1940's-50's History Question

Fireball RR posted:

Hi All,

Was hoping someone could confirm for me if in the 1940's and 50's short lines were operated by the Class I railroads of the day or were there smaller companies that would move freight to interchange tracks for the Class I's to pick up. 

Yes, pretty much exactly what you describe was true. The class 1 railroads did NOT own the various short line railroads, in most cases. 

I'm modeling Pennsylvania south to Virginia area if that helps.  Any guidance would be appreciated, thanks.

Both Southern and Norfolk & Western owned and operated short line railroads in Virginia in that time period.  Not sure whether the C&O did as well with the W&OD or whether it was legally folded into the C&O.  There were also privately owned short lines in Virginia such as the Atlantic & Danville (after 1949) and the Interstate (until 1960).  I suspect the same may have been true in other states.

It was a blend.  The big Class 1s did operate some subsidiary feeder short lines; others were independent operations.  

Mitch 

As Mitchell notes, the answer to your question is "yes and no".

In the area of central Pennsylvania where I grew up; there were two nearby short line railroads connecting to the PRR - the East Broad Top and the Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain.  The Huntingdon and Broad Top was controlled by the PRR; the EBT was owned by a coal company.

Curt

Generally, short lines are/were separate companies. However, it wasn't uncommon at that time for a large railroad to have bought a controlling interest in a smaller connecting railroad at some point in the past, but have the smaller railroad essentially continue to operate as a separate entity (it's own name, paint scheme, officers, etc.)

Also, many large cities had terminal railroads, where several large railroads would create a smaller railroad that would move interchange freight from one railroad to the other. For example, Lake Superior Terminal and Transfer was owned by the six large railroads serving Superior, Wisconsin. The problem was that if say the C&NW wanted to move a cut of interchange cars to the NP's yard, the C&NW would have to move the cars to the NP and return light (just the engine and caboose). If NP had cars for the C&NW, an NP crew would have to run the cars to the C&NW and then return light. A terminal railroad like LST&T could take the C&NW cars to the NP, then pick up the NP cars and take them to the C&NW in one round trip.

@wjstix Thank you for the very detailed response.  I like the idea of a terminal railroad and wonder if there was a road like you described above say in the Baltimore or Norfolk Virginia area.  Then there could be a very realistic reason to have Norfolk & Southern, Virginian, Pennsy, and B&O locos on the layout.  I read an amazing article in the July 2010 Railroad Model Craftsman about Erie's 28th Street Terminal in NYC that produced a lot of switching with car floats in a small space.  I am only working with an 10X19 walk in with a jet out which would be perfect for the terminal/float.  Thank you so much for your feedback.   

I wouldn’t over think this too much. If you look at a city like Washington, DC; you had PRR, B&O, C&O, Southern and RF&P actually serving the city.  Add in ACL engines that ran through from Richmond over the RF&P and you’ve got what was an everyday occurrence back in the 40’s and 50’s with engines from all those roads mixed together at Potomac Yard or the Ivy City engine terminal.

And it wasn’t just DC; most major cities back in that era were served by multiple railroads.

Curt

Fireball RR posted:

@wjstix Thank you for the very detailed response.  I like the idea of a terminal railroad and wonder if there was a road like you described above say in the Baltimore or Norfolk Virginia area.  Then there could be a very realistic reason to have Norfolk & Southern, Virginian, Pennsy, and B&O locos on the layout.  I read an amazing article in the July 2010 Railroad Model Craftsman about Erie's 28th Street Terminal in NYC that produced a lot of switching with car floats in a small space.  I am only working with an 10X19 walk in with a jet out which would be perfect for the terminal/float.  Thank you so much for your feedback.   

The Norfolk Portsmouth Belt Line provided connections between various railroads in the Norfolk and Portsmouth area, including the N&W, the ACL, SAL, Southern, Norfolk Southern and at one time served the Pennsy ferry terminal.  It also served some online industries.  The NPBL had its own locomotives but you could tweak the story so that connecting roads operated on the NPBL tracks.  

A modest sized eastern railroad town to consider modelling is Hagerstown, MD.  Within very close proximity  you had PRR, N&W, WM, and B&O.  Reading power also frequented the town over the WM via run through arrangements to and from Harrisburg.