1882 Official Railway Guide article on the
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railway

NEW YORK, CHICAGO & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY
"NICKEL PLATE" - PREPARING FOR OPERATIONS
DEPARTMENTS BEING RAPIDLY ORGANIZED.

The following text and map is from the 1882 Official Railway Guide.

"The construction work on the NEW YORK, CHICAGO & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY was virtually, completed on September 1st, and the Company is now busily engaged in perfecting its operating departments, preparatory to opening the line at an early date for all classes of freight and passenger traffic. The construction, in so short a period, of a trunk line 521 miles in length and involving work, of an extraordinary character is unprecedented. It maybe well to repeat that this new railway, which has already become universally known as the "Nickel Plate", extends from Buffalo to Chicago via Dunkirk, Erie, Ashtabula, Cleveland, Fostoria and Ft. Wayne. The first survey was begun in the last week of February, 1881; actual construction commenced in the early part of June of the same year.

A magnificent equipment for passenger and freight service will be delivered the latter part of September, or early in October. The iron bridges are models for future structures, being of superior strength and symmetry. The motive power for both passenger and freight service, as well as the equipment generally, will probably be the finest possessed by any existing company. The immense double track iron viaduct, crossing the flats and Cuyahoga River in the City of Cleveland, is a splendid specimen of modern bridge architecture, which will remain an object of great interest not only to railway men, but to all persons passing through or stopping in Cleveland.

Arrangements have been made to occupy Illinois Central Railroad terminal facilities in Chicago, and the Union Depot, jointly occupied by the New York, Lake Erie & Western and Lehigh Valley railways in Buffalo. Business will be exchanged with all lines, centering in Chicago and. Buffalo, and at all intermediate junction points. That the "Nickel Plate" will at once assume a foremost position among the leading trunk'lines between the East and West there can be no reasonable doubt."

Following are appointments made to date:

C. R. CUMMINGS President Chicago, Ill.
C. S. BRICE Vice-President New York.
D. W. CALDWIELL Vice-President Cleveland, 0.
LEWIS WILLIAMS Gen. Manager Cleveland, 0.
B. G. MITCHELL Treasurer New York.
L. X. SCHWAN Secretary New York.
J. A. LATCHA Chief Engineer Cleveland, 0.
H. L. TERRELL Gen. Counsel New York.
SAMUEL E. WILLIAMSON Gen. Solicitor
G. B. SPRIGGS Gen. Freight Agent
HENRY MONETT Gen. Passenger Agent
J. P. CURRY Auditor
E. E. DWIGHT Superintendent
ROSS KELLS Superintendent Motive Power

General Offices-Cleveland, O.

References