Railroad Acronyms

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.

View attachment 185053

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Pacific_Transportation_Company

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
I worked for the Espee in the mid 90's. At that time, the employees referred to it as the Simply Pathetic for the absolute lack of maintenance performed on their motive power. It was common for us to carry meat thermometers just to measure the locomotive cab temperatures as we trundled along the mainline between Yuma and Gila Bend Arizona.
 
NP
Northern Pacific
No Ports
Northern Ports
Northern Potatoes
Not Political
Nothing Personal
Nothing Specific

The Northern Pacific Railway (reporting mark NP) was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly forty million acres (62,000 sq mi; 160,000 km2) of land grants, which it used to raise money in Europe for construction.

Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the
Great Lakes to the Pacific when former President Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in western Montana on September 8, 1883. The railroad had about 6,800 miles (10,900 km) of track and served a large area, including extensive trackage in the states of Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. In addition, the NP had an international branch to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The main activities were shipping wheat and other farm products, cattle, timber, and minerals; bringing in consumer goods, transporting passengers; and selling land.

The Northern Pacific was headquartered in Minnesota, first in
Brainerd, then in Saint Paul. It had a tumultuous financial history; the NP merged with other lines in 1970 to form the Burlington Northern Railroad, which became BNSF Railway in 1996.

Northern_Pacific.jpg


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Pacific_Railway

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
D & R G W
Denver and Rio Grande Western
Dangerous and Rapidly Getting Worse
Dirty Ragged and Greasy
Dirty and Ragged and Greasy
Dirty and Rapidly Getting Worst
Real Grimy
Real Grungy
The Grand

The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (reporting mark DRGW), often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic.

The Rio Grande was the epitome of mountain railroading, with a motto of Through the Rockies, not around them and later Main line through the Rockies, both referring to the
Rocky Mountains. The D&RGW operated the highest mainline rail line in the United States, over the 10,240 feet (3,120 m) Tennessee Pass in Colorado, and the famed routes through the Moffat Tunnel and the Royal Gorge. At its height in the mid-1880s, the D&RG had the largest narrow-gauge railroad network in North America with 2,783 miles (4,479 km) of track interconnecting the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Known for its independence, the D&RGW operated the last private intercity passenger train in the United States, the Rio Grande Zephyr, which was discontinued in 1983.

In 1988, the Rio Grande's parent corporation,
Rio Grande Industries, purchased Southern Pacific Transportation Company, and as the result of a merger, the larger Southern Pacific Railroad name was chosen for identity. The Rio Grande operated as a separate division of the Southern Pacific, until that company was acquired by the Union Pacific Railroad. Today, most former D&RGW main lines are owned and operated by the Union Pacific while several branch lines are now operated as heritage railways by various companies.

The Denver & Rio Grande Railway (D&RG) was incorporated on October 27, 1870 by General
William Jackson Palmer (1836-1909), and a board of four directors.

1930_D&RGW_WP.jpg


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_and_Rio_Grande_Western_Railroad

One of the roads involved in the Royal Gorge War.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Gorge_Route_Railroad


Cheers,
USS ALASKA





 
M & P
Maryland and Pennsylvania
Ma & Pa
Misery and Pain

The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark MPA), familiarly known as the "Ma and Pa", was an American short-line railroad between York and Hanover, Pennsylvania, formerly operating passenger and freight trains on its original line between York and Baltimore, Maryland, from 1901 until the 1950s. The Ma and Pa was popular with railfans in the 1930s and 1940s for its antique equipment and curving, picturesque right-of-way through the hills of rural Maryland and Pennsylvania. Reflecting its origin as the unintended product of the merger of two 19th-century narrow gauge railways, the meandering Ma and Pa line took 77.2 miles (124 km) to connect Baltimore and York, although the two cities are only 45 miles (72 km) apart in a straight line.

Passenger service was discontinued on August 31, 1954, and the section from Baltimore to Whiteford, Maryland (just south of the
Mason-Dixon line demarcating the Pennsylvania-Maryland border) was abandoned in June 1958. Most of the remaining original railroad line was abandoned by 1984. The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad acquired a former 19-mile (31 km) Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) branch line between York and Hanover in the 1980s, now operated by a successor corporation, York Railway.

