CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · History & Society

Penn Central Transportation Company

American class I railroad company in operation from 1968 to 1976

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 24, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, each of which were united by large-scale service into the New York metropolitan area and to a lesser extent New England and Chicago.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Penn Central Transportation Company” as american class I railroad company in operation from 1968 to 1976. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Penn, Central and Transportation.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1968, 1976—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Penn, Central and Transportation providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Penn Central Transportation Company”, the useful work is to connect “american class I railroad company in operation from 1968 to 1976” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The first chronological checks are 1968 and 1976.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Penn Central Transportation Company”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Penn Central Transportation Company primary sources, Penn Central Transportation Company archive and Penn research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Penn Central Transportation Company”?
  2. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Penn Central Transportation Company” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.