The New York Central Railroad in 1950 |
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Several years ago I wrote a story on the major railroads of 1950 and what happened to them.
Now I am following up with a closer examination of the New York Central Railroad. This railroad only lasted until 1968 when it merged into Penn Central. But, what was it like in 1950? What better source than the 1950 Annual Report! I have scanned the most interesting pages and included below. You can also see the entire 1950 Annual Report on-line. You will also be interested in "What if the Penn Central Merger Did Not Happen" First of all, the highlights of 1950: Revenue passengers4 20,004,513 versus 40,025,946 in 1946 Average number of employes 110.950 49,577 stockholders Amount of d i v i d e n d per share $1.00 The mileage operated by the Company M a i n line and branches 3,623 Lines operated under lease or contract 6,300 Trackage rights 803 TOTAL10,727 You will find more statistics on the exhibits below. Now for some of the stories, both big and small, from the Annual Report/ Application was filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity permitting the abandonment of the portion of the Cape Vincent Branch extending from Limerick, New York, to the end of the line at Cape Vincent, New York, a distance of about 15.75 miles. The new passenger station known as the Central Union Terminal at Toledo, Ohio, was placed in service with appropriate dedication ceremonies. The Trustees of the N E W Y O R K , O N T A R I O A N D W E S T E R N R A I L W A Y C O M P A N Y advertised for bids for the sale of the property in its entirety or by sections. This Company submitted a bid for the purchase of the 13 mile section between Fulton and Oswego, New York, which bid, however, was rejected by the Trustees. The Interstate Commerce Commission, in Finance Docket No. 16693, on July 19, 1950, approved and authorized trackage rights over the line of railroad owned by the N E W Y O R K , O N T A R I O A N D W E S T E R N R A I L W A Y C O M P A N Y between Fulton and Oswego, New York, on more favorable terms than had been granted heretofore. This makes feasible the handling of freight traffic via this trackage section which affords a shorter distance than the route previously used via Pulaski, New York. Agreement was made with the N E W Y O R K , O N T A R I O A N D W E S T E R N R A I L W A Y C O M P A N Y in regard to these trackage rights on September 6, 1950. INVESTMENTS I M P R O V E M E N T S O N L E A S E D O R C O N T R O L L E D P R O P E R T Y Amsterdam, Chuctanunda and Northern Railroad $21,448 66 Beech Creek Extension Railroad 1,472,611 27 Beech Creek Railroad 9,988 21 Boston and Albany Railroad 727,396 54 Chicago, Kalamazoo and Saginaw Railway 4,148 22 Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St Louis Railway 1,070,674 87 Detroit, Hillsdale and South Western Railroad 157,537 58 Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Railroad 540 6 0 Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad 160,668 34 Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad 354,895 25 Grand Central Terminal Improvements, New York 52,233,188 10 Hudson River bridges at Albany 1,505,900 73 Hudson River Connecting Railroad 188,579 03 Improvements on leased piers, New York 654,211 88 Improvements to ticket office, Chicago, Illinois 98,331 15 Joliet and Northern Indiana Railroad 169,780 17 Kalamazoo, Allegan and Grand Rapids Railroad 17,324 82 Lake Erie, Alliance & Wheeling Railroad 2,630,481 81 Mahoning and Shenango Valley Railway Mahoning Coal Railroad 284,872 53 Michigan Central Railroad 101,179 43 Mt. Gilead Short Line Railway New Jersey Junction Railroad 610,449 45 New York and Harlem Railroad 31,584,969 83 New York State Realty and Terminal Company 3,198,896 33 Shenango Valley Railroad Stewart Railroad „ Stockyards, New York—West Side 1,220,954 15 Toledo and Ohio Central Railway 333,866 76 Troy and Greenbush Railroad 238,925 55 Wallkill Valley Railroad 224,696 94 West Shore Railroad 27,703,960 02 $127,002,287 97 Investments in affiliated companies The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company— common —common scrip 47,028,800 —preferred 9,998,500 Detroit Terminal Railroad Company 2,000,000 The Hudson River Bridge Company at Albany 500,000 The Hudson River Connecting Railroad Corporation 250,000 Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company 7,600,000 T R U S T E E S : © Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago (formerly Illinois Trust and Savings Bank) © Guaranty Trust Company of New York © Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company, New York (formerly Central Union Trust Company) ® Manufacturers Trust Company, New York (formerly Metropolitan Trust Company) ® Irving Trust Company, New York (formerly Knickerbocker Trust Company) © United States Trust Company of New York © Bankers Trust Company, New York © The Chase National Bank of the City of New York ® The First National Bank of the City of New York © J. P. Morgan & Co., Incorporated A S S I G N E E : ® Public National Bank and Trust Company of New York © The National City Bank of New York REVENUES FROM TRANSPORTATION for 1950 Freight: Anthracite coal $10,734,623 Bituminous coal 106,400,190 Coke 5,397,994 Iron ore 8,352,352 All other freight 413,736,269 Total freight $544,621,430 Passenger 116,597,097 Baggage 321,323 Parlor and chair car 347,738 Mail 45,637,149 Express 8,330,547 Other passenger-train 1,622,986 Milk 1,317,213 Switching 11,183,838 Water transfers.—freight 207,886 Water transfers.—passenger 253,001 Water transfers—vehicles and live stock 237,876 Water transfers—other 82,347 T O T A L $730,760,442 By Ken Kinlock at kenkinlock@gmail.com |