Ma_and_Pa_RR_map.jpg


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_and_Pennsylvania_Railroad

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
B & O
Baltimore and Ohio
Backward and Obsolete
Bad Order
Bankrupt and Overdrawn
Beans and Oats
Beans and Onions
Beefstake and Onions
Beefsteak and Onions
Best and Only
Bumpy and Obsolete
The Bum's Own

1024px-Baltimore_and_Ohio_RR_in_1961.jpg


Conflicts in the early years
Operation of the railroad was hampered by its partial government ownership. Of the thirty members on its
board of directors, twelve were elected by shareholders, while the other eighteen were appointed either by Maryland or the Baltimore City Council. They had conflicting interests: the directors appointed by the state and city desired low fares and all construction to be funded from corporate revenues, while the directors elected by shareholders desired greater profits and dividends. These conflicts became more intense in the 1850s after the completion of the C&O Canal, which brought additional competition to the B&O for transport services. In 1858, after being nominated by large shareholder and director Johns Hopkins, John W. Garrett became president of the B&O, a position he would hold until his death in 1884. In the first year of his presidency, corporate operating costs were reduced from 65 percent of revenues to 46 percent, and the railroad began distributing profits to its shareholders.

Abolitionists stopped a train during John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (later part of West Virginia). Garrett telegraphed the Secretary of War, and a B&O train carried federal troops led by Robert E. Lee to capture the abolitionists and John Brown.

Civil War period
At the outset of the
Civil War, the B&O possessed 236 locomotives, 128 passenger coaches, 3,451 rail cars and 513 miles (826 km) of rail road, all in states south of the Mason–Dixon line. Although many Marylanders had Southern sympathies, Garrett and Hopkins supported the Union. The B&O was instrumental in supporting the Federal government during the Civil War, as it was the main rail connection between Washington, D.C., and the northern states. As a result, 143 raids and battles during the war involved the B&O Railroad, many resulting in substantial loss.

1861–1862
Confederate operations began in May with Colonel
Jackson's operations against the B&O Railroad (1861). By the end of 1861, 23 B&O railroad bridges had been burned, 102 miles (164 km) of telegraph line were cut down, 36.5 miles (58.7 km) of track was torn up or destroyed, 42 locomotives were burned, 14 locomotives were captured and 386 rail cars stolen and destroyed. Through these actions, operations on B&O Railroad were completely shut down for ten months. It was not until the end of March 1862 that service on the B&O Railroad was restored, and even then train movements were sporadic and subject to frequent stoppages, derailments, capture and attack. Prominent raids on the B&O railroad during this period were:
B&O Locomotives Captured During the Great Train Raid of 1861
Engine Name Eng. No. Type
? No. 17 Norris 4-2-0
? No. 34 Mason 4-4-0
? No. 187 Camel 0-8-0
Lady Davis (CSA name) No. 188 Tyson 4-4-0 "Dutch Wagon"
? No. 193 Camel 0-8-0
? No. 198 Hayes Camel 0-8-0
? No. 199 Camel 0-8-0
? No. 201 ?

1863–1865[
edit]

Advertisement for the Baltimore and Ohio in an 1864 Baltimore city directory, promoting its repairs and reopening at one point during the war. The second half of the Civil War was characterized by near continuous raiding, which severely hampered the Union defense of Washington, D.C. Incompetent Union forces and leaders often failed to properly secure the region, despite the vital importance of the rail company to the Union cause.

"There is no interest suffering here except the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and I will not divide my forces to protect it."
— General Philip Sheridan

This military strategy, or lack thereof, allowed Confederate commanders to contribute significantly to the length of the war, by conducting free-ranging military operations against the region and railroad.

The B&O and Garrett are particularly remembered for their part in the
Battle of Monocacy. Agents of the railroad began reporting Confederate troop movements eleven days prior to the battle, and Garrett had their intelligence passed to authorities in the War Department and to Major General Lew Wallace, who commanded the department that would be responsible for defense of the area. As preparations for the battle progressed, the B&O provided transport for federal troops and munitions, and on two occasions Garrett was contacted directly by President Abraham Lincoln for further information. Though Union forces lost this battle, the delay allowed Ulysses S. Grant to successfully repel the Confederate attack on Washington at the Battle of Fort Stevens two days later. After the battle, Lincoln paid tribute to Garrett as:

"The right arm of the Federal Government in the aid he rendered the authorities in preventing the Confederates from seizing Washington and securing its retention as the Capital of the Loyal States." — Abraham Lincoln


Early's Raid a
nd operations against the B&O Railroad


The Confederate leaders who led these operations and specifically targeted the railroad included:

Bases of operation involved in raiding the B&O Railroad:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_and_Ohio_Railroad

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
L K & W
Leavenworth, Kansas and Western
Lazy, Crooked, and Wandering
Leave Kansas and Walk
Look, Kuss and Wait

