Railroad Acronyms

D M & I R
Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range
Dam* Miserable and IrRate
Duluth, Misanthropic and Iron Range
Doing More Income Reduced

The Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway (DM&IR) (reporting mark DMIR), informally known as the Missabe Road, is a railroad operating in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin that hauls iron ore and later taconite to the Great Lakes ports of Duluth and Two Harbors, Minnesota. Control of the railway was acquired on May 10, 2004, by the Canadian National Railway (CN) when it purchased the assets of Great Lakes Transportation.

The DM&IR was formed by the merger in 1937 of the Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway (DM&N) and the Spirit Lake Transfer Railway. The following year, the Duluth and Iron Range Rail Road (D&IR) and Interstate Transfer Railway were added. All of these had been leased by the DM&N since 1930.

The D&IR was formed in 1874 by Charlemagne Tower to haul iron ore from the Minnesota Iron Co. in Tower, Minnesota, to the new Lake Superior port of Two Harbors, Minnesota. On July 31, 1884, the D&IR carried its first ore shipment from the Soudan Mine. In 1887, the D&IR was acquired by Illinois Steel Company, which itself became part of the new United States Steel Corporation (USS) in 1901.

After high-grade Mesabi iron ore was discovered near Mountain Iron, Minnesota by the Seven Iron Men, the D&IR was asked to build a branch line to serve this area, but declined. So in 1891, the Merritts incorporated the DM&N, which shipped its first load of iron ore to Superior, Wisconsin, in October 1892. The following year, the Merritts expanded the DM&N by laying track to Duluth, Minnesota, where they built an ore dock. But this expansion left the Merritts on shaky financial ground, and in 1894, John D. Rockefeller gained control of the railway. In 1901, Rockefeller sold the DM&N to USS.

From 1901 to 1938, the two railways were owned by USS and operated separately. Total ore hauled by the two railroads peaked in 1929 at 27.8 million tons (long tons of 2240 lbs) and dropped to 1.5 million tons in 1932.

By July 1938, the two railways merged to form the DM&IR. The two operating divisions, the Missabe and the Iron Range, were based upon the predecessor roads. As the United States began to prepare for the Second World War, the iron ore tonnage moving over the Missabe Road acclerated from a little over 8 million tons in 1938, past 18 million tons in 1939, then to almost 28 million tons in 1940 and past 37 million tons in 1941.

The first eight of DM&IR's class M 2-8-8-4 Yellowstone locomotives were delivered by Baldwin Locomotive Works in spring 1941. As well as the Yellowstones, the DM&IR had heavy 2-8-8-2 articulated's (also Class M), 2-8-2 Mikados, 2-10-2 Santa Fe's and eventually 2-10-4 Texas types from B&LE. Ore movement was nearly 45 million tons in 1942 and the War Production Board allowed the Missabe to order ten more Yellowstones, delivered in 1943. The 2-8-8-4's were slowly retired in the latter half of the '50s and the last remaining served until around 1960.

DMIR_Map.jpg


Map of the DM&IR. Solid lines are track still in use; dotted lines are abandoned track

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duluth,_Missabe_and_Iron_Range_Railway
2861

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
CSX - Chesapeake Southern Expansion

Never speak ill of the ET & WNC I worked for 6 months in Boone going over the old road. That lead me to the EBT I was one of last firemen on the job ( Nothing beats a narrow gauge mikado )

We have two short lines here -
The Plymouth Whitemarsh ( The Old **** and Whistle )
and The Upper Merion and Plymouth ( known as the UMP )
 
G & F
Georgia and Florida
God Forgot
God Forsaken

The Georgia and Florida Railroad was a railroad in the Southern U.S. known as the Georgia and Florida Railway from 1906 to 1926 and 1963 to 1971. It had a main line from Madison, Florida to Greenwood, South Carolina. The Southern Railway gained control in 1963, reorganized it as the Georgia and Florida Railway, and merged it into subsidiary Central of Georgia Railroad in 1971.

At the end of 1960 G&F operated 321 miles of road on 395 miles of track; that year it reported 569 million ton-miles of revenue freight and no passengers.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_and_Florida_Railroad_(1926%E2%80%931963)

gafl18map.jpg


https://railga.com/gafl18map.jpg
2980

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
D M & E
Dakota Minnesota and Eastern
Derails Most Everytime
Desolate, Miserly, and Emancipated
Dilapidated, Mutilated and Explode
Dog Meat Express
Dumb Management Everyday

The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (reporting mark DME) is a Class II railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway operating across South Dakota and southern Minnesota in the Northern Plains of the United States. Portions of the railroad also extend into Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.

The DM&E began operations on September 5, 1986, over trackage spun off from the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company in South Dakota and Minnesota.

The DM&E purchased the assets of I&M Rail Link railroad in 2002, renaming it Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad. DM&E combined its management and dispatching duties with those of ICE under the holding company Cedar American Rail Holdings. The combined system directly connects Chicago through Iowa to Kansas City, Minneapolis-St. Paul and continues as far west as Rapid City, South Dakota. Smaller branches extend into portions of Wisconsin, Wyoming and Nebraska.

In September 2007 it was announced that Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) would acquire the DM&E upon approval by the Surface Transportation Board of the US Department of Transportation. The STB announced its approval of the purchase plan on September 30, 2008. The merger was completed, and the official last day of operations for the DM&E was October 30, 2008.

1986–1996: Startup and initial expansion

In the early 1980s, Chicago and North Western Railway (CNW) announced plans to abandon a section of railroad through Minnesota and South Dakota that dated to 1859. Due to pressure from customers and Senator Larry Pressler from South Dakota, a deal was reached and announced on April 24, 1986, creating the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad out of sections of CNW from Winona, Minnesota, to Rapid City, South Dakota. This deal also included buildings, rolling stock and locomotives, mostly rebuilt EMD SD9s, from the CNW.

DM&E began operations on this track on September 5, 1986. The railroad was expanded in 1995 when it acquired additional former CNW branch lines from Rapid City, South Dakota, to Colony, Wyoming, and Crawford, Nebraska.

From startup to the railroad's ten-year anniversary in 1996, DM&E hauled nearly 500,000 carloads of freight, which includes 700 million bushels of grain. DM&E celebrated the anniversary with picnics and employee appreciation events and excursions in Waseca, Minnesota, and Pierre, South Dakota.

DM&E hauled nearly 60,000 carloads of freight in fiscal year 2002, serving approximately 130 customers along the railroad's mainline. Of these shipments, 53% were grains or grain products, 24% were bentonite and kaolin clay, 7% were cement, and 5% were wood and lumber products; the remaining 11% were split among all other types of freight.

On February 21, 2002, DM&E announced that it would purchase the railroad assets of 1,700-mile (2,700 km) I&M Rail Link (IMRL) from its then-owner the Washington Corporation. DM&E renamed the IMRL property to Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad (IC&E) and began operating under that name on July 30, 2002. A purchase price was not stated in the original announcement, but an article in the May 2002 Trains Magazine reported that several industry sources believed the total to be around $150 million.

DM&E and IC&E combined management under the holding company Cedar American Rail Holdings. Locomotives of both railroads were given a unified paint scheme and interchanges were streamlined between the two railroads. The administration of both railroads is handled by Cedar, further streamlining processes between the two railroads. The combined DM&E/IC&E system makes up the largest Class II railroad (by route-miles) in the United States; it is also the eighth largest system of all American railroads and the only system with direct rail connections with all Class I railroads in North America.

In its first twenty years of operations, the railroad's revenues had increased more than tenfold, from $22 million in 1987 to $258 million in 2006, with $290 million projected in 2007 and $340 million for 2008. Its operating ratio (the ratio of operating expenses to revenues) declined to 70.2% in 2006 and was projected to improve further to 67.6% in 2007. Its traffic was a mix of agricultural, coal, and industrial products, and ethanol shipments were projected to exceed one billion gallons in 2008.

