Panama Railroad Company

 A colorful chapter in the history of transportation
 was written by the builders of the Panama Railroad,
 now operated as an adjunct of the Panama Canal


T HE history of the Panama Railroad Com-
 pany has been closely intertwined with
 that of the Panama Canal since long
before the waterway was opened to commercial
traffic.
 The Panama Railroad Company was incorpo-
rated as a purely commercial enterprise under the
laws of the State of New York in 1849 but all of
the stock is now owned or controlled by the
United States Government, and since 1904 the
company has been operated as an adjunct of the
Canal. The company now conducts several
quasi-commercial activities which have a close
relation to the operation and maintenance of the


Canal, including the operation of the trans-
Isthmian railway and a steamship line between
New York and the Isthmus.
 The largest of the company's enterprises is the
commissary system which maintains retail stores
in all of the larger Canal Zone communities for the
sale of food, clothing, and household supplies to
meet the needs of the Government personnel and
of the various United States government depart-
ments on the Isthmus. The company also owns
and operates a steamship line between New York
and the Canal Zone. It handles all dock and
harbor activities at the terminal ports of the
Canal and operates coaling plants at Balboa and


A fleet of three modern 10,000-ton liners was placed in service between New York and Cristobal during 1939 by the Panama
 Railroad Company. The steamer Panama, the first of the three ships to go into service, transited the Canal on its maiden
 voyage from New York on May 6, 1939. It is shown here in Gaillard Cut.


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