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This quiz appeared in the January 1950 New York Central Headlight Take a try at it and check your answers at the bottom of this page. |
Trackside in 1950 was the Main Plant of General Electric in Schenectady |
English |
Traveling in Europe? You will probably need to make a FERRY RESERVATION. Réservation Ferry en français Stop by and see our Reservations Center. |
French |
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1950 NY Central Railroad Billboards |
Since 1950
Over fifty years ago, Merle Armitage published a book called
"The Railroads of America". In it, he listed the major railroads of the time. I took his list and tried to see where they all went. I also compared to a 1980 source of Class 1 railroads. Note:"Conrail" is listed as the final disposition because of the added complexity of integrating the final disposition of Conrail. Click on picture below to see. 
Typical of railroads around in 1950 but gone in half a century was the C&WC. The Charleston & Western Carolina Railroad was merged into the Atlantic Coast Line System after 1959. This GP-7 was painted in the ACL's scheme of Purple/silver but was lettered for the C&WC instead of ACL. When the ACL began repainting their units in the black/yellow stripe scheme the CN&L units were also repainted and renumbered. For more details refer to the Book "ACL-the Diesel Years" by W. Calloway. For more on Southeastern US railrtoads, visit www.hosam.com |
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All the locomotives in service on the NY Central at the end of 1950 and the change during the year.
From 1950 New York Central Railroad Annual Report |
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All the passenger and freight cars in service on the NY Central at the end of 1950 and the change during the year.
From 1950 New York Central Railroad Annual Report |
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1950 Dividend Income from investments of the NY Central Railroad..
From 1950 New York Central Railroad Annual Report |
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1950 Management Structure of the NY Central Railroad.
From 1950 New York Central Railroad Annual Report |
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1950 Table of tracks of the NY Central Railroad
Table of tracks: Main Lines Table of tracks: New York City to Buffalo From 1950 New York Central Railroad Annual Report |
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1950 Table of tracks of the NY Central Railroad
Table of tracks: Buffalo to Elkhart Table of tracks: MidWest branches From 1950 New York Central Railroad Annual Report |
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1950 Table of tracks of the NY Central Railroad
Table of tracks: MidWest branches Table of tracks: Lines operated under lease ot contract From 1950 New York Central Railroad Annual Report |
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1950 Table of tracks of the NY Central Railroad
Table of tracks: Lines operated under trackage rights From 1950 New York Central Railroad Annual Report |
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| Boston & Albany Railroad. Revitalized Boston Yard in 1950 in 1950. (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
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| Commuters got an order of new cars in 1950. (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
| 1950 Outlook from New York Central's Executives | ||
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1951 Annual Meeting
For the Annual Meeting (always held in Albany), the Central ran a special train from New York City. The meeting was held at the Ten Eyck Hotel in Albany NY. (from New York Central Headlight) |
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Directors of the New York Central Railroad
