Columbus Railroad History (Cleveland, Cincinnati: foreclosed, employment, bankruptcy)

[rossmoyne]

Is there any place I can go / visit / on -line that might have information about a railroad company called "The Big Four". Time frame for that would be the late 1800's. Looking for info on my great grandfather who lost a leg in an accident while working for them.

Thanks.

[drummonn]

You're wanting to search for the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, check online, there are several websites devoted to their history and successor railroads (New York Central, Penn Central, Conrail, CSX); The Big-4 railroad existed as an independent railroad from 1889-1906, when it was acquired by New York Central;- but it retained the name "Big Four" until 1930... so the period of your G.Grandfather's employment would be between 1889 and ~1930.

As for any information regarding your great grandfather, it's going to be difficult to locate much at this point- perhaps a local newspaper from the hometown of your great-grandfather might have something, but I'm doubtful that any individual employee records remain from that time period; even if they did I'm not sure any real documentation of employee injuries existed at that time unless a court case resulted from the injury.

- See note below about injuries from 1902-1911; your G. Grandfather would have been 1 of over 500,000 railroad employees and passengers injured during that time- but better than the almost 40,000 railroad employees/ passengers who were killed in the same period.
* Note, the entire US Population in 1900 numbered about 75 million- the numbers of people injured was equal to almost 1% of the entire US population !

The US didn't have any federal railroad safety laws until 1893; accident reporting did not begin until 1900; and federal oversight of railroads by the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) as a "Common Carriers" didn't really impact fatality and injury rates until the 1920's.


From a report titled "An Evaluation of Railroad Safety, Princeton University, 1978, found at:
https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk3/1978/7808_n.html

the following excerpt provides rather sobering statistics:

"During the early phase of railroad safety history, the casualty problem dominated Federal and public concern. According to the data contained in the in the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) Accident Bulletins from 1902 to 1911, the casualty problem for both passengers and employees was quite severe. During the 9-year period at the turn of the century, a total of 33,761 employees and 4, 146 passengers were killed, and 403,259 employees, * and 113,410 passengers were injured."



About the "Big Four" Railroad:
-from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevel..._Louis_Railway

also known as the Big Four Railroad and commonly abbreviated CCC&StL, was a railroad company in the Midwestern United States. It operated in affiliation with the New York Central system. Its primary routes were in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. At the end of 1925 it reported 2391 route-miles and 4608 track-miles; that year it carried 8180 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 488 million passenger-miles.
Contents




History

The railroad was formed on June 30, 1889 by the merger of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway, the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railway and the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railway. The following year, the company gained control of the former Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway (through the foreclosed Ohio, Indiana and Western Railway and through an operating agreement with the Peoria and Eastern Railway).
In 1906 the Big Four was acquired by the New York Central Railroad, which operated it as a separate entity until around 1930. The Big Four's lines were later incorporated into Penn Central in 1968 with the merger of New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Penn Central declared bankruptcy in 1970, and in 1976 many of Big Four's lines were included in the government-sponsored Conrail. Conrail was privatized in 1987 and in 1997 was jointly acquired by CSX and Norfolk Southern.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevel..._Louis_Railway

[rossmoyne]

Thanks for the info, since my grand father was born around 1880, and according to my dad the accident happened before my great grandfather was married, that would put him working for one of the predecessor companies of the Big 4. He did live in Columbus, we know that for sure.

Again, thanks!

[dxdtdemon]

In the era of it being the Big Four prior to the New York Central, the Big Four track in Columbus was considered either a branch line or a lesser main line.