The Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) was formed on April 1, 1976 not by a standard merger, but as a new government corporation that took over only designated lines and other rail-related assets from the existing bankrupt companies. Seven major companies were included:
So were most railroads that had been leased or controlled by them, sometimes jointly.
Conrail maintained existing leases of the small Amsterdam, Chuctanunda and Northern Railroad (PC-NYC) and Central Railroad of Indianapolis (PC-NYC), as well as the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (LV), owned by the non-railroad Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.[2] In addition, Conrail acquired long-term leases on several Canadian properties (all PC-NYC): the St. Lawrence and Adirondack Railway, the Canada Southern Railway, and its subsidiaries Detroit River Tunnel Company and Niagara River Bridge Company. All of these Canadian companies but the St. Lawrence and Adirondack were given up in 1985. None of the property of the New York and Harlem Railroad was transferred to Conrail, but a portion was operated under contract as a light-density line.
| Name | Control | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Allentown Terminal Railroad | CNJ | |
| Ann Arbor Railroad | AA | |
| Baltimore and Eastern Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| Bay Shore Connecting Railroad | CNJ/LV | |
| Beech Creek Railroad | PC (NYC) | |
| Buffalo Creek Railroad | EL (Erie)/LV | Merged on December 31, 1983[3] |
| Central Indiana Railway | PC (NYC/PRR) | |
| Central Railroad of New Jersey | CNJ | |
| Central Railroad of Pennsylvania | CNJ | No real property conveyed |
| Chicago, Kalamazoo and Saginaw Railway | PC (NYC) | |
| Chicago River and Indiana Railroad | PC (NYC) | |
| Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway | PC (NYC) | |
| Connecting Railway | PC (PRR) | |
| Dayton Union Railway | PC (NYC/PRR) | |
| Delaware Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad | RDG | |
| Detroit Manufacturers Railroad | PC (NYC) | |
| Dover and Rockaway Railroad | CNJ | |
| East Pennsylvania Railroad | RDG | |
| Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad | PC (NYC) | |
| Erie Lackawanna Railway | EL (Erie/DL&W) | |
| Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad | PC (NYC) | |
| Holyoke and Westfield Railroad | PC (NH) | |
| Hudson River Bridge Company at Albany | PC (NYC) | |
| Indianapolis Union Railway | PC (NYC/PRR) | |
| Ironton Railroad | LV/RDG | |
| Joliet and Northern Indiana Railroad | PC (NYC) | |
| Kalamazoo, Allegan and Grand Rapids Railroad | PC (NYC) | |
| Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railway | EL (DL&W) | |
| Lehigh and Hudson River Railway | L&HR | |
| Lehigh and New England Railway | CNJ | |
| Lehigh Valley Railroad | LV | |
| Little Miami Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| Mahoning Coal Railroad | PC (NYC) | |
| Mahoning and Shenango Valley Company | PC (NYC) | |
| Michigan Central Railroad | PC (NYC) | |
| Monongahela Railway | MGA | Merged on May 1, 1993 |
| Mount Hope Mineral Railroad | CNJ | |
| New York Connecting Railroad | PC (NH/PRR) | |
| New York and Long Branch Railroad | PC (PRR)/CNJ | |
| Niagara Junction Railway | EL (Erie)/LV/PC (NYC) | |
| North Brookfield Railroad | PC (NH) | |
| North Pennsylvania Railroad | RDG | |
| Northern Central Railway | PC (PRR) | |
| Norwich and Worcester Railroad | PC (NH) | |
| Penn Central Transportation Company | PC (NYC/PRR/NH) | |
| Penndel Company | PC (NYC/PRR) | Successor to a number of non-operating subsidiaries |
| Pennsylvania and Atlantic Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| Pennsylvania–Reading Seashore Lines | PC (PRR)/RDG | |
| Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| Peoria and Eastern Railway | PC (NYC) | |
| Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad | RDG | |
| Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway | PC (PRR) | |
| Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Ashtabula Railway | PC (PRR) | |
| Plymouth Railroad | RDG | |
| Port Reading Railroad | RDG | |
| Raritan River Railroad | PC (PRR)/CNJ | Merged in April 1980[4] |
| Reading Company | RDG | |
| Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad | EL (Erie) | |
| Shamokin Valley and Pottsville Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| South Manchester Railroad | PC (NH) | |
| Trenton–Princeton Traction Company | RDG | |
| Troy and Greenbush Railroad | PC (NYC) | |
| Union Depot Company (Columbus, Ohio) | PC (NYC/PRR) | |
| Union Railroad of Baltimore | PC (PRR) | |
| United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company | PC (PRR) | |
| Waynesburg Southern Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| Waynesburg and Washington Railroad | PC (PRR) | |
| West Jersey and Seashore Railroad | PC (PRR)/RDG | |
| Wharton and Northern Railroad | CNJ | |
| Wilmington and Northern Railroad | RDG | |
| American Contract Company | PC | No real property conveyed |
| Communipaw Central Land Company | CNJ | |
| Consolidated Real Estate Company | LV | |
| Despatch Shops, Inc. | PC | |
| Eastern Real Estate Company | RDG | |
| Erie Land and Improvement Company | EL (Erie) | |
| Erie Land and Improvement Company of Pennsylvania | EL (Erie) | |
| Hoboken Ferry Company | EL (DL&W) | |
| Hudson Realty Company | EL | |
| Lawroy Land Company | EL | |
| Manor Real Estate Company | PC | |
| New York Central Development Corporation | PC | |
| Penndiana Improvement Corporation | PC | |
| Providence Produce Warehouse Company | PC | |
| United Real Estate Company | LV |
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