New York Central Railroad in Pennsylvania — Erie, Corry, Meadville, Titusville & the P&LE

Of the three railroads in this slug family, only the New York Central Railroad (“NYC” — founded 1831; merged with Pennsylvania Railroad 1968 to form Penn Central; absorbed into Conrail 1976; principal successor CSX Transportation with Norfolk Southern shared interest) operated in Pennsylvania. New York, New Haven & Hartford (NH) and Boston & Maine (B&M) never operated in Pennsylvania — the Pennsylvania portion of this page is NYC-only. NYC reached PA on its Buffalo-Erie main line along the Lake Erie shore, on several oil-country branches into the Titusville-Oil City region, and through its Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE) subsidiary in western Pennsylvania. According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, NYC’s documented Pennsylvania shops, division points, roundhouses, and yards during the U.S. asbestos era allegedly included:

  • Erie PA — NYC main-line freight and passenger operations along the Lake Erie shore between Buffalo NY and Cleveland OH; yard, engine-servicing, and interchange with Pennsylvania Railroad, Nickel Plate, and Bessemer & Lake Erie.
  • Corry PA — NYC branch-line junction and engine facilities in northwestern Pennsylvania.
  • Meadville PA — NYC yard, engine-servicing, and interchange point on the Erie-Pittsburgh corridor.
  • Titusville PA — NYC branch-line yard serving the historic Oil Region of northwestern Pennsylvania.
  • P&LE (Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad) — McKees Rocks Shops (McKees Rocks / Pittsburgh area PA) — the flagship shop, roundhouse, and car-repair complex for the NYC-controlled P&LE. Locomotive shop, car shop, freight yard, and Ohio River / Youghiogheny River corridor operations serving the steel-industry heartland.

Plaintiffs allegedly experienced railroad-worker asbestos exposure at these Pennsylvania premises during the steam and diesel eras through asbestos-containing brake-shoe dust at rip tracks and car shops (P&LE’s steel-industry service generated allegedly high-volume brake-shoe wear), allegedly asbestos-lagged steam-locomotive boilers and diesel engine-room piping, allegedly asbestos pipe covering on shop and roundhouse steam mains, allegedly asbestos block insulation on shop boilers at McKees Rocks, allegedly spray-applied asbestos fireproofing on shop structural steel, allegedly asbestos ceiling and partition board in shop, roundhouse, and office buildings, and allegedly asbestos brake dust on freight cars received from every interchange partner including the coal and coke fleets of the western PA steel belt.

Workers Exposed at NYC / P&LE Pennsylvania Operations

  • Railroad car repairmen at Erie, Corry, Meadville, Titusville, and McKees Rocks
  • Locomotive engineers, firemen, and hostlers on NYC and P&LE trains
  • Railroad shop machinists, boilermakers, pipefitters, sheet-metal workers, and electricians
  • Roundhouse and locomotive-servicing workers at McKees Rocks
  • NYC and P&LE yard switchmen, conductors, and brakemen
  • Coal, coke, and steel-industry service crews on the P&LE Ohio River corridor
  • Shop-building maintenance workers exposed to alleged building asbestos

FELA — Railroad Workers Have a Different Statute

Railroad workers exposed to asbestos on the job are covered by the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), not state workers’ compensation. FELA claims have their own limitation periods (three-year discovery rule), causation standards (any part of the injury caused in whole or in part by railroad negligence), and procedural rules. FELA liability follows the railroad through successor entities — for NYC and P&LE, that means Penn Central, Conrail, and CSX Transportation (with certain Norfolk Southern interests) as successor employers.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956