The Albany and Susquehanna Railroad (A&S) was a 6 ft (1,829 mm) broad gauge railroad from Albany to Binghamton, New York, operating 1851 to 1870.

This is Waterford’s present double-tracked main line and runs from Albany through West Waterford to the Waterford Junction, being only twelve miles in length. It was incorporated on February 20, 1851 as the Albany Northern and being constructed during 1851-1852 then ran from Albany to Eagle Bridge, N.Y. In 1853 it crossed the Hudson River near the old Red, White and Blue House a full three miles from Waterford. It is now the Albany and Vermont Railroad incorporated on October 6, 1899. The Albany & Vermont was leased to the Rensselaer & Saratoga R.R.

The current company, established in 1992 is a separate entity from the original Allegheny Valley Railroad, which was established in the 1850s. That line, affiliated with the Pennsylvania Railroad system, followed the present company's tracks to Arnold and continued beyond, along the right upstream (southeastern) bank of the river to Oil City.

It was at this juncture that Mr. John J. Mitchell, a warm friend and supporter of the Chicago and Alton interests, offered to build an independent road from Alton to East St. Louis, provided that the Chicago and Alton, on completion of the road, merge the franchises of the Alton and St. Louis charter, obtained in 1850, then owned and controlled by Mr. John J. Mitchell, with their own. The proposition was accepted, and during the winter of 1864 trains of the Chicago and Alton Railroad were running to East St. Louis, and terminating there on valuable depot grounds, obtained by Mr.

The first railroad built in Madison County was the Chicago & Alton – first known as the Alton & Sangamon or Alton & Springfield. The railroad was spearheaded by Captain Benjamin Godfrey and other Alton businessmen such as Cyrus Edwards, Simeon Ryder, S. Griggs, and Robert Ferguson. Planning stages began in December 1838, and the charter was issued February 27, 1847. Construction began in February 1850, and was completed from Alton to Springfield in 1852. Benjamin Godfrey lived in a railcar, and followed the work as it progressed.

• Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway 1987-1989
  • Illinois Central Gulf Railroad 1972-1987
    • Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad 1947-1972
      • Alton Railroad 1931-1947 Subsidiary of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

In May, 1893, the General Court gave to the Natick Street Railway authorization to extend its line to and through Ashland, subject to what ever restrictions might be imposed by the selectmen. This involved no outstanding investment on the part of the Ashland residents, and the Natick line, later called the South Middlesex Street Railway Company, laid down new trackage which connected Ashland with Sherbom , Natick and Framingham. Before the end of 1893 much of this new service was available .

Twain was on this line for only a short distance, from Salamanca to Jamestown.

The Atlantic and Great Western Railway (1865-1871) Railroad (1871-1880) Company

https://www.trumbullcountyhistory.com/atlantic-great-western-railroad/

The Auburn and Syracuse Railroad was incorporated on May 1, 1834,[1] to provide easy access between Syracuse, New York, and the Erie Canal. Construction was begun in 1835, but was delayed during the Panic of 1837.

The “Bald Eagle Valley railroad company” was a successor in reorganization to the “Tyrone and Lock Haven railroad company’, which was incorporated early in 1857 to build a line connecting the Pennsylvania at Tyrone with the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad* at Lock Haven, Pa., a distance of some 54 miles. The road completed by the predecessor company was 4.2 miles, from Snow Shoe Intersection to Milesburg and from Milesburg to Bellefonte, Pa.

The Baltimore and Hanover Railroad (B&H) was a railroad that operated in Maryland in the 19th century.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (reporting mark BO) was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of the National Road early in the century, wanted to do business with settlers crossing the Appalachian Mountains.

The Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad (I&B) was an American railroad founded in 1848. It changed its name to the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Cleveland Railroad in 1854. Its counterpart in Ohio was named the Bellefontaine and Indiana Railroad (B&I).

The Boston and Albany Railroad (reporting mark B&A)[1] was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part

The Boston and Lowell Railroad was a railroad that operated in Massachusetts in the United States. It was one of the first railroads in North America and the first major one in the state. The line later operated as part of the Boston and Maine Railroad's Southern Division.

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

Wikipedia

This is not the Pascoag Line, part of the Providence and Springfield Railroad, which ran from Pascoag to the Cove depot in Providence, Rhode Island.

The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the first rail lines in the United States - with a more direct route into Providence built in 1847.

May, 1867, ... the union of that line with the Western Railroad Corporation resulted in the formation of the Boston and Albany Railroad.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/download/HistoryoftheTownofAshland_10290763.pdf

The Buffalo and State Line Railroad was incorporated October 13, 1849, and opened January 1, 1852, from Dunkirk, New York, 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, and opened on January 19, 1852.

