I have a historical question that has been bugging me for a while.
Here is Indiana we had the Monon also known as "The Hoosier Line" Which only had track in Indiana and was always highly identified with our state. Were there other railroads that were identified with or associated with a single state?
Thanks,
Kent

kenta@ameritech.net

Here in Texas, the International & Great Northern Railroad called itself "The Texas Road" for quite a while during the early 1900's. Passes, stationery, and boxcars were all adorned with the phrase.

Regards,

KES

> I have a historical question that has been
> bugging me for a while.
> Here is Indiana we had the Monon also known
> as "The Hoosier Line" Which only
> had track in Indiana and was always highly
> identified with our state. Were there other
> railroads that were identified with or
> associated with a single state?
> Thanks,
> Kent


rrm@texas.net

Were there other
> railroads that were identified with or
> associated with a single state?

Ummmm........
Pennsylvania Railroad? Keystone State?

LNER4472@gateway.net

Don't forget the "Centrals" - Georgia, New Joisey, New York, etc.

How about the North Carolina RR Co?

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

From my home state, South Carolina, albeit 4 hours down the road along the coast and approximately 1 hundred and 70 years ago, was the South Carolina Canal & Railroad Company which was a predecessor for the Southern. They wer the first reguarly scheduled passenger train in America starting in 1830, but they are most famous for an incompetant fireman who was bothered by the hissing noise of the pop off valve so he decided to tie something around it...yeah real smart, a few minutes later and the Best Friend was large chunks of steel and wood scattered around....a few replicas survive today. An operating replica, the one built by SR in 1927 is on display in Charleston, SC as well as one located at the South Carolina Musuem in Columbia and i've heard the SC RR Museum in Winnsboro has a couple of coaches and some spare parts to one replica.


st82@juno.com

> Don't forget the "Centrals" -
> Georgia, New Joisey, New York, etc.

> How about the North Carolina RR Co?

> Dave

How bout one of my personal favorites: Illinois Central "The Main Line of Mid-America"

Stuart


Frisco 1506
gnufe@apex.net

Well here in Maryland we had the "Wild Mary" better known as the Western Maryland and its window to the world, Port Covington in Baltimore, (P.S. - It's recently been announced that CSX is looking to sell the Port Covington property so another bit of American railroad history will be gone).

> I have a historical question that has been
> bugging me for a while.
> Here is Indiana we had the Monon also known
> as "The Hoosier Line" Which only
> had track in Indiana and was always highly
> identified with our state. Were there other
> railroads that were identified with or
> associated with a single state?
> Thanks,
> Kent


BTC7407@aol.com

> I have a historical question that has been
> bugging me for a while.
> Here is Indiana we had the Monon also known
> as "The Hoosier Line" Which only
> had track in Indiana and was always highly
> identified with our state. Were there other
> railroads that were identified with or
> associated with a single state?
> Thanks,
> Kent

How about the Florida East Coast?

kenneth.willis@marad.dot.gov

> How about the Florida East Coast?
In NC, there was the NCRR, the Western NCRR, the Atlantic & NC, and the Northwestern NCRR. A narrow gauge, the Carolina & North-Western (C&NW around here)was standard gauging its line from Lenoir, NC to Chester, SC and for several years had claimed to plan to expand their line over the mountains into Tennessee. A local paper printed that it overheard a man asking what the initials CB&Q meant on a boxcar at the Lenoir station, and another man replied "Chester, by-george, and Quit!" He then further explained that "C&NW" stood for the local railroad's true expansion plans, that is "Can't and Never Will" which the railroad is still referred to by oldtimers today.

stealthnfo@aol.com

How about the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad Company (RBMN) - "The Road of Anthracite"

Photo & Link: The photo below is from the RBMN's website, and the link is to the their official website.

http://www.rbmnrr.com/index.shtml

norfolk_western_611@hotmail.com

It seems nearly every state had a "...Central" or "...Western." in addition, before the eras of mega mergers (which there have been several) all railroads were local.
While this is interesting, I am finding this thread has little to do with railway preservation.