The Leavenworth, Kansas, and Western was a narrow gauge line that extended from Leavenworth to points West of Miltonvale. Most of it, including the portion in Leavenworth(standard gauged in in the 1890's) was abandoned in the 1930's.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2075286

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
M D & S
Macon, Dublin and Savannah
Mud, Dirt and Sand

The Macon & Dublin Railroad was chartered in 1885 with the modest aim of connecting its namesake towns. Construction began soon afterwards, but work came to an end in the spring of 1886 and would not be resumed until 1890. By that time the name of the company had been revised, adding "Savannah," perhaps to attract more investment in the enterprise.

Macon already had a railroad line to Savannah, the
Central of Georgia, which had been completed nearly a half-century earlier. Its route was somewhat indirect, however, arcing to the north rather than running straight southeast to the port city.

The line from Macon to Dublin was completed by the end of 1891, but once again work stopped and a long delay ensued. It was not until April 1901 that the construction crews returned. In March of 1902 the line was finally finished to Vidalia.

Poors Manual of the Railroads for 1906 reported that surveys for an extension of the railroad to Savannah had been completed, but the MD&S never progressed beyond Vidalia. Even so, Macon did get its second route to Savannah with the combination of the 92-mile MD&S and the 80-mile Vidalia-Savannah link on the
Seaboard Air Line Railway.

In the 1894 edition of The Official Railway List, the MD&S reported operating 54 miles of railroad between Macon and Dublin with 2 locomotives, 4 passenger cars, and 45 freight and miscellaneous cars.

Atlantic Coast Line gained control of the MD&S in 1904, possibly intending to add Macon to its service area. However, the nearest ACL line was some 50 miles to the southeast at Ludowici. Any tracks built over this mileage would cross a region of limited economic potential (as the GC&PRR would learn a few years later).

In 1907, Seaboard purchased a controlling interest in the MD&S. This had the advantage of preventing the smaller road from building a competing line to Savannah or becoming a Macon branch of rival ACL. It would continue as a feeder line to the SAL. This function it served for five more decades under its own name until 1958 when it was absorbed into the Seaboard.

The MD&S was nicknamed The Vidalia Route.

In 1917 the MD&S reported operating 92 miles of railroad between Macon and Vidalia with 28 miles of sidings. Equipment reported included 12 locomotives, 12 passenger cars, 172 freight cars, and 18 service cars.

The line is now operated by the
Georgia Central Railway.

mds08ttmap.jpg


http://railga.com/mds.html

Cheers
USS ALASKA
 
W & L E
Wheeling and Lake Erie
The Iron Cross
Wailing and Leg Weary
Walk and Leave Early
Wheelie
We Lie to Everybody

The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (reporting mark WLE) was a Class I railroad mostly within the U.S. state of Ohio. It was leased to the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) in 1949, and merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1988. A new regional railroad reused the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway name in 1990 when it acquired most of the former W&LE from the N&W.

At the end of 1944, W&LE operated 507 miles of road and 1003 miles of track; that year it reported 2371 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 0.002 million passenger-miles.

History
The original Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway's oldest predecessor rail line began in
Ohio, with the organization of the Carroll County Railroad on March 9, 1850.

The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad was established on April 6, 1871, and was first built as a
3 ft (914 mm) gauge narrow gauge line between Norwalk and Huron, Ohio. Service began on the new line on May 31, 1877. However, the new road was unable to attract regular traffic, or financing for expansion, and had closed within two years.

With investment by railroad financier
Jay Gould in 1880 and financial reorganization, the line was converted to standard gauge and construction began again. Service from Huron to Massillon, Ohio, was opened on January 9, 1882, and new lines were constructed that eventually reached the Ohio River and Toledo. The W&LE also developed new docks on Lake Erie at Huron that opened May 21, 1884, when the first cargo of iron ore was received.

In 1880, another 3 ft (914 mm) gauge line, the
Connotton Valley Railway, was formed, building north from Canton to Cleveland and then south to Coshocton and Zanesville. The Connotton Valley became the Cleveland, Canton & Southern Railroad and was converted to standard gauge in one day on November 18, 1888. The Cleveland, Canton & Southern Railroad joined the W&LE in 1899 after its purchase at foreclosure sale, becoming W&LE's Cleveland Division.