Acquisition by Canadian Pacific Railway

On September 4, 2007, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) announced it was acquiring the DM&E from its owners, London-based Electra Private Equity, for US$1.48 billion, and future payments of over $1.0 billion contingent on commencement of construction on the Powder River extension and specified volumes of coal shipments from the Powder River basin. The transaction will include the ICE and other affiliated companies. The merger is an "end-to-end" consolidation; the lines presently interchange at three points, including the Winona, Minnesota connection between the DM&E's main line across southern Minnesota and CP's Chicago main. Kevin Schieffer, president of the DM&E, has called CP the DM&E's "natural partner" and the transaction a "natural fit".

The acquisition will give CP access to shipments of agricultural products and ethanol in addition to coal from the Wyoming coal fields. CP has stated its intention to use this purchase to gain access to the Powder River and ship coal to midwestern and eastern utilities. The transaction is subject to approval of the Surface Transportation Board, which is expected to take a year. Securities analysts have stated that competing railroads for Powder River coal, the Union Pacific and BNSF, could challenge the acquisition and delay STB approval, but are unlikely to prevent it. At least until approval is received, the DM&E will continue to operate as a separate entity.

On October 4, 2007, CP announced that it has completed the financial transactions to acquire the DM&E and subsidiaries. Control of DM&E has been placed into a voting trust with Richard Hamlin appointed as trustee; the trust will remain in effect until the STB issues its decision on the acquisition. CP plans to integrate DM&E's operations once it receives STB approval. CP expected STB approval of the purchase in October 2008. The STB announced its approval of the purchase plan on September 30, 2008, with no conditions other than those that CP had already agreed to in the original plan; the effective date of the purchase was October 30, 2008. CP assumed control of DM&E and IC&E on October 30, 2008. CP plans to invest $300 million in capital improvements to the former DM&E lines by 2011.

On December 3, 2012, CP announced it was indefinitely placing on hold plans for building new trackage into the Powder River Basin. The next day the railroad announced its intention to sell the entire ex-DM&E west of Tracy, Minnesota, roughly 700 miles (1,100 km) of track. On January 2, 2014 CP announced that all track west of Tracy, Minnesota was to be sold to Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad, a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming, a short line operator. The sale was completed on May 30, 2014 for $210 million. Most of the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern's employees came over from the DM&E.

DME_and_ICE_route_map.JPG


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota,_Minnesota_and_Eastern_Railroad
3019

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Last edited by a moderator:
C W
Chesapeake Western Railway
Crooked and Weedy

The Chesapeake Western Railway is an intrastate railroad in west-central Virginia and it is an operating subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Railway.

It extended from Elkton, Virginia on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River in Rockingham County to Stokesville, Virginia in Augusta County at the foot of the Allegheny Mountains. At Elkton, it interchanged with the Norfolk and Western Railway. At Harrisonburg, Virginia it interchanged with the Southern Railway.

Construction began in 1895 in Harrisonburg by the Chesapeake and Western Railroad, and proceed both east and west. To the west, Bridgewater, Virginia was the original terminus, but the line was extended to Stokesville by 1901 by the newly reorganized Chesapeake Western Railway. In 1933 the line was cut back to Bridgewater, and later to Dayton, Virginia. To the east the line reached Elkton by 1896, where the line's main yard and shops were constructed.

In 1938 the line was bought by the line's general manager, Don Thomas, with the help of Norfolk and Western, which assumed direct control in 1954. In 1942, the Baltimore and Ohio's Valley Road of Virginia line, which ran between Harrisonburg and Lexington, Virginia was purchased, though the portion from Staunton, Virginia to Lexington was promptly dismantled. Later, a portion of the same line to the north of Harrisonburg as far as Mount Jackson, Virginia was added.

At one time, the Chesapeake Western Railway operated its trackage as one rail line called the Chesapeake Western Branch under Norfolk Southern ownership, before it was split into three separate rail lines.

A portion of the line south of Harrisonburg between Pleasant Valley, Rockingham County, Virginia is owned and operated by the Shenandoah Valley Railroad. Furthermore, the old Chesapeake Western Station remains standing in downtown Harrisonburg.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Western_Railway

1546198573181.png

https://www.american-rails.com/chw.html#gallery[pageGallery]/2/
3114

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
L E & W
Lake Erie and Western
Leave 'er and Walk
Leave Early and Walk

The Lake Erie and Western Railroad was a railroad that operated in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The Lake Erie and Western Depot Historic District at Kokomo, Indiana was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

The Seney Syndicate linked several short railroads in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to form the Lake Erie and Western Railroad in 1879 and 1880. The Lake Erie and Western extended from the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway at Fremont, Ohio, 350 miles (560 km) westward through Fostoria, Ohio to Bloomington, Illinois.

In 1900, the Lake Erie and Western came under the control of the New York Central Railroad. After operating it as a separate entity for two decades, the New York Central sold the Lake Erie and Western to the Nickel Plate Road in 1922.

1546815627418.png


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Erie_and_Western_Railroad
3178

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
W B T & S
Waco, Beaumont, Trinity and Sabine
Wobbly, Bobbly, Turnover and Stop

The Wobbly is a wonderful representation of most East Texas short lines from the boom of the 1880s to the Great Depression. Its story, like so many others, began with exuberant optimism and ended with abandonment following a long, slow decline and desperate struggle to keep it financially solvent. Today there's almost nothing left of this East Texas gem. This essay isn't intended to be an in-depth study of the WBT&S, but rather a concise history and a way to feature the media I have been able to locate over the years.

Let's begin with the name: Waco, Beaumont, Trinity, & Sabine Railway Company. This grandiose title is rather misleading. The railroad only touched one of its namesake cities: Trinity. The full scope of the company's ambitions were never realized. In fact, due to the shortage of money and traffic, the line fell into such disrepair that locals applied several colorful names stemming from the WBT&S acronym. These nicknames have lasted well beyond the railroad and serve as an enduring reminder of a colorful backwoods line and the communities it served.

Loggers along the route christened the line the “Wobbly, Bobbly, Turnover & Stop” because of its frequent derailments. That paints a rather vivid picture of what the railroad must have looked liked in its waning years! During prohibition days, bootleggers using the line gave it other nicknames, “Wine, Beer, Tequila & Shinny” and "Whiskey, Beer, Tobacco & Snuff." Housewives often called it the “Wash Board, Tub & Soap.” Still another sobriquet resulted from the train’s frequent delays: “Won’t be Back Til Saturday." The final variations noted are, "Wobblety, Bobblety, Turnover & Stop" and "Wobble, Bobble, Turnover & Stop." Local historians seem to agree that the first and most commonly used moniker was, and is, “Wobbly, Bobbly, Turnover & Stop.” I will simply, and affectionately, refer to it as "The Wobbly" for this website.

The Trinity & Sabine Railway Company was chartered as a logging tram on September 28, 1881, in Trinity, Texas (Trinity County). It connected with the International & Great Northern in Trinity and was intended to run east to the Sabine River. It only got as far as Colmesneil. The principal place of business was Trinity. In 1882, the Trinity & Sabine became part of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas.

The Beaumont & Great Northern Railroad was chartered on June 22, 1905, by lumber magnate William Carlisle. It also connected with the I&GN in Trinity and was intended to run southeast to Beaumont on the Texas-Louisiana border. It only reached Livingston, Texas about 33 miles east of Trinity, and fell into receivership early on (as so many railroads did in that era). In 1911, the B&GN was sold to the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, joining its northern neighbor, the Trinity & Sabine.

In 1913, the MKT merged the two railroads into a single system with the permission of the Texas Legislature. Neither branch ever connected with the "Katy" system and it became known as the "Orphan Division." The Katy later fell on hard times herself and the combined railroad was divested and purchased by the newly created Waco, Beaumont, Trinity & Sabine Railway Company on April 8, 1924. This new company was founded by Col. R. C. Duff, who hoped to extend the railroad to its intended cities of Waco and Beaumont and then on to the Sabine River. The WBT&S fell into receivership in February of 1930 due to the Depression, but remained independent until the end of operations in 1961. This was the longest receivership of a railroad in Texas history.

