B&A absorbed into NYC

I was wondering when the Boston & Albany was absorbed into the New York Central. Meaning when was the railroad operated not under the B&A name. I know the the 20th Century Limited was sent over its tracks but was it designated a B&A train like when the California Zephyr ran from Burlington, to Rio Grande, to Western Pacific, or was it always under NYC because of the leasing of the B&A. And was the absorption late enogh so that no diesel engine bore the name of the B&A?

The NYC _LEASED_ the B&A in 1900, and at that point all B&A's physical plant and equipment became NYC and, originally, was lettered NYC&HR. Afterward the B&A essentially became a shell corporation, whose stockholders received a fixed rental payment from NYC. From the beginning, however, the Bostonians were unhappy about "their" railroad being owned by a (gasp!) New York corporation, and I'm told that the first general manager that the NYC&HR installed was rather insensitive about this. So as a PR gesture, the NYC went back to lettering everything "B&A", even though it really didn't need to do so. Said another way, for operating purposes the B&A essentially became a state of mind after 1900. During the late '40s and '50s, though, NYC diesels and larger steam power (mostly L-class Mohawks) began filtering in, and gradually the B&A "identity" was lost. (The new Budd "New England States" trainsets, for example, were lettered for NYC.) There was no fixed date for this, but you could probably say that it essentially ended when the last B&A-lettered steamers disappeared. (But I guess some lettering on structures may still remain, somewhere.) The B&A as a corporation was finally merged into the NYC 4/3/61.

The B&A situation was thus different from some other NYC subsidiaries that were operated as separate entities, with their own equipment -- e.g., the P&LE and P&E. In these cases, the NYC only owned a bare majority of the stock and it cheaper to leave things as they were. (This was also true of the Big Four, MC, and T&OC before 1936.)

Thanks for the answer. I was just wondering since the mainline is still referred to as the B&A mainline.

atsf sp wrote:Thanks for the answer. I was just wondering since the mainline is still referred to as the B&A mainline.

Yes, even though the Boston & Albany has been gone for 100 years, people still call it "the B&A." It's not an official designation. Old names die hard. As described above, equipment was lettered "Boston & Albany" more out of tradition than anything else. A few other NYC subsidiaries had equipment lettered for it, but for the most part NYC imposed their images on all of their lines, leased or otherwise. But the identities of these acquisitions were so strong that even into the last years of the NYC, people still said they worked on the "Big Four" or the "Michigan Central" or the "B&A." The NYC was such a far-flung system, it was just easier to describe using the old names that served a particular region. There was also some pride involved, too.

Make more sense now?

So yes, even though the NYC is gone, and Penn Central and Conrail that followed it... the line between Boston and Albany operated by CSX is still called "the B&A."

-otto-

Old names die hard - Both CSX dispatcher's who handle the B&A have the Boston & Albany logo hanging up in their work areas.