Pennsylvania Lines West of Pittsburgh. Southwest System. Predecessor and subsidiary companies.

The Southwest System of the Lines West operating organization was formed on March 1, 1890, to operate the lines of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company. It was abolished in the reorganization of March 1, 1920, and the lines were divided between the Central and Southwestern Regions. The corporations owning the lines continued to be maintained as shell companies.

The Southwest System extended from Pittsburgh on the east to Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Louisville on the west, with lines from Bradford and Cincinnati, Ohio, through Logansport to Chicago and Effner, on the Indiana-Illinois line. It included some of the earliest railroads west of the Allegheny Mountains.

The oldest components of the Southwest System were the Little Miami Railroad, (1836) from Cincinnati to Springfield, Ohio, and the Madison & Indianapolis, begun by the State of Indiana in 1839 and completed by a private company in 1847. The line from Jeffersonville to Columbus, Indiana, was completed in 1852 by the Jeffersonville Railroad Company. The line from Columbus to Cambridge City, Indiana, was built in sections by several companies beginning in 1850 and was not completed until 1867, one year after the Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad Company was formed and finally absorbed all the other Indiana companies mentioned above. Entrance into Louisville was obtained in 1870 via the Louisville Bridge Company.

The line eastwardly from Indianapolis through Richmond, Indiana, to a connection with the Little Miami Railroad, was completed in 1853 by The Indiana Central Railway Company thus opening a route from Indianapolis to Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. This same year, 1853, saw the line completed from Richmond, Indiana to Hamilton, Ohio by the Eaton and Hamilton Railroad Company, from Richmond to New Castle, Indiana, by the Cincinnati, Logansport and Chicago Railway Company, while the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad had constructed its line from Indianapolis to Terre Haute in 1852.

These activities around Indianapolis were closely followed by the construction of the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad which opened the first section of its line from Steubenville to Unionport, Ohio in 1855, after having acquired, in 1854, a half interest in the Central Ohio Railroad (now part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad) between Newark and Columbus. This railroad was aided in its construction by The Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

The Columbus, Piqua and Indiana Railroad Company built from Columbus through Bradford to the Ohio-Indiana State Line near Union City, Indiana, in 1856, while the Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad Company had constructed its railroad from New Castle to Logansport in 1857. This line was extended westwardly from Logansport through La Crosse to Valparaiso, to a connection with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway in 1861, the work having been done by the Chicago and Cincinnati Railroad Company.

The Richmond and Covington, and Richmond and Miami Railroad Companies built the line between Richmond and Bradford in 1863, while the Chicago and Great Eastern Railway Company (No. 4) constructed an independent line from La Crosse to Chicago in 1865 and abandoned the connection with the Fort Wayne between La Crosse and Valparaiso.

The Pittsburgh and Steubenville finally completed its road from Pittsburgh across the Ohio River in 1865. The bridge over the river and the extension from the bridge into Steubenville were constructed by The Holliday's Cove Rail Road Company also in 1865. The lines between Pittsburgh and Columbus were consolidated in 1868, and The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway Company came into existence. This company was controlled by The Pennsylvania railroad Company, and in 1869 The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway Company leased the Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway which at that time controlled the lines from Columbus, Ohio to Indianapolis, Indiana; Bradford Junction, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois; Richmond to Anoka Junction, Indiana; and Logansport to Effner, Indiana.

The line from Logansport to Effner, Indiana was built by the Toledo, Logansport and Burlington Railroad Company in 1859 and came into possession of the Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway Company in 1868.

By 1871 the entire system was under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central went bankrupt in 1875 and was finally reorganized as the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh Railroad in 1884. It was consolidated with the companies forming the route between Pittsburgh and Louisville to form the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company in 1890.

The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company was formed by the consolidation, effective January 1, 1917 of The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago ? the Vandalia Railroad Company; the Pittsburgh, Wheeling and Kentucky Railroad Company; The Anderson Belt Railway Company and the Chicago, Indiana & Eastern Railway Company. For bookkeeping purposes, the P.C.C. & St. L. was merged into the Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad Company on April 2, 1956.

From the description of Corporate records, 1836-1956. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122503465