Robert F. Loree Mr. Loree, a Director since 1933, is President, Treasurer and Director of Florham Park Dairies, Inc., the development of a life-long interest in farming. After graduation from Yale University in 1912, he entered upon a banking career in the Farmers' Loan & Trust Company, New York. He transferred to the Guaranty Trust Company in 1915 and rose to the position of Vice President in 1925. During World War I, he was financial advisor to the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury on the Inter-Allied Council for War Purchases and Finance-and was assistant to American financial advisors at the Presidential Peace Conference in Paris in 1918-19. As well as personally owning New York Central stock, he represented the large blocks of New York Central stock owned by the Delaware & Hudson Railroad. Edward B. Greene William G. Mather, Cleveland tycoon, president of Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. (miner of iron ore in Minnesota and Michigan, operator of a fleet of 20 Great Lakes freighters, manufacturer of charcoal and wood chemicals), last week retired from active management of the company which was given him in 1891 by his father, the founder. Elected to the newly created post of chairman, he was succeeded as president by Edward B. Greene, chair-man of the executive committee of Cleveland Trust Co. Read more from TIME Magazine. George Whitney President of Morgan Bank; Brother of Richard Whitney who embezelled from the NY Stock Exchange William E. Levis from Toledo who headed up the Owens-Illinois Glass Company Malcolm E. Aldrich New York Malcolm Aldrich, president and chairman of the Commonwealth Fund, a national philanthropic foundation. Yale graduate in 1922. Raymond D. Starbuck New York NY Central Vice President and foorball great Read more about Raymond D. Starbuck. Lawrence N. Murray New York Alexander C. Nagle New York Alexander C. Nagle. President,. First National Bank of City of New York. William H. Vanderbilt Williamstown MA Read more about William H. Vanderbilt. Winthrop W. Aldrich, NY Aldrich served as president and chairman of the board of Chase National Bank from 1930 to 1953. During and after World War II, he was a leader in the organization of relief efforts and financial assistance to Europe. In 1953, he became U.S. ambassador to Great Britain under President Dwight Eisenhower, and he remained in London until 1957. His sister Abby Aldrich was the wife of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. |
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1950 Directors of the NY Central Railroad.
From Utica Observer-Dispatch |
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In 1950, Thomas E. Dewey was still Governor of New York State. When he left office, he entered private law practice. One of his clients was the New York Central Railroad. He presided at Central's annual stockholder meetings. In 1957, Dewey told stockholder rights advocate Lewis Gilbert to "shut up". |
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Here is a picture of Track 61. See what is so mysterious about Track 61 at Grand Central Terminal.. Also find out about a railroad that did NOT make it to Conrail: The New York & Harlem. Find out about Metro-North. |
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New York Central Branch from DeKalk Junction to Ogdensburg,
In 1861, the Potsdam & Watertown line merged into the Watertown&Rome, the name of the new railroad was changed to Rome, Watertown&Ogdensburg,
and a 19-mile line built from DeKalb Junction to Ogdensburg. It lasted until the 1980's. Read the whole story.
Our favorite Short Lines |
| On June 13, 1845 the Troy & Greenbush Railroad opened between Troy and Greenbush, NY. It is the last link in an all-rail line between Boston and Buffalo. See more random dates in railroad history. |
| Isn't it amazing how much we all remember (and have forgotten about the NY Central)? 40 plus years? OMG, we rode parlors to Chatham and sleepers to the Adirondacks. Geez, we remember a lot. Why is all this stuff gone? Why did we have a PC and a Conrail. |
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Less-than-carload freight was big money in 1950.
This classic picture outside the Utica freight house shows the colorful "Pacemaker" paint scheme on both box car and truck.
From Utica Observer-Dispatch |
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Less-than-carload freight took a lot of work in 1950.
Working at getting less-than-carload business at Yonkers.
(Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
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Utica was an important station in 1950.
Lots of trains originated here because of the importance of the Adirondack and St Lawrence Divisions.
From Utica Observer-Dispatch |
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Story about the career of Engineer Buckley on the NY Central's Hudson Division. (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
All the great train stations of the New York Central System. Grand Central Terminal, Buffalo Central Terminal, Utica Union Station, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, Harmon, Beacon, Oneonta, Saranac Lake, Malone, and others. Even some not owned by NY Central but a destination for Central trains: like Montreal Other interesting Railway Stations |
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| The Central's new icing plant (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
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The NY Central even had its own ice supply!
(Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
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Chicago Rail Fair of 1948-1949. We have searched out tons of information available on this memorable event. Most of the railroads in the United States were represented, or exhibited. Union Pacific's Big Boy locomotive was one of the most popular exhibits. At this time, Chicago was the Rail Capital of the U.S. |
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| Interested in Penn Central? New York Central? Pennsylvania Railroad? New Haven Railroad? or in the smaller Eastern US railroads? Then you will be interested in "What if the Penn Central Merger Did Not Happen". You will also enjoy "Could George Alpert have saved the New Haven?" as well as "What if the New Haven never merged with Penn Central?" | ||
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Once upon a time, milk trains were important New York Central Milk Business Creamery in South Columbia, New York There were two basic types of milk trains – the very slow all-stops local that picked up milk cans from rural platforms and delivered them to a local creamery, and those that moved consolidated carloads from these creameries to big city bottling plants. Individual cars sometimes moved on lesser trains. These were dedicated trains of purpose-built cars carrying milk. Early on, all milk was shipped in cans, which lead to specialized "can cars" with larger side doors to facilitate loading and unloading (some roads just used baggage cars). In later years, bulk carriers with glass-lined tanks were used. Speed was the key to preventing spoilage, so milk cars were set up for high speed service, featuring the same types of trucks, brakes, communication & steam lines as found on passenger cars. |
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| 1950 saw the New York Central putting new diesel switchers to work. These little Lima-Hamiltons went to the Big Four in Indianapolis and Cincinnatti; and to the Indiana Harbor Belt |
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| The Central's new signal towers. (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
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New York Central Terminal In Buffalo, NY in 1950
New York Central Trackage In Buffalo, NY in 1950 |
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| Diesels were replacing steam in Buffalo in 1950 |
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Central First Buyer Of New Diesel Cars (February 1950)
The New York Central is leading the way in experimentation with a new type of rail equipment—the Diesel-powered, selfpropelled RDC-1 passenger car developed by the Budd Co. The Central's order for two of the new-type cars places it first among railroads to adopt it. Present plans are to place the cars in service between Boston, Worcester, and Springfield, Mass., on the Boston & Albany Railroad. The RDC-1 is a streamlined, all-steel, air-conditioned car with seating capacity of 90. It can be operated from either end. |
| REFERENCE |
| List of New York Railroads |
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New York Central Railroad
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A new, easy-to-read schedule for shippers and receivers of merchandise freight was distributed by the Central in 1950.
The 24-page book, a t t r a c t i v e l y printed, shows at a glance t h e time requ i r e d for shipments, in either direct movement or transfer, between any two of a list of more t h a n 2,000 points on and off System lines. Although the same type of information has been circulated by t h e Central in the past, the new booklet presents it in a new, simplified form that makes it easier than ever for shippers to plan merchandise freight movements. NYC traffic representatives, too, will find the schedule a handy sales tool in presenting prospective customers with a quick picture of the advantages Central merchandise service offers. Pacemaker freight schedules, as well as those of approximately 2,000 other merchandise cars which operate daily over the Central's 11,000-mile rail network, are given in the newly issued booklet. The schedules published, of course, reflect normal operations, which have been disturbed recently by forced service curtailments due to t h e coal mine work stoppage. |
| We hope you have enjoyed this brief glimpse of the New York Central System in 1950. Like to see more about the New York Central? Start with our New York Central Home Page. Like many 1950 passenger trains, it comes with a Second Section. We have stories about the stations of the New York Central Railroad, including Grand Central Terminal; and the trains of the New York Central Railroad, especially the 20th Century Limited. Going out of New York City, the New York Central once had the Hudson, Harlem and Putnam Divisions. The Putnam Division was abandoned beginning in the 1950's. The Harlem Division once ran to a Boston & Albany connection at Chatham. Eastbound from Chatham was Boston. Westbound was the Castleton Cutoff through Selkirk and on to Chicago. The Hudson Division was electrified as far as Croton-Harmon. Harmon was a major engine terminal and repair facility.It continued to Albany, then West, crossing the Hudson River, along the route of the original New York Central Railroad, to Utica and on to Chicago. On the other side of the Hudson River, the West Shore began in New Jersey Junction and continued all the way to Buffalo. |
