Historical sizes of railroads

By 1948, there were 14 railroads in North America with more than 1000 locomotives in service each. Twelve were located in the US and two were in Canada. The total number of steam locomotives and the number of route miles for each railroad in 1948 are given by Bruce (1952).

**North American Railroads with 1,000 or more Locomotives in Service, 1948**
Railroad	Number of Steam Locomotives in Service, Early 1948	Number of Route Miles of Track
Pennsylvania Railroad	4467	9736
New York Central Railroad	3473	10534
Canadian National Railway	2300	23000
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	2030	6192
Canadian Pacific Railway	1800	17000
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway	1730	13081
Southern Pacific Railroad	1554	8195
Southern Railway	1509	7705
Illinois Central Railroad	1324	6581
Union Pacific Railroad	1323	9756
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad	1213	10359
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad	1208	5076
Chicago and North Western Railway	1042	8058
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad	1030	8867

Color Key

Canadian Railroad

US Railroad

Bruce (1952) also reports that by the end of 1949 a total of approximately 29,000 steam locomotives were left on Class I railroads in the United States.

See also

Timeline of United States railway history
History of rail transport in the United States
1948 in rail transport

References

Bruce, Alfred W. (1952) The Steam Locomotive in America: Its Development in the Twentieth Century, New York, Bonanza Books, Table 6, plus additional material from text for Canadian Railroads.