Fun facts

[jacon12]

From a Norfolk Southern news release about their upcoming heritage units..

 "·Erie Railroad (CR, EMD) was key to economic development along
the Southern Tier, which includes Binghamton and Elmira, N.Y. In

1851, Secretary of State Daniel Webster was strapped to a rocking

chair on an open flatcar, wrapped in a blanket and clutching a bottle

of rum, so he could ride the just-completed railroad.

 ·New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (NW, GE) was commonly

referred to as the Nickel Plate Road, a moniker it acquired when the

Norwalk (Ohio) Chronicle referred to it in 1881 as "the great New

York and St. Louis double track, nickel plated railroad," supposedly

indicative of its solid financial backing.

 ·Reading Company (CR, EMD) was one of the first railroads built

in America, and built its fortune hauling coal. It featured the first

iron railroad bridge in America.

 Virginian Railway (NW, EMD) was the only railroad created

through the capital and credit of one man, oil magnate Henry

Huttleston Rogers. After building a short line, the Deepwater

Railway, to haul coal out of West Virginia and then being blocked by

the bigger railroads, he created another railroad, the Tidewater

Railway, to reach Norfolk, Va., then combined the two into the

Virginian in 1907

 Wabash Railroad (NW, EMD) was formed in 1877 and served the mid-

central U.S. It was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1927 and

leased to Norfolk & Western in 1960. In 1991, N&W, by then part of

Norfolk Southern, purchased the Wabash outright. Made famous by the

1904 song "Wabash Cannonball," there was in fact no such train by

 that name until 1949."

 

Jarrell 

[Phoebe Vet]

While the Erie was certainly a major contributor to the Southern Tier of NY, the area was also served by the Delaware and Hudson RR, the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western RR, and the Chenango Canal.  You cannot give the Erie alone the credit for economic growth in the area.

[BroadwayLion]

And the LIRR now holds the oldest original charter in the nation.

They keep on flagging!