Toledo, Ohio

Immense large scale plan of Toledo highlighting rail lines in and around the city.

This linen backed folding map is based on a city plan of Toledo designed by the city’s Office of Construction and Engineering. Although it was originally designed as a detailed street map, this version was used in the central engineering department (C.E. Office on the front cover) of the Pennsylvania Railroad archives and updated (by hand) with track ownership information into the early 1950’s. A custom legend identifies the tracks of three fourteen companies, highlighting the central location of the city on main transportation routes to Chicago from New York City. Manuscript annotations identify other items of interest to the Penn R.R., including rail yards, freight stations and connecting destinations.

In addition, the map shows an interesting mid-century transportation configuration a few decades prior to Penn R.R.’s merger with the New York Central in 1968. The resulting company, the Penn Central, declared bankruptcy in 1970 (the largest filing at the time) and many of its lines were eventually taken over by Amtrak. A hundred years earlier, the Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest corporation in the world and paid out annual shareholder dividends for over 100 consecutive years, showing just how rapidly and completely railroading fortunes could change.