Alphabet Route

The Alphabet Route was a coalition of railroads connecting the Midwest United States with the Northeast, as a freight alternate to the four major systems - the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central Railroad, Erie Railroad and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Named for the many-lettered initials of the participating railroads, it used the following systems from west to east:
*New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (NYC&StL/NKP) from Chicago, Illinois and East St. Louis, Illinois to Bellevue, Ohio
*Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (W&LE) from Toledo, Ohio via Bellevue to Pittsburgh Junction, Ohio
*Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway (P&WV) from Pittsburgh Junction to Connellsville, Pennsylvania
*Western Maryland Railway (WM) from Connellsville via Hagerstown, Maryland to Baltimore, Maryland and Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
*Reading Company (RDG) from Shippensburg via Reading, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Allentown, Pennsylvania
*Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) from Allentown via Easton, Pennsylvania to Jersey City, New Jersey
*Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR) from Allentown via Easton (trackage rights on the CNJ) to Maybrook, New York
*New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H) from Maybrook via New Haven, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island to Boston, Massachusetts

The freight trains along the middle section of the route were known as "Alpha Jets".

Major yards on the line included:
*The NYC&StL's Bellevue Yard was just east of the junction with the W&LE at Bellevue, Ohio. Freight cars were transferred here between the two lines, leaving the same way they came; a direct connection avoiding the yard was impossible due to the lack of a suitable connecting track.
*The CNJ's Allentown Yard was just east of Allentown, Pennsylvania; the RDG and L&HR had trackage rights along the CNJ to the yard.
*The NYNH&H's Maybrook Yard was just east of the junction with the L&HR. Cars were transferred between the two lines.
*The NYNH&H's Cedar Hill Yard was in New Haven, Connecticut. Through trains continued on to Providence and Boston, while some freight was transferred to other NYNH&H lines at Cedar Hill.

The route was formed on February 11, 1931 with the completion of the P&WV to Connellsville, Pennsylvania on the WM. [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1931%20Aug%2004.wd.pdf] It was an outgrowth of George J. Gould's attempts to create a transcontinental railroad and later proposals made to the Interstate Commerce Commission for a "Fifth System" to supplement the four major systems; the consolidations planned to form those systems were stopped by the Great Depression.

See also

*Railroads connecting New York City and Chicago
*Central States Dispatch

References

*Tony Koester, Heart of the Nickel Plate, "Trains" September 2003