page_title: New York Central Railroad
section_title: 1853 company formation
hierarchical_section_title: New York Central Railroad / Early history / 1853 company formation
caption_attribution_description: English: Bond of the New York Central Rail Road Company, issued 1. August 1853, signed by Erastus Corning Deutsch: Bond der New York Central Rail Road Company vom 1. August 1853, unterschrieben von Erastus Corning
context_page_description: The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest along with the intermediate cities of Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Syracuse. New York Central was headquartered in New York City's New York Central Building, adjacent to its largest station, Grand Central Terminal.
  The railroad was established in 1853, consolidating several existing railroad companies. In 1968 the NYC merged with its former rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad, to form Penn Central. Penn Central went bankrupt in 1970 and merged into Conrail in 1976. Conrail was broken up in 1998, and portions of its system were transferred to CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway, with CSX acquiring most of the old New York Central trackage.
  Extensive trackage existed in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts and West Virginia plus additional trackage in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
context_section_description: Albany industrialist and Mohawk Valley Railroad owner Erastus Corning managed to unite the above railroads together into one system, and on March 17, 1853 executives and stockholders of each company agreed to merge. The merger was approved by the state legislature on April 2, and by May 17, 1853 the New York Central Railroad was formed.
  Soon the Buffalo and State Line Railroad and Erie and North East Railroad converted to 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge from 6 ft (1,829 mm) broad gauge and connected directly with the NYC in Buffalo, providing a through route to Erie, Pennsylvania.
caption: Bond of the New York Central Rail Road Company, issued 1 August 1853, signed by Erastus Corning
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