Perhaps your view of "railway preservation" is not broad enough? How can we authentically preserve items if we don't know their lineage? There was one railway company here in Texas was identified by at least four different names...at the same time! I am sure there were other such cases all throughout the US. If we don't do the research, how can we know what relates to our respective mission statements as museums, and etc? Tracing a railroad company's history can be every bit as challenging, and sometimes more so, as tracing the genealogy one's family. Too often, in my opinion, this side of preservation is not given the attention it deserves, and we are all the poorer for it.

KES

> It seems nearly every state had a
> "...Central" or
> "...Western." in addition, before
> the eras of mega mergers (which there have
> been several) all railroads were local.
> While this is interesting, I am finding this
> thread has little to do with railway
> preservation.


rrm@texas.net

> It seems nearly every state had a
> "...Central" or
> "...Western." in addition, before
> the eras of mega mergers (which there have
> been several) all railroads were local.
> While this is interesting, I am finding this
> thread has little to do with railway
> preservation.

You are correct, this thread has little to do with rail preservation directly, please forgive me.
When I asked the question I was trying to satisfy my curiosity and figured that RYPN was the most likely location to find a cogent answer. The other major forums I subscribe to are either primarily based on current railroading and fandom or are a pretty "hit and miss" affair in whom will respond to an honest question.

(WARNING - SHAMELESS PLUG COMING)

I have found that the persons who post here are a polite and informed lot, more than capable of maintaining an intelligent conversation in the public discourse that is the internet without resorting to "flame wars" and such. It is a credit to Hume for maintaining civilization in the anarchy of the Internet.If I wasted space here with an innocent question, again please forgive me.

Kent A Hughes

This thread actually might have to do with the Fallen Flags lost during the mergers / consolidation of raill lines in which these local railroads were digested by big carriers. It certainly does have to do with railroad history and preservation from that POV. Also the sunsequent creation of new local lines as the shortline industry emerges.

Another interesting name thing is the time when every respectable railroad in the works added the word "Pacific" to their name. High Point, Thomasville, Denton and Pacific? Could have been.......

BTW, I forgot the Piedmont and Northern in the earlier post. THAT was a fun Railroad.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

> You are correct, this thread has little to
> do with rail preservation directly, please
> forgive me.
> When I asked the question I was trying to
> satisfy my curiosity and figured that RYPN
> was the most likely location to find a
> cogent answer. The other major forums I
> subscribe to are either primarily based on
> current railroading and fandom or are a
> pretty "hit and miss" affair in
> whom will respond to an honest question.

> (WARNING - SHAMELESS PLUG COMING)

> I have found that the persons who post here
> are a polite and informed lot, more than
> capable of maintaining an intelligent
> conversation in the public discourse that is
> the internet without resorting to
> "flame wars" and such. It is a
> credit to Hume for maintaining civilization
> in the anarchy of the Internet.If I wasted
> space here with an innocent question, again
> please forgive me.

> Kent A Hughes

Kent:

Although the Monon was an exclusive Indiana railroad, its passenger trains also served Illinois (Chicago) and Kentucky (Louisville.)

Two other major railroads come to mind that (almost) exclusively served one state. The Pere Marquette and the Grand Trunk Western both had some trackage in Indiana and Illinois but mileage-wise were mostly Michigan railroads. I don't know the exact figure but believe that both lines were over 97% Michigan railroads. A curious preservation note is that the two lines best steam locomotives (2-8-4's on the PM and 4-8-4's on the GTW) saw two of each being saved and that the two saved both ended in the same numbers (23 and 25!) The actual engines were PM 2-8-4's 1223 and 1225 and GTW 4-8-4's 6323 and 6325. Quite a coincidence! And of course, the two "25" engines have been or are in the process of being restored for service!!

(It is too bad that the only surviving Monon steam locomotive cannot come back home to Indiana.)

midlandblb@cs.com