Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad, chartered in 1846, was one of the most important railroads in the United States. For many years was the largest corporation in the world, with a peak of 10,000 miles of tracks in heavily industrialized parts of the east, and 250,000 employees.

Herman Haupt

Herman Haupt played the leading role in the early development and growth of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1847-56. His work on original surveys, tracklaying, and bridge building operations led to his promotion to chief engineer. He fought for reduced freight tonnage taxation (to allow for competition with canal traffic) and he influenced the extension of track throughout the Midwest.

J. Edgar Thomson

see J. Edgar Thomson

Penn Station

It built Pennsylvania Station, one of the great urban stations in 1910; it was demolished in 1963. Construsction involved major tunneling, a great bridge across the East River, and development of an electric train system. While the station building was demolished in 1963, the transportation complex of which it was a part remains, and Amtrak restored a nearby building for its new Penn Station.

1922 strike

The management of the Pennsylvania Railroad took the lead in fighting the 1922 strike of the national union of railroad shopmen who maintained railroads' rolling stock. Penn management assumed leadership of the industry in dealing with the strike, which began on 1 July 1922, by dispatching crews of their own loyal shopmen to help other railroads keep their equipment rolling and by leading a campaign among railroad executives to head off some lines from negotiating with the union. Penn management also resisted the Harding administration's attempt to conciliate between the shopmen and the railroads. By September 1922 the strike was effectively broken, but it was not until 1928 that the union canceled the strike order. Penn management was successful, but at a considerable financial cost.

Electrics and Diesels

By 1938, the Pennsylvania Railroad had electrified 600 route-miles of track. Almost all of this electrification was accomplished after 1928 at a cost in excess of $250,000,000. Financial factors, including the artificially lower cost of operating diesel engines, prevented further electrification.

After years of fighting the growing trend toward diesel locomotives, and the increasing success of the General Motors (GM) Electro-Motive Division, the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased 820 GM diesel locomotives in 1949, bringing an end to an era for the nation's number one coal carrier.

The railroad brought in famous designer Raymond Loewy, who streamlined the GG-1, S-1, and K4S locomotives and upscaled the interior decoration of its rolling stock and stations.

Merger into Penn Central

In 1968 it merged with the rival New York Central into the Penn Central Transportation Company, which went bankrupt in 1970. The railroad continued to operate and today its historic track is largely operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway.

see also

• J. Edgar Thomson

External links

• Guide to Railroad History online

Further reading

• Bezilla, Michael. Electric Traction on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1895-1968. (1980). 233 pp.
• Chandler, Alfred D., Jr. "The Railroads: Pioneers in Modern Corporate Management". Business History Review 1965 39(1): 16-40. in JSTOR
• Daughen, Joseph R., and Peter H. Binzen. The Wreck of the Penn Central (1971).
• Davis, Patricia T. End of the Line: Alexander J. Cassatt and the Pennsylvania Railroad. (1978). 208 pp.
• Jenks, Leland H. "Early History of a Railway Organization." Business History Review 1961 35(2): 153-179. 0007-6805
• Orr, John W. Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman, 1904-1949. (2001). 376 pp.
• Sobel, Robert. The Fallen Colossus. (1977). 370 pp. on the Penn Central
• Ward, James A. J. Edgar Thomson: Master of the Pennsylvania (1980). 265 pp.
• Ward, James A. "Herman Haupt and the Development of the Pennsylvania Railroad." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 1971 95(1): 73-97.