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.

A Conrail SD40: Hauling Freight on One of America's Cornerstone's of Freight

Conrail was a cornerstone of freight traffic in the Northeast.  Locomotives such as this SD40 hauled merchandise such as manufactured goods from the mills of Pennsylvania to the markets of the Northeast, Midwest and to the gateways of the Southeast and South Central United States.
Conrail hauled agriculture products from across America to from hubs such as Chicago and Decatur to necessary markets in the Northeast.
Coal from the mines of Pennsylvania traveled across the Conrail system to the mills of America and to the ports of the Eastern Seaboard for export.  Much of Conrail is now part of today's Norfolk Southern, with a smaller portion being a part of CSX Transportation.
Conrail magnets and prints available at:
http://www.customtrains.org/