In 1869, Vanderbilt’s Hudson River Railroad was officially merged into the New York Central, creating a single operation that stretched from the heart of New York City to the shores of Lake Erie. Cornelius Vanderbilt & Expansionīy the end of 1867, control of the NYC was seeded to Vanderbilt in an agreement that involved the construction of a bridge over the Hudson to connect Rensselaer to Albany. Famous railroad baron Cornelius Vanderbilt purchased this line in 1864 and set his sights on a connection with the growing New York Central. This was followed by the acquisition of two broad gauge railroads the Buffalo and State Line, and the Erie and North East, which were converted to standard gauge to create a direct link from Erie, Pennsylvania, through Buffalo and Schenectady, all the way to Albany and the Hudson River.Ĭoncurrent with the growth and mergers of the New York Central, the Hudson River Railroad, formed in 1845, commenced operation on a route out of Rensselaer (on the opposite bank of the Hudson to Albany) linking the region with New York City. The NYC was officially formed just shy of twenty years later in 1853, when local businessman Erastus Corning successfully oversaw the merger of the Mohawk and Hudson (by now operating as the Albany and Schenectady) with 9 other railroads – some in operation, and others only existing on paper and in land acquisitions. Linking the Mohawk River in Schenectady with the Hudson in Albany, the railroad reduced travel time on the 16 mile route from a day (by way of the Erie Canal) to less than an hour. Operations however didn’t begin until 1831. The Mohawk was the first commercial railroad to be chartered in the United States, predating the famous Baltimore and Ohio by one year.
The earliest predecessor of the New York Central can be traced back to 1826, with the creation of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. Along with other large railroads such as the Pennsylvania and Union Pacific, it is generally regarded as one of the greatest railroads in US history.
Operating across the Great Lakes and Northeastern regions of the United States, the New York Central Railroad (NYC) served as a primary trunk route from Boston and New York to the Midwest and Chicago.
0 kommentar(er)
