American Railroads, List?...

[Anonymous]

My name is Per, from Sweden, And a BIG fan of American Railroads!!! Can anyone help me with a list, as complete as possible over American Railroad companys!
Best regards!
Per
Sweden

[JoeKoh]

Hi Per
Well if you go around this web-site you will find what you are looking for.I would start with links and go from there.It will give you all of the American Railroads and the names of the former railroads that used to be.
enjoy stay safe
joe

[ironhorseman]

Trains Magazine did a series of articles called "Merger Family Trees" in January, February and March of 1999. This is a comprehensive look at what were once major railroads at one time and where they have gone. You can click the link below to see the article description.

http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=G&cmdtext=Merger+Family+Trees&MAG=TRN&sort=D

Here are the railroads that were currently in operation prior to 1999. This list does not include short lines. (i used the list from the magazine because i would have probably forgotten one)

Conrail (CR) (ended operation in 1999)
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF)
Canadian National (CN)
Norfolk Southern (NS)
Union Pacific (UP)
CSX Corporation (CSX)
Canadian Pacific Railway (CP)
Kansas City Southern Lines (KCS)

[Wdlgln005]

Most of these Family Trees are listed on this website. There should also be links to the various historical societies for each one. There is even a good website detailing the locomotives used by Amtrak. Happy surfing!

[Anonymous]

Per, are you looking for an all-time list of the thousands of North American railroad companies? Or just the major companies of recent years? Or all the companies large and small of recent years?

The first I've never seen, though there's been some attempts to put one together. The problem is the thousands of paper railroads and momentary names, and records prior to 1900 are in many cases incomplete, missing, or conflicting.

Once the ICC began regulating railroads, records become very good. The annual ICC Statistics of Steam Railroads in America has a complete list of every company in the 1900-1960 era.

If you're looking for a synopsis of the major railroads of the last 50 years, the best source is Kalmbach's Historical Guide to North American Railroads. I use it at least once daily at work to verify facts, names, spelling, and dates. I bought one long before I went to work for Kalmbach, too. If you want the short lines, too, the best source, although now out of date, is Kalmbach's Short Line Guide.

If you want to know where railroads go, Steam Powered Video's Historical Atlases are absolutely essential. (How did we ever know anything before these came out?)

If you want the quick-and-dirty guide to major railroads, this site, as others have already suggested, is as good as any.