Alphabet Route

Map

The Alphabet Route was a coalition of railroads connecting the Midwest United States with the Northeast, as a freight alternate to the four major systems - the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central Railroad, Erie Railroad and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Named for the many-lettered initials of the participating railroads, it used the following systems from west to east:

The freight trains along the middle section of the route were known as Alpha Jets.

Major yards on the line included:

The NYC&StL's Bellevue Yard was just east of the junction with the W&LE at Bellevue, Ohio. Freight cars were transferred here between the two lines, leaving the same way they came; a direct connection avoiding the yard was impossible due to the lack of a suitable connecting track.
The CNJ's Allentown Yard was just east of Allentown, Pennsylvania; the RDG and L&HR had trackage rights along the CNJ to the yard.
The NYNH&H's Maybrook Yard was just east of the junction with the L&HR. Cars were transferred between the two lines.
The NYNH&H's Cedar Hill Yard was in New Haven, Connecticut. Through trains continued on to Providence and Boston, while some freight was transferred to other NYNH&H lines at Cedar Hill.

The route was formed on February 11, 1931 with the completion of the P&WV to Connellsville, Pennsylvania on the WM. [1] It was an outgrowth of George J. Gould's attempts to create a transcontinental railroad and later proposals made to the Interstate Commerce Commission for a "Fifth System" to supplement the four major systems; the consolidations planned to form those systems were stopped by the Great Depression.

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