An  unfinished railroad.  The tracks that had been laid became part of the Buffalo, New York and Erie

Buffalo, New York and Erie Railroad  Original Main Line  Erie Main Line at Corning  to Buffalo 41.6 miles (66.9 km)

Leased 1863 -  Created during the Erie's bankruptcy in 1858. Took over the Buffalo and New York City from Attica to Buffalo in 1859. Acquired the Buffalo, Corning and New York Railroad the same year and connected the two lines.

The Buffalo & Niagara Falls Railroad began operating in 1845. The 28 mile trip from Buffalo to Niagara Falls was a three hour journey being pulled by a wood stoked steam locomotive.

In 1852, the Buffalo & Niagara Falls Railroad relocated their tracks to the west side of the Erie Canal.

On December 22nd 1853, the Buffalo & Niagara Falls Railroad was leased to the New York Central Railroad.

On April 23rd 1869, the New York Central Railroad began operations within the Niagara escarpment.

The Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway (reporting mark BAP) is a short line railroad in the U.S. state of Montana.

The New Jersey Legislature chartered the Camden and Amboy Rail Road and Transportation Company (C&A) in February 1830. This was the first railroad in New Jersey and the third in the United States. The C&A's corporate architect, first president and chief engineer was Robert L. Stevens (1787–1856), who was also the country’s leading builder of steamboats. The new railroad and its sister entity, the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company, were created to service a heavily traveled passenger and freight route across New Jersey.

The Camden & Atlantic Railroad began regular service between Camden and Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1855. The railroad was taken over by the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad in 1883.

The Library Company of Philadelphia

The Canada Southern Railway (reporting mark CASO), also known as CSR, was a railway in southwestern Ontario, Canada, founded on February 28, 1868 as the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway.[1] Its name was changed to Canada Southern Railway o

The Brockville and Ottawa Railway (B&O) was an early railway in Upper Canada, today's Ontario.

The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America.

See New Jersey Central Railroad

Operated by the New York and Erie Railroad.  Runs between Horseheads and Watkins Glen.

Sam apparently held stock in the Chicago and Alton Railroad.  He reports in a letter to Livy "The Chicago & Alton paid a dividend of $200 July 2d—it is in Mr. Rogers’s hands. "  as reported in Day By Day for August 2, 1901.

On September 25, 1857, the Chicago and Cincinnati Railroad was chartered in Indiana to build a line from Logansport northwest to Valparaiso. That line opened in 1861, connecting at Valparaiso with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway to Chicago.

The Chicago and North Western Railway was chartered on June 7, 1859, five days after it purchased the assets of the bankrupt Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad. On February 15, 1865, it merged with the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, which had been chartered on January 16, 1836. Since the Galena & Chicago Union started operating in December 1848, and the Fond du Lac railroad started in March 1855, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad is considered to be the origin of the North Western railroad system.

The Aurora Branch, the earliest predecessor of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, changed its name to the Chicago and Aurora Railroad in June 1852,[8] and to Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad in 1856, and shortly reached its two other namesake cities, Burlington, Iowa, and Quincy, Illinois.

The Illinois General Assembly chartered the Aurora Branch Railroad on February 12, 1849, to build a branch of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad to Aurora,[1] which it opened on September 2, 1850.[2] The company was r

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad

There appears to be confusion regarding the name and history of this railroad.  It is also known as the Chicago and Cincinnati Railroad.

From  Bee Line Railroad 1848-1889

THE CINCINNATI AND SPRINGFIELD RAILWAY COMPANY:

A CCC&I “Money Pump,” 1870-1875

The Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway (CH&D) was a railroad based in the U.S. state of Ohio that existed between its incorporation on March 2, 1846, and its acquisition by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in December 1917.

The railroad of The Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cleveland Rail Road Company, herein called the Cincinnati Sandusky and Cleveland, is a single-track, standard-gage, steam railroad, located in the central part of Ohio. The owned mileage extends northerly from Dayton to Sandusky, 154,416[sic] miles, with a branch 15.373 miles in length extending north westerly from Carey to Findlay. The total length of the main line and branch is 169.789 miles. This company also owns yard and side tracks totaling 69.779 miles.

The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad was chartered in 1836, due to public support in building a railroad line between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Construction of the line was completed in 1852, with additional branch lines to Akron, Ohio, and Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1871, the C&P was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad for a 999 year lease, thus, giving the PRR access to Cleveland.

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.

The railroad was formed on June 30, 1889 by the merger of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway, the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railway and the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railway.

The Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad (CC&C) was a railroad that ran from Cleveland to Columbus in the U.S. state of Ohio in the United States.

The CCC&I came into existence on May 16, 1868, as a merger of the Bellefontaine Railroad and the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad. At its inception it had 83 locomotives, 47 of which came from the CC&C and 36 from the Bellefontaine. 

