Here's the newest version of what things will look like in the end.
Northeast
New York Central
By far the strongest of the three major Northeastern roads, this line was once slowly falling ill. However, the leadership of Alfred E. Pearlman pulled the NYC out of an inevitable disaster. By 1978, the NYC was back and better than ever. Helping matters was also the acquisition of the Delaware & Hudson in 1980. Today, the line streches from New York to Buffalo via Upstate. Then west to Cleveland along Lake Erie, where it splits to either Chicago via Toledo and South Bend or Cincinnati via Columbus and Dayton. There are also numerous line through the Midwest which serve places like St. Louis and Indianapolis. In addition, they also have reached Pittsburgh and Baltimore by acquiring both the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie and Western Maryland railroads. Soon after also reaching Virginia and the coal fields by taking over the Virginian Railroad. The railroad is now almost entirely electrified on all its mains, with diesels for switching and local services. All locomotives are painted in two-tone gray "lightning stripe" livery of many early NYC passenger diesels. On that note, NYC also still runs major passenger trains like the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago and the Ohio State Limited to Cincinnati.
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Standard Railroad of the World once had been strong. But began to falter in the immediate post-war era. That is until Stuart Saunders entered the picture. Under his role, the railroad absorbed the N&W, RF&P, Lehigh Valley, and New Haven into is system. The PRR of this era also was responsible for the creation of freight rail, like the Rail Ferry which carried entire trucks instead of just the trailers. As well as . Today, the PRR is still a major player in the railroad scene. Intermodal traffic growth was so strong that nearly every inch of the main lines of the company (and many of the secondaries) got cab signals, and PRR began use the use of radio-controlled helper units and air compressor-equipped cabooses in 1989 to speed up operations, with the Main Line between Chicago and Bucyrus, Ohio in some cases clearing the intermodals for speeds as high as 85 MPH. 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. However, it today considers the Chessie System 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.
Chespeake & Ohio/Baltimore & Ohio
Better known as the Chessie System, this line consists of the former Van Sweringen roads like the C&O, NKP, and Pere Marquette. The Lackawanna was also in its mix. However, the railroad soon after expanded to include the Baltimore & Ohio. As well as the Reading and Jersey Central, plus the former NYC Pennsylvania Division. This railroad works heavily in industrial sectors and the coal fields of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Today even, the PRR sees them as their top rival as opposed to the NYC.
Wabash & Erie
The ICC's infamous "Parallel Roads" policy forced the Erie out of the C&O+NKP+DLW+PM merger. As such, they hooked up with the Wabash railroad instead. This line expanded itself greatly through the 1970s and 80s through acquisitions. Starting with just the Detroit, Toledo, & Ironton and Pittsburgh & West Virginia. But then they bought up the PRR line from Columbus to Akron, as well as the NYC's secondary line from Springfield to Peoria via Indianapolis. The engines are painted in the colors of the Erie.
Boston & Maine
The railroad managed to outlive all the other short-distance lines in the northeast by becoming longer distance themselves. It started when they took over the Maine Central, which allowed them to enter the latter namesake location even further. This was followed soon after by the Bangor & Aroostook and Rutland railroads which extended their reach into upper New England and even Canada. This allowed the B&M to survive by shuttling Canadian traffic to all three of the major Northeast rail lines. The locomotives are distinct by virtue of their blue and white paint schemes, just both on diesels and on the electrics that run from Augusta to Boston.