The business office remained in Trinity and the WBT&S operated 48 miles from Weldon through Trinity to Livingston (the Beaumont Division) and 67 miles between Trinity and Colmesneil (the Trinity Division). It never reached any of the locations in its title save its point of origin: Trinity. The Wobbly ran through the counties of Trinity, Polk, Tyler and Houston. The towns served included Colmesneil, Trinity, Mill Junction, Sequoyah, Barnes, Glendale, Groveton, Corrigan, Chester, Carlisle, Sebastopol, Pagoda, Onalaska, Pennell, Kickapoo, East Tempe, Vreeland, Blanchard, Luce, Livingston, West Livingston, Auburn, Weldon, and Kittrell.

Almost unbelievably, the Wobbly interchanged with 4 railroads at 5 locations! That's not bad for a railroad that served an area so sparsely populated. The International & Great Northern (later Missouri Pacific and then Union Pacific) interchanged with the WBT&S at its corporate headquarters in Trinity. The Groveton, Lufkin, & Northern was reached in Groveton (Groveton itself would make an interesting story sometime down the road). The Houston East & West Texas (known as "The Rabbit" and owned by SP, now UP) was interchanged with at Livingston and Corrigan on the Beaumont and Trinity Divisions respectively. And finally, the Texas & New Orleans (also owned by SP) was reached at Colmesneil. During this period, at its peak, the WBT&S operated 115.2 miles of standard gauge, weed-infested, ballast-free track through the thick piney woods of East Texas.

The Colmesneil section on the Trinity Division was the first to go in 1936. The traffic had all but dried up. 1940 saw the 6 miles between Kittrell and Weldon torn up. The 23 mile section from Luce to Livingston saw its last train in 1949.

Through the 1950's, the railroad hauled an 8-car train of tank cars from Trinity about 8 miles east to the mineral oil facility in Kittrell. This movement generally occurred every other day. Derailments were common, a way of life... and a constant reinforcement of the "Wobbly" moniker. Receiver and General Manager Thaxton Epperson worked with local merchants to have shipments coming into Trinity on the Missouri Pacific Railroad be consigned to the WBT&S. This scheme brought in some much-needed capital and the line to Kittrell received some desperately needed maintenance. However good this news might have been, it was not enough to stave off the inevitable. The end came swiftly and decisively, compliments of Uncle Sam.

The last operating engine on the Wobbly, Baldwin-built 2-6-2 #1, failed its ICC inspection in 1959 and the railroad shut down all operations that day. The oil field in Kittrell switched to trucks for a time and then shut down altogether when its sole buyer stopped purchasing. There was no money and no way to make money for the Wobbly. Poor ol' #1 rusted away in the Trinity yard until 1981 when she was rescued by the Moody Foundation and moved to the Galveston Railroad Museum. The GRM has done a superb job of cosmetically restoring and displaying the little locomotive. Today Wobbly #1 greets all visitors as they enter the museum grounds.

What remained of the WBT&S was torn up in 1961, except for the segment between the Missouri Pacific Junction on the Beaumont Division and the proposed waterline of the new Lake Livingston. The Trinity Chamber of Commerce purchased this section for a proposed tourist line.

In a private correspondence between Richard Keeling and Ralph Carlson in August of 1963, Mr. Keeling says that Mr. Epperson (the General Manager) spoke to him about the idea of creating a tourist railroad from Trinity to where Lake Livingston would be when the new dam was completed in 1969. Had the funds been available, Mr. Epperson's idea may have come to fruition. This tourist railroad would have cut through Camp Cullen and the Southern Baptist Encampment of Trinity Pines. What an intriguing thought it is that the Wobbly might have survived to take kids to summer camp and adults to a resort on Lake Livingston.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. No money was available and the timing wasn't right for a tourist railroad. Historic aerial images show that the final rails on the Beaumont Division were removed outside of town by 1972. It was over. The final chapter had been written on what is arguably one of the most interesting and obscure railroads in the piney woods of East Texas.

-Jason Rose (with assistance from Susan Madeley)

http://wbtsrailway.net/history.htm

1547691885547.png


http://wbtsrailway.net/maps.htm
3263

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Last edited:
C B & C
Chicago, Bluffton and Cincinnati
Corned Beef and Cabbage

The Cincinnati, Bluffton and Chicago Railroad (CB&C) was a short-lived railroad that provided service to locations in the U.S. state of Indiana from 1903 until 1917. Although the railroad aspired to trunk-line status, it was unable to achieve sufficient financing to provide service to two of the three of the municipalities listed in its corporate name. It operated a 52-mile-long northwest-southeast alignment from Huntington to Portland, via Bluffton and Pennville.

The CB&C's financial condition, never good, worsened significantly with a pair of accidents in 1913. On May 22, 1913, a freight train fully loaded with masonry stone was passing over one of the small railroad's key assets, a trestle bridge over the Wabash River at Bluffton, when the overburdened span collapsed. The mishap threw the steam locomotive into the river, killing the engine driver.

Later that year on December 13, a crew had braked one of the railroad's remaining steam locomotives for the night at the short line's northern terminus, Huntington. The track apparently sloped and the locomotive slipped its brake and ran away after working hours. Overshooting the CB&C's trackage stub, the power unit crossed a downtown street and buried itself in the plate-glass front window of a small downtown grocery store/confectionery. There were no known casualties. A photograph of the incident survives.

As these incidents were taking place, the railroad significantly cut back its use of steam power, replacing units with gasoline-powered railcars after 1912. This innovation did not save the line, however, and service ended permanently in 1917.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati,_Bluffton_and_Chicago_Railroad

1548255238682.png


https://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1885/cbc_wreck_bluffton.jpg
3340

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
CNO & TP
Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific
Connections No Object, Tickets Please

The Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway (abbreviated: CNO&TP; (reporting mark CNTP)) is a railroad that runs from Cincinnati, Ohio, south to Chattanooga, Tennessee, forming part of the Norfolk Southern Railway system.

The physical assets of the road were initially financed by the city of Cincinnati in the 1870s, and are still owned by the city. It is the only such long-distance railway owned by a municipality in the United States. The CNO&TP continues to lease that property and operates one rail line, the Cincinnati Southern Railway, between Cincinnati and Chattanooga.

History
The line opened completely in 1880, and was financed by the city of Cincinnati. Construction was spurred by a shift of Ohio River shipping, very important to the local economy. Fearing the loss of shipping traffic, and the local salaries and tax revenue that came with it, the city recognized the need to remain competitive. The Ohio Constitution forbade cities from forming partnerships in stock corporations, so the city, led by Edward A. Ferguson, took upon itself the building of the railway.

With wide popular approval, city voters voted for $10 million in municipal bonds in 1869 to begin construction. With 337 miles of track and many tunnels to construct, another bond for an additional $6 million was necessary. Some portions were open by 1877, but the entire line would not open until February 21, 1880. The last spike was placed on December 10, 1879. It officially opened for passenger service on March 8, 1880.

Routing
The CNO&TP main line has three districts: the First District from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Danville, Kentucky; the Second District from Danville to Oakdale, Tennessee; and the Third District from Oakdale to Chattanooga.

The Second District is known as the "Rathole" due the steep grades, 27 tunnels, and numerous curves which were once this line's signature. While several projects over the span of 60 years eliminated several problem areas, the Southern Railway's line improvement project between 1961 and 1963 is the best known. This project saw numerous cuts and line relocations to bypass tunnels and reduce the steep grades and tight curves. Only Tunnels #22 and #24 at Nemo, Tennessee and Tunnels #25 and #26 at Oakdale remain on the line; all but #25 were built brand-new in the 1960s.

Originally built to 5 ft (1,524 mm) broad gauge, the line was converted to standard gauge, 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm), in 13 hours in 1886.

The late 1990s saw another improvement with the Norfolk Southern Railway double tracking the segment south of Somerset, Kentucky, between Tateville and KD Tower (near Greenwood, Kentucky). As of 2013, a massive project is underway to double track from Woods, also known as Somerset, to Grove just north of Burnside. This project will also straighten a curve near the Kentucky Route 914 bypass overpass, and allow for improved train handling.

