In addition to

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

lines, the

Van Sweringen Brothers Oris Paxton Van Sweringen (April 24, 1879 – November 22, 1936) and Mantis James Van Sweringen (July 8, 1881 – December 12, 1935) were American brothers who became railroad barons in order to develop Shaker Heights, Ohio. They are better k ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

(known as "the Vans") owned a vast network of steam railroads.

History

The

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

had owned the closely parallel

New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States from 1881 to 1964. Commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road", the railroad served parts of the states of ...

since 1882, soon after its opening. Due to fears of prosecution under the 1914

Clayton Antitrust Act The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 (, codified at , ), is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their inci ...

, the Central sold the line on July 5, 1915 to the newly formed Nickel Plate Securities Corporation, a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

formed by the Vans. They were at first only interested in the line to provide a

right-of-way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

for their

Shaker Heights Rapid Transit RTA Rapid Transit (generally known as The Rapid) is a rapid transit and light rail system owned and operated by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA). The system serves Cleveland and surrounding areas in Cuyahoga County. The s ...

to downtown Cleveland. By 1920 the Vans had decided they wanted control of other railroads, including the

Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad in the Northeastern United States built predominantly to haul anthracite, anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeastern Pennsylvania to major consumer markets in Philadelphia, New York City, and ...

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of . The railroad was ...

Western Maryland Railway The Western Maryland Railway was a small American Class I railroad (1852–1983) that operated in 3 Southern United States, Southern US States, Maryland (Western Maryland, Western Region), West Virginia (Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, Easte ...

, Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway,

Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway The Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway was a railroad in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Wheeling, West Virginia, areas. Originally built as the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway, a Pittsburgh extension of George J. Gould's Wabash Railroa ...

Pere Marquette Railway The Pere Marquette Railway was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes (North America), Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and the Canadi ...

Cincinnati Northern Railroad Cincinnati Northern Railroad or Cincinnati Northern Railway may refer to: *Cincinnati Northern Railroad (1894–1938) The Cincinnati Northern Railroad was a railroad that stretched from Franklin, Ohio (near Cincinnati, OH, Cincinnati), north to Ja ...

and Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad (Clover Leaf), as well as partial ownership in the

Lake Erie and Western Railroad The Lake Erie and Western Railroad was a railroad that operated in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The Lake Erie and Western main line extended from Sandusky, Ohio, westward to Peoria, Illinois, passing through Fremont and Fostoria, Ohio, Muncie ...

and

Philadelphia and Reading Railway The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered rail transport, railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called th ...

. The Vaness Company was

incorporated in Delaware The Delaware General Corporation Law (sometimes abbreviated DGCL), officially the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code), is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U. ...

on January 9, 1922 as a

to own all the other holding companies. The Clover Leaf Company was incorporated February 25 to own the Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad, and the Western Company March 11 for the

. The LE&W was bought for $3 million from the

on April 26. On July 1, 1923 and LE&W and Clover Leaf were merged into the Nickel Plate. For the next several years, the Vans bought up the stock of the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis Potter Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Rich ...

(including its

Hocking Valley Railway The Hocking Valley Railway was a railroad in the U.S. state of Ohio, with a main line from Toledo, OH, Toledo to Athens, OH, Athens and Pomeroy, OH, Pomeroy via Columbus, OH, Columbus. It also had several branches to the coal mines of the Hockin ...

), the

and the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...

. On August 20, 1924 they announced plans to merge the four companies into the

(Nickel Plate) to form a new New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railway. They applied to the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

on February 21, 1925, but were denied on March 2, 1926 due to unsound

financing Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm use ...

. The plan was opposed by many C&O stockholders. On February 3, 1927 the Vans, along with the

(NYC) and

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

, bought the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (W&LE). Four days later the Vans announced that they would make the C&O the centerpiece of their system, selling the Erie and Pere Marquette to them. The

Alleghany Corporation Alleghany Corporation is an American investment holding company originally created by the railroad entrepreneurs Oris and Mantis Van Sweringen as a holding company for their railroad interests. It was incorporated in 1929 and reincorporated ...

was incorporated January 26, 1929 in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

to hold the Vans' stock in the Nickel Plate, Chesapeake Corporation, Erie and C&O, as well as a partial ownership of the

Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway The Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Railway was one of the more than ten thousand Railway company, railroad companies founded in North America. It lasted much longer than most, serving communities from the Charlotte, Rochester, New York, shor ...

(traded to the

in March for the B&O's part of the W&LE; the Vans acquired the rest of it from the NYC at the same time). In April 1930 the Alleghany Corporation bought the

Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad The Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Illinois, Chicago to southern Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis, and Evansville, Indiana, Evansville. Founded in 1877, it grew aggressively and staye ...

and 46% of the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...

, gaining a majority of the MoPac on May 13. The

merged into the C&O April 30, 1930. Due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the planned "Fourth System" failed. The new Midamerica Company bought most of the old assets on September 30, 1935 in an attempt to reorganize. The primary financial backer of the Midamerica Company was George A. Ball, the youngest of the

Ball Brothers The Ball brothers (Lucius, William, Edmund, Frank, and George) were five American industrialists and philanthropists who established a manufacturing business in New York and Indiana in the 1880s that was renamed the Ball Corporation in 1969. T ...

Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is a city in Delaware County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It is located in East Central Indiana about northeast of Indianapolis. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 65,195, down from 70,085 in the 2010 c ...

. The

merged into the

(C&O) on June 6, 1947. The Nickel Plate leased the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway on December 1, 1949, and on October 16, 1964 the Nickel Plate was merged into the

Norfolk and Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

(N&W). The Erie merged into the

Erie-Lackawanna Railroad The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route ...

(EL) on October 17, 1960. This left three pieces of the old system - part of the N&W, part of the EL, and the C&O. On August 31, 1965 the N&W and C&O announced a planned merger, with a

named Dereco to own the EL and several other lines. Dereco was incorporated March 1, 1968, acquiring the EL April 1. But the planned merger never happened. The C&O has since become part of

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

, the N&W part of the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

(NS), and the EL part of

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

, ownership of which is split between CSX and NS, in 1998 (at which time most of the former Erie went to NS).

References

PRR Chronology
*James C. Bonbright,

Gardiner C. Means Gardiner Coit Means (June 8, 1896 – February 15, 1988) was an American economist who worked at Harvard University, where he met lawyer-diplomat Adolf A. Berle. Together they wrote the seminal work of corporate governance, ''The Modern Corporati ...

, ''The Holding Company: Its Public Significance and Its Regulation'', pp 253–262 McGraw-Hill, 1932. {{Authority control New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Erie Railroad Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Pere Marquette Railway History of Cleveland United States railroad holding companies