1.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
2.
Susquehanna River
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The Susquehanna River is a major river located in the northeastern United States. At 464 miles long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, with its watershed, it is the 16th-largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United States without commercial boat traffic today. The Susquehanna rises and flows through New York, Pennsylvania, and it forms from two main branches, the North Branch, which rises in upstate New York and is regarded by federal mapmakers as the main branch, and the West Branch Susquehanna. Both of these waterways were improved by navigations throughout the 1820s and 1830s as the Pennsylvania Canal, together with facilities of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, loaded barges were transferred from the canal and hoisted across the mountain ridge into the Pittsburgh area. The 82-mile Union Canal was completed in 1828 to connect Schuylkill River in Reading to the Susquehanna above Harrisburg, an 82-mile leg connecting the Susquehanna with the Delaware River was instead developed as the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, built by the Pennsylvania Canal Commission. The shorter West Branch, which rises in western Pennsylvania, joins the stem of the Susquehanna near Northumberland in central Pennsylvania. The river drains 27,500 square miles, including half of the land area of Pennsylvania. The river empties into the end of the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace, Maryland. The Chesapeake Bay is the ria of the Susquehanna, while less prevalent since their contraction in the 1950–1960s, the rivers shores still support a wide ranging rail transportation infrastructure. Also called the Main Branch Susquehanna, the branch of the river rises at the outlet of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown. From there, the branch of the river runs west-southwest through rural farmland and dairy country, receiving the Unadilla River at Sidney. It dips south into Pennsylvania briefly to turn north at Susquehanna Depot hooking back into New York. A couple miles south, just across the New York state line and it makes a right-angle curve between Sayre and Towanda to cut through the Endless Mountains in the Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania. The origin of the official West Branch is near Northern Cambria County, Pennsylvania near the junction of Mitchel Road and it travels northeasterly through Curwensville, into and through Clearfield, Pennsylvania, where its joined by the Clearfield Creek right bank tributary. The West Branch turns to the southeast and passes through Lock Haven, the North Branch joins the West Branch from the northwest at Northumberland, just above Sunbury. It receives the Juniata River from the northwest at Duncannon, then passes through its last water gap, downtown Harrisburg developed on the east side of the river, which is nearly a mile wide here. It crosses into northern Maryland approximately 30 miles northeast of Baltimore and is joined by Octoraro Creek, the river enters the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace. Concord Point Light was built here in 1827 to accommodate the increasing navigational traffic, Susquehanna comes from the Lenapi term Sisawehakhanna, which means Oyster River
3.
Binghamton, New York
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Binghamton /ˈbɪŋəmtən/ is a city in, and the county seat of, Broome County, New York, United States. It lies in the states Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna. Binghamton is the city and cultural center of the Binghamton metropolitan area. The population of the city itself, according to the 2010 census, is 47,376. From the days of the railroad, Binghamton was a crossroads and a manufacturing center, and has been known at different times for the production of cigars, shoes. IBM was founded nearby, and the simulator was invented in the city, leading to a notable concentration of electronics-. This sustained economic prosperity earned Binghamton the moniker of the Valley of Opportunity, however, following cuts made by defense firms after the end of the Cold War, the region has lost a significant portion of its manufacturing industry. The city was named after William Bingham, a wealthy Philadelphian who bought the 10,000 acre patent for the land in 1786, then consisting of portions of the towns of Union, significant agricultural growth led to the incorporation of the village of Binghamton in 1834. The Chenango Canal, completed in 1837, connected Binghamton to the Erie Canal and this growth accelerated with the completion of the Erie Railroad between Binghamton and New York City in 1849. With the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad arriving soon after, several buildings of importance were built at this time, including the New York State Inebriate Asylum, opened in 1858 as the first center in the United States to treat alcoholism as a disease. Binghamton incorporated as a city in 1867, and due to the presence of several homes, was nicknamed the Parlor City. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many moved to the area. During the 1880s, Binghamton grew to become the second-largest manufacturer of cigars in the United States, however, by the early 1920s, the major employer of the region became Endicott Johnson, a shoe manufacturer whose development of welfare capitalism resulted in many amenities for local residents. An even larger influx of Europeans immigrated to Binghamton, and the working class prosperity resulted in the area being called the Valley of Opportunity, in 1913,31 people perished in the Binghamton Clothing Company fire, which resulted in numerous reforms to the New York fire code. Major floods in 1935 and 1936 resulted in a number of deaths, the floods were devastating, and resulted in the construction of flood walls along the length of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. During the Second World War, growth and corporate generosity continued as IBM, along with Edwin Links invention of the flight simulator in Binghamton, IBM transitioned the region to a high-tech economy. Other major manufacturers included Ansco and General Electric, until the Cold War ended, the area never experienced an economic downfall, due in part to its defense-oriented industries. The population of the city of Binghamton peaked at around 85,000 in the mid-1950s, post-war suburban development led to a decline in the city population, as the towns of Vestal and Union experienced rapid growth
4.
