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The Nickel Plate under the Vanderbilts

Under the ownership of the Vanderbilts the Nickel Plate languished. William Vanderbilt purchased the line to end the competition to his Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, but he could not run the business into the ground or it would fall into receivership and someone else would buy it. He could not close the road either because it cost a fortune to buy. So, the Nickel Plate Road did business, just enough to keep it solvent. By the advent of the 1920s the Nickel Plate was an obscure line that earned its keep through the transfer of freight from other rail connections. During the same period Vanderbilt's Lake Shore line prospered and expanded.

The New York Central, Vanderbilt's largest railroad and the company with controlling interest in the Nickel Plate, was found to be in violation of the federal antitrust laws in 1915. Over time the Nickel Plate had been reduced as a serious threat to competing lines and in return for operating concessions and access to certain stations, the New York Central sold the Nickel Plate to the Van Sweringen brothers of Cleveland, Ohio.

The brothers returned the line to profitability and standing, although the Nickel Plate was still subject to down-turns in the economy. By 1922 the Nickel Plate was ready for expansion and the Clover Leaf, a rail line running from East St. Louis to Toledo, Ohio, was available.

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