Pennsylvania Railroad

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Logo of the PRR

The Pennsylvania Railroad ( PRR ) was an American railroad company based in Philadelphia . It was founded in 1846 and existed until it merged with the New York Central Railroad in 1968. Its 10,000 mile long route network can be described as follows: a man whose head was in Philadelphia, whose arms to Washington, DC and New York City and its legs extended to Chicago and St. Louis . Until well into the 20th century, it was the largest railroad company in the United States in terms of traffic performance and turnover. For a long time it also referred to itself as the “Standard Railroad of the World”. It wanted to be a role model for all other railways, and all other railways should emulate the standard of the PRR, the "gold standard".

history

4-6-2 # 1737 (type Pacific) of the PRR

In 1916 the PRR introduced the “Standard Railroad of the World” motto. This designation was not unjustified, as society very often played a pioneering role. For years it was a leader in the field of safety and efficiency . For example, it was the first railroad in the United States to replace the old wooden passenger carriages with safer steel structures. The company also introduced standard paintwork very early on. In contrast to other US railways, it produced some of its steam locomotives itself. With its locomotive workshop in Altoona (Pennsylvania) , it was the fourth largest locomotive builder in the United States. Locomotives that she did not build herself mostly came from Baldwin . For Baldwin, the PRR was also the largest buyer of diesel locomotives .

Route network 1899
Pennsylvania Railroad Company stock dated February 29, 1912

The most important legacy of the Pennsylvania Railroad is the electrified route network of the Northeast Corridor south of New York. From 1910, the lines in the New York / New Jersey area and on Long Island were provided with power rails based on the south London model . The Long Island Rail Road was bought by the PRR as early as 1900.

By 1935 the important passenger train connection between New York and Washington was electrified with an overhead line, followed in 1938 by the Philadelphia - Harrisburg route , with a continuation of the electrification to Pittsburgh being discussed. The GG1 series locomotives with speeds of up to 161 km / h were used in long-distance passenger transport from 1935 . Class MP 54 railcars were procured and used for local traffic. The design corresponded to contemporary passenger coaches with additional traction equipment. Similar railcars were procured for the Long Island Rail Road network. In the 1950s, additional railcars followed for the overhead line routes in Inox -stainless steel construction meadow according to one of the processes of the BUDD Company . In 1967 Pennsylvania ordered new Silverliner II railcars - also in the Budd design - for the Philadelphia - Harrisburg traffic, which were later used in the local traffic of the Conrail and SEPTA in the Philadelphia area to this day.

On February 1, 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with its long-time arch rival on the New York - Chicago connection, the New York Central Railroad , to form Penn Central (PC). The merger talks had already started in 1957.

On December 31, 1968, Penn Central also took over traffic on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad at the request of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) . In 1970 Penn Central had to declare its bankruptcy. The remaining long- distance passenger transport went to Amtrak , and Conrail was founded to operate the route network as well as freight and local passenger transport . After the liquidation of Conrail in 1999, most of the routes of the former "Pennsy" were transferred to Norfolk Southern .

See also

Web links

Commons : Pennsylvania Railroad  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. Joseph R. Daughen, Peter Binzen: The Wreck of the Penn Central . 1973, ISBN 978-1-893122-08-6 , pp. 52-57 (English).