At its height, the W&LE ran from
Wheeling, West Virginia, (via the Wheeling Terminal Railway) to Lake Erie at Huron and Toledo. However, the main lines of the W&LE never reached outside Ohio's borders. It also ran from Cleveland to Zanesville, with the lines crossing at Harmon, just east of Brewster, Ohio, which became the location of W&LE's corporate headquarters and locomotive shops. With two busy main stems crossing on the map of Ohio; the road's nickname for many years was "The Iron Cross". A branch between Steubenville and Martins Ferry, Ohio, was completed in 1891, which led to an indirect connection to Wheeling via the Ohio River bridge of the Wheeling Terminal Railway.

The W&LE began producing locomotives at its Brewster, Ohio, shops in 1910, and boasted one of the finest locomotive producing facilities in the country. Over the years, the W&LE built and rolled boilers and erected fifty of their own
steam locomotives, a feat never tried by many larger and more famous railroads.

The W&LE was jokingly called the "Wailing and Leg Weary" but, after several early financial embarrassments, finally found prosperity in its later life. The W&LE was leased by the
Nickel Plate Road in 1949. The Nickel Plate Road merged with Norfolk and Western Railway in 1964. The W&LE was finally consolidated into the Norfolk and Western on September 20, 1988.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeling_and_Lake_Erie_Railway_(1916%E2%80%9388)

Erie-WLEsystemmap.jpg


http://www.alphabetroute.com/wle/pics/Erie-WLEsystemmap.jpg

Cheers,
USS ALSKA
 
NS
Norfolk Southern
New Southern
Next Sucker
Nidon't careS
Nix Steam
No Service
No Show
No Steam
No (paint) Scheme
No one's Safe
Not Sanitary
Not Smart
Nothing Soon

The Norfolk Southern Railway (reporting mark NS) is a Class I railroad in the United States. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia, and has rights in Canada from Buffalo to Toronto and over the Albany to Montréal route. NS is responsible for maintaining 26,300 miles, with the remainder being operated under trackage rights from other parties responsible for maintenance. The most common commodity hauled on the railroad is coal from mines in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The railroad also offers the largest intermodal network in eastern North America.

NS is a major transporter of domestic and export coal. The railroad's major sources of the mineral are located in:
Pennsylvania's Cambria and Indiana counties, as well as the Monongahela Valley; West Virginia; and the Appalachia regions of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In Pennsylvania, NS also receives coal through interchange with R.J. Corman Railroad/Pennsylvania Lines at Cresson, Pennsylvania, originating in the "Clearfield Cluster". NS's export of West Virginia bituminous coal begins transport on portions of the well-engineered former Virginian Railway and the former N&W double-tracked line in Eastern Virginia to its Lambert's Point coal pier on Hampton Roads at Norfolk. Coal transported by NS is thus exported to steel mills and power plants around the world. The company is also a major transporter of auto parts and completed vehicles. It operates intermodal container and TOFC (trailer on flat car) trains, some in conjunction with other railroads. NS was the first railway to employ roadrailers, which are highway truck trailers with interchangeable wheel sets.

The Norfolk Southern Railway's parent Norfolk Southern Corporation is based in Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk Southern Corporation was incorporated on July 23, 1980 in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol NSC. The primary business function of Norfolk Southern Corporation is the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods across the Southeast, East, and Midwest United States. The corporation further facilitates transport to the remainder of the United States through interchange with other rail carriers while also serving overseas transport needs by serving several Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports. As of October 1, 2014 Norfolk Southern Corporation's total public stock value was slightly over $34.5 billion.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Southern_Railway



Norfolk_Southern_Railway_system_map.jpg


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Norfolk_Southern_Railway_system_map.svg


Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
B C & A
Baltimore Chesapeake and Atlantic
Black Cinders and Ashes

The Baltimore Chesapeake and Atlantic railroad, nicknamed Black Cinders & Ashes, ran from Baltimore, Maryland to Ocean City, Maryland consisting of 87 miles (140.0 km) of center-line track and 15.6 miles (25.11 km) of sidings. Chartered in 1886, the railroad started construction in 1889 and cost $2.356 million ($2018=64,170,000).

Originally chartered in 1876 as the Baltimore & Eastern Shore Railroad Company and then reauthorized in 1886, incorporated March 2, 1886. The railroad started construction in 1889, completed in December 1, 1890. Also in 1890, the Baltimore & Eastern Shore Railroad Company purchased the Wicomico & Pocomoke Railroad (incorporated in February 15, 1848), consisting of approximately 30 miles of track from Salisbury to Ocean City, Maryland. The latter was chartered to operate from Salisbury to Ocean City, Md., of which the section from Salisbury to Berlin was opened for operation on May 1, 1868, and the section from Berlin to Ocean City, Md., in 1876. The B&ES also operated a ferry from Claiborne to Annapolis, Maryland where connection was made to Baltimore by rail.

