Montana Rail Link

The Montana Rail Link (MRL) is a privately held Class II railroad operated out of Missoula, Montana. The MRL is a unit of the Washington Companies and operates on trackage originally built by the Northern Pacific Railway. MRL runs between Huntley, Montana and Spokane, Washington, passing through Missoula, Livingston, Bozeman, Billings, and Helena, and connects with the BNSF on both ends of the line, and also in Garrison, Montana. The railroad has over 900 miles of track, serves 100 stations, and employs 1,000 personnel, making it one of the largest Class II railroads in the country.

MRL got it’s start in 1987 when BNSF agreed to lease its former Northern Pacific main line between Billings, Montana and Sandpoint, Idaho. This new line was to be operated by Dennis Washington, who named it Montana Rail Link. Thus the MRL was born with over 900 miles of track.

Since the MRL line is connected to BNSF at both endpoints, a significant portion of MRL traffic is actually complete BNSF units, where MRL receives the train at one end and passes it back to BNSF at the other end. MRL also operates several local trains to distribute local freight, mainly forest products and grain, along its lines. The Gas Local is another significant MRL train, operating between Missoula and Thompson Falls, to bridge a gap in a long-distance gasoline pipeline.

The MRL is known to be a very well-run railroad, and has become so profitable that they recently completed a purchase of 25 new EMD SD70ACe locomotives. This new purchase added modern power to an already large fleet of EMD locomotives operated by MRL. These new SD70ACe locomotives are intended to replace aging SD40 and SD45 locomotives on trains crossing the Rocky Mountains over the continental divide at Mullan Pass near Helena, Montana, and Bozeman Pass near Bozeman, Montana.

Although the MRL is a very well-run railroad, they are not immune to disaster. On February 2, 1989, one of the most severe accidents in MRL history occurred. 48 decoupled rail cars rolled into Helena hitting a parked work train. The train caught fire and exploded, extensively damaging nearby property. Windows were blasted out up to three miles away from the impact, and most of the city lost power, with residents being forced to evacuate in subzero weather.

The cars were decoupled as engineers opted to switch the lead engine of a train because it lacked a working heater. Unfortunately the rest of the train started to roll and didn’t stop rolling until they hit a parked locomotive in Helena. A tank car carrying isopropyl alcohol caught fire, sparking an explosion in a adjacent tank of hydrogen peroxide. Cleanup was hampered by the cold, as it was minus 28 with a wind chill of minus 75 outside at the time. Both people and machines froze up in the bitter cold, but in the end there were no injuries reported during the disaster. According to one of the volunteers, “In the end, it was more of an adventure than a tragedy.”

Cotton Belt

The Saint Louis Southwestern Railroad (STLSW, or Cotton Belt) began life in 1877 near Tyler, Texas as the Tyler Tap Railroad. The citizens of Tyler longed to be connected to a main line railroad. This hope came to life when Major James P. Douglas returned from war. Major Douglas held a particular interest in the fruit industry in East Texas, and he saw the need for increased infrastructure in the area in order to grow the industry. Major Douglas petitioned the Twelfth Legislature of Texas to pass a special act of incorporation granting to him and others the right to locate, construct, own, operate, and maintain a railroad, with a single or double track, for a distance not exceeding 40 miles from Tyler to connect with some other railroad, to be selected by the directors. This was granted in 1871, and a narrow gauge line of three feet was built and operated with one locomotive.

Unfortunately the tiny railroad ran into financial trouble, and in 1879, Douglas went to a group of investors located in Saint Louis. The group was headed by James W. Paramore, the owner of the St. Louis Cotton Compress Company. Paramore was looking for a way to ship his cotton into Texas. Paramore agreed to terms with Douglas, and in 1879 the Tyler Tap Railroad was reorganized as the Texas & St. Louis Railway. The track from the Tyler Tap Railroad was extended to St. Louis in the north and Texarkana in the south, with the plan to extend to Waco by 1881.

Paramore had visions of extending his new railroad. He received permission to run in Arkansas and Missouri, but he needed help on the Arkansas end of the venture. He recruited Samuel W. Fordyce, who immediately began searching for a suitable route through his home state. Fordyce came up with a route through Texarkana, Camden, Pine Bluff, Clardon, Jonesboro, and Birds Point, Missouri. Construction began in 1881 using rails imported from England, and white oak ties, and was completed in 1883. The Texas & St. Louis Railway was again reorganized as the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway in 1886, and began the change to standard rail on October 18 of that year.

