Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad
The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P & LE, PLE) was an American railway company in the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Office of the company was Pittsburgh. The railroad had the nickname " Little Giant " because of their profitability despite the small road network.
Route network, data
The 650 km long network ranged from Pittsburgh McKeesport over to Brownsville Junction and Connellsville in the south and Youngstown to Shenango and Astabula in the north. Heart of the line to Youngstown was the bridge over the Ohio River north of Pittsburgh. In 1991, the company had a locomotive stock of 39 locomotives and 3,174 freight cars.
History
In 1875 the company was founded and opened four years later the route from Pittsburgh to Youngstown. In competition with the Pennsylvania Railroad to the transports for the steel industry in Pittsburgh acquired Cornelius Vanderbilt, owner of the rival New York Central Railroad 15% of the shares of the Company.
1881 for the construction of a route south to the development of coal mines by the P & LE and the NYC together the Pittsburgh, McKeesport & Youghiogheny Railroad ( PMcK & Y, PMY ) and was later operated as part of the P & LE.
As of 1889, the P & LE was under the complete control of NYC and was fully integrated into the system. It served mainly transportation between Pittsburgh and the Great Lakes.
Together with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1900, the Monongahela Railroad founded to build a railway line along the Monongahela River. 1965 acquired the P & LE, the proportions of NYC. The P & LE sold its shares in 1989 to Conrail.
As of NYC 's successor Penn Central went bankrupt in 1970, had this 92.6 % of the shares of P & LE and owed her $ 15 million. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, the P & LE was from February 27, 1979 again an independent company. Later, the company was still track use Reche after Ashtabula over Conrail tracks awarded.
Saw it first from after a good start and a successful company, the crisis of the Pittsburgh steel industry in the early 1980s and the strong competition of the Conrail all plans made soon dashed. After even the coal mines at the P & LE route had to be closed after Connellsville and daughter along the Montour Railroad, the company was forced to route closures. Soon then the whole railway company was for sale. There were several interested parties, but since the unions insisted on protecting the income of employees, there was no agreement on the sale.
In May 1990, the P & LE finally agreed with the trade unions on the payable compensation. On 6 June 1990, the P & LE was sold to the Railroad Development Corporation.
In July 1991, the CSX Transportation acquired the approximately 100 km long main line of McKeesport over Pittsburgh to New Castle, about which they had track rights since Baltimore and Ohio Railroad times. The demise of the company, however, was unstoppable.
On 11 September 1992 was the last day of operation. The courses and course use rights were acquired by CSX subsidiary Three Rivers Railway. After the expiration of a vesting period, the company was merged on 17 September 1993 in the entire group.
Subsidiaries of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad
- The Montour Railroad (MTR ), was until 1975, jointly owned with Penn Central, Pennsylvania Railroad and previously served mainly coal mines west of Pittsburgh. In the years 1983-1986, the company was completely set. A daughter of the Montour Railroad was the Youngstown and Southern Railway a distance south of Youngstown sailed. The track was in the 1990s, renovated with funds from the Columbiana County and leased to the Central Columbiana and Pennsylvania Railroad. After its bankruptcy on 14 June 2004, the route will be operated from 17 December 2004 by the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad.