Alphabet Route
| Company type | Consortium |
|---|---|
| Industry | Rail transport |
| Founded | 1931-02-11 |
Area served | Midwest United States, Northeast United States |
| Products | Freight transportation |
The Alphabet Route represented a consortium of railroad companies connecting the Midwest United States to the Northeast, offering a freight transportation alternative to the four dominant railroads: the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central Railroad, Erie Railroad, and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Established on February 11, 1931, following the completion of the P&WV line to Connellsville, Pennsylvania on the WM network, the route stemmed from George J. Gould's vision to build a transcontinental railroad. This ambition evolved into plans for a so-called "Fifth System" intended to complement the existing four major railroads; however, these initiatives were interrupted by the onset of the Great Depression.
The name "Alphabet Route" derived from the numerous initials of its member railroads, which included:
- New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (NYC&StL/NKP) running between Chicago, Illinois and East St. Louis, Illinois to Bellevue, Ohio
- Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (W&LE) operating from Toledo, Ohio, passing through Bellevue to Pittsburgh Junction, Ohio
- Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway (P&WV) covering Pittsburgh Junction to Connellsville, Pennsylvania
- Western Maryland Railway (WM) extending from Connellsville through Hagerstown, Maryland to both Baltimore, Maryland and Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
- Reading Company (RDG) linking Shippensburg via Reading, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Allentown, Pennsylvania
- Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) connecting Allentown through Easton, Pennsylvania to Jersey City, New Jersey
- Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR) running from Allentown via Easton (trackage rights on CNJ) reaching Maybrook, New York
- New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H) stretching from Maybrook through New Haven, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island to Boston, Massachusetts
Significant rail yards along the route comprised:
- NYC&StL's Bellevue Yard, located east of the W&LE junction at Bellevue for transferring freight cars
- CNJ's Allentown Yard, situated east of Allentown with RDG and L&HR holding trackage rights there
- RDG's Rutherford Yard near Harrisburg where traffic from Allentown (including L&HR), Jersey City/New York metro areas (via CNJ), and Philadelphia converged
- WM's Jamison Yard in Hagerstown serving as a junction where RDG freight merged with shipments originating from Baltimore
- NYNH&H's Maybrook Yard, positioned east of the L&HR connection for car transfers
- NYNH&H's Cedar Hill Yard in New Haven facilitating further freight distribution
The central segment's freight trains earned the nickname Alpha Jets. The WM, P&WV, and NKP—later WM combined with Norfolk & Western after their 1964 merger—ran two daily "run-through" freights in each direction passing through Connellsville. Westbound services carried designations such as AJ-1 or PAJ-1; eastbound runs were identified as AJ-2 or AJ-12. These trains typically originated or terminated at RDG's Rutherford Yard or WM's Hagerstown yard and traveled to or from Toledo or Detroit. Some sections began or ended in Bellevue. During the 1970s, RDG also classified its Philadelphia-Rutherford priority service as an Alpha Jet.
Three primary categories of traffic supported these operations:
- automotive components transported westward between eastern factories and Detroit/Toledo manufacturing centers; vehicles and related goods moving northeastward;
- expedited boxcar shipments from freight consolidators like Acme Fast Freight connecting New England/New York/Philadelphia/Baltimore with Midwestern cities including Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis;
- trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) services primarily serving Philadelphia and New York markets linked with Midwestern destinations.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Alphabet Route members marketed Alpha Jet as a competitive alternative to Pennsylvania Railroad’s TOFC offerings between Philadelphia and Chicago. Although Pennsylvania introduced faster 23-hour Truc Train services following its 1968 merger into Penn Central, Alphabet Route’s 34-hour schedule better matched shippers’ preferences by avoiding overnight handling. The Alpha Jet service saw a decline during the late 1970s and was discontinued by the early 1980s after WM merged into the Chessie System (later CSX), which competed directly with N&W (later Norfolk Southern).
See also
References
- Tony Koester, Heart of the Nickel Plate, Trains, September 2003
- Condensed Freight Schedules, Norfolk and Western Railway and Western Maryland Railway, The Official Guide of the Railways, monthly editions, 1965–1975.