Railroads & Internet: Same Highways, Different Tracks and Times
A friend once said when we were both coming out of college into the world: Remember, Good things take time. No matter what recipe of details, or arsenals of ammunition you have for a good idea, its end results take time and changes and details of the unknown.
If the railroad was the great superhighway of its day, and it took time develop all its extensive manners and ways, the process sheds light on what we observe in a process of changes and mergers today regarding our new international super highway: the Internet.
The development of the railroad system in our country didn’t happen from one glowing piece of legislation, nor from one company’s brave investment, nor from one cadre of interested supporters and customers of its services. It didn’t happen from one man’s ideal idea, nor any single architect of source.
The vast geographical, innovative, engineering colossus we imagine to be the railroad system came from the blood and guts and money of myriad sources over dozens of years. It is the result of multiple thousands of connections, untold resources, and time… because “good things take time.”
So it was that On This Day, June 14, 1881, that the New York West Shore and Buffalo Railway incorporated their consolidation as one unit in a force of hundreds—thousands, all connected.
There were plenty of mixes, mergers, takeovers, bankruptcies and consolidations going on at this time, fraught with explosive details of agreements and disagreements, competition, and aggressive financing.
The Railroad Companies of New York State alone, numbering vast single units, but consolidating with vast numbers more, astound at what results and changes occurred over a few short years. The theme was to invest, build, incorporate, expand, consolidate, gobble, gobble, gobble up as many as you can and see what happens. That’s the evolution of industry in a time of major change. That was then. But now look at Google coming from last to first so quickly, then magic-wanding the consolidation of a YouTube entity from seemingly nowhere, to where it is now everywhere.
The following list is ONLY of New York State. Individual lines of entry may read as boring detail, but the overall impression made by its changing patchwork is awesome. Scroll down and imagine the frenetic super-speed discussions at the time — imagine the “Gordon Gekkos” of the time’s pleas for “greed is good” kind of growth, and consider the consolidation talks smoking in the back parlor rooms.
Imagine the Big Guys, and the Little Guys all having at it. This is a list of only New York’s activity at the time, so imagine the hustle and bustle of development brewing at every stage across the nation:
Adirondack Scenic Railroad – Thendara, NY
Albany & Schenectady Railroad
Albany & West Stockbridge Railroad
Allegany Central Railroad
Amtrak
Arcade & Attica Railroad
Atlantic & Great Western Railroad
Auburn & Rochester Railroad, May 13, 1836
Auburn & Syracuse Railroad
Bath & Hammondsport Railroad
Batten Kill Railroad
Beech Creek Clearfield & Southwestern Railroad, March 20, 1883
Beech Creek Extension Railroad
Beech Creek Railroad
Black River & Utica Railroad, January 31, 1853
Blossburg & Corning Railroad
Boston & Albany Railroad, September 4, 1867
Bradford Railroad
Buffalo & Black Rock Railroad
Buffalo & Erie Railway Company
Buffalo Erie Basin Railroad, July 8, 1876
Buffalo & Jamestown Railroad
Buffalo & Lockport Railroad, April 29, 1852
Buffalo & Niagara Falls Railroad, May 3, 1834
Buffalo & Oil Creek Cross Cut Railroad
Buffalo & Rochester Railroad
Buffalo & Southwestern Railroad
Buffalo & State Line Railroad Company
Buffalo & Susquehanna
Buffalo Southern Railroad, Inc. – Another site
Buffalo, Arcade & Attica
Buffalo, Cleveland & Chicago Railway Co. of New York
Buffalo, Corry & Pittsburgh Railroad
Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia Railway
Buffalo, Niagara & Lake Erie Railroad
Buffalo, Pittsburgh & Western
Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh
Canadian Pacific
Canandaigua & Niagara Falls Railroad, May 18, 1851
Canoe Creek Railroad, May 22, 1900
Carthage & Adirondack Railway, March 28, 1883
Carthage Watertown & Sackets Harbor Railroad, February 5, 1869
Catskill Mountain Railroad – Shokan, NY (Tourist RR)
Central New York and Western Railroad
Clearfield Southern Railroad, July 6, 1898
Columbus & Erie Railroad
Corning & Blossburg Railroad
Corning Cowanesque & Antrim Railway
Curwensville & Bower Railroad, March 31, 1903
Dansville & Mt. Morris
Delaware & Hudson Railway Company
Delaware, Erie, Genesee & Washington
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western
Dolgeville & Salisbury Railway
Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley & Pittsburgh Railroad, December 31, 1872
Dunkirk, Warren & Pittsburgh Railroad
Erie and New York City Railroad
Erie and Northeast Railroad Company
Erie Lackwanna Railway Internet Resources
Walt Fles’s Erie Lackawanna Home Page
Don Shorock’s Erie-Lackawanna Index Page
Erie Railroad, predecessors and associated companies
Fall Brook Railway, July 1, 1892
Finger Lakes Railway
Franklin & Warren Railroad
Friendship Railroad
Fulton & Oswego Railroad, December 18, 1885
Genesee & Wyoming
Genesee Valley Canal Railroad
Geneva & Lyons Railroad, October 5, 1877
Geneva Corning & Southern Railroad, organized February 4, 1909
Gouverneur & Oswegatchie Railroad, April 12, 1892
Grand Junction & Depot Railroad
Harlem Railroad, April 25, 1831
Herkimer Newport & Poland Extension Railway
Herkimer Newport & Poland Narrow Gauge Railway
Hudson & Berkshire Railroad
Hudson & Boston Railroad
Hudson River Railroad, May 12, 1846
Jersey City & Albany Railroad Company of the States of New York and New Jersey
Jersey City & Albany Railroad, June 24, 1873
Jersey Shore Pine Creek & Buffalo Railway, February 17, 1870
Junction Railroad April 20, 1870
Kendall & Eldred Railroad
Kinderhook & Hudson Railroad
Kinzua Railroad
Lackawanna and Pittsburgh Railroad
Lackawanna and Southwestern Railroad
Lake Ontario Shore Railroad, March 27, 1868
Lehigh Valley Railroad
Official Lehigh Valley Railroad Railfan Page
Lewiston Railroad, May 6, 1836
Little Falls & Dolgevlle Railroad, December 27, 1902
Long Island Rail Road
The Railroad Museum of Long Island
Loyalhanna & Youghiogheny Railroad
Mahopac Falls Railroad, organized March 8, 1884
Malone & St. Lawrence Railroad
McKean & Buffalo Railroad
Meadville Railroad
Metro North Commuter Railroad
Middletown & New Jersey Railway
Mohawk & Adirondack Railroad
Mohawk & Hudson Rail Road
Mohawk & Malone Railway, June 23, 1892
Mohawk Valley & Northern Railway
Mohawk Valley Railroad, December 29, 1852
New Jersey Midland Railway
New York & Erie Railroad
New York & Fort Lee Railroad
New York & Harlem Railroad
New York & Mahopac Railroad, March 7, 1871
New York & Northern Railway
New York & Oswego Midland Railroad
New York & Ottawa Railway, organized January 19, 1905
New York & Putnam Railroad, January 13, 1894
New York and Bull’s Ferry Railroad
New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, organized November 1, 1869
New York Central & Niagara River Railroad, March 26, 1877
New York Central Railroad, organization effective May 1, 1853
New York Central System Internet Resources
New York City & Northern Railroad
New York West Shore & Buffalo Railway, by consolidation June 14, 1881
New York West Shore & Chicago Railroad
New York Westchester & Putnam Railway
New York, Chicago & St. Louis (Nickel Plate Road)
New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company
New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad
New York, Ontario & Western Railway
New York, Ontario & Western Railway Historical Society
New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad
New York, Susquehanna & Western
Niagara Bridge & Canandaigua Railroad, August 25, 1858
Niagara Falls Branch Railroad, December 24, 1875
Niagara & Western New York Railroad Co. (tourist RR)
Norfork Southern Corp.