Queen and Crescent Route
After two years of leasing the property to local companies, in 1881 the city entered a 25-year lease to an entity called Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway, which was held by an English corporation controlled by German-born Parisian banker Frédéric Émile d'Erlanger. Soon Erlanger would come to hold all five segments of railroad from Cincinnati to New Orleans, and west from Meridian, Mississippi to Shreveport, Louisiana. This was dubbed the Queen and Crescent Route, connecting the Queen City to the Crescent City.

Erlanger sold his interest in 1890. In 1894 the CNO&TP was one of many properties reorganized by Samuel Spencer into the vastly expanded Southern Railway.


1549120639994.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/1891_Poor's_Queen_and_Crescent_Route.jpg
3434

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
M & ET
Marshall and East Texas Railroad
Misery and Eternal Torment

The Marshall and East Texas Railway Company was chartered on August 17, 1908, to acquire the Texas Southern Railway Company, which had been sold under foreclosure. The railroad had capital stock of $75,000, and the principal office was located in Marshall. Members of the first board of directors were Osce Goodwin, J. F. Strickland, M. B. Templeton, and J. J. Carter, all of Dallas; Albert T. Perkins, John F. Shepley, and N. A. McMillan, all of St. Louis, Missouri; and E. Key of Marshall. The Marshall and East Texas acquired 72 1/2 miles of track between Winnsboro in Wood County and Marshall in Harrison County. In 1909 the company extended its track seventeen miles in a southeasterly direction from Marshall to Elysian Fields, making a total operated mileage, including branches, of nearly 96 1/2 miles. The line owned eight locomotives and twenty-three cars in 1916 and reported passenger earnings of $23,000 and freight earnings of $164,000. However, the railroad became unprofitable as timber resources along the line were depleted, and was forced into receivership on January 25, 1917, with Bryan Snyder appointed receiver. The company was offered for sale in July of that year. There were no bidders, and the district court overseeing the receivership ordered operations to cease north of Marshall on August 15, 1917, and between Marshall and Elysian Fields on August 3, 1918. In September 1917 the line was again offered for sale in two segments, without any offers being received. In April 1920 the railroad was offered for sale in six segments. The thirty miles between Gilmer and East Winnsboro was sold to the Winnsboro and Gilmer Railroad Company, but this company never operated as a common carrier and its charter was forfeited in 1923. Two miles of track and the Marshall terminal were sold to the Texas and Pacific Railway. Subsequently, the segment between Marshall and Elysian Fields was sold to the Marshall, Elysian Fields and Southeastern Railway. The rest of the Marshall and East Texas was abandoned.

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqm01

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
M & NA
Missouri and North Arkansas
May Never Arrive

The Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad was a regional carrier from 1906 to 1946, which at its peak strength joined Joplin in southwestern, Missouri with Helena in Phillips County in eastern Arkansas. Few railroads experienced more misfortunes than the M&NA: storms, economic difficulties, labor problems, rough topography, and numerous fires. Ultimately, the company failed because Its service territory could not produce the revenue essential to the support of the railroad. The M&NA faced regional competition from two routes of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Poor rail construction led to infrastructure failures during times of flooding. The M&NA was initially launched as a connection from Seligman in Barry County in southwestern Missouri, located on the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, popularly known as the "Frisco".

Origin
In 1883, Powell Clayton, who served as governor of Arkansas from 1868 to 1871, became the chief promoter of another railroad, the Eureka Springs Railway, which serviced the resort community of Eureka Springs in Carroll County in northwestern Arkansas. As earnings for the Eureka Springs Railway proved insufficient, interest focused on servicing the zinc and lead mines of north central Arkansas. In 1899, the Eureka Springs Railway was merged into another line, the St. Louis and North Arkansas Railroad. This new company brought service to Harrison in Boone County in 1901 and Leslie in Searcy County in 1903. It planned to link to the capital city of Little Rock in Pulaski County along what became U.S. Route 65. In 1906, the railroad underwent reorganization, and the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad Company emerged as a result.


In 1908, M&NA service was extended northward to Neosho in Newton County, Missouri, and then linked with nearby Joplin through the leasing of track of the Kansas City Southern Railway. That same year, expansion proceeded southward expansion to Searcy in White County, Arkansas. By the end of 1908, the M&NA was in operation from Joplin to Kensett, also in White County. It functioned as a link from the KCS to the north and to still another line, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, popularly called the "Iron Mountain", which served central Arkansas. The M&NA was finally completed to Helena at a construction cost of $6 million. As of March 1, 1909, service had been instituted over the entire M&NA route. For a time there was limited Pullman sleeping car availability on the line. Because the M&NA was frequently late, some joked that its initials really stood for "May Never Arrive". After repeated deficits, the railroad entered receivership in April 1912.

History
In 1913, the main office and shops of the M&NA were located in Harrison, Arkansas. Though the railroad was by then in first-class condition, a head-on collision caused by faulty communication occurred in August 1914 near Tipton Ford in Newton County, Missouri. Thirty-eight passengers and five crew members were killed. The takeover of the M&NA by the United States Railroad Administration during World War I cost the company dearly. Then a bitter wage strike, with resulting vandalism, occurred in 1921, and the railroad ceased operations for eight months. Reorganized in April 1922, it resumed operations and began to turn a profit despite lingering labor troubles.


Prosperity seemed near when the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 damaged much of the rail infrastructure in eastern Arkansas, and for a second time, the M&NA entered into receivership. In 1935, the Missouri and Arkansas Railway Company was established and assumed the previous M&NA property. In December 1941, the general offices of the M&NA at Harrison were destroyed by fire, and the shops burned a few months later. During World War II, tonnage increased and revenues improved, but another strike over wages and another fire created renewed havoc. Then in 1945, the White River near Georgetown in White County overflowed its banks. There was a rapid decline in postwar business, and the M&NA ceased operations in September 1946.

In 1949, two sections of the former Missouri and Arkansas Railway Company returned to service under new ownership. That section from Seligman to Harrison was operated from 1950 to 1960 by the diesel-powered Arkansas and Ozarks Railway. The route from Helena to rural Cotton Plant in Woodruff County, Arkansas, operated with steam equipment from 1949 to 1951 as the Helena and Northwestern Railway. A six-mile link of the Helena and Northwestern from Cotton Plant to rural Fargo in Monroe County was operated by the Cotton Plant-Fargo Railway, which joined with the St. Louis Southwestern Railway, popularly known as the Cotton Belt. This short line existed from 1952 into the 1970s, when it became the last portion of the old M&NA to be abandoned.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_and_North_Arkansas_Railroad

1550881643379.png


http://www.r2parks.net/M&NA.html
3566

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
SAL
Seaboard Air Line
Surely Always Late

SCL
Seaboard Coast Line
Service Customers Lack

The Seaboard Air Line Railroad (reporting mark SAL), which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. Predecessor railroads dated from the 1830s and reorganized extensively to rebuild after the American Civil War. The company was headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, until 1958, when its main offices were relocated to Richmond, Virginia. The Seaboard Air Line Railway Building in Norfolk's historic Freemason District still stands and has been converted into apartments.

At the end of 1925 SAL operated 3,929 miles of road, not including its flock of subsidiaries; at the end of 1960 it reported 4,135 miles. The main line ran from Richmond via Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida, a major interchange point for passenger trains bringing travelers to the Sunshine State. From Jacksonville, Seaboard rails continued to Tampa, St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach and Miami.

Other important Seaboard routes included a line from Jacksonville via Tallahassee to a connection with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) at Chattahoochee, Florida, for through service to New Orleans; a line to Atlanta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, connecting with the main line at Hamlet, North Carolina; and a line from the main at Norlina, North Carolina, to Portsmouth, Virginia, the earliest route of what became the Seaboard.

