Invention and Engineering

Chicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad

The Chicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad (CNY) was a proposed high-speed electric air-line railroad between Chicago and New York City in the early 20th century. At roughly 750 miles (1,210 km) it would have been over 150 miles (240 km) shorter than the two primary steam railroads on that route, the New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad. The promoters' vision proved wildly optimistic and, in the end, only a short interurban route in the vicinity of Gary, Indiana was built and operated. It was the most ambitious of several such proposals at the dawn of electric railroading, all of which ended in failure. The trade magazine Railway Age critiqued the project at the time it was announced in July 1906 and gave this damning judgment: "Speaking seriously, for the moment, about this fraudulent investment scheme one is in doubt whether to wonder most at the gigantic effrontery of the perpetrators, the gullibility of the poor dupes who will flood the mails with their subscriptions, or the carelessness if not cupidity of the newspaper publishers who seem to sanction the swindle by giving it publicity."

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Baltimore and Ohio 4500
• ▸Hylotelephium
• ▸Aerosol spray dispenser

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