List of New York Central Railroad precursors


The New York Central Railroad was formed on December 22, 1914, as a consolidation of the companies listed below. It later merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad to form Penn Central.
The NYCRR owned stock in the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad and the Lake Erie and Western Railroad, but sold it in July 1917 and April 1922, respectively.

Adirondack and St. Lawrence Railroad

Also known as the Mohawk and Malone Railway, the Adirondack and St. Lawrence Railroad was built by Dr. William Seward Webb. The line crossed the northern Adirondacks at Tupper Lake Junction, just north of Tupper Lake. Webb began by purchasing the narrow gauge Herkimer, Newport and Poland Railroad, which ran 16 miles from Herkimer to Poland. He then had track built from Tupper Lake to Moira and thence to Montreal. This was variously called the Adirondack and St. Lawrence Railroad and the Mohawk and Malone Railway. It opened in 1892 from Malone Junction to Childwold Station with a branch from Lake Clear Junction to Saranac Lake. After 1893, it was controlled by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, and in 1913, it merged with the Central as the "Adirondack Division".

Air Line Railway of Michigan

Allegheny and Western Railway

Amsterdam, Chuctanunda and Northern Railroad

Aurora and Cincinnati

Bailey Run, Sugar Creek and Athens Railway

Beech Creek Extension Railroad

Chicago, Indiana and Southern Railroad (original)

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway

Cleveland Union Terminals Company

Cornwall Bridge Company (merged 1917)

Detroit and Chicago Railroad (original)

Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad (original)

Chartered in 1855, the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad ran from Detroit, Michigan, south-southwest along the shore of Lake Erie to Monroe, Michigan. It crossed the state line into Ohio, where it ran into Toledo, Ohio. The line was completed on December 25, 1856. The DM&T leased itself in perpetuity to the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad on July 1, 1856. The MS&NI merged with the Lake Shore Railway in 1869 to form the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad achieved a controlling interest in the LS&MS in 1877, and the two companies merged in 1914 to form the New York Central Railroad. The DM&T's assets were merged into the NYC on January 1, 1915.

Dolgeville and Salisbury Railway (merged 1917)

Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley and Pittsburgh Railroad (original)

Fulton Chain Railway (merged 1916)

Geneva, Corning and Southern Railroad (original)

Jamestown, Franklin and Clearfield Railroad (merged 1915)

Kalamazoo and White Pigeon Railroad (original)

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (original)

Beech Creek Railroad

Cape Vincent Railway

Construction was completed to Cape Vincent in April 1852. The railroad from limerick to Cape Vincent was abandoned
84 years later, and all rails were removed in the summer of 1967.

Carbon and Otter Creek Valley Railroad

Carthage and Adirondack Railway

[Geneva and Lyons Railroad]

Hudson River Railroad

Mahopac Falls Railroad

Mohawk and Malone Railway

Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Railroad

West Shore Railroad (leased 12-5-1885)

Racquette Lake Railway (merged 1916)

Sturgis, Goshen and St. Louis Railway (merged 1915)

Swan Creek Railway of Toledo (original)

Terminal Railway of Buffalo (original)

Toledo and Ohio Central Railway