Northern Adirondack Extension Railroad, February 17, 1886
Northern Adirondack Railroad, February 9, 1883
Northern New York Railroad
Olean Railroad
Olean, Bradford & Warren Railroad
Oswego & Rome Railroad, April 11, 1863
Oswego & Syracuse Railroad, chartered 1839
Owego & Harford Railway
Penn Central Railroad Home Page
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Unofficial Pennsylvania Railroad Homepage
Chris Brandt’s Unofficial Pennsylvania Railroad Site
Rob’s Pennsy Home Page
The Pennsylvania Pages
Penn Yan & New York Railway, August 24, 1877
Pine Creek Railway
Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern
Pittsburgh Titusville & Buffalo
Potsdam & Watertown Railroad
Rochester & Lake Beach Railroad, February 1, 1888
Rochester & Lake Ontario Railroad, May 17, 1852
Rochester & Ontario Belt Railway, January 31, 1882
Rochester & Syracuse Railroad, consolidated August 1, 1850
Rochester Lockport & Niagara Falls Railroad, December 14, 1850
Rochester, Hornellsville and Lackawanna Railroad
Rochester, New York & Pennsylvania Railroad
Rockland Central Extension Railroad, May 29, 1872
Rockland Central Railroad, May 23, 1870
Rome Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad, organized April 20, 1885
Rome Watertown and Ogdensburg Terminal Railroad
Salamanca, Bradford & Alleghany
Saratoga & Hudson River Railroad, April 16, 1864
Schenectady & Troy Railroad, May 21, 1836
South Buffalo Railway
Southern Central Railroad – Newark Valley, NY
Southern New York, Oneonta, NY
Southwestern Railway
Spuyten Duyvil & Port Morris Railroad, March 4, 1869
St. Lawrence & Raquette River Railroad
St. Lawrence and Adirondack Railway, May 4, 1888 (Canada) and July 2, 1896 (USA)
State Line and Stony Point Railroad, March 6, 1886 (never built)
Susquehanna & Clearfield Railroad, December 8, 1879
Susquehanna & South Western Railroad
Syracuse & Chenango Railroad, May 14, 1873
Syracuse & Chenango Valley Railroad, April 16, 1868
Syracuse & Utica Direct Railroad, January 26, 1853
Syracuse & Utica Railroad, May 11, 1836
Syracuse, Chenango & New York Railroad, April 7, 1877
Syracuse, Geneva & Corning Railway,
Syracuse, Junction Railroad, June 9, 1873
Syracuse, North Western Railroad, September 19, 1874
Syracuse, Northern Railroad, February 25, 1868
Syracuse, Ontario & New York Railway,
Syracuse, Phoenix & Oswego Railway, February 16, 1885
Terminal Railway of Buffalo, incorporated June 12, 1895
Tioga Central Railroad – Wellsboro, PA (Tourist RR)
Titusville & Oil City
Tivoli Hollow Railroad, May 15, 1893
Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway
Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway Historical Society
Trolley Museum of New York – Kingston, NY (Trolley Rides)
Troy & Greenbush Railroad Association, May 14, 1845
Ulster & Delaware Railroad
Unidilla Valley Railroad
Utica & Black River Railroad, May 22, 1861
Utica & Schenectady Railroad, April 29, 1833
Wallkill Valley Railroad, organized July 2, 1877
Warren Pine Grove
Watertown & Rome Railroad
Wellsboro & Lawrenceville Railroad, organized April 4, 1867
West Branch Valley Railroad, November 7, 1898
West Shore Railroad, organized December 5, 1885
Western New York & Pennsylvania Railway
Yonkers Rapid Transit Railway, New York Division
Yonkers Rapid Transit Railway, Yonkers Division