Hi,

I was considering railroads that were built by the same company that were started in two or more places with plans to later join them.

Obviously, the first example that comes to mind is the Pacific Railroad. However the CP and the UP were different companies.

The ONLY example I can think of where it is the same company is the Piedmont & Northern. The North Carolina Division and the South Carolina Division were intended to be joined later but it never came about.

Are there other examples?

One that is not quite but close is the Milwaukee Road's Pacific extension that had two electrified zones and were never joined. The railroad was joined, just not the electrification.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Doug vV

The Chicago Ottawa & Peoria was constructed as a route for the Illinois Traction System to access Chicago, but was never connected to the rest of the ITS network.

One important example would be the Pacific Great Eastern, more recently known as B.C. Rail. One segment that was built going N. out of Vancouver was abandoned in the 1920's and had to be rebuilt in the 1950's in order the complete the line from Vancouver to Prince George. There is a good book available on the PGE by Adolph Hungry Wolf, not sure the exact title though it is setting on my shelf at home.

I think this is going to be difficult to find examples of, because almost all railroad branches and line extensions were built by separate "dummy" companies, to insulate the main corporation in the event the project failed. When the project was completed, the dummy company was then purchased and merged into the main corporation. So, if the proposed extension was never completed, the companies would never be merged, and remain separate entities.

I believe the three short line railroads out of Silverton where all financed by the same entity, incorporated separately, and later operated as a unified operation.

The Monon had a lot of this too. See Hilton's book, particularly the Louisville Southern expansion, the "Rhiney B".

And also the Chicago and Illinois Midland.

The Ocean Shore Railway in California built south from San Francisco to Tunitas Creek and north from Santa Cruz as far as Swanton (north of Davenport), roughly following California State Highway 1 for much of its route. Plans to connect the two sections were halted by the San Francisco earthquake disaster of 1906. Relics of this railway are listed in the "wikipedia" entry covering OSR.

Not quite in the same league, but still in the realm of unfulfilled plans: In Southern California, Pacific Electric proposed connecting Glendora with San Dimas (providing a connection between the Monrovia-Glendora Line and the San Bernardino Line), but opposition from Santa Fe scuttled this idea. PE also considered extending from Stern on the Yorba Linda line to Corona on the line out of Riverside, but here again, they would be opposed by Santa Fe. This, of course was long before freeway traffic jams on "The 91" became a daily traffic report item.

There are probably other cases of unresolved gaps, especially in the realm of electric interurban lines.

In California, at least, a handful come to mind. The ill-fated Ocean Shore Railroad began construction from San Francisco southward and Santa Cruz northward, leaving a 26-mile gap between Tunitas and Swanton that was never completed. (Passengers were shuttled between rail heads via Stanley Steamer). The SP Coast Main was constructed in a similar fashion, with the rift between San Jose and the Los Angeles Basin slowly closing over the course of several decades. Also, the 1869 route over Altamont Pass was the result of the "first Western Pacific" building from San Jose through Niles Canyon and the Central Pacific heading southwest from Sacramento and Tracy. If you consider the line's opening was preceded by the CP's acquisition of the former, it was - technically speaking - the same company. And there's surely countless more.

In NC:

The Western North Carolina Railroad was envisioned as such- the Eastern Division was Salisbury to Morganton (later extended to the Eastern Portal of the Swannannoa Tunnel) and the Western Division (from the Swannannoa tunnel west to Asheville and then the "Ducktown Branch" toward Andrews and Murphy.

The Chester & Lenoir Narrow Gauge was also built in sections, with the southern end taking over the broad gauge Kings Mtn RR and then building north from Chester/York towards Gastonia and points north, while simultaneous grading took place at the north end of the line at the north shore of the Catawba River to Lenoir.

Matt

Canadian Pacific transcontinental railway. The last spike was drive in 1885 at Craigellachie, British Columbia in the B.C. interior joining construction from the east and west.

The Illinois, Iowa, & Minnesota (later known as the Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary) built from Aurora to Rockford, IL and from Joliet to Momence, IL with the intention of coming back later to build their own line between Aurora and Joliet. They secured trackage rights over the EJ&E between Aurora and Joliet and ultimately never closed the gap.

Paul

Didn't the IGN have a section in Texas and another in North Dakota, never to have any intermediate bit finished? I'm not entirely clear on the details, having only seen the remnants of the ND part in Jamestown.

dave

Thanks for that bit about the Illinois Iowa and Minnesota. I had never heard of it, though I saw the odd bit of right of way near Dekalb, IL. I found out more about the line here. It would appear that between Dekalb and Aurora the line was obliterated by the construction of the East-West Tollway.
http://www.abandonedrails.com/Gary_Line

The only I-GN that I've known about is the International-Great Northern which located down in Texas and a part of the MoPac system.

I always wondered about the name and so I did an on line search. I found a site called "Handbook of Texas Online" that is from the Texas State Historical Association. It has a whole page on the I-GN. INTERNATIONAL-GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD


I cannot find any information about a railroad so named up in North Dakota. What do you know?

The North Dakota line was the Midland Continental Railroad (1906-1950), originally proposed to run between Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Galveston, Texas, but never made it out of ND.

Jim Tatum.

At work away from archives now, but I think there was a pictorial on the IGN roundhouse in Jamestown in TRAINS back a few years ago. I sent a copy to my father in law, retired conductor from NP in Jamestown. No idea if I could even find my copy now, but maybe somebody has their magazines catalogued and can give it a fast check?

dave