In the first half of the 20th century, Seaboard, along with its main competitors Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Florida East Coast Railway and Southern Railway, contributed greatly to the economic development of the Southeastern United States, and particularly to that of Florida. Its trains brought vacationers to Florida from the Northeast and carried southern timber, minerals and produce, especially Florida citrus crops, to the northern states.

History
Early 19th century
The complex corporate history of the Seaboard began on March 8, 1832, when its earliest predecessor, the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad was chartered by the legislatures of Virginia and North Carolina to build a railroad from Portsmouth, Virginia, to the Roanoke River port of Weldon, North Carolina. After a couple of months of horse-drawn operation, the first locomotive-pulled service on this line began on September 4, 1834, with a twice-daily train from Portsmouth to Suffolk, Virginia, 17 miles away.

By June 1837 the railroad was completed to Weldon, where a connection was made with the tracks of the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad (later part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad). In 1846, after suffering financial difficulties, the P&R was reorganized as the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, known informally as the Seaboard Road.

Meanwhile, the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad had begun construction on November 1, 1836, with the first scheduled service between its endpoints beginning on March 21, 1840. After the American Civil War, this was advertised as the Inland Air-Line Route. By 1853, the Roanoke and Gaston had connected with the Seaboard and Roanoke at Weldon, thus offering travelers through service on the 176-mile route from Portsmouth to Raleigh. Both railroads were built to standard gauge, 4 feet, 8½ inches, rather than the 5-foot gauge favored by most other railroads in the South; therefore, cars of both roads could run on the entire route, eliminating the need for travelers or freight to make a change of cars.

The R&G takeover also gave the P&R control of the Raleigh & Augusta Air-Line Railroad which the former road controlled. This was the first time "Air Line" appeared as part of a Seaboard predecessor. The R&AA-L began as the Chatham Railroad, chartered by the state in February 14, 1855 (from the 1877 booklet, "History Of The Raleigh & August Air-Line Railroad" compiled by Walter Clark, Attorney At Law) to build a rail line, "...between Deep River, at or near the Coalfields, Moncure, NC in the county of Chatham, and the City of Raleigh or some point on the North Carolina Railroad." The project was riddled with delays and finally reorganized as the Raleigh & Augusta Air-Line in 1871. It eventually reached Hamlet in 1877 which in later years was a major SAL terminal point. With a route that now extended through North Carolina the three roads offered a competitive network serving several important cities. The South was also blossoming into an industrial giant in the area of cotton, agriculture/farming, textiles, and manufacturing.

Civil War and Reconstruction
The American Civil War devastated railroads, particularly in former Confederate territories including Virginia and North Carolina. After the war, Moncure Robinson and Alexander Boyd Andrews organized the Seaboard Inland Air Line to connect Georgia and South Carolina to Portsmouth, Virginia (in the Hampton Roads area across from Norfolk, Virginia). They worked with Confederate general turned Republican political boss William Mahone to work against the conglomeration of railroads reorganized by Thomas A. Scott, who had moved up the ranks of the Pennsylvania Railroad, took control of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad after the Civil War, and tried to work with African American legislators to acquire (and rebuild) railroads further South. As it had before the Civil War, Virginia paid millions to get railroads rebuilt and commerce moving through its cities. Charges of corruption against Scott, and resentment against northern and black workers led to volatile situations in many areas. Eruptions of Ku Klux Klan violence centered on railroads through interior North and South Carolina. Together the R&G, P&R, and R&AA-L formed the backbone of the future Seaboard Air Line. Moncure Robinson's son John M. Robinson acquired financial control of the trio in 1875. As a marketing tactic they were collectively known as the "Seaboard Air-Line System." The name initially had no legal authority, although that changed as Robinson continued to extend southward. The first known official use of "Seaboard Air Line" appeared when the system was pushing towards Atlanta. It had already acquired the Georgia, Carolina & Northern Railway which intended to reach that city from Monroe, North Carolina. Construction began in 1887 and was completed as far as Inman Park, east of Atlanta, by 1892. However, an ordinance prevented it from reaching the city directly. To circumvent this issue the Seaboard Air Line Belt Railroad (SALB) was chartered in 1892 to build an 8-mile branch and a connection with the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis at Howells. From there the SALB utilized trackage rights over the Dixie Line to reach the downtown area. Just prior to this event Robinson would link Rutherfordton and Wilmington, North Carolina via Charlotte and Hamlet by acquiring the Carolina Central Railroad in 1883. Rail service between these cities opened in 1887.

1552947933880.png


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaboard_Air_Line_Railroad

The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (reporting mark SCL) is a former Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lines to create the Seaboard System in 1983.

At the end of 1970, SCL operated 9,230 miles of railroad, not including A&WP-Clinchfield-CN&L-GM-Georgia-L&N-Carrollton; that year it reported 31,293 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 512 million passenger-miles.

History
The Seaboard Coast Line emerged on July 1, 1967, following the merger of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The combined system totaled 9,809 miles (15,786 km), the eighth largest in the United States at the time. The railroad had $1.2 billion in assets and revenue with a 54% market share of rail service in the Southeast, facing competition primarily from the Southern.

Prior to the creation of Amtrak on May 1, 1971, the Seaboard Coast Line provided passenger service over much of its system, including local passenger trains on some lines. Local trains ended when the Amtrak era began. Although several named passenger trains survived through the Amtrak era, many were renamed or combined with other services.

The first expansion for the Seaboard Coast Line came in 1969 with the acquisition of the Piedmont and Northern Railway, which operated about 128 miles (206 km) in North and South Carolina. SCL would buy out the remaining shares and gain control of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1971, and the Durham and Southern Railway.

On November 1, 1980, CSX Corporation was created as a holding company for the Family Lines and Chessie System Railroad. In 1983 CSX combined the Family Lines System units as the Seaboard System Railroad and later became CSX Transportation when the former Chessie units merged with the Seaboard in December 1986.

Effective January 1, 1983, the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad became Seaboard System Railroad after a merger with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and Clinchfield Railroad. For some years prior to this, the SCL and L&N had been under the common ownership of a holding company, Seaboard Coast Line Industries (SCLI), the company's railroad subsidiaries being collectively known as the Family Lines System which consisted of the L&N, SCL, Clinchfield and West Point Routes. During this time, the railroads adopted the same paint schemes but continued to operate as separate railroads.

Juice Train
Juice Train is the popular name for famous unit trains of Tropicana fresh orange juice operated by railroads in the United States. On June 7, 1970, beginning on Seaboard Coast Line railroad, a mile-long Tropicana Juice Train began carrying one million gallons of juice with one weekly round-trip from Bradenton, Florida to Kearny, New Jersey, in the New York City area. The trip spanned 1,250 miles (2,010 km) one way, and the 60 car train was the equivalent of 250 trucks.

Today operated by SCL successor CSX Transportation, CSX Juice Trains have been the focus of efficiency studies and awards as examples of how modern rail transportation can compete successfully against trucking and other modes to carry perishable products.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaboard_Coast_Line_Railroad

1552947051690.png


https://www.american-rails.com/images/seaboard-coast-line-railroad-map.jpg
3738

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Last edited:
NWP
Northwestern Pacific
Never Without Public Regard
Never was prompt
No Where in Particular

The Northwestern Pacific Railroad (reporting mark NWP) is a regional railroad that serves the North Coast of California. Its main line is 271 miles (436 km) long and runs between Schellville and Eureka. An additional portion of the line runs from the Ignacio Wye to the edge of San Rafael. Currently, only the 62 mi (100 km) stretch between Schellville and Windsor is in operation with freight and Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit commuter trains.

The portion of the NWP main line between the Ignacio Wye in Marin County and the depot in Healdsburg is owned by Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART), a commuter railroad. The Schellville–Ignacio and Healdsburg–Eureka portions are owned by the North Coast Railroad Authority. Private contractor NWPco operates freight service under NCRA lease.

