New York Central- The Scenic Water Level Route

New York Central and its competitor the Pennsylvania Railroad dominated railroading throughout the Northeast and North Central United States.  New York Central's elegant, famous 20th Century Limited passenger train raced from Grand Central Station to LaSalle Street Station Chicago on a racetrack that followed both the Hudson River and the Great Lakes.  This advantage it needed over Pennsylvania Railroad's shorter route to Chicago over the Allegheny mountains via the Horseshoe Curve.  Both railroads fought a bitter rivalry until their ultimate merger into Penn Central in 1968.