The St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway then began acquiring short lines to expand its track mileage. In 1891, the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway was reorganized as the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company (STLSW or Cotton Belt). The Cotton Belt continued absorbing short line railroads through 1918, greatly expanding its presence in the area.

Progress caught up the Cotton Belt as they held an important section of track for the Southern Pacific, connecting parts east of Texas with the Pacific during the 1920s. The SP began consolidating it’s operations in the late 1920s in order to strengthen its position in the Southwest. In July, 1930, the SP filed an application with the ICC seeking to acquire control of the Cotton Belt through ownership of a majority of its capital stock. The plan went through, and in 1932, the Southern Pacific purchased sufficient stocks to complete control of the Cotton Belt.

The SP continued to operate the Cotton Belt as a separate entity until 1992, when the SP consolidated Cotton Belt’s operations into the parent company. During this span, Cotton Belt locomotives were painted in Southern Pacific paint schemes, but with “Cotton Belt” or “SSW” markings. Then in 1996, the Union Pacific railroad finished the acquisition, merging both companies into the UP, and remarking locomotives as UP for all railroad operations.

Monorail

One of the most unique connections to the tinplate era and U.S. industry can be found in the form of a tinplate toy monorail system that was manufactured in the late 1920s by Leland Detroit a company headed up by men who helped found Cadillac and Lincoln Motor Company.

That a car manufacturer had a hand in the development of this unique tinplate set is interesting enough. That the manufacturer introduced the world to both Cadillac and Lincoln, two of the most well known luxury automobile nameplates in the U.S. is even more fascinating.

The original 3-car monorail set operated on 6 to 12 volts AC from any common toy train transformer and featured a single motor that was mounted above the powered car. The other cars were unpowered, but all shared the same body stamping tools and all utilized bayonet interior bulbs, the first toy trains to do so. Reversing direction was facilitated by a hand reverse lever. The track itself was composed of parallel rail sections attached to wire hangers. Each hanger was inserted into a cast iron red base.

The Lionel Corporation Tinplate Leland Detroit Monorail captures the essence of the original 3-car monorail set and can be purchased in a Traditional version with the hand reverse lever or a Contemporary version fully equipped with Proto-Sound 3.0. Whichever you choose, the bright shiny colors and durable tinplate construction will bring a long missing touch to any tinplate layout.

New York Central

The history of the New York Central Railroad (NYC) began with the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal opened in 1825, and was the main route of transportation between Albany and Buffalo, New York at the time. However, this water route included several locks, and was thus extremely slow. In an effort to reduce transit time, stagecoaches began traversing the direct routes between cities. Then in 1826, the Mohawk & Hudson Rail Road (M&H) was incorporated to replace the stagecoach route between Albany and Schenectady. The M&H began operation in 1831 with it’s first locomotive, the DeWitt Clinton. Shortly after the M&H began operation, there was a call for a railroad to connect Albany with Buffalo, reducing transit time, and reducing the load on the Erie Canal.

After the success of the M&H, several other railroads replaced overland stagecoach routes along the path, and in 1841 it was possible to make the entire journey from Albany to Buffalo by rail in 25 hours. Then in 1853, the ten different railroads connecting Buffalo to Albany were consolidated as the New York Central Railroad.

By 1863 Cornelius Vanderbilt had acquired control of the New York Central, consolidating it with the Hudson River to form the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad (NYC&HR).

As the controlling interest in the New York Central, Vanderbilt wanted to build a grand terminal for the NYC&HR in New York City. Construction for the Grand Central Depot began in 1869 on the corner of 42nd Street and Fourth Avenue, and was completed in two years. The Grand Central Depot served as three separate stations serving the NYC&HR, the New York & Hudson, and the New Haven.

This was the first of the three Grand Centrals, with the present station, the Grand Central Terminal, opening in 1913. The Grand Central Terminal was a marvel with 48 total platform tracks on two subterranean levels, depressing and decking over the tracks along Park Avenue, and electrification of the NYC lines north to Harmon and White Plains.

Over the next two decades, the New York Central underwent name changes, consolidations, mergers, acquisitions, and expansions. The final name change to the New York Central System occurred in 1935. By that point, it was the largest eastern railroad in terms of track mileage, and second only the the mighty Pennsy in terms of revenue. The NYC operated mainly industrial freight and passenger service.

The NYC System continued to compete with the PRR through the following decades, with the advantage of generally level topography over the rugged mountainous terrain of the PRR. This led to steam locomotives designed for speed along the famous “Water Level Route” of the NYC as opposed to the small mountain trains of the PRR.

