History of the Pennsylvania Railroad | Vintage Promotional Film Series

The powerhouse Pennsylvania Railroad was one of the largest railroad networks in the United States and at one time was the largest transportation company and the biggest corporation in the world and dominated the south side of downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana with a massive shop for building and repairing freight cars, passenger cars, and steam locomotives and was the city's largest employer during the Great Depression. Though little evidence of the historic railroad remains in Fort Wayne, it's former Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railway route is owned today by CSX and operated by Genesee & Wyoming. The railroad's Baker Street Station survives to this day after an extensive restoration in the early 2000s and at one time hosted 4,000 passengers a day!

#PennsylvaniaRailroad #Vintage

[southernpennsyrailfan]

Man I learned more in this video than I ever have in almost 12 years of school. Especially since I’m very passionate about railroad history

[Pamudder]

Marvelous film, but in light of the decline and final collapse of the PRR, which commenced even as this film was being filmed, it recalls to mind the ancient adage, "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make proud."

[mitchdakelman]

a fine film, this 1946 production was revised two years later when the PRR began to dieselize. New footage was photographed with Jim now running new EMD E7's on the Middle Division. The PRR had high hopes for their T-1 Duplex Steam Loco at the time this film was made.

[LukeLovesTrains-Mr.RailYard]

Man I used to watch this video on the time as a kid.

[johnshiner]

Great film, sad to see the penncentral gone.

[trevorstein]

That in house Engine tester would have been marvelous to see in action

[AlexWeiss]

This means a lot to me, as I live right next to Pittsburgh and have been to Strasburg

[justahillbilly]

Man, first The Nickel Plate Story, now Clear Track Ahead. I have both of these on a two disc DVD set of a lotta documentaries like this made by the railroads.

[brianfreeman]

Went to school in Enola. Love seeing the Enola Freight Yard, the Bunk House, Rockville Bridge and the many beautiful shots in Perry County along the Juniata River.

[naoro]

Amazing film. Thank you for sharing this.

[bj]

Imagine being that guy under the track on the Enola Hump looking over the underside of dozens of cars for defects! If you missed something that later caused an injury or major derailment, you'd feel terrible and probably be fired!

[gleanerk]

Thanks for sharing, enjoyed watching!

[williamschlenger]

My town Long Branch N.J.was a Seashore resort even in early 1800s President Garfield died there after being shot in Washington.The locals built a line from Elberon station to his home on the ocean front.

[MMID]

Great video! It's sad what happened to The Standard Railroad of The World during the 60s. I wonder what it would be like today, if the PRR survived.

[skylandersgeek]

I have one of the original Pennsylvania Railroad spikes from 1950

[paducahandlouisvillerailro]

On nkp 765 we had the Pennsylvania Railroad whistle

[judyrush]

My N-scale is all PRR and PennCenn up to the Amtrak era. Have a lot of History that don't see on some layouts.

[TheJokohariyanto]

1:26 "it will take 6 months to get there"

Me: Stop the cap

[bigridge]

3:19 LEWISTOWN NATIVE, HOLLA AT YA BOY

[jalilmuhammad]

10:21 That car later evolved into TOFC/COFC.