History
In the late 1800s both the Southern Pacific Railroad (“SP”) and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (“AT&SF”) had great interests in building lines north from San Francisco to Humboldt County to transport lumber south. The Southern Pacific Railroad controlled the southern end of the line from Willits south to Marin and Schellville, while the AT&SF controlled line south from Eureka through Humboldt County. Both railroads planned to build a line north, the AT&SF starting with a boat connection in present-day Larkspur, California, and the Southern Pacific, starting at its interchange in American Canyon, north through Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties to finally terminate in Eureka, California. As plans went forward it became clear that only one railroad would be profitable serving Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, so the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe entered into a joint agreement, and in 1906 merged 42 railroad companies between Marin and Humboldt Bay to create one railroad line stretching from Sausalito to Eureka. Completion of the project was disrupted by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; plans and right-of-way documents were destroyed in the subsequent fire. After a time-expedient "punt" of the route through the unstable Eel River Canyon, construction was finally completed in October 1914 when a "golden spike" ceremony and celebration was held to mark the accomplishment. There were also dozens of miles of narrow-gauge trackage in Marin and Sonoma Counties.


The railroad used ferries of San Francisco Bay for freight transfer until connected to the national rail network at Napa Junction by the Santa Rosa and Carquinez Railroad in 1888. The Santa Rosa and Carquinez remained part of SP independent of the NWP with a primary freight interchange at Schellville. SP's Santa Rosa branch continued from Schellville through Sonoma to a separate terminal yard on North Street in Santa Rosa. Freight interchange was predominantly through Ignacio, but there was a second connection to the SP in Santa Rosa until the line through the Valley of the Moon was abandoned in 1935.

The railroad service became popular; an early daily NWP timetable shows 10 passenger trains each way, plus dozens of freights. The rail line soon replaced steam schooners as the main means of getting lumber from Humboldt County to market. Rail service to inland areas facilitated local development of the lumber industry.

In 1929 the AT&SF sold its half-interest to the Southern Pacific, making the NWP a full SP subsidiary.

The SP era
Passenger service boomed until the 1930s, when improved roads and highways made traveling and shipping by motor vehicle more accessible, and by 1935 both freight and passenger service slowed to a crawl because of the Great Depression. With the onset of World War II, freight shipments rose while passenger service stayed roughly the same. Freight service on the NWP picked up heavily again in the 1950s as a large increase in the demand for lumber came about due to the post-war housing boom.


Branch lines were dismantled during the 1930s. The Sebastopol branch became redundant following purchase of the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad in 1932, and California State Route 12 adopted the former alignment between Leddy and Sebastopol. The Trinidad extension reverted to a logging line after NWP service ended in 1933. Sonoma County's River Road adopted the former alignment of the Guerneville branch from Fulton to Duncans Mills after rails were removed in 1935. Diesels were being used on all trains by 1953, with the exception of ten-wheelers number 181 and 183 pulling passenger trains numbered 3 and 4 between Willits and Eureka with number 182 on standby. NWP locomotives 112, 140, 141, 143, and 178 plus SP numbers 2345, 2356, 2564, 2582, and 2810 were stored at Tiburon for emergency use; but steam power had disappeared by 1955. During March 1958, with the exception of the tri-weekly Willits-Eureka Budd Rail Diesel Car passenger service, all mainline passenger service was discontinued. The "Budd car" made its last run in 1969.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwestern_Pacific_Railroad

1553535651567.png


http://www.nwprrhs.org/images/1930-nwp-map1.jpg
3788

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
C P & V
Cincinnati, Portsmouth and Virginia
Coats, Pants and Vest

Cincinnati Portsmouth & Virginia Railroad was incorporated June 24, 1891. This company was formerly the Ohio and Northwestern Railroad Company, organized February 12, 1886. The line of this road extended from Idlewild, Ohio, to Sciotoville, Ohio, a distance of 108 miles. On November 14, 1899, the Cincinnati, Portsmouth and Virginia Railroad leased the track of the Cincinnati Connecting Belt Railroad for 99 years, renewable forever, guaranteeing the payment of the $200,000 first mortgage 5 per cent gold bonds of the Cincinnati Connecting Belt Railroad, dated July 1, 1899, due July 1, 1929.

http://www.portsmouthinfo.net/c-v---p-rr.html

The Cincinnati and Eastern Railway was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railroad that completed its line from a junction with the Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway north of Cincinnati east to Portsmouth, Ohio in 1884. It began as the Cincinnati, Batavia and Williamsburg Railroad in January 1876, and was renamed in May of the same year. The line was sold at foreclosure in January 1887 to the Ohio and North Western Railroad (which had been chartered in 1886) and the line was converted to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge. In March 1890 it was again foreclosed, passing to the Cincinnati, Portsmouth and Virginia Railroad in June 1891. That company merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway in October 1901. The line is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway, with the portion between Clare Yard and Seaman, Ohio currently leased to the Cincinnati Eastern Railroad (CCET; formerly the Cincinnati East Terminal Railway) since April 2014. The rest of the line into Portsmouth, Ohio has been "rail banked" by NS.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_and_Eastern_Railway

1554814221175.png


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FdCP4OhFLTA/TQ6EkdjaVGI/AAAAAAAAAFU/ORVDCvGnnBU/s1600/cpv005.jpg
3927

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
J W & NW
Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern
Jesus Wept and No Wonder

The Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern Railroad (JW&NW) was an electric interurban railroad that served the New York towns of Jamestown and Westfield from 1914 to 1950.

Dubbed the "Chautauqua Lake Route", the single track 32-mile (51 km) electric interurban provided frequent passenger and freight trolley service in the northern part of New York. From Jamestown, the route was west along the north edge of Chautauqua Lake with stops at Greenhurst, Bemus Point, Dewittville, and Mayville. After crossing the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) Chautauqua Branch at Mayville, the line climbed steep hills and passed through scenic "Hogsback Ravine" at the grade's summit. It then dropped down a very curvy route to Westfield. At Westfield, the line crossed under the Nickel Plate Railroad to reach its depot which was the west end of the New York Central Railroad (NYC) station. This passenger and freight interchange with the New York Central was essential to the line's financial health.

A JW&NW schedule from 1941 shows six daily trips 6am to 9pm, each way, three hours apart, to meet NYC passenger trains that stopped at Westfield. The trip to Jamestown took one hour. The JW&NW and the NYC interchanged considerable freight traffic as well as exchanged passengers.

The JW&NW operated bright red heavy steel passenger interurban cars (including one with an observation platform) and interurban freight motors capable of pulling two or three freight cars. The NYC would set out cars on the Westfield interchange tracks to be taken to Jamestown, and the JW&NW would set out cars for the NYC to pick up. Jamestown had a significant furniture manufacturing industry. Wood and other materials necessary for furniture production went to Jamestown. Finished furniture went to Westfield to be picked up by the New York Central.

At Mayville, the JW&NW crossed a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad where JW&NW-PRR interchange tracks allowed PRR lumber and coal setouts routed to Jamestown. The JW&NW tower and dispatcher were at this junction. PRR and JW&NW control and signaling to prevent collisions (called interlocking) was the responsibility of the JW&NW tower. Dispatching orders for the conductors of the interurban cars was by written order, and the interurbans stopped here to pick them up. Passenger and freight business for the line was at its greatest in the 1920s.

In a 1941 ad, the line offered two-day LCL (Less-than-carload freight) shipping to New York City from Jamestown, and three days to Chicago.

The grade out of Westfield into the hills to reach the Jamestown valley was quite scenic, passing through Hogsback Ravine. However, the grade was steep, and the interurbans worked hard making the climb, particularly the electric powered freights. The 32-mile JW&NW represented classic small town-to-rural electric interurban operation similar to interurbans all over the 1920s United States.

The sight of the large red steel interurbans lumbering by at grade crossings was a familiar one for years. Most interurban lines were abandoned during the 1930s due to increased car ownership and improving highways plus the impact of the Great Depression. The JW&NW's survival to 1947 was due to the amount of freight that it hauled to the New York Central for the many Jamestown factories.

