Albany & Hudson

Company History: The A&H ran 37 miles between Albany and Hudson, New York via Rensselaer, Niverville and Stuyvesant Falls. It was an electrified interurban and freight line. It was allegedly the first interurban line in America to use predominantly third rail for power (although cars were equipped with trolley poles for street running.) The company was formed with the 1899 merger of Hudson Street Railway, Kinderhook & Hudson Railway and Greenbush & Nassau Electric Railway. The K&H was a steam road whose route had to be electrified. The company generated their own hydro-electric power and sold excess power to local communities. They also ran an amusement park on the line (a common practice for traction lines of the period, as they provided another destination for passengers.) A deadly head-on collision in 1901 put the company into financial distress from which it would not recover. In 1909, the A&H was re-organized as the Albany Southern.

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.