Wikipedia

The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad (CP&A), also known informally as the Cleveland and Erie Railroad, the Cleveland and Buffalo Railroad, and the Lake Shore Railroad, was a railway which ran from Cleveland, Ohio, to the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

The Akron Branch of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Company. By special act of Ohio Legislature, Feb. 19, 1851. Name changed to Cleveland, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad Company, Mar. 17, 1853.

Sold Dec. 23, 1864, under foreclosure proceedings, to George W. Cass and John J. Marvin, by whom conveyed to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago by deed dated July 1, 1865. Sold by the latter to 9, on Nov. 4, 1869.

The Columbus and Xenia Railroad was a railroad which connected the city of Columbus, with the town of Xenia in the state of Ohio in the United States. Construction began in October 1847, and the line opened in February 1850.

On September 11, 1867, the Columbus and Indianapolis Central Railway, Union and Logansport Railroad and Toledo, Logansport and Burlington Railway merged to form the Columbus and Indiana Central Railway. The main line, formerly being built by the Union and Logansport, opened from Union City to Marion in October 1867.

 In July 1870, it became the Columbus, Springfield & Cincinnati Railroad when the Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland Railroad reached an agreement on a lease for 99 years. The Columbus, Springfield & Cincinnati was the successor to Springfield & Columbus Railroad again.

https://madrivermuseum.org/history/

In 1889 this would be part of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St Louis Railroad.

The Concord and Montreal Railroad was a railroad incorporated in 1889 out of a merger between the Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad and the Concord Railroad.

Wikipedia

The Connecticut River Railroad was a railroad located along the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts, formed in 1845 from the merger of two unfinished railroads. Its main line from Springfield to East Northfield, Massachusetts, opened in stages between 1845 and 1849.

The Connecticut Western Railroad was chartered June 25, 1868 to run from Hartford, Connecticut, west to the New York state line, where it would meet the Dutchess & Columbia Railroad just east of Millerton, New York.

The Cumberland Valley Railroad (reporting mark CVRR)[1] was an early railroad in Pennsylvania, United States, originally chartered in 1831 to connect with Pennsylvania's Main Line of Public Works.

The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, chartered in 1835 as the Fairfield County Railroad, was an independent American railroad that operated between the cities of Danbury and Norwalk, Connecticut from 1852 until its absorption by the Hous

Location and General Description of Property[edit]

The railroad of the Dayton and Michigan Railroad Company, hereinafter called the Dayton and Michigan, is located entirely within the State of Ohio and extends from Third Street, Dayton, northerly to Toledo, a distance of 139.966 miles, with 13.988 miles of second main track. This property forms a part of a through route from Cincinnati to Toledo.

The Little Miami joined the Cincinnati and Indiana Railroad in 1862 in building track along the riverfront in Cincinnati to link their two depots. The LMRR and the C&X together bought the Dayton, Xenia and Belpre Railroad in January 1865.

The "Delaware and Cobb's Gap Railroad" was chartered December 4, 1850, to build a line from Scranton east to the Delaware River. Before it opened, the Delaware and Cobb's Gap and Lackawanna and Western were consolidated by the Lackawanna Steel Company into one company, the "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad", on March 11, 1853. 

The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) (reporting mark DH) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP).

see section from 1895 journey from Elmira to Cleveland

The Railroad Comes to Town (1867)   The Utica, Chenango and Susuehanna Valley Railroad reaches Waterville from Utica, November of 1867.  Later to be DL&W, Utica Branch

History of Chenango and Madison Counties, New York
By James Smith, 1880, Page 96

The DGH&M was formed from the ruin of Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, a successor road to the Detroit and Pontiac Railroad, one of the first roads organized in the state of Michigan. The Great Western Railway, a Canadian company, had taken financial control of the D&M in 1860 after it defaulted on debt payments. The D&M entered receivership in 1875; in 1878 Great Western purchased it outright and refinanced the debts.

The Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway is a defunct railroad which operated in the US state of Michigan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Itself the product of several consolidations in the 1870s, it became part of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad in 1928.

The Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad (DL&N) is a defunct railroad which was formed on December 27, 1876 as a reorganization of the foreclosed Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Rail Road.

The Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad (DM&T) was a shortline railroad which operated in the U.S. states of Michigan and Ohio.

In 1851, Iowa’s two U.S. senators – George W. Jones and Augustus Dodge – proved instrumental in getting the Illinois Central Railroad to extend its line from Galena to Dunleith (East Dubuque), Illinois. With that in place, Jones, along with C.H. Booth, Lucius H. Langworthy, and others formed the Dubuque & Pacific Rail Road Company (D&P) – which was chartered on April 28, 1853.

