Trunk Routes are the major railroad arteries that carry, or carried, traffic across the continent. Some Trunk Routes
have well known colloquial names, while others are best known by either the name of a flagship passenger train that runs or
once ran on that route, or by the name of a (former) railroad operating all or a substantial part of that route.
The links below lead to route descriptions for the various segments making up the Trunk Route named in the link.
Western Routes
BNSF I-5 Corridor
BNSF Central Coal Route
BNSF Northern Coal Route
BNSF Northern Transcon
BNSF Southern/Texas Coal Route
CN Transcon
CP Transcon
Great Northern Transcon
Milwaukee Road
Hiawatha Routes
Montana Rail Link
Northern Pacific
Transcon
Oregon Short Line and OWRN
Original California Zephyr Route
Overland Route
Powder River Basin and
connections
Salt Lake Route
Santa Fe Transcon,
Texas Connection
and
Memphis Connection
Sunset Route
Tennessee Pass Route
UP (ex-SP) Coast Line
UP (ex-SP) I-5 Corridor
UP Wyoming-St. Louis Coal Route
Central and Mid-Western Routes
Alton Route
Chicago & Eastern
Illinois
Cotton Belt
Denver to Chicago
(CRI&P)
Denver to St. Louis
(CRI&P)
Frisco:
Avard to St. Louis;
Avard to Memphis;
Memphis to Birmingham
Golden State Route
Houston to Dallas-Fort
Worth
Illinois Central (Main
Line & Chicago Branch)
Grand Trunk (Western)
Kansas City to Twin
Cities ("Spine Line")
Kansas City Southern (North-South Line)
KCS Meridian Speedway
Memphis to Chattanooga
(NS)
Memphis to Nashville
(CSX)
Michigan Central
Milwaukee Road
Hiawatha Routes
MoPac
Texas Eagle Route
Santa Fe Texas Chief
Route
St. Louis to
Cincinnati (B&O)
St. Louis to Cleveland
St. Louis to Danville
(Southern)
St. Pail to Chicago
(C&NW)
St. Paul to Chicago
(original Soo)
Texas and Pacific
Route
Wabash: Kansas City to
Detroit
Wabash: St. Louis to
Chicago
Eastern and Southern Routes
ACL Florida
Route
Atlanta to Hamlet (CSX)
Birmingham/Atlanta to
Jacksonville (CSX)
Boston & Albany
Broadway Route
(and
St. Louis offshoot)
Capitol Limited
Route (B&O)
Chicago to Atlanta
(CSX)
Chicago to Atlanta (NS)
Chicago to Cincinnati
(NYC/Big Four)
Chicago to Cincinnati
(C&O)
Chicago to Cincinnati,
Louisville, and Columbus, OH (PRR Panhandle)
Cincinnati to
Cleveland (Big Four)
Cincinnati to Toledo
(B&O)
Clinchfield Route
Crescent Corridor
(NS)
Crescent Route
(pre-Amtrak)
George
Washington Route
(C&O) and
Toledo to Russell
Harrisburg to the
Jersey Shore
Lackawanna (DL&W)
National Limited
Route (B&O)
Nickel Plate
Northeast
Corridor (North)
Northeast
Corridor (South)
Pan American Route (L&N)
Patriot Corridor
Pocahontas Route
(N&W)
Royal Palm Route
SAL Florida
Route
Southern Main
Line
Southern Tier
Washington, DC, to
Philadelphia (B&O)
Water-Level
Route
West Point Route
An early compilation that will be replaced over time
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