Locomotive
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A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. A locomotive has no payload capacity of its own, and its purpose is to move the train along the tracks. In contrast, some trains have self-propelled payload-carrying vehicles and these are not normally considered locomotives, and may be referred to as multiple units, motor coaches or railcars. The use of these vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front, however, push-pull operation has become common, where the train may have a locomotive at the front, at the rear, or at each end. Prior to locomotives, the force for railroads had been generated by various lower-technology methods such as human power, horse power. The first successful locomotives were built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick, in 1804 his unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Although the locomotive hauled a train of 10 long tons of iron and 70 passengers in five wagons over nine miles, the locomotive only ran three trips before it was abandoned. Trevithick built a series of locomotives after the Penydarren experiment, including one which ran at a colliery in Tyneside in northern England, the first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murrays rack locomotive, Salamanca, built for the narrow gauge Middleton Railway in 1812. This was followed in 1813 by the Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814 George Stephenson, inspired by the locomotives of Trevithick. He built the Blücher, one of the first successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotives, Stephenson played a pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of steam locomotives. His designs improved on the work of the pioneers, in 1825 he built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north east England, which became the first public steam railway. In 1829 he built The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials and this success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the United Kingdom, the United States and much of Europe. The first inter city passenger railway, Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830, there are a few basic reasons to isolate locomotive train power, as compared to self-propelled vehicles. Maximum utilization of power cars Separate locomotives facilitate movement of costly motive power assets as needed, flexibility Large locomotives can substitute for small locomotives when more power is required, for example, where grades are steeper. As needed, a locomotive can be used for freight duties. Obsolescence cycles Separating motive power from payload-hauling cars enables replacement without affecting the other, to illustrate, locomotives might become obsolete when their associated cars did not, and vice versa
5.
Railroad car
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A railroad car or railcar, railway wagon or railway carriage, also called a train car or train wagon, is a vehicle used for the carrying of cargo or passengers on a rail transport system. Such cars, when coupled together and hauled by one or more locomotives, alternatively, some passenger cars are self-propelled in which case they may be either single railcars or make up multiple units. The term car is used by itself in American English when a rail context is implicit. Indian English sometimes uses bogie in the manner, though the term has other meanings in other variants of English. In American English, railcar is a term for a railway vehicle, in other countries railcar refers specifically to a self-propelled, powered. Tables may be provided between seats facing one another, alternatively, seats facing in the same direction may have access to a fold-down ledge on the back of the seat in front. If the aisle is located between seats, seat rows may face the direction, or be grouped, with twin rows facing each other. In some vehicles intended for services, seats are positioned with their backs to the side walls. This gives a wide accessway and allows room for standing passengers at peak times, if the aisle is at the side, the car is usually divided into small compartments. These usually contain six seats, although sometimes in second class they contain eight, modern cars usually have either air-conditioning or windows that can be opened, or sometimes both. Various types of onboard train toilet facilities may also be provided, other types of passenger car exist, especially for long journeys, such as the dining car, parlor car, disco car, and in rare cases theater and movie theater car. In some cases another type of car is converted to one of these for an event. Observation cars were built for the rear of many trains to allow the passengers to view the scenery. Sleeping cars outfitted with small bedrooms allow passengers to sleep through their night-time trips, long-distance trains often require baggage cars for the passengers luggage. In European practice it used to be common for day coaches to be formed of compartments seating 6 or 8 passengers, in the UK, Corridor coaches fell into disfavor in the 1960s and 1970s partially because open coaches are considered more secure by women traveling alone. Another distinction is between single- and double deck train cars, an example of a double decker is the Amtrak superliner. A trainset is a semi-permanently arranged formation of cars, rather than one created ad hoc out of cars are available. These are only broken up and reshuffled on shed, trains are then built of one or more of these sets coupled together as needed for the capacity of that train
6.