The NYC began its decline after World War Two due in part to rising labor and material costs. Due to rising costs and falling revenue, the NYC was forced to rapidly diesellize, hoping to save money on the costly steam engine repairs and maintenance. Airline service and the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 put further strain on the NYC as more passengers travelled by car or plane, and more freight was transported over the new highway system. All of this in conjunction with substantial tax burdens – both property taxes on the NYC land holdings and the wartime-era tax of 15% on passenger fares – created such a substantial burden that the NYC began looking for merger partners.

The end result was NYC merging with the PRR in the the disastrous Penn Central merger in 1968. By 1970, the Penn Central filed for bankruptcy. As the PC was falling apart, the federal government created the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) to keep the PC line from completely shutting down. Conrail has since been split between CSX and Norfolk Southern, with CSX ending up with much of the original NYC.

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) was chartered in 1846 by the state of Pennsylvania to connect Harrisburg with Pittsburgh. The line was surveyed by J. Edgar Thompson, who had built the Georgia Railroad. Instead of summiting the mountains with a small but steady grade, Thompson laid a line at water-level from Harrisburg to Altoona, where a steeper grade began for a short hill climb.

Construction began in 1847, and in 1849 the PRR made an operating contract with the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mountjoy & Lancaster Railroad (HPMtJ&L). By 1852 rails ran from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and the summit tunnel was opened in February 1854 thus creating a continuous line from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh and fulfilling the original charter.

Through purchasing the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, the railroad reached Chicago in 1856, and by 1873 the PRR had reached New York City. By the first part of the 1900s the PRR had reached St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Columbus. In 1910, with the completion of a tunnel under the Hudson River, it became the only railroad to enter New York City from the south. By mid-century, the Pennsy served nearly every town north of the Mason-Dixon Line, and had amassed a staggering 10,000-mile system.

Throughout most of its history the Pennsylvania was a prosperous railroad, losing money for the first time in 1946. It suffered from the disadvantage that its route to Chicago had to cross the Appalachians, with grades of greater than 0.5 percent. Its chief competitor, the New York Central, had a water-level route to Chicago. In February 1968 the two railroads merged to form the Penn Central Transportation Company, which absorbed the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company the following year. The new corporation also had a number of subsidiaries in real estate, oil refining, and a variety of other industries.

Penn Central encountered serious management and financial difficulties, however, and was forced into bankruptcy in June 1970. Its passenger services were taken over by the federally established National Railway Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) in 1971. The Penn Central continued to lose money, and, when efforts at reorganization failed, the assets of the railroad were acquired by Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) in April 1976. Operation of the New York-Washington route was later transferred to Amtrak. The Penn Central Corporation continued in business as a diversified corporation not connected with the railroad industry.

Long after its demise through the disastrous Penn Central merger, the PRR is remembered chiefly for it’s legendary GG-1 locomotives, the Broadway Limited passenger train and it’s grand Pennsylvania Station in New York City. The GG-1 came on the heels of one of the most impressive accomplishments of railroading history, the electrification of its lines from New York City to Washington DC, and from Philadelphia to Harrisburg.

Once electrification was complete, the GG-1 was unveiled. Able to operate bi-directionally, and cruise effortlessly with freight and passenger trains at over 100 miles per hour, the GG-1s owned the rails along the eastern electrified lines. These locomotives were designed by Raymond Loewy, who also gave the famous cat whisker pinstripes, and they continued to operate for more than 50 years, outlasting the railroad itself, and operating into the Conrail era.

Southern Railway

The Southern Railway exemplifies the Class I Railroads of the late 1800s. It was the product of nearly 150 different small railroads that were combined, reorganized, and recombined throughout the mid 1800s. The Southern Railway (SOU) officially came into existence 1894 through the combination of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, the Richmond & Danville system and the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad.

The first official predecessor of the Southern Railway was the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company (SCCRRC), one of the first railroads in the United States. The SCCRRC was chartered in 1827 and ran the first regular steam passenger route in 1830, beginning Southern’s tradition of innovation among railroads. In 1833, the SCCRRC had completed a 136 mile line from Charleston to Hamburg, South Carolina, the longest continuous track in the world at that time.

Throughout the mid-1800s many railroad networks sprung up in the South. By 1857 the Memphis & Charleston Railroad completed a link from Charleston to Memphis, Tennessee. Rail networks eventually spread across the South and the Appalachian Mountains. The Civil War halted all rail expansion.