The venture was not successful as in August 29, 1894, the B&ES railroad was liquidated in a judicial sale and sold to the re-organizers. The reorganized company, the Baltimore Chesapeake and Atlantic railroad (BC&A) was incorporated on August 30, 1894 with its principal office in
Salisbury, Maryland. That same year, the railroad also acquired several steamboat companies; namely the Maryland, Choptank and Eastern Shore Steamboat Companies, all of Baltimore, Md. for $1.7 million in waterline property, wharves and equipment. In 1902, the Pennsylvania railroad became the majority stockholder but the BC&A still operated under its organization.

As of 1915, the railroad consisted of a single-track, standard-gage railroad, with distance of about 87 miles, with a branch line about 0.5 mile long extending from Salisbury to Fulton, Md., making a total of 87.252 miles. It also owned 15.582 miles of yard and side tracks. The new, combined operations of the BC&A in railroad and waterlines had been profitable with $0.5 million in profit on a total investment of $4.325 million with a total revenue of $17.8 million for the period of 1894 - 1915 and controlled by the Pennsylvania railroad as majority stockholder. Dividends were paid on $1.5 million par value of 5 per cent cumulative preferred stock but none were paid on the common stock of $1.0 million and none paid on the preferred stock after 1912.

By 1921, the railroad had turned unprofitable due in part to private autos and trucks to the point where in March, 1922, it stopped making payments on its first mortgage. In 1921, the Pennsylvania railroad had to provide financial assistance in order for BC&A to make payments due under its first mortgage. This continued intermittently until 1926 when the Pennsylvania announced it was unwilling to continue this assistance. The following year, the trustee for the first mortgage, Chatham National Bank & Trust Co. of NY filed for foreclosure. The railroad was sold on March 29, 1928 to Charles Carter, representing Pennsylvania railroad interests and reorganized as the Baltimore and Eastern railroad, entirely owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The Baltimore and Eastern railroad survived up through the
Penn central bankruptcy and ConRail merger but Conrail planned to abandon the B&E lines. In 1982, the State of Maryland purchased segments of the original Baltimore and Eastern Shore, Baltimore Chesapeake and Atlantic railways and other former PRR properties in Maryland from the Penn Central corporation, successor to the Penn Central Transportation Company.

BC&A_MD&V_1906_Map1.jpg


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore,_Chesapeake_and_Atlantic_Railway

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
C M St P & P
Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul and Pacific
Milwaukee Road
C'Mon Stop Praying and Push
Cheapest, Meanest and Slowest to Pay
Christ, Mary, St.Paul and Peter
Crushed, Mauled, STampeded, Pushed and Pulled


The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (often referred to as the Milwaukee Road) (reporting mark MILW), was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1980, when its Pacific Extension (Montana, Idaho, and Washington) was abandoned following a bankruptcy. Around this time, the company went through several official names and faced bankruptcy on multiple occasions. The eastern half of the system merged into the Soo Line Railroad thirty-two years ago on January 1, 1986, a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Railway (reporting mark CP). Although the "Milwaukee Road" as such ceased to exist, much of its trackage continues to be used by multiple railroads. It is also commemorated in buildings like the historic Milwaukee Road Depot in Minneapolis and in railroad hardware still maintained by rail fans, such as the Milwaukee Road 261 steam locomotive.

The railroad that became the Milwaukee Road began as the Milwaukee and Waukesha Railroad in
Wisconsin, whose goal was to link the developing Lake Michigan port city of Milwaukee with the Mississippi River. The company incorporated in 1847, but changed its name to the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad in 1850 before construction began. Its first line, all of 5 miles (8.0 km), opened between Milwaukee and Wauwatosa, on November 20, 1850. Extensions followed to Waukesha in February 1851, Madison, and finally the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien in 1857.

As a result of the financial panic of 1857, the M&M went into receivership in 1859, and was purchased by the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien in 1861. In 1867,
Alexander Mitchell combined the M&PdC with the Milwaukee and St. Paul (formerly the LaCrosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company) under the name Milwaukee and St. Paul. Critical to the development and financing of the railroad was the acquisition of significant land grants. Prominent individual investors in the line included Alexander Mitchell, Russell Sage, Jeremiah Milbank and William Rockefeller.