Erie Railroad
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It expanded west to Chicago with its 1941 merger with the former Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, also known as the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad. Its mainline route proved influential in the development and economic growth of the Southern Tier, including such as Binghamton, Elmira. The Erie Railroad repair shops were located in Hornell, and were Hornells largest employer, Hornell was also where Eries main line split into two routes, one north to Buffalo and the other west to Cleveland. On October 17,1960, the Erie merged with the former rival Delaware, the Hornell repair shops were closed, and repair operations moved to the Lackawannas Scranton facility, this had a devastating effect on Hornell from which it has never recovered. Most of the former Erie line between Hornell and Binghamton was destroyed in 1972 by the floods of Hurricane Agnes, what was left of the Erie Lackawanna became part of Conrail in 1976. In 1983, Erie remnants became part of New Jersey Transit rail operations, today, most of the surviving Erie Railroad routes are operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway. The New York and Erie Rail Road was chartered April 24,1832 by Governor of New York, Enos T. Throop to connect the Hudson River at Piermont, north of New York City, west to Lake Erie at Dunkirk. On February 16,1841 the railroad was authorized to cross into the northeast corner of Pennsylvania on the west side of the Delaware River, construction began in 1836, and it opened from Piermont to Goshen on September 23,1841. After some financial problems, construction resumed in August 1846, further extensions opened to Binghamton December 27,1848, Owego January 1,1849, and the full length to Dunkirk May 19,1851. At Dunkirk steamboats continued across Lake Erie to Detroit, Michigan, the line was built as 6 ft wide gauge, this was believed to be a superior technology to standard gauge, providing more stability. In 1848 the railroad built the Starrucca Viaduct, a railroad bridge over Starrucca Creek in Lanesboro. The viaduct is 1,040 feet long,100 feet high and 25 feet wide at the top and it is the oldest stone rail bridge in Pennsylvania still in use. The Eries charter was amended April 8,1845 to allow the building of the Newburgh Branch, running from the line near Harriman north-northeast to Newburgh. The branch opened January 8,1850 and it was later used as a connection to the New York and New England Railroad via a car float operation across the river to Beacon, New York. Through ticketing began in 1851, with a change of cars at Ramapo due to the gauge break. In 1852 the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad, part of the New York Central Railroad system, the alignment from Buffalo to Attica was sold to the Eries Buffalo and New York City Railroad, a reorganization of the Attica and Hornellsville Railroad, and converted to the Eries wide gauge. The extension from Attica southeast to Hornellsville opened on November 17,1852, giving the Erie access to Buffalo, the Erie began operating the Chemung Railroad in 1850, this provided a branch from Horseheads north to Watkins. The Canandaigua and Elmira Railroad opened in 1851 as an extension from Watkins to Canandaigua and was operated by the Erie until 1853
7.
Rail yard
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A rail yard, railway yard or railroad yard is the US term for a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading/unloading, railroad cars and/or locomotives. Railroad yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock stored off the mainline, railroad cars are moved around by specially designed yard switchers, a type of locomotive. Cars in a railroad yard may be sorted by categories, including railroad company, loaded or unloaded, destination, car type. Railroad yards are built where there is a need to store cars while they are not being loaded or unloaded. Large yards may have a tower to control operations, many railway yards are located at strategic points on a main line. Main line yards are often composed of an Up yard and a Down yard, there are different types of yards, and different parts within a yard, depending on how they are built. They are decoupled and let to accelerate into the classification equipment lower down, a flat yard has no hump, and relies on locomotives for all car movements. A large sub-group of such yards are known as Staging yards, the long haul carrier makes the round trip with a minimal turn around time, and the local switch engine transfers empties to the loading yard when the industries output is ready to be shipped. In the staging yard, the locomotive is most likely operated by industry, since overall throughput speed matters, many have small pneumatic, hydraulic or spring driven braking retarders to adjust and slow speed both before and after yard switch points. Along with car tracking and load tracking to destination technologies such as RFID long trains can be broken down and reconfigured in transfer yards or operations in remarkable time. Transfer yard is a yard where consists are dropped off or picked up as a group by through service such as a Unit Train, but managed locally by local switching service locomotives. Unit tracks may be reserved for Unit trains, which carry a block of all of the same origin and destination. Such consists often stop in a yard for other purposes, inspection. Freight yards may have multiple industries adjacent to them where railroad cars are loaded or unloaded and then stored before they move on to their new destination. Major freight yards in the U. S. Major U. K. goods yards include those in Crewe, Reading and Bescot, near Walsall, coach yards are used for sorting, storing and repairing passenger cars. These yards are located in areas near large stations or terminals. An example of a major U. S. coach yard is Sunnyside Yard in New York City and those that are principally used for storage, such as the West Side Yard in New York, are called layup yards or stabling yards. Major U. K. coach stabling yards include those in Crewe and Longsight, Manchester, which are operated by various regional train companies
8.
