Pittsburg & Shawmut

Company History: The Pittsburg and Shawmut Railroad (reporting mark PSR), also known as the Shawmut Line, was a short line railroad company operating passenger and freight service on standard gauge track in central and southwestern Pennsylvania. Since 2004, it has been operated as part of the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad, which is owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc.

The Pittsburg and Shawmut Railroad Company began life on July 21, 1903 as the Brookville and Mahoning Railroad, leased by the Pittsburg, Shawmut and Northern Railroad. When the PS&N declared bankruptcy in 1905, the B&M was spun off into a separate entity and was renamed in 1909 due to confusion with the Boston and Maine Railroad's initials. Like its parent, the P&S was also financially troubled in its early years. The company struggled until corporate fortunes improved with the war mobilization of the 1940s. Coal was the principle commodity for the line for its entire existence. Doodlebugs and passenger trains ran on the route in the early years but had all been eliminated by 1939.

The spelling of Pittsburgh as Pittsburg derives from the company's origins in the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad. That company was chartered in 1899 when the official spelling of the name of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was without the "h". The city name was spelled Pittsburg from 1891 to 1911 due to an effort by the United States government to standardize the spelling of place names in the United States.

Successor/Parent History: This regional railroad links Buffalo, New York with the greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. There is a long branchline to Erie, Pennsylvania along with nine shorter branches. The BPRR was launched in 1988 by the Genesee & Wyoming family of shortlines. Over the years, other adjoining G&W shortlines were were merged into the BPRR including the Allegheny & Eastern, Pittsburg & Shawmutt, and Bradford Industrial Railroad. The original BPRR route was a former Baltimore & Ohio line. Before B&O, it belonged to Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh. BPRR has an all EMD roster with the exception of a single Brookville Locomotive genset switcher. Traffic includes aggregates, farm products, auto parts, chemicals, coal, coke, animal feed, food products, forest products, metallic ore, minerals, pulp and paper, petroleum products, scrap, and metals. At 729 miles, BPRR is a bit bigger than the Jersey Central was in its heyday.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.