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 P&R was constructed initially to haul anthracite coal from the mines of the Coal Region in Northeastern Pennsylvania to Philadelphia. The original P&R mainline extended south from the mining town of Pottsville to Reading and then to Philadelphia.

The East Pennsylvania Railroad was chartered on March 9, 1856, as the Reading and Lehigh Railroad, but was renamed in April 1857. It completed a line between Reading and Allentown on May 11, 1859. The opening of this line created a through route between Harrisburg and New York City. Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, predecessor of the Reading Company, leased the line in 1869. The East Pennsylvania continued to exist as a company, and would be merged along with the Reading into Conrail in 1976, as a result of the Reading's final bankruptcy

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 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.

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.

• 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 

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.