The Eastern Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Portland, Maine. Throughout its history, it competed with the Boston and Maine Railroad for service between the two cities, until the Boston & Maine put an end to the competition by leasing the Eastern in December 1884.

The Elmira and Lake Ontario Railroad was a subsidiary of the Northern Central Railway and later the Pennsylvania Railroad, formed to give the Northern Central an outlet for coal traffic on Lake Ontario.

This line originated with the Canadaigua and Corning RR.

The Elmira and Williamsport Railroad (earlier Williamsport and Elmira Railroad) is a historic railroad that operated in Pennsylvania.

The W&E was organized in 1832 and ran between Williamsport, Pennsylvania and Elmira, New York. It was reorganized as the E&W in 1860, and operated its own property until 1863.

The Erie & Kalamazoo Rail Road was the first railroad completed west of the Allegheny Mountains.

In 1856 a new charter was obtained under the name of the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad. In 1859 the track was completed through Crawford County to Jamestown, which remained the terminus from the north until 1864. Work was also progressing from the direction of New Castle. The first freight train arrived at Sharon from the south October 11, 1863, and the first passenger train the 4th of the following January. The line was finished through Mercer County during 1864, and the company advertised to run regular trains from Erie to New Castle after October 31, 1864.

Erie Railway: 1861–1878[edit]

In August 1859, the company went into receivership due to inability to make payments on the debts incurred for the large costs of building, and, on June 25, 1861, it was reorganized as the Erie Railway.

The Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated in 1840 to provide a rail connection between Fitchburg and Worcester.

The Fitchburg Railroad is a former railroad company, which built a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. The Fitchburg was leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. 

MilesCityStationConnections and notes

The first railroad constructed out of Chicago, the Galena and Chicago Union, was chartered on January 16, 1836, to connect Chicago with the lead mines at Galena, a year before the city of Chicago was incorporated. "The Pioneer," the first locomotive on the road, arrived at Chicago on October 10, 1848, nearly thirteen years after the charter was granted. In 1850, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was completed as far as Elgin.

The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad at its height provided passenger and freight railroad services between Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, USA. The company was formed on January 18, 1854.

The company was incorporated on November 10, 1852, as the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada to build a railway line between Montreal and Toronto.[2]

Grand Trunk Western began as a route for the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) to link its line to Chicago through lower Michigan.

The Great Western Railway was a railway that operated in Canada West, today's province of Ontario, Canada. It was the first railway chartered in the province, receiving its original charter as the London and Gore Railroad on March 6, 1834, before receiving its final name when it was rechartered in 1845.

The railroad first reached Decatur in 1854, when the Great Western Railroad built a line through the city. Decatur built Union Station, its first railway station, in 1856 to serve this line. By 1901, the Great Western Railroad had consolidated into the Wabash Railroad, and the old Union Station had fallen into disrepair. 

Wikipedia

The Greenwich and Johnsonville Railway (reporting mark GJ) was a railroad in Upstate New York. It was founded in 1866 to construct a line from Greenwich to Johnsonville. The line opened in 1870.

The Hartford and New Haven Railroad (H&NH), chartered in 1833, was the first railroad built in the state of Connecticut and an important direct predecessor of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (the New Haven).

The corridor from Providence, Rhode Island, west into New York was originally chartered as three companies. The Providence and Plainfield Railroad, chartered in June 1846, would run from Providence to the Rhode Island–Connecticut state line.

The Housatonic Railroad, originally (mis)spelled as 'Ousatonic Railroad', was chartered in May 1836 to build a line from Bridgeport, Connecticut, north to the Massachusetts state line, along the Housatonic River valley.

The Hudson and Boston Railroad was a railroad that spanned across Southern and Central Columbia County, New York. It was chartered in 1855 and acquired by the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1870, only to face its gradual demise beginning in 1959.

The Troy and Greenbush Railroad was chartered in 1845 and opened later that year, connecting Troy south to Greenbush (now Rensselaer) on the east side of the Hudson River. The Hudson River Railroad was chartered on May 12, 1846, to extend this line south to New York City; the full line opened on October 3, 1851. Prior to completion, on June 1, it leased the Troy and Greenbush.

Cornelius Vanderbilt obtained control of the Hudson River Railroad in 1864, soon after he bought the parallel New York and Harlem Railroad.

The Illinois Central Railroad (reporting mark IC), sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa (1870).

Indiana Central Railway Company (1851-1864)

Columbus and Indiana Central Railway Company (1864-1868)

Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway Company (1868-1968)

The Danville, Urbana, Bloomington and Pekin Railroad Company, incorporated August 28, 1866, built a road from Danville to Pekin and to the Eastern boundary of Illinois. This rail line merged with a line in Indiana to form the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Railway Company. The railroad was opened to traffic October 1, 1869.

