Former railroad running between New York City, Buffalo, and Chicago.
Incorporated in 1832 and completed in 1851, the Erie became known as "the scarlet woman of Wall Street" in the mid-19th century, when it was the object of financial struggles between Jay Gould , James Fisk , and Cornelius Vanderbilt . Manipulations of its stock by Gould and Fisk became notorious. It went bankrupt four times, and in 1976 it was taken over by {{link=Conrail">Conrail .