Re: PC: Re: PC & Conrail

[Christian Axsiom <rcaxsiom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>I guess that within the next 10 years the BNSF and UP will have 
>merged with CSXT and NS. We will have two super power railroads 
>running coast to cost. UP has to get its act together and Conrail has 
>to be digested before this happens. 
>Bob Stafford

Much the same thought struck me this past weekend as I passed the DeWitt
yards here in Syracuse.  Coupled behind a Conrail locomotive on an incoming
Eastbound were two Southern Pacific units.  Before moving to my former home
in Austin, TX a few years ago, I'd never seen an SP loco "in-the-flesh."  I
certainly never expected to see two in the speed-lettering scheme all the
way out here in New York.

I know pooling/leasing/run-through agreements and such have made these
sorts of sightings much more common in recent years, but I wonder how long
it will be before all three of the units I saw will belong to the same
corporation.  I don't know whether it's my fear of corporatism or just
nostalgia for lost paint-schemes, but I think a great deal will be lost --
on both fronts actually.  The corporations will grow ever-larger and a
cross-country trip will no longer hold so much promise of seeing something
really new. :^(  

And of course, as Bob suggests and you all know, UP really showed down in
Texas how the merger frenzy -- and corporate greed I'll bet -- can really
screw things up!

Long live ?????? (Who knows anymore?)