Created in 1864 from the reorganization of the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad. To 1886.

Nickel Plate Trail History

See Peru and Indianapolis RR

When coal was discovered in the vicinity of Eldora the problem of cheap transportation became of paramount importance. This led to the formation of the Eldora Railroad and Coal Company on February 7, 1866, to build a railway to Ackley, sixteen miles north. At Ackley the Eldora road would connect with the east-west road which is now the Illinois Central. By July, 1868, the new road was completed, but its connection with the outside world was not entirely satisfactory.

Though begun independently, this became one of the first and longest Michigan Central branch lines when it was taken over by the MC in 1871. By 1903, almost all directors were MC appointees. The road, 295 miles in length, also had branchlines to Twin Lakes (Lewiston) and Gladwin.

Chartered: 1864

From: Lansing & Jackson Railroad (1865), Amboy, Lansing & Traverse Bay from Lansing north (1866)

Completed from Jackson to Mackinaw City in 1881.

The Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad (JM&I) was formed in 1866 as a merger between the Indianapolis and Madison Railroad and the Jeffersonville Railroad.

Wikipedia

Absorbed by the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St Louis (Panhandle) Railway in 1890.

Joliet and Northern Indiana Rail Road and Oswego and Indiana Plank Road Company consolidate in 1854 to form the Joliet & Northern Indiana Railroad

The entire property of the Joliet & Northern Indiana is leased to the Michigan Central in perpetuity under agreement dated September 7, 1854.

Wikipedia

The Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad (LBR) was an 80-mile (130 km) long 19th century railroad that ran between Scranton and Northumberland in Pennsylvania in the United States.

The "Leggett's Gap Railroad" was incorporated on April 7, 1832, but stayed dormant for many years. It was chartered on March 14, 1849, and organized on January 2, 1850. On April 14, 1851, its name was changed to the "Lackawanna and Western Railroad". The line, running north from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Great Bend, just south of the New York state line, opened on December 20, 1851.

Built by the Lafayette and Indianapolis Railroad in 1850. Over the years and due to mergers, the line was owned by a number of railroads during its operation:

• Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette Railroad, 1867
• Cincinnati, Chicago and St Louis Railroad, 1880
• Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St Louis Railroad (the Big Four), 1889
• New York Central Railroad, 1930
• Penn Central Railroad, 1968
• Conrail, 1976

The line hosted Abraham Lincoln's inaugural train in 1861 and his funeral train in 1865.

In October 1867, the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad leased the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad. The CP&A changed its name to the Lake Shore Railway on March 31, 1868, and on February 11, 1869, the Lake Shore absorbed the Cleveland and Toledo. On April 6 the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad and Lake Shore merged to form the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, which absorbed the Buffalo and Erie Railroad on June 22, giving one company the whole route from Buffalo to Chicago. 

The renamed Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad, March 31, 1868.

The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR) was the smallest of the six railroads that were merged into Conrail in 1976.

The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad is a defunct railroad that operated in eastern Pennsylvania during the 19th and 20th centuries. The company was a subsidiary of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N).

The Lehigh Valley Railroad (reporting mark LV) was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania.

Leased to the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St Louis Company, November 1869.

Mr. H. J. Jewett, president of the Little Miami Railroad, spoke as follows in the Annual Report of the Little Miami Railroad for the year ended November 30, 1869:

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

Wikipedia

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad (reporting mark LN), commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.

• 1847: The New Albany and Salem Railroad (NA&S) is organized with James Brooks as president.
• 1854: The NA&S trackage stretches from the Ohio River (at New Albany) to Lake Michigan (at 

The Manchester and Lawrence was chartered in 1847 and opened in November 1849. It leased the newly built Methuen Branch from the Boston and Maine Railroad which opened in August 1849 and ran from South Lawrence through Methuen to the state line where the two lines met.

The Michigan Central railroad was created primarily by Boston capitalists for the purpose of purchasing the "Central" line from the State of Michigan. See "Central" line. In the late 1830's, the state had invested in several public works projects consisting of new railroads and canals. The "central" project was one of these. Though more successful than the other public works projects, the state decided to exit these projects and this line, radiating west from Detroit was sold to the Michigan Central.

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.

Ran from Milwaukee to Prairie du Chien by 1857, purchased by the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien RR in 1861. Became part of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St Paul Railroad in 1874 and Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul and Pacific RR in 1879.

The Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway was created on May 26, 1870 by a group of Minnesota investors interested in establishing a railroad connection between Minneapolis and the agricultural regions to the south. Minneapolis was home to the largest flour milling operations in the country at that time. Wheat was the primary commodity grown in southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa.