Hornell, New York
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Hornell is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 8,563 at the 2010 census, the city is named after the Hornell family, early settlers. The City of Hornell is surrounded by Town of Hornellsville, Hornell is about 55 miles south of Rochester and is near the western edge of Steuben County. Hornell is nicknamed the Maple City after the large trees that once grew throughout the town. Hornell has the largest Saint Patricks Day parade and celebration in the area, bringing many out to welcome spring and it has also become a tradition that Mayor Shawn Hogan finds an innovative way of making his way down Main Street on this particular day. Hornell Municipal Airport is located a few north of the city on Route 36. The airport has a hard surface runway capable of landing small jets, what is now Hornell was first settled in 1790 under the name Upper Canisteo, to distinguish it from the community of Canisteo, then known as Lower Canisteo. The family of Benjamin Crosby were the first settlers in what is now Hornell, the area was incorporated as a town in 1820, as Hornellsville. The name comes from early settler George Hornell Jr, who built the first gristmill here, the City of Hornell was chartered in 1888 as the City of Hornellsville. The name was changed to Hornell in 1906, major flooding in 1935 put parts of the city under water, prompting the creation of a system of levees to prevent future serious flooding issues. The former city park, Union Park, was destroyed by the renewal of the 1970s. In 1950, Hornell had a population near 16,000 people and it had two radio stations, WWHG and WLEA, and three movie theaters, the Steuben and the Majestic, located on Broadway, and the Hornell, located on Main Street. The current mayor of Hornell is Democrat Shawn Hogan, who has held the position since January 1986, Hogan is the longest-serving current mayor in New York State. In 2009 Kirk W. House produced Around Hornell, a photo book in Arcadia Publishings Images of America series. Around Hornell also includes the rural communities of Canisteo, Dansville, Fremont, Hartsville, Hornellsville. The Hornell Armory, Hornell Public Library, Adsit House, Lincoln School, St. Anns Federation Building, the New York and Erie Railroad arrived in Hornell in 1850, which connected New York City and Dunkirk on Lake Erie via a Southern Tier route. Another route, the Buffalo and New York City Railroad, was added in 1852, for the next hundred years Hornell enjoyed prosperity with its steam engine shop doing the repairs for the entire Erie railroad line. In 1960 the Erie merged with the Lackawanna, and the Hornell repair shop was closed, the railroad then came upon hard times as trucking picked up more and more of the freight business
9.
Erie Lackawanna Railway
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The Erie Lackawanna Railway, known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was The Friendly Service Route, like many railroads in the northeast already financially vulnerable from the expanding U. S. Interstate Highway System, the line was severely weakened fiscally by the extent, duration and it would never recover, and most of the corporations holdings were subsumed into the federal rescue purchases creating Conrail in 1976, ending its days as an operating railroad company. The EL struggled for most of the 16 years it existed, the two railroads that created it were steadily losing passengers, freight traffic and money, and were heavily burdened by years of accumulated debt and extensive, money-losing commuter operations. The Lackawanna route was affected by the decline of anthracite. The Erie was burdened by the loss of high-tariff fruit. The DL&W had previously carried traffic to and from ocean ships. The northeasts railroads, including the EL, were all beginning to decline because of over-regulation, subsidized highway and waterway competition, commuter operations, and market saturation. Also, additional rail traffic was diverted to the EL because of service problems on the troubled Penn Central lines. The EL built a state of the art diesel engine repair facility in Marion, Ohio, the EL also gained a lucrative contract with United Parcel Service in 1970, which led to the operation of five dedicated intermodal trains daily between New Jersey and Chicago. The Erie Lackawanna Railway was formed March 1,1968, as a subsidiary of Dereco, the company of the Norfolk and Western Railway. On April 1, the assets were transferred as a condition of the proposed, Dereco also owned the Delaware & Hudson Railway at the time. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes destroyed many miles of track and related assets, the main line between Hornell and Binghamton was abandoned as not worth the high cost of rebuilding it. The cost of repairs were done, and the loss of revenue, forced the company into bankruptcy. After its 1972 bankruptcy, EL management attempted to plot an independent course, therefore, it initially declined interest in joining the Consolidated Rail takeover of the other major bankrupt eastern lines. The preliminary and final plans for Conrail showed the EL being merged into the Chessie System. However, the unions could not reach a compromise. Therefore, the EL petitioned and was accepted into Conrail at the last minute, in 1976, much of the companys railroad assets were thus purchased by the federal government and combined with other companies railroad assets to form Conrail
10.