During the Civil War, many important battles were waged over the South’s railroad network. The Battle of Shiloh, the Siege of Corinth, and the Second Battle of Corinth were all motivated by the importance of the Memphis & Charleston connection, the only East-West rail link across the Confederate States. The Chickamauga Campaign was also motivated by the importance of the Memphis-Charleston connection as well as other important Southern routes. Another route in the South, the Richmond & York River Railroad, was the major focus of George McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign, which culminated in the Seven Days Battles, devastating the small railroad. By the late stages of the Civil War, nearly all of the Confederate connections to Richmond, Virginia were lost or destroyed. The only remaining link was the Richmond & Danville Railroad which served to transport Jefferson Davis and his cabinet to Danville, Virginia just before the fall of Richmond in April 1865.

The Civil War left the railroads and economy in shambles. After the war, most of the railroads were repaired, reorganized and operated again. The Richmond & Danville System expanded throughout the South during the Reconstruction period, but by 1893 they had overextended and were left in financial trouble. J.P. Morgan gained control at this time. He then reorganized it as the Southern Railway, which included the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, the Richmond & Danville System, and the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad.

Southern expanded quickly, gaining control of the Alabama Great Southern and the Georgia Southern & Florida, and gained an interest in the Central of Georgia. During the 12 year term of Southern’s first president, Samuel Spencer, new shops were built in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia, and more equipment was purchased. The railroad was also refocused from agricultural dependence to diversified traffic and industrial development. Spencer’s time in office came to an end when he was killed by a train wreck in 1906.

After Spencer, Southern acquired a line form Meridian, Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1916. At that point, Southern had a 8,000 mile, 13 state rail system that lasted for nearly 50 years. The only major changes after that point were the acquisition of the Central of Georgia in 1963 and the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1974. Then in 1982, the Southern Railway merged with the Norfolk & Western to form the Norfolk Southern Railway.

MoPac

Like many Class I railroads, the Missouri Pacific Railroad (MoPac) has a long history of mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcies. The MoPac began life as the Pacific Railroad, when ground was broken in St. Louis on July 4, 1851. The Pacific Railroad was the first railroad to operate west of the Mississippi River, a slogan MoPac was quick to incorporate in its advertising. In 1872, the Pacific Railroad was reorganized as the Missouri Pacific Railway by investors after a debt crisis.

Jay Gould came into control of the Missouri Pacific in 1879 and held in until his death in 1892. Under Gould, the MoPac developed into Colorado, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana, connecting much of the South to the Southwest. Upon Jay Gould’s death, the railroad transferred to his son, George Gould, who lost control of the company after it declared bankruptcy in 1915.

The Missouri Pacific was reorganized into the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Shortly afterword the MoPac gained controlling interests in the Gulf Coast Lines, International-Great Northern Railroad, and the Texas and Pacific Railway, giving the MoPac access to most major cities and towns in Texas.

Even with all this mileage, the MoPac was never on secure financial footing. MoPac again declared bankruptcy in 1933 during the Great Depression. The company then entered trusteeship until it was again reorganized and the trusteeship ended in 1956.

At the peak, the MoPac owned over 11,000 miles of track over 11 states from Chicago to Pueblo, Colorado, and from Omaha to the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas, and southeast along the Gulf seaports of Texas and Louisiana. They operated over 1,500 diesel locomotives, and became a pioneer of computer-guided rail technology.

On December 22, 1982, the Missouri Pacific merged with the Union Pacific (UP) and Western Pacific (WP) Railroad companies, creating the largest railroad system of that time. This system was known as the Pacific Rail Systems, and it was operated under the Union Pacific holding company. At the time of the merger, MoPac owned more, newer locomotives, and operated more track than the UP or WP. On January 1, 1997, all motive power began the process of being repainted and merged into the UP.

BC Rail

BC Rail, known as the British Columbia Railway between 1972 and 1984, and as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway before 1972, was a railway that operated in British Columbia from 1912 to 2004. At its peak, it was the the third largest railroad in Canada, operating 1,440 miles of mainline track.

BC Rail was incorporated as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) in 1912 in order to build a line from Vancouver, BC to a connection with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway at Prince George. The PGE was provincially-sponsored, and was originally meant to unify British Columbia under one rail system. However, at it’s start it ran into much criticism, often called “the line from nowhere to nowhere” since it ran between Pemberton and Lillooet, two small communities in rural, inland British Columbia. In 1915, PGE extended the main line south to Squamish, and north to Chasm, growing the line to over 175 miles.