The Mississippi and Missouri Railroad (M&M Railroad) was the first railroad in Iowa.

See section from Following the Equator

The Morris and Essex Railroad was a railroad across northern New Jersey, later part of the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

The Nashua and Lowell Railroad (N&L) was a 14-mile-long (23 km) railroad built to connect Nashua, New Hampshire with the city of Lowell, Massachusetts. Chartered in June 1835, construction began in 1837 and the first train ran the next year. The Nashua and Lowell was the first railroad built in the state of New Hampshire.

The New Haven and Northampton Railroad (founded as the New Haven and Northampton Company, also known as the Canal Line) was a railroad originally built alongside a canal between 1847 and 1850 in Connecticut.

In 1845, the Hartford and New Haven merged with the Hartford and Springfield Railroad to form the New Haven, Hartford and Springfield Railroad. The company reverted back to the Hartford and New Haven Railroad name in 1847.

The New Haven and New London Railroad was chartered May 1848 to build a line from New Haven, the east end of the New York and New Haven Railroad, east to New London on the Thames River and the south end of the 

The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the New Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines (reporting mark CNJ), was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s.

The New London Northern Railroad was a part of the Central Vermont Railway from New London, Connecticut, north to Brattleboro, Vermont.

The north-south Puget Sound railroad route, long awaited and dreamed of, finally forged ahead in 1890 when James J. Hill (1838-1916) purchased the New Westminster and Southern Railway. That same year he created the Seattle & Montana Railroad to be the second section of the three divisions set up by Hill's backers on the north-south route. Hill purchased the Fairhaven & Southern Railroad that ran from Bellingham Bay to the Canadian border (originally built by Nelson Bennett), and extended it to Burlington where it met the Seattle & Montana.

The New York and Erie Rail Road was chartered on April 24, 1832, by Governor of New York Enos T. Throop to connect the Hudson River at Piermont, north of New York City, west to Lake Erie at Dunkirk. On February 16, 1841, the railroad was authorized to cross into the northeast corner of Pennsylvania on the west side of the Delaware River, a few miles west of Port Jervis, NY, as the east side was already occupied by the Delaware and Hudson Canal to a point several miles west of Lackawaxen, PA.

The New York and Harlem Railroad was first built from the original Grand Central Terminal on 23rd Street in New York City to suburban Harlem. Opposition to the charter was voiced by steamboat proprietors, whose service was successfully competed against by the new railroad.

The New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE) was a railroad connecting southern New York State with Hartford, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston, Massachusetts. It operated under that name from 1873 to 1893.

The New York and New Haven Railroad (NY&NH) was a railroad connecting New York City to New Haven, Connecticut, along the shore of Long Island Sound. It opened in 1849, and in 1872 it merged with the Hartford & New Haven Railroad to form the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. 

Wikipedia

In 1867, Cornelius Vanderbilt acquired control of the Albany to Buffalo-running NYC, with the help of maneuverings related to the Hudson River Bridge in Albany. On November 1, 1869, he merged the NYC with his Hudson River Railroad to form the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. This extended the system south from Albany along the east bank of the Hudson River to New York City, with the leased Troy and Greenbush Railroad running from Albany north to Troy.

Albany industrialist and Mohawk Valley Railroad owner Erastus Corning managed to unite the Albany and Schenectady Railroad, the Utica and Schenectady Railroad, the Syracuse and Utica Railroad, the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad, the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad, the  Schenectady and Troy Railroad, the L

The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (reporting mark NKP), abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States.

The Hartford and New Haven merged with the New York and New Haven Railroad in 1872, forming the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (the New Haven). For the next 90 years, the route remained a vital passenger and freight route for the New Haven, with continuous passenger service even as most other lines in the region gradually had passenger service discontinued from the 1920s onward.

Wikipedia

The New York, Providence and Boston Railroad, normally called the Stonington Line, was a major part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between New London, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island.

The Norfolk and Western Railway (reporting mark NW),[1] commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982.

The Norfolk County Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts, United States. Chartered as two different companies in 1846 and 1847, it completed a rail line between Dedham and Blackstone in 1849. A branch to Medway, Massachusetts was built in 1852.

In addition to the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley, the Penn-sylvania made one other addition to its mileage in the anthracite fields, in the purchase and completion of the “North and West Branch Railroad Company”, which had a charter to build a line from a connection with the Sunbury, Hazleton and Wilkesbarre (PRR) at Catawissa Junction, east along the Susquehanna to Wilkes-Barre. This company had been organized in 1872, and its line partly constructed.

The North Pennsylvania Railroad was a railroad company which served Philadelphia, Montgomery County, Bucks County and Northampton County in Pennsylvania.

