Here's another list of my TL's possible railroads by 2014
Northeast
Pennsylvania Railroad
Once the egotistical ill man of Northeast railroading, the Pennsylvania managed to enjoy a series of reversal of fortunes. Starting when the PRR managed to take over the New Haven, expand their stake in the RF&P, then bought up long-time subsidiary Norfolk & Western. The latter of which had already expanded to Richmond in the 1930s. Under the rule of Stuart Saunders, the correction process went easily. Electrification was renewed, freight rail innovations were created, and the railroad managed to create the coalition that formed Amtrak. Today, the PRR is still a major player in the railroad scene. By far one of the two dominant players in the Northeast alongside rival New York Central, The PRR's line from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia via Altoona and Harrisburg is also one of the busiest freight rail routes in the world. In Modern times, the PRR's HQ is in Philadelphia, PA (at Keystone Plaza in the city center), and its operations run out of several facilities, most notably the company's vast yards at Columbus, OH and Chicago, IL. The PRR's diesels were at first all Brunswick Green, as was its electric fleet. But this has since paved leadway to the Tuscan Red making a comeback on the more recent electric engines. In addition, the railroad's co-operation with Amtrak has led to the HSR trainsets operated in that region being pained in the standard Amtrak Silver Base with Tuscan Red as the specialized color.
New York Central
A legend in the Northeast that managed to live through the rough times of the 1960s and 1970s by being flexible, fast and above all efficient. New York Central's modern business focuses on the moving of freight from Chicago and St. Louis to New York, Boston, Toronto and Montreal, as well as serving the auto industries along its route and providing bulk service in the Midwest. The "Central System", as it is often called today, retains that tradition of technical and efficiency expertise, and its electrified 'Water Level Route' from New York to Chicago via Albany, Syracuse, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Toledo and South Bend is one of the most important rail lines in the whole country. Perlman's successors and their successors (including Perlman's son, Michael Perlman) run the company to this day, and NYC in modern times is held in a very high regard by the communities they serve. The NYC may take its name from New York, but it has since 1988 been based in Buffalo, NY, at an office building adjacent to the massive station they built there in the 1920s, which today is the junction point between the Midwestern System, Empire Corridor and St. Lawrence River high-speed rail systems, all of which are supported by the Central. The Central System itself still runs the New York-Chicago Lake Shore Limited as a luxury train, which is one of the few remaining private passenger trains. NYC locomotives have nearly all regained 'lightning stripe' black, silver and dark grey paint scheme, replacing the austere black paint that most NYC locomotives began sporting in the 1960s.
Chesapeake & Ohio/Baltimore & Ohio
Better known as the Chessie System, this railroad is one of the increasingly dominant competitors in the Northeast. Their lines have expanded since the 1960s to include the Erie Lackawanna, Nickel Plate, and other small railroads in its fold. However, they especially see the PRR as their main adversary especially in the coal country of Pennsylvania and the Virginias. The Pennsylvania Railroad as part of the Interstate reorganization also chose to sell off its interest in the Baltimore and Ohio, which by that point included the CNJ and Reading. B&O promptly was swept up by the Chesapeake and Ohio. However, legal and financial constraints, as well as operational factors, resulted in the C&O-B&O combination being one of two separate railroads which would, however, develop as one through the 1970s and 1980s. Today, the two railroads are still distinct from each other through their paint schemes. The C&O uses yellow with orange and dark blue whereas B&O uses blue, gray, and black.