Conrail
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Conrail, formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. Conrail is a portmanteau of consolidated and rail from the name of the company, the Federal Government created Conrail to take over the potentially profitable lines of multiple bankrupt carriers, including the Penn Central Transportation Company and Erie Lackawanna Railway. With the benefit of regulatory requirements being reduced, Conrail began to turn a profit in the 1980s and was turned over to private investors in 1987. Following Surface Transportation Board approval, CSX and NS took control in August 1998, the old company remains a jointly-owned subsidiary, with CSX and NS owning respectively 42 percent and 58 percent of its stock, corresponding to how much of Conrails assets they acquired. Each parent, however, has a voting interest. The primary asset retained by Conrail is ownership of the three Shared Assets Areas in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Detroit, both CSX and NS have the right to serve all shippers in these areas, paying Conrail for the cost of maintaining and improving trackage. They also make use of Conrail to perform switching and terminal services within the areas, Conrail also retains various support facilities including maintenance-of-way and training, as well as a 51 percent share in the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. In the years leading to 1973, the railroad system of the United States was collapsing. Its largest Eastern railroad, the Penn Central Railroad, had declared bankruptcy in 1970, at its lowest point, PC was losing over $1 million a day and trains were becoming lost all over the railroad. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes damaged the rundown Northeast railway network and threatened the solvency of other railroads, in mid-1973, officials with the bankrupt Penn Central threatened to liquidate and cease operations by years end if they did not receive government aid by October 1. This threat to U. S. freight and passenger traffic galvanized the Congress to quickly create a bill to nationalize the bankrupt railroads, the Association of American Railroads, which opposed nationalization, submitted an alternate proposal for a government-funded private company. Judge Fullam forced the Penn Central to operate into 1974, when, on January 2, after threatening a veto, President Richard Nixon signed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 into law. The 3R Act, as it was called, provided funding to the bankrupt railroads. The USRA was incorporated February 1,1974, and Edward G. Jordan, arthur D. Lewis of Eastern Air Lines was appointed chairman April 30, and the remainder of the board was named May 30 and sworn in July 11. Under the 3R Act, the USRA was to create a Final System Plan to decide which lines should be included in the new Consolidated Rail Corporation, unlike most railroad consolidations, only the designated lines were to be taken over. Other lines would be sold to Amtrak, various governments, transportation agencies. Controlled railroads and jointly owned railroads such as Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, the EL had been formed in 1960 as a merger of the Erie Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. It too was bankrupt, but was somewhat stronger financially than the others and it was ruled reorganizable under Chapter 77 on April 30,1974, but on January 9,1975, with no end to its losses in sight, its trustees reconsidered and asked for inclusion
11.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
12.
Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
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Susquehanna County is a county located in the U. S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 43,356, the county was created on February 21,1810, from part of Luzerne County and later organized in 1812. It is named for the Susquehanna River, the first settlers began to move into the area from Philadelphia and Connecticut in the mid 1700s. At the time, the area was part of Luzerne County, as more and more people from Connecticut moved in, there began to be some conflict. Under Connecticuts land grant, they owned everything from present day Connecticut to the Pacific Ocean and this meant their land grant overlapped with Pennsylvanias land grant. In the end, the Connecticut government was asked to surrender their claim on the area, in 1810, Susquehanna County was formed out of Luzerne County and later in 1812, Montrose was made the county seat. Susquehanna County was one of the stops on the Underground Railroad. Although this is not completely backed up by fact, there are many pointers saying this is true and these pointers say Montrose was the main hub. Here slaves would take refuge in the homes of citizens, after the Civil War, coal started to be mined. Following this, railways and roads were built into the county allowing for people to come. At one point the county had nearly 50,000 people, coal became, as with neighboring counties, the back bone of the economy. This boom in coal would allow for an age of prosperity in the county, when the Great Depression hit, the coal industry suffered horribly. Within months the industry was struggling. During World War II the coal industry picked up again, soon after the economy in the county failed. Between the 1950s and 1990s many mines were closed, railways were torn apart, unemployment rose and population decline increased. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 832 square miles. Susquehanna County is very mountainous, with concentrations of mountains in the east and smaller. The highest mountain in the county is North Knob just west of Union Dale, most people live in one of the several long and mostly narrow valleys