Also in 1915, PGE failed to make an interest payment on its bonds. This caused a legal battle between the founders of the railroad, Timothy Foley, Patrick Welch, and John Stewart, and the British Columbian government, which eventually led to the railway being be turned over to the government. At the time of the government takeover, PGE had two sections of track: one between North Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay, and one between Squamish and Clinton.

After the takeover, the government extended the railway to a point 15 miles north of Quesnel, which was later removed. For the next 20 years, the PGE did not connect with any other railway, and there were no large urban centers on its route. It mainly connected logging and mining operations of the British Columbia Interior with the coastal town of Squamish, where these resources were transported by sea. Resources were not available for the government to expand the railway to the intended target of Prince George, and to its detractors PGE came to stand for “Province’s Great Expense”, “Prince George Eventually”, “Past God’s Endurance”, and “Please Go Easy”.

Finally beginning in 1949, there were financial allocations that allowed the Pacific Great Eastern to begin to expand. Track was laid north of Quesnel to a junction with the Canadian National Railways at Prince George. Between 1953 and 1956, the PGE constructed a line between Squamish and North Vancouver. In the 1960s, the PGE was extended from Fort St. John 250 miles north to Fort Nelson.

In 1972, the PGE became the British Columbia Railway (BCR). Then in 1984, the BCR was restructured. Under this new organization, BC Rail Ltd. was formed, owned jointly by the British Columbia Railway Company and BCR Properties Ltd. At this time, the rail operations became known as BC Rail.

Still known as the BCR, the railway began to expand from Fort St. James to Dease Lake in the 1970s to take advantage of asbestos and copper in the area. However, before the line was even completed, worldwide demand for both asbestos and copper fell dramatically and the line was never finished. Construction stopped in 1977, when there had already been 263 miles of track laid. It had cost $168 million to reach that point.

Parts of the unfinished Dease Lake extension were used to serve the logging communities at Driftwood. Once logging operations ceased in 1983, traffic fell sharply and the Dease Lake line was closed.

BC Rail opened the Tumbler Ridge Subdivision to the Quintette and Bullmoose mines in 1983. This was an 82 mile electrified branch line that had the lowest crossing of the Rocky Mountains by a railway at 3,815 feet. This line ran through two large tunnels: The Table Tunnel at 5.6 miles long, and The Wolverine Tunnel at 3.7 miles long. The Tumbler Ridge Subdivision was electrified partly due to these two long tunnels, and partly due to its proximity to the W.A.C. Bennett Dam and transmission lines. This was one of the only electrified freight lines in North America.

Although initially profitable, traffic was never as anticipated. By the 1990 traffic was under one train per day. These unprofitable operations could not repay the debt incurred in building this line, and in 1984 BC Rail acquired the British Columbia Harbors Board Railway, a 23 mile line connecting three Class I railways with Roberts Bank, an ocean terminal that handles coal shipments.

Through the 1990s the provincial government reduced subsidies to BC Rail, which led to the outstanding debt growing over sixfold between 1991 and 2001. BC Rail tried to overcome the ever increasing debt by branching out into shipping operations, acquiring Vancouver Wharves in 1993 and Canadian Stevedoring in 1998. In 1999, Vancouver Wharves, Canadian Sevedoring and its subsidiary Casco Terminals were spun into a new entity, BCR Marine. In order to reduce mounting debt, BC Rail sold off the BCR Marine assets except Vancouver Wharves.

Further hardships ensued when in 2000, the Quintette mine closed and a portion of the Tumbler Ridge Subdivision was abandoned. The Bullmoose mine closed in 2003, after which the remaining 70 miles of the Tumbler Ridge Subdivision was abandoned as well. Passenger service ended in 2002 and many of the RDC locomotives used by BC Rail were decommissioned and either scrapped or sold to museums around North America. Also around this time BC Rail ended intermodal service.

On November 25, 2003, the $1 billion bid by Canadian National was accepted by the government, and operation was handed over to CN on a 60 year lease.

New York, New Haven & Hartford

As with many Eastern United States railroads, the New Haven has its roots in mergers and acquisitions. The predominant predecessors were the Hartford & New Haven Railroad, and the New York & New Haven. These two railroads merged in 1872 to form the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, also known as the New Haven (NH). The NH continued to expand its territory throughout the late 1800s by purchasing several smaller lines in southern New England, eventually stretching through most of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Southern Massachusetts, and New York City. The main strength of the New Haven was its fast passenger service from Boston to New York City. At the time, the New Haven was the only railroad offering direct passenger service between these two cities.