The Northern Central Railway (NCRY) was a Class I Railroad connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1861, when the PRR acquired a controlling interest in the Northern Central's stock to compete with the rival Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O).

The Northern Indiana Railroad Company, not to be confused with a later company of the same name, began with a charter for The Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad Company.  The BMR Company was chartered to run from the navigable water at the west end of Lake Erie (head of Maumee Bay) to the navigable water below the rapids of the Illinois River (Ottawa, Illinois).  In 1837 the Indiana Legislature amended the original act, renaming the company Northern Indiana Railroad Company.

The Northern Pacific Railway (reporting mark NP) was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest.

The Norwich and Worcester Railroad (N&W) was a railroad in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Massachusetts.

The Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad was chartered in Ohio on February 24 and in Pennsylvania on April 11, 1848, to build from Allegheny City (annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907) west to Crestline, Ohio, on the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad. It was organized on June 15 with William Robinson Jr. as president,[1] and construction began on July 4, 1849. The first section, from Allegheny City west to New Brighton, opened July 30, 1851.

The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893.

The Oswego and Syracuse Railroad was formed April 29, 1839, and the route was surveyed during the summer of that year. The Company was fully organized March 25, 1847. The road was opened on May 14, 1848, and ran a total distance of 35.5 miles (57.1 km) from Syracuse, New York to Oswego, New York.

In April 1833, the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad company was given a charter to start the building of a railroad. The Palmyra Jacksonburgh Railroad was the first railway in the state of Michigan. It was built in 1837 - the year that Michigan became a state - as the Tecumseh branch.

An anecdote found in Day By Day for March 4, 1906:

Mark Twain Got the Stateroom.

Early in 1864, the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad had been changed to the Peoria and Burlington Railroad (March 8, 1864). Its construction had been completed (March 17, 1855) and it was operated under lease until June 24, 1864, when it became the property of Burlington, and on that date, by legislative act, the name of the road was changed from Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Rail Road Company to Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, under which the “Articles of Consolidations” became effective.

The Pere Marquette Railroad was incorporated on November 1, 1899, in anticipation of a merger of three Michigan-based railroad companies[1] that had been agreed upon by all parties. It began operations on January 1, 1900, absorbing the following companies:

The Peru & Indianapolis was incorporated January 19, 1846, to connect Indianapolis with the Wabash and Erie Canal at Peru. Construction began at Indianapolis in 1849 and service began over 21.42 miles of line to Noblesville on March 12, 1851. At the request of the Noblesville merchants, the railroad was built in 8th street to reduce the drayage cost for local freight. As the railroad built north it stimulated the location of new towns like Buena Vista, renamed Atlanta in 1881.

The Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company (also known as the Erie and Sunbury Railroad) was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1837, to build a rail line connecting towns between Sunbury and Erie, Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (P&R) was one of the first railroads in the United States. Along with the Little Schuylkill, a horse-drawn railroad in the Schuylkill River Valley, it formed the earliest components of what became the Reading Company.

The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad was a railroad from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Trenton, New Jersey. Opened in 1832, it became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system in 1871.

The Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad (PG&N) was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1831 and opened its first line in 1832, making it one of the oldest railroads in North America.

The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated from 1836 to 1881. Formed as a result of the merger of four small lines dating from the earliest days of American railroading in the late 1820s and early 1830s, it was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1881, becoming part of their main line in 1902.

The Pennsylvania Railroad had a total investment of $5,633,000 in the three companies, decided to consolidate the Panhandle, the Steubenville and Indiana and the Holliday’s Cove Rail Road into one company with a line from Pittsburgh to Columbus, a distance of 193 miles. It caused The Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway Company to be organized on May 14, 1868, and the three predecessor companies were thus consolidated. The new consolidated company continued to be known colloquially as the “Panhandle”, by which name it and its successors will hereafter be frequently referred to.

The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, commonly called the Pan Handle Route (Panhandle Route in later days), was a railroad that was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system.

On July 26, 1856, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Rail Road was formed as a consolidation of the Fort Wayne and Chicago, Ohio and Indiana, and Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroads.

The Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad (PS&P) was a railroad in Maine that ran from Portland via Saco to South Berwick.

The Portsmouth and Concord Railroad (later the Concord and Portsmouth Railroad) was a railroad in New Hampshire (United States) that existed under various names from 1845 to 1945.

The Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W; reporting mark PW) is a Class II railroad operating 612 miles (985 km) of tracks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, as well as 

The Canadian province of Quebec formed the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway (QMO&OR)[1][2] in 1874 to link those cities since private companies, without the usual subsidies from the Federal Government of Can

See Northern Cross RR

On July 2, 1887, Premier John Norquay, assisted by the Mayor of Winnipeg, turned over the first sod of the Red River Valley Railway. Construction began in earnest on July 13, the intention being to have the line travelling southward from Winnipeg to the International Boundary completed by September 1 of that year. On September 4, 1888, the Northern Pacific and Manitoba Railway Company became incorporated by the Province of Manitoba, to take over, complete and operate the Red River Valley Railway.