After passenger abandonment in 1947, the JW&NW continued freight operation with diesels, but gradually freight business declined along with Jamestown's industrial activity which for years had been primarily the manufacture of furniture. Shipping business also was lost to trucks. Total abandonment occurred in 1950.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Westfield_and_Northwestern_Railroad

1555588303453.png

http://www.vizettes.com/kt/ne-interurbans/images/maps/jamestown-olean-interurban-map.jpg
4060

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
L S & M S
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad
Large Stations and Miserable Salaries
Less Sleep and More Speed
The Ramshorn (windy roadbed)

The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833 and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the south shore of Lake Erie (in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio) and across northern Indiana. The line's trackage is still used as a major rail transportation corridor and hosts Amtrak passenger trains, with the ownership in 1998 split at Cleveland between CSX to the east, and Norfolk Southern in the west.

Toledo to Chicago
On April 22, 1833, the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad was chartered in the Territory of Michigan to run from the former Port Lawrence, Michigan (now Toledo, Ohio), near Lake Erie, northwest to Adrian on the River Raisin. The Toledo War soon gave about one-third of the route to the state of Ohio. Trains commenced operating, pulled by horses, on November 2, 1836; the horses were replaced by a newly arrived steam locomotive, Adrian No. 1, in August 1837.


The Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad was chartered in Indiana on February 6, 1835, to run from Buffalo, New York, to the Mississippi River. The name was changed February 6, 1837, to the Northern Indiana Railroad, which would run from the eastern border of Indiana west to Michigan City on Lake Michigan. Some grading between Michigan City and La Porte was done in 1838, but money ran out.

Around 1838, the state of Michigan started to build the Southern Railroad, running from Monroe on Lake Erie west to New Buffalo on Lake Michigan. The first section, from Monroe west to Petersburg, opened in 1839. Extensions opened in 1840 to Adrian and 1843 to Hillsdale. On May 9, 1846, the partially completed line was sold to the Michigan Southern Rail Road, which changed the planned western terminal to Chicago using the charter of the Northern Indiana Railroad. The grading that had been done was not used, as the grade was too steep, and instead the original Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad charter was used west of La Porte, IN. The Michigan Southern leased the Erie and Kalamazoo on August 1, 1849, giving it a branch to Toledo, OH and a connection to planned railroads east from Toledo.

Due to lobbying by the Michigan Central Railroad, a competitor of the Michigan Southern, the latter's charter prevented it from going within two miles of the Indiana state line east of Constantine. However the most practical route went closer than two miles west of White Pigeon. To allow for this, Judge Stanfield of South Bend, IN bought the right-of-way from White Pigeon to the state line, and leased it to the railroad company for about 10 years until the charter was modified to allow the company to own it.

The Northern Indiana and Chicago Railroad was chartered on November 30, 1850. Its initial tracks, from the Michigan Southern at the state line running west-southwest to Elkhart, IN then west through Osceola and Mishawaka to South Bend, IN, opened on October 4, 1851. The full line west to Chicago opened on February 20, 1852, (running to the predecessor of today's LaSalle Street Station, together with the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad north of Englewood, IL). A more direct line was soon planned from Elkhart east to Toledo, and the Northern Indiana Railroad was chartered in Ohio on March 3, 1851. On July 8, 1853, the Ohio and Indiana companies merged, and on February 7, 1855, the Northern Indiana and Chicago Railroad and the Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad were merged into the Northern Indiana Railroad. On April 25, 1855, that company in turn merged with the Michigan Southern Rail Road to form the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad. In 1858 the new alignment (Northern Indiana Air Line) from Elkhart, IN east to Air Line Junction in Toledo, OH was completed. The company now owned a main line from Chicago to Toledo, with an alternate route through southern Michigan east of Elkhart, and a branch off that alternate to Monroe, MI. Also included was the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad, leased July 1, 1856, and providing a branch from Toledo past Monroe to Detroit.

Erie to Cleveland
The Franklin Canal Company was chartered May 21, 1844, and built a railroad from Erie, PA southwest to the Ohio border. The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad was incorporated February 18, 1848, to build northeast from Cleveland, OH to join the Canal Company's railroad at the state line, and the full line from Erie to Cleveland opened November 20, 1852. The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula bought the Franklin Canal Company on June 20, 1854.


Buffalo to Erie
The Buffalo and State Line Railroad was incorporated October 13, 1849, and opened January 1, 1852, from Dunkirk, NY west to Pennsylvania. The rest of the line from Dunkirk to Buffalo opened on February 22. The Erie and North East Railroad was chartered April 12, 1842, to build the part from the state line west to Erie, PA, and opened on January 19, 1852. On November 16, 1853, an agreement was made between the two railroads, which had been built at 6 ft (1,829 mm) broad gauge, to relay the rails at 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge to match the Franklin Canal Company's railroad (see below) on the other side of Erie, and for the Buffalo and State Line to operate the Erie and Northeast. This would result in through passengers no longer having to change trains at Erie, and on December 7, 1853, the Erie Gauge War began between the railroads and the townspeople. On February 1, 1854, the relaying was finished and the first train passed through Erie. On May 15, 1867, the two companies between Buffalo and Erie merged to form the Buffalo and Erie Railroad.


Cleveland to Toledo
The Junction Railroad was chartered March 2, 1846, to build from Cleveland west to Toledo. The Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad was chartered March 7, 1850, to build from Toledo east to Grafton on the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad. The latter company opened on January 24, 1853, finally forming a continuous Buffalo-Chicago line. On September 1 the two companies merged to form the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad, with the Junction Railroad becoming the Northern Division and the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland the Southern Division. The Northern Division opened from Cleveland west to Sandusky on October 24, 1853, and the rest of the way to Toledo on April 24, 1855. The Northern Division was abandoned west of Sandusky due to lack of business, but the track was relaid in 1872, merging with the Southern Division at Millbury, east of Toledo. In 1866 the Southern Division east of Oberlin was abandoned and a new line was built to Elyria on the Northern Division, ending the use of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Shore_and_Michigan_Southern_Railway

1556391253721.png

http://railsandtrails.com/NYC/LS&MS1900/p000-Map-200cw.jpg
4120

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
CN
Canadian National Railroad
Can Not Rush
Certainly No Rush
Chicken Noodle
Cost Nothing
Crash National
Currently Negotiating

The Canadian National Railways (CNR) was incorporated on June 6, 1919, comprising several railways that had become bankrupt and fallen into federal government hands, along with some railways already owned by the government. On November 17, 1995, the federal government privatized CN. Over the next decade, the company expanded significantly into the United States, purchasing Illinois Central Railroad and Wisconsin Central Transportation, among others. Now primarily a freight railway, CN also operated passenger services until 1978, when they were assumed by Via Rail. The only passenger services run by CN after 1978 were several mixed trains (freight and passenger) in Newfoundland, and a several commuter trains both on CN's electrified routes and towards the South Shore in the Montreal area (the latter lasted without any public subsidy until 1986). The Newfoundland mixed trains lasted until 1988, while the Montreal commuter trains are now operated by Montreal's AMT.

In response to public concerns fearing loss of key transportation links, the government of Canada assumed majority ownership of the near bankrupt Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) on September 6, 1918, and appointed a "Board of Management" to oversee the company. At the same time, CNoR was also directed to assume management of Canadian Government Railways (CGR), a system comprising the Intercolonial Railway of Canada (IRC), National Transcontinental Railway (NTR), and the Prince Edward Island Railway (PEIR), among others. On December 20, 1918, the federal government created the Canadian National Railways (CNR) – a title only with no corporate powers – through a Canadian Privy Council Order in Council as a means to simplify the funding and operation of the various railway companies. The absorption of the Intercolonial Railway would see CNR adopt that system's slogan The People's Railway.

Another Canadian railway, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR), encountered financial difficulty on March 7, 1919, when its parent company Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) defaulted on repayment of construction loans to the federal government. The federal government's Department of Railways and Canals took over operation of the GTPR until July 12, 1920, when it too was placed under the CNR. The Canadian National Railway was organized on October 10, 1922.

