Chicago-New York Electric Air Line Railroad Co. - 1908 dated Railway Stock Certificate - Very Important in Railroad History

Northern Bank Note Company, Chicago. Rare! The Chicago–New York Electric Air Line Railroad (CNY) was a proposed high-speed electric railroad connecting Chicago and New York City in the early 20th century. At approximately 750 miles (1,210 km), it would have been over 150 miles (240 km) shorter than the two main steam railroads on that route: the New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad. However, the promoters' vision was overly optimistic, and ultimately, only a short interurban route near Gary, Indiana, was built and operated. This project was the most ambitious among several similar proposals at the dawn of electric railroading, all of which ended in failure.

The trade magazine “Railway Age” critiqued the project at the time of its announcement in July 1906, delivering a harsh judgment: "Speaking seriously, for the moment, about this fraudulent investment scheme, one is in doubt whether to marvel at the gigantic audacity of the perpetrators, the gullibility of the poor dupes who will flood the mails with their subscriptions, or the carelessness, if not greed, of the newspaper publishers who seem to endorse the swindle by giving it publicity."

The Air Line scheme was not the first proposed high-speed electric railway in the USA. In 1893, Dr. Wellington Adams promoted a 252-mile (406 km) Chicago–St. Louis route, claiming it could achieve a maximum operating speed of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). Adams believed that this new railroad could be constructed in a year for $5.5 million (approximately $187 million adjusted for inflation). However, trade publications ridiculed the proposal, and it ultimately went nowhere.