FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: The Alphabet Route offered shippers an alternative to the Big 4

A P&WV hopper with The Alphabet Route markings. (Photo: thepvwhiline.com)

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 Alphabet Route was not actually an operating railroad; it was a coalition of railroads that worked together to connect the Midwest and the Northeast via their combined rail lines. The Alphabet...

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FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: The Nickel Plate Line was a major player in the Midwest (Part 1)

Three Nickel Plate Road diesel locomotives in November 1964. (Photo: Roger Puta/American-Rails.com)

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 New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad’s (NYC&StL) 2,200-mile rail network linked Buffalo with Chicago and St. Louis. It competed with a number of other railroads for business in the Midwest. 

Two Nickel Plate Line steam locomotives lead a freight train through Fostoria, Ohio during the summer of 1958. (American-Rails.com)Two...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsfallen-flags-the-nickel-plate-line-was-a-major-player-in-the-midwest