1923 Pittsburgh & Lake Erie RR 'The Little Giant' 50 Shares P&LE Stock Cert G+

Description: 1923 P&LE RR 50 Shares Stock Certificate What You See Is What You Get Lot PLE5509 - In this lot you get: (1x) Stock certificate in green for 50 shares, dated November 21st, 1923. Printed by the Continental Bank Note Company, the certificate has been punch and stamp cancelled. Transfer slip with tax stamps attached. Measures approx. 8"x11". Certificate features: Pennsylvania incorporation, $50 share par capital stock. Hand signatures corporate officers and transfer agents. Partially punched signature of John L. Burdett as Vice President. Embossed seal. Condition G+. Circulated. Usual folds and wear for grade and condition. See scans. Example of the triple vignette style of stock certificate issued by the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE), in use from 1875. Unlike many other companies, the P&LE used only one format for their stock certificates. There were no major style variations in the certificate for almost a century, the only distinguishing feature being the number of shares (usually embossed,) on them. Given the record tonnages it hauled, and the regular profits it enjoyed until well into the 1970s, the railroad was rightly called "the Little Giant." An interesting and authentic piece of American financial history and a decorative bit of Americana, it comes ready for mounting and display. Hand selected, these certificates make a great gift for the history buff, railroadiana collector, or model train enthusiast in your life. Shipped FLAT via USPS Ground Advantage, with tracking. YES! Will combine shipping - First lot ships at standard rate, all other lots in same order ship free (except where noted). Thanks for looking! Please see my other items for more Railroad, WWII and other historical curios. Q: What am I buying, and why would I want it? A: The P&LE was chartered in 1875. Its intended markets were the coal and steel industries in Western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and northern West Virginia. It had various connections, among others, with the PRR, the B&O, the Erie, the Western Maryland, the Monongahela Railway, and the NYC. Its operations centered on Pittsburgh, and the upper Ohio and Mahoning river valleys. The principal stops along its route in Pennsylvania were: Monessen, McKeesport, Pittsburgh, McKees Rocks, Aliquippa, Beaver, Kobuta, Beaver Falls, College (north Beaver Falls), Koppel, Elwood City, New Castle; and in Ohio, Youngstown. In 1976 (with the advent of Conrail,) a century after its founding, the "Little Giant" finally reached Lake Erie, at Ashtabula Ohio. Mainline construction began in 1877 in Beaver Falls, midway along its intended route. Full operations commenced in 1879, following the 1878 consolidation with the Youngstown & Pittsburgh Railroad Company. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, the P&LE line began as a single track railroad connecting Pittsburgh to Youngstown, Ohio. Financed in part by the Harmony Society, a communal German Protestant religious sect based in Economy, Pennsylvania, and in part by William Henry Vanderbilt's Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, the P&LE extended south to Connellsville and into West Virginia. With the growing success of the railroad the Vanderbilt share gradually increased, and by 1883, they had acquired slightly more than fifty percent of the company. Always profitable, during the Second World War its earnings were the highest returns in the corporation, and it would maintain its dominance well into the post war era. By the mid-1960s the NYC held over 90 percent of its stock. In 1968 the New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad merged to form the Pennsylvania New York Central Transportation Company, aka the Penn Central. The P&LE then became a majority owned subsidiary of the new PC. In spite of long standing intentions to merge it fully into the PC, events conspired so that the P&LE continued operating under its own separate corporate identity. Following the PC's bankruptcy in June of 1970, the court appointed trustees overseeing its operations decided to retain the P&LE as an independent entity. Since its inception it had been a very profitable concern, "Serving America's Steel Center." It carried little debt, and paid a regular $6.00 per share average annual dividend. On account of these dependable cash infusions, the P&LE would exist in this state of corporate limbo for the next nine years as the PC bankruptcy played itself out. In accordance with its final plan of reorganization, on 15 May 1979, the PC sold the P&LE to its management and a group of Pittsburgh investors. Three months later, in August of 1979, the company was taken private. Sadly however, the railroad had regained its independence just as its primary market, the steel industry, began to collapse. Between 1975 and 1985 the economic landscape of the P&LE's territory changed dramatically. The heavy industry that it was built for, and which it had helped to build, was vanishing. With each steel mill, mine, and factory that closed, there were more car loadings lost. It was a death by a thousand cuts. Passenger service was abandoned and the last station, College, closed in 1985. In a sense, the line ended where it had begun. Throughout the rest of the 1980s the company was in a piecemeal liquidation. The end came in September of 1992 when its last remaining rail assets were sold to CSX. And with that, the P&LE passed into history. You will hold history in your hands. SKR: 17766517294581 SB59 E76Z 3P5E 1DK6 240623

Price: 5.99 USD

Location: Camden, New Jersey

End Time: 2024-11-10T02:00:01.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5 USD