In 1856 three lines west of Pittsburgh were consolidated as the Pittsburgh, Fort Wane, and Chicago Railroadd. Prr held a partial interest in the line. Two years later, PFtW&C linked up with the PRR in Pittsburgh and completed its line into Chicago. In 1860 the Fort Wayne leased the Clevland and Pittsburgh, a line from cleveland through Alliance to the Ohio River and upstream to Rochester, Pennsylvania, where it again met the Fort Wayne. In 1869 the PRR leased the Fort Wayne in a deal that also included the Grand Rapids& Indiana, a line from Richmond Indiana north to Fort Wayne and Grand Rapids Michigan. In 1873 the PRR assembled a route into Toledo; some 50 years later it reached Detroit. West of Pittsburgh lay a string of railroads that formed a route through Columbus to Cincinattie. One was sold at foreclosure and a new company, the PanHandle Railway (named for its passage through the panhandle of WV between Pennsy and the Ohio River) took over in 1868. PRR consolidated the Panhandle and neighboring road as the Pittsburgh, Cincinatti, & St. Louis Railway, but the name "panhandle" stuck with it and its successors. West of Columbus, the Columbus, Chicago, & Indiana central Railway had lines to Indianapolis and Chicago. In 1869 the Pennsy leased the CC&IC. Beyond Indianapolis, which leased the St. Louis, Vandalia and Terre Haute upon its completion in 1870. The TH&I then made terrific arrangements with the panhandle and the CC&IC. In 1890 the Pittsburgh, Cincinatti, and St. Louis and several other lines were consolidated as the PCC & S&L, and in 1905, the Vandalia Railroad was incorporated to consolidate the line west of Indianapolis. The PCC & S&L, the Vendalia and several others were consolidated in 1916 as the Pittsburgh, Cincinatti, Chicago and St. Louis railroad. In 1921, the PCC & S&L was leased to the Pennsylvania. With the leases of 1869 the PRR suddenly had more than 3,000 miles of line west of Pittsburgh. Rather than try to manage it all from Philadelphia, the PRR organized the Pennsylvania Company to hold and manage "Lines West." The division of the system into more ore less autonomous segments was not altogether successful, partly because the pieces came together at Pittsburgh, where yards and terminials were under seperate mangements. World War I traffic brought the inefficiencies into sharp focus, and the east-west seperation was ended in 1920.
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