fallen flags

FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: Wabash Railroad served the Midwest, its industries and people (Part 1)

A steam-powered locomotive pulls a Wabash Railroad freight train. (Photo: mypresentpast.com)

There are many people interested in former transportation companies, whether they were trucking companies, railroads, airlines or ocean lines. These companies are called “fallen flags,” and the term describes companies whose corporate names have been dissolved through merger, bankruptcy or liquidation.

Today’s FreightWaves Classics profiles another fallen flag in the railroad industry – the Wabash Railroad. Although many would say it was “only a Midwestern bridge line,” the Wabash Railroad had...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsfallen-flags-wabash-railroad

FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: Luckenbach Steamship Company was successful for nearly 125 years

The Edgar F. Luckenbach. (Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command)

The Luckenbach Steamship Company was a long-lived and successful U.S. shipping company. It survived two world wars, but did not survive the industry’s change to container ships…

The company was founded by Lewis Luckenbach in 1850, who began with a single tugboat in New York Harbor. Luckenbach found success by pioneering tug-and-barge transport of coal from Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk was the primary port used to ship coal from the fields and mines of Virginia and West Virginia to cities and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsfallen-flags-luckenbach-steamship-company-was-successful-for-nearly-125-years

FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines served the Atlantic and Pacific oceans

The SS Excalibur was renamed the USS Joseph Hewes and provided service in 1941-42. (Photo: ssmaritime.com)

There are many people interested in former transportation companies, whether they were trucking companies, railroads, airlines or ocean lines. These companies are called “fallen flags,” and the term describes companies whose corporate names have been dissolved through merger, bankruptcy or liquidation.

Today’s FreightWaves Classics profiles another fallen flag – American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines. American Export Lines merged with Isbrandtsen Co. in 1964 to form American Export & Isbrandtsen...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsfallen-flags-american-export-isbrandtsen-lines-served-the-atlantic-and-pacific-oceans

FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: Tennessee Central Railway was “The Nashville Route”

A family and railway workers pose next to a TC locomotive. (Photo: TC Railway Museum)

There are many people interested in former transportation companies, whether they were trucking companies, railroads, airlines or ocean lines. These companies are called “fallen flags,” and the term describes companies whose corporate names have been dissolved through merger, bankruptcy or liquidation.

Today’s FreightWaves Classics profiles another fallen flag – the Tennessee Central Railway (TC reporting mark; better known as “The Nashville Route”). 

The Tennessee Central Railway ran from...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsfallen-flags-tennessee-central-railway-was-the-nashville-route

FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: Reading Railroad lived and died with coal

A Reading Railroad freight is on the move. (Photo: bikeschuylkill.org)

There are many people interested in former transportation companies, whether they were trucking companies, railroads, airlines or ocean lines. They are called “fallen flags,” and the term describes those companies whose corporate names have been dissolved through merger, bankruptcy or liquidation.

The Reading Railroad (pronounced “Redding”) was known officially as the Reading Company. It was one of a number of Northeastern railroads that was begun primarily to carry coal. 

Unfortunately for the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsfallen-flags-reading-railroad-lived-and-died-with-coal

FreightWaves Classics: Fallen Flags – Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (Part 2)

The modern Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad 

There are many people interested in former transportation companies, whether they were trucking companies, railroads, airlines or ocean lines. They are called “fallen flags,” and the term describes those companies whose corporate names have been dissolved through merger, bankruptcy or liquidation.

A D&RGW publicity photo from 1952. (Photo: D&RGW)

This FreightWaves Classics article provides Part 2 of an overview of another fallen flag railroad – the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-fallen-flags-denver-rio-grande-western-railroad-part-2

FreightWaves Classics: Fallen Flags – Chicago & North Western Railway

There are many people interested in former transportation companies, whether they were trucking companies, railroads, airlines or ocean lines. The former companies are called “fallen flags.”  The term describes those companies whose corporate names have been dissolved through merger, bankruptcy or liquidation.

This FreightWaves Classics article provides an overview of the Chicago and North Western Railway (reporting mark CNW), a Class I railroad in the Midwest. At its peak the “North Western”...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-fallen-flags-chicago-north-western-railway