In 1874, the name was changed to Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul after absorbing the Chicago & Pacific Railroad Company, the railroad that built the Bloomingdale Line (now
The 606) as part of the 36-mile Elgin Subdivision from Halsted Street (Chicago) to the suburb of Elgin, Illinois. By 1887, the railroad had lines running through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The corporate headquarters were moved from Milwaukee to the Rand McNally Building in Chicago, America's first all-steel framed skyscraper, in 1889 and 1890, with the car and locomotive shops staying in Milwaukee. The company General Offices were later located in Chicago's Railway Exchange building (built 1904) until 1924, at which time they moved to Chicago Union Station.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago,_Milwaukee,_St._Paul_and_Pacific_Railroad

cmsp&pmap26-1.jpg


http://www.r2parks.net/cmsp&pmap26-1.jpg

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
G S & F
Georgia Southern and Florida
Go Slow and Flag

The Georgia Southern and Florida Railway (reporting mark GSF), also known as the Suwanee River Route from its crossing of the Suwanee River, was founded in 1885 as the Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad and began operations between Macon, GA and Valdosta, GA in 1889, extending to Palatka, FL in 1890. The railroad went bankrupt by 1891, was reorganized as the Georgia Southern and Florida Railway in 1895, and was mostly under the control of the Southern Railway.

In 1902, the GS&F purchased a line from the
Atlantic, Valdosta and Western Railway that ran from Valdosta, GA to Jacksonville, FL. The GS&F also owned the Macon and Birmingham Railway and the Hawkinsville and Florida Southern Railway, both of which were operated as separate companies; both ended up going bankrupt and being mostly abandoned. The GS&F was eventually acquired by the Norfolk Southern Railway and still operates as a subsidiary. As of November 2012, at least one operating Norfolk Southern locomotive retains GSF reporting marks.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Southern_and_Florida_Railway

gsf95map.jpg


http://railga.com/gsf95map.jpg

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
L & H R
Lehigh and Hudson River
Late and Hungry
Lean and Hungry

The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR) was the smallest of the six railroads that were merged into Conrail in 1976. It was a bridge line running northeast-southwest across northwestern New Jersey, connecting the line to the Poughkeepsie Bridge at Maybrook, New York with Easton, Pennsylvania, where it interchanged with various other companies.

The
Warwick Valley Railroad was organized March 8, 1860 as a branch of the New York and Erie Rail Road, branching from it at Greycourt southwest to Warwick, New York. It opened in 1862 and was operated by the Erie.

The Pequest and Wallkill Railroad was chartered by 1870 to build an extension in
New Jersey, running from Belvidere on the Delaware River and Belvidere Delaware Railroad northeast to the New York state line. The Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad was chartered later as a competitor, planning to build from Belvidere to McAfee, with the Wawayanda Railroad running the rest of the way to the state line. In April/May 1881, the three companies merged to form a new Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad and on April 1, 1882, the Warwick Valley Railroad joined, forming the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR).

In the meantime, the
Sussex Railroad had built a branch from Hamburg to South Vernon (McAfee); the L&HR bought this around 1881. The Warwick Valley Railroad had built an extension southwest to McAfee in March 1880, and the full line opened August 14, 1882, connecting Belvidere, New Jersey to Greycourt, New York.

The Orange County Railroad was chartered on November 28, 1888 and opened the following year, extending the line northeast from Greycourt to
Maybrook. At Maybrook, the line junctioned with the Central New England Railway, continuing east via the Poughkeepsie Bridge over the Hudson River to New England. Trackage rights were obtained over a short piece of the New York, Ontario and Western Railway from the junction at Burnside west to the major junction at Campbell Hall.

The South Easton and Phillipsburg Railroad of New Jersey, and the South Easton and Phillipsburg Railroad of Pennsylvania was organized on July 25, 1889 to build a bridge over the
Delaware River between Easton, Pennsylvania and Phillipsburg, New Jersey. The former built 460' on the New Jersey side, while the latter built 850' on the Pennsylvania side. Bridge construction began on November 19, 1889, and concluded the following year on October 2. "The South Easton and Phillipsburg Railroad of New Jersey and South Easton and Phillipsburg of Pennsylvania were consolidated with the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway on April 2, 1912." Subsequently, the L&HR obtained trackage rights over 13 miles of the Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR) Belvidere Delaware Railroad between Phillipsburg and Belvidere; once the bridge was completed, the L&HR had a continuous line from Maybrook to Easton. At Easton, an interchange could be made with the Central Railroad of New Jersey and Lehigh Valley Railroad, while interchange with the PRR was at Phillipsburg. In 1908, L&HR lost the trackage rights from Phillipsburg to Belvidere as PRR took them back.

The L&HR eventually obtained
trackage rights over the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad's (DL&W) Sussex Railroad from the junction at Andover south to Port Morris, where it interchanged with the main line of the DL&W.

The Mine Hill Railroad was the only branch built. It ran south from a junction at
Franklin, New Jersey to the mines of the New Jersey Zinc Company at Sterling Hill, New Jersey.

From October 1912 until January 1916, the L&HR hosted the PRR's Federal Express passenger trains on the
Poughkeepsie Bridge Route between Phillipsburg and Maybrook. With the completion of the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City on September 9, 1917, the Federal Express resumed service via Penn Station and the New Haven Line direct. At its peak, L&HR stretched 86 miles between Easton and Maybrook, acting as a bridge line and hauling anthracite coal from a number of mines along its system.

The L&HR filed for
Chapter 77 bankruptcy on April 19, 1972, partly due to Penn Central's decision to operate over other routes in order to avoid the aging Poughkeepsie Bridge.

Post-bankruptcy, the L&HR continued to operate a nocturnal daily freight. During the mid-1970s, the L&HR became part of a proposal to run "Bunny Ski Trains" between
Hoboken, New Jersey, and the Playboy Resort (Great Gorge) in Vernon, New Jersey. The proposed service, which would have run on weekends during the winter, would have retrieved passengers westbound along the Erie Lackawanna Railway's (EL) Morristown Line to Netcong, New Jersey, then run along a short section of the remaining Sussex Branch to Andover Junction in Andover, New Jersey, and then northbound along the L&HR to the Playboy Club. The service would have utilized EL's new commuter consists, but was met with stiff opposition from EL management, which was anticipating a merger with other northeastern US railroads and did not want to enter into a venture that it viewed as a potential money-loser. The Bunny Ski Train remained a viable proposal until the remaining vestige of the Sussex Branch was removed in July 1977, after it became clear that it was no longer needed as a connector to the L&HR.

As such, in 1976 the L&HR was merged into
Conrail. Subsequently, the section between Belvidere, New Jersey and Sparta, New Jersey (Sparta Junction) was abandoned. The tracks, however, remained in place until approximately 1988, when the right-of-way between these two points was acquired by land developer Gerald Turco from Conrail. Turco had also acquired most of the Lackawanna Cut-Off as part of the same deal. Conrail removed the tracks south of Sparta Junction; however, the section north of that point was already being considered by the New York, Susquehanna & Western (NYS&W) as part of a combined regional freight route with Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). The line from Warwick to Campbell Hall, New York is currently leased to the Middletown and New Jersey Railroad.

In New Jersey, the NYS&W owns the L&HR line north of Sparta to the state line. North of the state line, it is owned by NS which had acquired the line during the
breakup of Conrail. Both portions of the line are leased to and operated by the Middletown and New Jersey Railroad.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehigh_and_Hudson_River_Railway

L&HRmap.jpg


http://r2parks.net/L&HRmap.JPG

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
M & O
Mobile and Ohio
Milk and Onion

The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was a railroad in the Southern U.S. The M&O was chartered in January and February 1848 by the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It was planned to span the distance between the seaport of Mobile, Alabama and the Ohio River near Cairo, Illinois. On September 13, 1940 it was merged with the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad to form the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad.

At the end of 1925 M&O operated 1,161 miles (1,868 km) of road and 1,536 miles (2,472 km) of track; that year it reported 1785 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 49 million passenger-miles.

The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was conceived after hard times in Mobile following the
Panic of 1837. The port was not generating the business that it had before the panic and businessmen and citizens in the city were inspired with a plan for a railroad to restore commerce to the city. The first section of track opened for service in 1852 between Mobile and Citronelle, Alabama and was constructed in 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge. The line made it to Columbus, Kentucky on April 22, 1861, steamboats were then used to connect with the Illinois Central Railroad at Cairo.

The start of the
Civil War shortly after the completion of the line saw it converted to military use and it quickly became a military target for both sides during the war. Following the conflict the M&O had to be almost entirely rebuilt and was facing near total financial ruin due in part to an unpaid debt of $5,228,562 that had been owed by the Confederate government. It was placed in receivership in 1875 and did not emerge until eight years later.

