Pennsylvania Railroad Company
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Product Details
CompanyPennsylvania Railroad Company
Certificate Type
General Mortgage Bond
Date Issued
1930's and 1940's
Canceled
Yes
Printer
American Bank Note Company
Signatures
Hand signed
Approximate Size
10" (w) by 15" (h)
Images
Representative of the piece you will receive
Guaranteed Authentic
Yes
Additional Details
NA
Reference
Historical Context

The Pennsylvania Railroad was founded in 1846 and merged in 1968 into Penn Central Transportation. Commonly referred to as the Pennsy, the company was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company's symbol was a keystone (Pennsylvania's symbol) with the letters PRR intertwined inside it. When colored, it was bright red with silver-grey edges and lettering (although it also appears in metal leaf outline on a wooden background on station benches).
The PRR was the largest railroad by traffic and revenue in the US throughout its 20th century existence and for a long while was the largest publicly traded corporation in the world. The corporation still holds the record for the longest continual dividend history: it doled out annual payments to shareholders for more than 100 years in a row.
Like the Reading Railroad, the PRR served Atlantic City, New Jersey; one of the four railroad squares in the board game Monopoly is called Pennsylvania Railroad.
The Standard Railroad of the World
For a long time the PRR called itself the Standard Railroad of the World, meaning that it was perceived as the standard to which all other railroads aspired, the "gold standard". For a long time that was literally true; the railroad had an impressive lists of “firsts,” “greatests,” “biggests,” and “longests.” The PRR was the first railroad to completely replace wooden-bodied passenger cars in favor of steel-bodied cars with greater strength and safety for equivalent weight. It led the way in many such safety and efficiency improvements over the years. These advantages lessened as the years progressed, and the PRR eventually abandoned the use of the slogan.
The Pennsylvania Railroad was standard in another way, too - it was an early proponent of standardization. While other railroads used whatever was at hand or available, the Pennsylvania tested and experimented with solutions until they could decide on one, and then made it standard across the whole company. Other railroads bought locomotives and railroad cars in small lots, taking whatever was available from manufacturers at the time. The PRR produced huge numbers of standardized designs. This gave the railroad a feel of uniformity and greatly reduced costs. The PRR was also an early adopter of standard liveries and color.
The Main Line
The PRR was chartered in 1846 to connect Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, and was completed in 1854. The part east of Harrisburg had been built earlier by the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy and Lancaster Rail-Road to Lancaster and by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as part of the Main Line of Public Works to Philadelphia.
Access to New York, Washington and Baltimore
In the early 1860s the PRR gained control of the Northern Central Railway, giving it access to Baltimore along the Susquehanna River (via connections at Columbia or Harrisburg).
On December 1, 1871, the PRR leased the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Companies, which included the original Camden and Amboy Railroad from Camden, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, to South Amboy, across Raritan Bay from New York City, as well as a newer line from Philadelphia to Jersey City, much closer to New York, via Trenton. Track connection in Philadelphia was made via the United Companies' Connecting Railway and the jointly-owned Junction Railroad.
The PRR's Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road opened on July 2, 1872 between Baltimore and Washington, but with a required transfer via horse car in Baltimore to the other lines heading north from the city. On June 29, 1873, the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel through Baltimore was completed, and the PRR initiated the misleadingly-named Pennsylvania Air Line service via the Northern Central Railway and Columbia. This service was 54.5 miles longer than the old route via the Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, but avoided a transfer in Baltimore. The Union Railroad opened on July 24, 1873, eliminating the transfer, and the PRR contracted with the Union Railroad and the PW&B. New York-Washington trains began using that route the next day, ending Pennsylvania Air Line service. The PRR acquired a majority of PW&B stock in the early 1880s, forcing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to build the Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad to keep its Philadelphia access.
Low-Grade Lines
Around 1900, the PRR built several low-grade lines for freight to bypass areas of steep grades. These included the following:
1892 - Trenton Branch and Trenton Cut-Off Railroad from Glen Loch east to Morrisville (not only a low-grade line but a long-distance bypass of Philadelphia)
1892 - Waverly and Passaic Railroad (finished by the New York Bay Railroad) from Waverly, New Jersey to Kearny
1904 - reopening of the New Portage Railroad from the Gallitzin Tunnels east to New Portage Junction, then continuing north over the Hollidaysburg Branch to Altoona
1906 - Philadelphia and Thorndale Branch from Thorndale east to Glen Loch (abandoned by Conrail in 1989)
1906 - Atglen and Susquehanna Branch from Harrisburg via the Northern Central Railway south to Wago Junction, then east to Parkesburg (abandoned by Conrail in 1990)
The Pennsylvania and Newark Railroad was incorporated in 1905 to build a low-grade line from Morrisville, Pennsylvania to Colonia, New Jersey. It was never completed, but some work was done in the Trenton area, including bridge piers in the Delaware River. North of Colonia, the alignment was going to be separate, but instead two extra tracks were added to the existing line. Work was suspended in 1916.
Penn Central Merger
On February 1, 1968, the PRR merged with arch-rival New York Central to form the Penn Central. The ICC required that ailing New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad be added in 1969. Penn Central declared bankruptcy in June 1970.
Successors
Penn Central rail lines were split between Amtrak (Northeast Corridor and Keystone Corridor) and Conrail in the 1970s. After the breakup of Conrail in 1999, the portion which had formerly been PRR territory largely became part of the Norfolk Southern Railway.
Timeline
1915 -PRR electrifies its Philadelphia-Chicago mainline between Central Philadelphia and Paoli.
1916 - PRR adopts new motto, "Standard Railroad of the World".
1916 - First I1s 2-10-0 "Decapod" locomotive completed.
1916 - A5s 0-4-0 and B6sb switching locomotives introduced.
1918 - PRR stock bottoms at $40¼ due largely to Federal railroad control, lowest since 1877.
1918 - Emergency freight routed through New York Penn Station and the Hudson tunnels at night by the USRA to relieve congestion.
1918 - N1s 2-10-2 locomotives introduced for Lines West.
1918 - PRR electrifies Chestnut Hill Commuter Line between Central Philadelphia and Chestnut Hill.
1928-1938 - PRR electrified its New York-Washington Mainline, the Chicago-Philadelphia Mainline between Harrisburg and Paoli, several Philadelphia and New York area commuter lines, and major through-freight lines.
1968 - Pennsylvania Railroad absorbs New York Central to form the Penn Central.
1999 - The United States Postal Service issues 33-cent All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains commemorative stamps featuring five celebrated American passenger trains from the 1930s and 1940s. One of the five stamps features an image of a GG-1 locomotive