Class 1 Railroads in the 1950s (underconstruction)

Trains Magazine General Discussion
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Here is a list of the 127 class 1 railroads in the 1950s as defined by the I.C.C.These railroads had revenue over $1,000,000 per year, and do not include terminal railroads. These are in alphabetical order. Several are just paper railroads owned by another. Until 1967 Texas had a law that any railroad operating there had to be headquartered in the State. I have included several other railroads (without numbers) for various reasons. I will be making changes to this list for some time. Suggestions accepted and may be included. Mileage, total operating revenue, revenue ton-miles, and number of locomotives (diesel,steam,electric) are based on 1950.

1-Akron, Canton and Youngstown, 171 miles, $5,051,782 tor, 282,730,000 rtm, 18 (7d,11s).Ran from Mogadore to Delphos in Ohio. Incorporated in 1907 and bought by N&W in 1964. NS sold 118 miles to new Wheeling and lake Erie in 1990.

2-Alabama Great Southern, 316 miles, Ran from Chattanooga TN to Meridian MS. Owned by the Southern and now NS.

x-Alton, 959 miles, became part of GM&O in 1947. Ran from Chicago to St.Louis and Kansas City. Became part of ICG in 1972 and is now split between UP and KCS.

3-Ann Arbor, 294 miles, $9,400,000 tor, 636,189,000 rtm, 46 (23d,23s).Ran from Toledo OH to Frankfort MI with ferries across Lake Michigan. Started in 1869 and owned by the Wabash, part of the PRR family. Sold by Penn Central to the State of Michigan. New Ann Arbor and TSBY are operating most of the track.

4-Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, 13,073 miles (longest in USA 1950),$522,675,610 tor, 29,800,000,000 rtm, 2,022(967d,1,055s).Ran from Chicago and Louisiana to California.Chartered in 1859 and merged into BNSF in 1996.

5-Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay , 81 miles, $3,021,347 tor, 173,394,000 rtm, 13 (d). Ran from Dothan AB to Panama City FL.Incorporated in 1906 and now operating as the Bay Line.

6-Atlanta and West Point, 93 miles, and Western Railway of Alabama, 133 miles, were jointly operated. 226 miles, $8,739,973 tor,

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Great Job! Thanks!

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73-Minneapolis, St.Paul and Sault Ste. Marie merged with WC and DSS&A in 1961 to form Soo Line. It is now CP.

Hmm…I have to say something about this one though- this line is now mostly owned by CN, not CP. SOO Line bought most of Milwaukee Road’s track, then were bought by CP. Their old line (the one you mentioned) was bought by the Wisconsin Central, which is now part of CN.

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AC&Y trackage is now mostly Wheeling and Lake Erie.

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Hats off to those Railroads. They help to build this country. Not just take the money and run like todays.

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I downloaded this file in text to have a record. Worthwhile posting indeed!

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#92 Northwestern Pacific was a consolidation of the north of San Francisco coastal lines that were owned by Santa Fe and Southern Pacific. In the '50s (I think) Santa Fe sold their half interest to Southern Pacific as they did not have a direct connection with the Northwestern Pacific. After severe flooding along the Eel River the SP embargoed the line north of Willets. This section has subsequently been purchased by a local government transportation agency.

Great listing that took a lot of work. Thanks for doing it.

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NANAIMO73
Great work. When I was a teenager in the 50’s I knew
quite a bit of info on most of these railroads.

Quite a bit of your info can be found in “The Routledge
Historical Atlas of the American Railroads”

I’ve just got a printout of your listings and looking
forward to your further input and also comments
and additions from others.

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Were there any Class 1 terminal roads in that era? I’m not sure if there were any but BRC, IHB and TRRA come to mind.

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…How is the classification of “Class I’s” defined in this time era…? What did it require to become a Class 1…?

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i’ve been trying to find a place that lists class 1 railroads over the years. As the industry changes, and the threshold raises, the number of class 1’s has narrowed to a few. Does anybody know of a place to find a year by year listing? I think it would be a good topic for a railroad book-maybe by someone like Mike Schafer.

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The only part of the Northwestern Pacific trackage still in use is from the UP (former SP) mainline at Fairfield/Suisun to Napa Junction and Vallejo, operated by the California Northern. The crossing gates have been removed on the rest of the line, at least that’s what I’ve observed on the crossing of busy Highway 37 running parallel (east-west) of San Pablo Bay on the way from Napa Junction to Petaluma/San Rafael. (Napa Junction is still quite a site as it contains both a wye and a loop.)

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I omitted from my previous message that the Napa Valley Wine Train still operates on former NWP trackage from Napa to a few miles north of there through the vineyards using an Alco FA…

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nanaimo73
Great job I don’t know how often I have had to go digging for this info and gone through a stack of books to find the info. Now I will have it in a three ring binder at my fingertips. Thx Passengerfan

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It sounds to me like you are a historian in the making. [:D]