Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), officially the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1882 it was the largest railroad (by traffic and revenue), transportation enterprise, and corporation in the world.

Over its existence, the Pennsylvania Railroad acquired, merged with, or owned part of at least 800 other rail lines and companies. In the 1920s, the company carried several times more traffic than other Class I railroads of comparable length, such as the Union Pacific and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads, and by the end of 1926, it operated of rail line. The Pennsylvania Railroad's only close competitor was the New York Central Railroad (NYC), which carried around three-quarters of the PRR's ton-miles.

In 1968 the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with New York Central and became the Penn Central Transportation Company, or "Penn Central" for short. The former competitors' networks, however, integrated poorly with each other, and within two years of the merger, Penn Central filed for bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy continued and on April 1, 1976, the railroad gave up its rail assets, along with the assets of several other failing northeastern railroads, to a new railroad named Consolidated Rail Corporation, or Conrail for short. Conrail was itself purchased and split up in 1999 between the Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation, with Norfolk Southern getting 58 percent of the system, including nearly all of the remaining former Pennsylvania Railroad trackage. Amtrak received the electrified segment of the Main Line east of Harrisburg.

The Penn Central Corporation held several non-rail assets which it continued to manage after the formation of Conrail. It reorganized in 1994 as American Premier Underwriters, which continues to operate as a property and casualty insurance company. Provided by Wikipedia