By 1870 the operators had seen the need to complete the line all the way to Cairo and make it the northern terminus instead of Columbus, but financial problems stood in the way. Finally on May 1, 1882 the extension to Cairo was opened. The company then acquired the
St. Louis and Cairo Railroad, which was narrow gauge. They converted it to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge and had a line from Mobile to St. Louis, Missouri.

In 1896 the company decided to build a line from its
Columbus, Mississippi, terminal toward Florida. On June 30, 1898 the Tuscaloosa to Montgomery line opened in Alabama, along with two short branch lines. That same year they decided to build a 39-mile (63 km) line from Mobile to Alabama Port and Bayou La Batre, naming it the Mobile and Bay Shore Railway. It was completed in 1899.

The M&O's stockholders and bondholders accepted a
stock exchange plan in 1901 from Southern Railway. A merger of the two was attempted in 1902 but vetoed by Mississippi governor James K. Vardaman. Thereafter the M&O continued operations under Southern's control. From 1908 the M&O was considered to be a highly prosperous railroad, but net income declined sharply after 1926 and by 1930 the M&O had a net deficit of almost $1,000,000. On June 3, 1932, the M&O went into receivership again. Southern was accused of having violated the Clayton Antitrust Act by using the M&O for its own profit at the expense of the M&O, though the case was dropped in 1933. Southern sold its M&O bonds in 1940 to the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad. The GM&N was then combined with the M&O to form the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_and_Ohio_Railroad



MobileOhioRailRoad1848.gif

1848 map showing the planned route of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad

New York: Jones and Newman, (1848) - Alabama Department of Archives and History

1903_Poor's_Mobile_and_Ohio_Railroad.jpg


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/1903_Poor's_Mobile_and_Ohio_Railroad.jpg

Please also see @DaveBrt 's M & O info at http://www.csa-railroads.com/

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
PC
Penn-Central
Parked Cars
Pathetic Connection
Penniless Central
Penn Centless
Perfect Chaos
Political Charade
Permanently Corrupt
Pile [of] C**p

The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Class I railroad headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that operated from 1968 until 1976. It was created by the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads. The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad was added to the merger in 1969; by 1970, the company had filed for what was, at that time, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Central_Transportation_Company

penn-central-railroad-map.jpg


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...EPoXsjnvg/s1000/penn-central-railroad-map.jpg

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
T & P
Texas and Pacific
Time and Patience

The Texas and Pacific Railway Company (known as the T&P) was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California.

The T&P had a significant foothold in Texas by the mid-1880s. Construction difficulties delayed westward progress, until American financier Jay Gould acquired an interest in the railroad in 1879. The T&P never reached San Diego; instead it met the Southern Pacific at Sierra Blanca, Texas, in 1881.

The
Missouri Pacific Railroad, also controlled by Gould, leased the T&P from 1881 to 1885 and continued a cooperative relationship with the T&P after the lease ended. Missouri Pacific gained majority ownership of the Texas and Pacific Railway's stock in 1928 but allowed it to continue operation as a separate entity until they were eventually merged on October 15, 1976. On January 8, 1980, the Missouri Pacific Railroad was purchased by the Union Pacific Railroad. Because of lawsuits filed by competing railroads, the merger was not approved until September 13, 1982. However, due to outstanding bonds of the Missouri Pacific, the actual merger with the Union Pacific Railroad took place on January 1, 1997.

Several reminders of the Texas and Pacific remain to this day, mainly two towering buildings which help define the southern side of Fort Worth's skyline—
the original station and office tower (pictured below) and a warehouse located immediately to the west. In 2001, the passenger platforms at the T&P station were put into use for the first time in decades as the westernmost terminus for the Trinity Railway Express, a commuter rail line connecting Fort Worth and Dallas. The warehouse still exists but there are plans to renovate it. The passenger terminal and corporate offices have been converted into luxury condominiums.

Texas_and_Pacific_Railway_service_map.jpg


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_and_Pacific_Railway

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
C I & L
Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville (Monon)
Crazy Idiots and Lunatics

The Monon Railroad (reporting mark MON), also known as the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railway (reporting mark CIL) from 1897 to 1956, was an American railroad that operated almost entirely within the state of Indiana. The Monon was merged into the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1971, and much of the former Monon right of way is owned today by CSX Transportation.[1] In 1970 it operated 540 miles (870 km) of road on 792 miles (1,275 km) of track; that year it reported 1320 million ton-miles of revenue freight and zero passenger-miles. (It showed zero miles of double track, the longest such Class I railroad in the country.)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monon_Railroad

MononConnectionMap.jpg


http://www.monon.org/ma/MononConnectionMap.jpg

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
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