Finally, the bankrupt GTR itself was placed under the care of a federal government "Board of Management" on May 21, 1920, while GTR management and shareholders opposed to nationalization took legal action. After several years of arbitration, the GTR was absorbed into CNR on January 30, 1923. In subsequent years, several smaller independent railways would be added to the CNR as they went bankrupt, or it became politically expedient to do so, however the system was more or less finalized following the addition of the GTR.

Canadian National Railways was born out of both wartime and domestic urgency. Railways, until the rise of the personal automobile and creation of taxpayer-funded all-weather highways, were the only viable long-distance land transportation available in Canada for many years. As such, their operation consumed a great deal of public and political attention. Many countries regard railway networks as critical infrastructure (even to this day) and at the time of the creation of CNR during the continuing threat of the First World War, Canada was not the only country to engage in railway nationalization.

In the early 20th century, many governments were taking a more interventionist role in the economy, foreshadowing the influence of economists like John Maynard Keynes. This political trend, combined with broader geo-political events, made nationalization an appealing choice for Canada. The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and allied involvement in the Russian Revolution seemed to validate the continuing process. The need for a viable rail system was paramount in a time of civil unrest and foreign military intervention.

1560252691546.png

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_Railway
4368

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
D S S & A
Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic
'Official' nickname "South Shore"
Dam* Slow Service and Abuse
Dam* Slow, Shabby Affair
Dam*ed Small Salaries and Abuse
Dead Slow Service and Agony
Dirt, Soot, Smoke, and Ashes

The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway (DSS&A) was an American railroad serving the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the Lake Superior shoreline of Wisconsin. It provided service from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and St. Ignace, Michigan, westward through Marquette, Michigan to Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota. A branchline stretched northward from Nestoria, Michigan up to the Keweenaw Peninsula and terminating at Houghton, Michigan, with two branches extending further to Calumet, Michigan and Lake Linden, Michigan.

The first predecessor of the DSS&A began operations in 1855. The railroad fell under the control of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1888, and was operated from 1888 until 1960 as an independently nameplated subsidiary of the CPR. In 1949, a reorganization of the DSS&A took place, creating new heralds and designating the company a railroad instead of a railway. In 1961, the DSS&A was folded into the CPR-controlled Soo Line Railroad. Since 2001, the remaining operating trackage of the former DSS&A has been operated by the Canadian National Railway (CN). Short stretches of original DSS&A trackage are still operated between Trout Lake and Munising Junction, from Ishpeming to Baraga, and between White Pine and Marengo Junction.

The development in the 1850s of hematite iron ore mines in the Upper Peninsula hills above Marquette encouraged the development of numerous railroad plans for spur lines and connecting routes between mines, local boom towns, and the shores of the Great Lakes. While most of the Upper Peninsula's iron ore and Keweenaw copper was shipped to the rest of the United States by lake boat, the inability of water-based shippers to offer service to northern Michigan in winter encouraged railroad promoters to launch numerous plans for lines in the Upper Peninsula.

By the 1870s, a maze of corporate charters and tiny stub lines had been created or built in the central Upper Peninsula, primarily to carry iron or copper ore from the mines down to smelters and docks on the shores of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. In 1879-81, venture capitalists led the construction of the Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette (DM&M), a standard-gauge main line from St. Ignace, on the Straits of Mackinac, to Marquette on Lake Superior. The roadbed included a surveyor-straight 25-mile (40 km) east-west section, the ancestor of today's "Seney stretch". Although the state of Michigan granted the DM&M more than 1.3 million acres (5,300 km²) of state land, almost 9000 acres-per-mile (23 km²/km) as a construction subsidy, by 1886 the new DM&M went into receivership.

The DM&M was reorganized by venture capitalist James McMillan of Detroit, who led the rapid consolidation of the DM&M and many of the UP's smaller railroads during the early 1880s. The new Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic went into operation as a merger of these lines in December 1886.

The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), transcontinental line, took control of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic in 1888. In 1892-94, CPR funds financed the construction of the DSS&A westward from the Keweenaw Peninsula to Duluth.

During the 1890s, the timber industry reached the peak of its operations on the Lake Superior shoreline properties adjacent to the DSS&A's new main line, with irreplaceable old-growth white pines falling to the lumbermen's saws and axes. After white pines were exhausted, local cutters began to turn to high-quality hardwoods such as sugar maple, and then to pulpwoods such as paper birch and aspen.

At the height of the railroad's operations in 1911, the DSS&A operated 623 miles (1,003 km) of track, of which 517 miles (832 km) were main line and 106 miles (171 km) were branch lines and trackage rights. The railroad operated 3,121 pieces of rolling stock, including 82 locomotives, 67 passenger cars, 35 cabooses, and 2,957 freight cars.

In 1913 the DSS&A's freight operations peaked at almost 1 million short tons (900,000 metric tons), of which more than half were forest products. In the late 1910s, timber yields began to decline all over the Upper Peninsula. This was a blow from which the DSS&A could not recover as an independent nameplate. Its story from 1920 onwards was that of the American railway industry as a whole, with negative factors intensified by unfavorable local business conditions in northern Michigan.

In 1957, the State of Michigan opened the Mackinac Bridge, a 5-mile (8.0 km) long suspension bridge carrying an all-weather hard road across the Straits of Mackinac into the Upper Peninsula. The DSS&A responded by ending its remaining passenger rail service in January 1958. In 1961, its Canadian owners merged it with the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie, and the DSS&A became part of the Soo Line.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duluth,_South_Shore_and_Atlantic_Railway


1561231439073.png

https://riogrande.blog.so-net.ne.jp/_images/blog/_169/riogrande/map_dssa-35b0b.jpg
4446

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
W V C & P
West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh
Watch Very Carefully and Proceed

The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC&P) was a railroad in West Virginia and Maryland operating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It had main lines radiating from Elkins, West Virginia in four principal directions: north to Cumberland, Maryland; west to Belington, WV; south to Huttonsville, WV; and east to Durbin, WV. Some of the routes were constructed through subsidiary companies, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway and the Coal and Iron Railway.

West Virginia businessman Henry G. Davis founded the Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railroad Company in 1866. In 1880 the company began to construct a rail line from a junction on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) near Bloomington, Maryland, south along the North Branch Potomac River. In 1881 the line reached coal fields near Elk Garden, WV, and Davis obtained new charters from the states of West Virginia and Maryland, renaming the company as WVC&P.

By 1884 the line reached Fairfax, WV and the location of the future town of Davis, WV. Davis became a center for logging, sawmills and leather tanning, and in the 1890s it was the starting point for the rapidly growing Davis Coal and Coke Company. In 1886 the WVC&P began construction north from the Bloomington junction (known as WVC Junction) toward Westernport, Maryland and Cumberland, using a newly created subsidiary, the Piedmont and Cumberland (P&C). The P&C reached Cumberland in July 1887. Connections with the B&O were established at Cumberland and Rawlings, Maryland.

Southward construction on the WVC&P continued, and the line reached Parsons in 1888 and Elkins (formerly Leadville) in 1889. Elkins became a major hub for the railroad. A branch out of Elkins west and north along the Tygart Valley River was constructed and reached Belington in 1891. Another branch followed the river south, reaching Beverly in 1891 and Huttonsville in 1899.

In 1899 the WVC&P established the Coal and Iron Railway (C&I) to build a line from Elkins to Durbin. By 1903 the line to Durbin was complete and a connection was made there with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O).

The WVC&P and subsidiaries were sold to the Fuller Syndicate, led by George Gould, in 1902 and merged into the Western Maryland Railway (WM) in 1905. The newly built WM connected to the WVC&P in Ridgeley, WV. The WM was taken over by the Chessie System in 1973, and the Chessie System in turn was merged out of existence and into CSX Transportation in 1980.

Portions of the original WVC&P lines are used by CSX for freight operations. Other portions are owned by the West Virginia State Rail Authority, which contracts with the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad to operate a tourist railroad from Elkins, Belington and Durbin.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_Central_and_Pittsburg_Railway

1563127022817.png

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/200721032894-0-1/s-l1000.jpg
4601

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Back
Top