The main force behind the New Haven’s growth was New York banker J.P. Morgan. Starting in the 1890s, Morgan began financing the major New England railroads and dividing territory so that they would not compete. In 1903, Morgan brought in Charles Mellen as president with the goals of consolidating the main railway lines of New England in order to lower costs, electrify the heavily used routes, and thoroughly modernize the entire system. New Haven purchased 50 smaller transportation companies including steamship lines and other railroad companies and by the end of 1912, the New Haven operated over 2000 miles of track, employed over 120,000 people, and monopolized traffic between Boston and New York City.

Unfortunately, Mellen was very abrasive and the public held a very low opinion of his leadership and personality. This led to high acquisition costs and construction costs. From the time Mellen arrived until 1913, debt skyrocketed from $14 million to over $241 million. Other bad news followed as in 1913, the New Haven was handed an anti-trust lawsuit by the federal government, which forced the New Haven to give up its trolley systems.

New Haven made it through the lawsuits and the mounting debt and relied on its heavy passenger service while growing its freight service. Due to the close proximity of the markets served by the New Haven, freight service was never very profitable. The Great Depression hit hard, and on October 23, 1935, the New Haven was forced to enter bankruptcy. The net result of the bankruptcy was the pruning of several low density branch lines, its steamship lines and the NYW&B, an interurban line from New York City to White Plains, New York. They also upgraded their plant and rolling stock on the main lines, inaugurated piggyback service in 1938, and dieselized most of its main line. As with many railroads of the time, traffic surged during World War II, and the NH reorganization was completed in 1947.

Frederic Dumaine and Patrick McGinnis came out as the new leaders of the NH and they slashed costs wherever possible. Often times this aggressive cost cutting hurt the company more than it helped and led to extreme layoffs and deferred maintenance. The savings did not outweigh the costs for very long and the NH fell into disrepair and disarray.

In 1956, the board of directors ousted McGinnis and Dumaine and replaced them with George Albert. However, there were too many factors already at play. The freight and passenger markets in the northeast were shrinking and the high concentration of competing railroads in the northeast proved too much The railroad again went bankrupt in 1961.

This was the end of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. The directors of the railroad were looking for merger options, and the upcoming Penn Central (PC) merger proved to be too attractive. The PC fell apart faster than it went together and remnants of the NH system now make up Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line, Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, Shore Line East, and CSX.

Spokane, Portland & Seattle

The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railroad began in 1900 as a dream of James J. Hill. Hill owned Great Northern, Northern Pacific and Chicago Burlington & Quincy and he sought to reach the Pacific. This dream started life as the Portland & Seattle Railroad and was to connect the Hill roads from Spokane to the Pacific. Union Pacific and Southern Pacific fought hard to keep Hill out of their territory in Oregon, but in 1908 the railroad was completed and renamed the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway.

Aftern the completion of its main line in 1909, they extended down into Oregon via acquisitions. SP&S acquired the Oregon Electric Railway in 1910, extending it down into Salem

Through the SP&S, Hill was able to make moves deep into Oregon towards California. Via the Oregon Electric branch line, the SP&S linked southward to Eugene, and via the Oregon Trunk, the SP&S linked Wishram to Bend in central Oregon. The overall goal of reaching California was reached much later in conjunction with the Western Pacific.

The SP&S was mainly used to haul grain west and lumber east. As the SP&S was a railroad jointly owned by the NP and GN, they mainly used second hand equipment. The arrival of the Z6 mallets in 1937 and the E1 northerns in 1938 marked the first influx of new power into the SP&S system since its inception. When the mallets arrived in Vancouver, the firebox was so large that a banquet was thrown inside of one of them.

During World War II, the SP&S was provided a traffic boost due to war material movement. They were also the beneficiary of cheap electric power from the Columbia River Dams. The cheap electricity also attracted major aluminum plants, sawmills, chemical factories and grain terminals along the line. All of this extra traffic kept SP&S going strong throughout the War.

Also during the War, dieselization began taking place. First was the Alco and Baldwin switchers taking yard duty over. SP&S ran primarily Alcos throughout the diesel era, so much so that they are still synonymous with Alco RS3s, FAs and Century 424s.

The days of the SP&S operating as a separate entity were coming to an end as by the mid 1960s, it became clear that the parent companies intended to merge. This came to fruition in 1970 with the formation of the Burlington Northern. The most enduring legacy of the SP&S remains the water level route along the Columbia River. That line is still the primary Pacific Northwest mainline of the BNSF.