The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad was a railway company that operated in the states of New York and Vermont in the 19th century. At its peak it controlled a 150-mile (240 km) network. The Delaware and Hudson Railway leased the company in 1871 and formally merged it in 1945.

The Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad was a railroad that grew, in stages, from Rome, New York to Watertown and then to Ogdensburg, New York and Massena, New York.

The Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad (also known as the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad and the SP&P) was a shortline railroad in the state of Minnesota in the United States which existed from 1857 to 1879.

The Sandusky City & Indiana Railroad Company, which was chartered February 28, 1851, built a road from Tiffin to Sandusky, via Clyde, and as this route was deemed more favorable than that via Bellevue, the Sandusky City & Indiana Company leased the road to the Mad River & Lake Erie Company for ninety-nine years, renewable perpetually, and has operated the road via Clyde, abandoning the other route.

The Shamokin Valley and Pottsville had been commenced in 1835 to transport coal from the mines to the Susquehanna Canal at Sunbury and was extended to Mt. Carmel in 1854. Its entire length of 27 miles lay through anthracite deposits, and it owned substantial holdings itself, which went with the lease.

The "Little Railroad that Could"

Construction of railroads caught the interest of rail fans, business entrepreneurs and investors west of the Allegheny Mountains in America in the early 1800s.

St. Louis, Alton and Chicago Railroad c.1857-1861 Alton – Joliet

The Terre Haute and Alton railroad built the first bridge over the Wabash  River in 1855.  The name changed to Terre Haute, Alton and St Louis Railroad in 1856 and changed again to St Louis, Alton and Terre Haute Railroad in 1862.  This existed until at least 1876 and was acquired by the Vanderbilts in the  mid 1880's.

Acquired by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy in 1881. Burlington Route page 174

The Syracuse, Binghamton and New York is a corporation of the State of New York, having its principal office at New York, N. Y. While the present name of this company is that given above it was incorporated originally as the Syracuse and Southern Railroad Company, which was later changed to the present name of Syracuse, Binghamton and New York Railroad Company.

It is controlled by the Lackawanna through ownership of a majority of its outstanding capital stock. On the other hand, the records do not indicate that this company controls any common-carrier corporation.

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.

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

Wikipedia

The Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway was chartered in 1863, and opened in 1868 from the state line at Indiana across Illinois to the Mississippi River at Warsaw. This line was reorganized as the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad in 1880 and leased to the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway.

The Toledo and Illinois Railroad was chartered April 20, 1853, in Ohio to build from Toledo on Lake Erie west to the Indiana state line. The Lake Erie, Wabash and St.

The Troy and Boston Railroad was chartered April 4, 1848 and organized November 22, 1849. It completed a railroad from Troy, New York to the Vermont state line (35 miles) in 1852.

On February 1, 1867, the C&A and NJRR were informally joined as the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Companies (UNJ). The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) approved a lease of the UNJ on May 15, 1871, and the UNJ approved May 19. On May 18, 1872, the C&A, D&R Canal and NJRR were consolidated, forming the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company.

The railroad of the Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley Railway Company, hereinafter called the Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley, is a single-track line located within the State of New York and extending from Greene to Utica, a distance of 75.875 miles, with a branch line from Richfield Junction to Richfield Springs, aggregating 97.662 miles of road.

The Toledo and Illinois Railroad was chartered April 20, 1853, in Ohio to build from Toledo on Lake Erie west to the Indiana state line. The Lake Erie, Wabash and St.

The Warren Railroad was chartered on February 12, 1851, by special act of the state of New Jersey, to provide a connection from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's (DL&W) terminus at the Delaware River to Hampton, New Jersey, on the Central Railroad of New Jersey (

The West Shore Railroad was the final name of a railroad that ran from Weehawken, New Jersey, on the west bank of the Hudson River opposite New York City, north to Albany, New York, and then west to 

The Western Maryland Railway (reporting mark WM) was an American Class I railroad (1852–1983) which operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

1867-70 – Boston &Worcester RR, Albany and West Stockbridge RR, and Western RR merged with Hudson and Boston Railroad into a company known as Boston and Albany Railroad.

see Elmira and Wlliamsport RR

n 1845, Worcester was becoming an important railroad junction in central Massachusetts, with numerous rail lines linking the city to Boston, Springfield, Providence, Rhode Island, and Norwich, Connecticut, with another line linking it to