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The End of an Era: Merger with N & W, Norfolk Southern As the financial situation of American railroading continued to decline after World War II, the Nickel Plate Road together with the Wabash and several smaller carriers merged with the profitable Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W) on October 16, 1963.
N&W had merged with long-time rival Virginian Railway in the Pocahontas coal region in 1959, and grew through the mergers with other rail carriers including the Nickel Plate and Wabash railroads with operations in adjacent areas of the eastern United States to form a more competitive and successful system serving 14 states and a province of Canada on more than 7,000 miles of road.
The profitable N&W was itself combined with the Southern Railway, another profitable carrier, to form Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS) in 1982.
Origin of the Nickel Plate nickname
The following is an excerpt from the book The Nickel Plate Road, A Short History of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis R.R. printed in 1954. The book is a record of an address given by Lynne L. White (a former president of the Nickel Plate) to the Newcomen Society of the United States, held in the ballroom of the Hotel Lawrence, Erie, Pa., November 11, 1954. Mr. White was guest of honor at this "1954 Lake Erie Dinner".
"Through northern Ohio, already served by four railroads, location of the line developed intense rivalries among cities. Three routes were surveyed and communities along each proposed route vied in the raising of public subscriptions to donate rights-of-way. The road's general offices at Cleveland frequently were besieged by delegations hoping to bring about the routing of the line through their communities. During these inter-city rivalries was born the nickname for the New York, Chicago and St. Louis - The Nickel Plate Road - which rapidly became the name most commonly used.
"Numerous legends have grown about when and how the name "Nickel Plate" was first applied. The accepted version is that it appeared first in an article in the Norwalk, Ohio, Chronicle of March 10, 1881. On that date the Chronicle reported the arrival of a party of engineers to make a survey for the "great New York and St. Louis double track, nickel plated railroad."
"Later, while attempting to induce the company to build the line through Norwalk instead of Bellevue, Ohio, the Chronicle again referred to the road as "nickel plated" - a term regarded as indicative of the project's glittering prospects and substantial financial backing.
"In 1882, the Nickel Plate recognized F.R. Loomis, owner and editor of the Norwalk Chronicle, as originator of the term and issued him Complimentary Pass No.1.
"Thus Norwalk named the road - but Bellevue finally got it."
References - Hampton, Taylor (2001). The Nickel Plate Road: The history of a great railroad. Circulation Publishing and Marketing. ISBN 1928551173.
- Holland, Kevin J. (1999). Berkshires of the Nickel Plate Road. TLC Publishing, Virginia. ISBN 1883089395.
- Rehor, John A. (1994). The Nickel Plate story. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI. ASIN 0890240124.
- Lynne L. White (1954) The Nickel Plate Road, A Short History of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis R.R. Newcomen Publication: Exton, Pennsylvania
See also
External link - The Nickel Plate Road Historical & Technical Society (http://www.nkphts.org/)
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