Toledo, Peoria & Western's earliest ancestor was the Peoria and Oquawka. The eastern extension began construction, three years after its charter, in 1855. The Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway was chartered in 1863, and opened in 1868 from the state line at Indiana across Illinois to the Mississippi River at Warsaw. This line was reorganized as the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad in 1880 and leased to the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad. The lease lasted four years and the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway took over in 1887.

The Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway was incorporated in Illinois on March 28, 1887, and consolidated the operation of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway and the Logansport, Peoria & Burlington Railroad. The LP&B built from Galesburg to East Burlington, Illinois in 1855, and reached Gilman, Illinois in 1857 and Effner in 1859.

A TP&W passenger train was involved in the Great Chatsworth Train Wreck in Chatsworth, Illinois in 1887.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Peoria_and_Western_Railway

Cheers,
USS ALASKA