Re: PC: Goodby Conrail

[Gene.Fusco@xxxxxxxx]

On June 1, 1999, NEW HAVEN U25B wrote: 

 > New England, PA  and Binghamton/Scranton.  One trans-Hudson crossing 150
 > miles north of NYC makes no sense and cannot compete with trucks who have
 > many Hudson River crossings. Why keept it? Look at I-84's competing route
 > and you will see it makes sense to keep and use the only Mid-Hudson rail

Railroads will have a hard time competing with trucks on short haul
delvery.  Besides, by that time, the ex-NH was more of a passenger
operation than a freight hauler. 

 > crossing/ BTW the bridge was vandalized 5-8-74 not '70-'71. Get your data
 > correct. Bridge not rebuilt because CR who was formed back in '74 had no

Sorry about the date error, but it doesn't really change my argument that
the Maybrook line wasn't considered useful by PC or CR in the 25 years
since the bridge was out of service. Obviously it wasn't crucial to
operations, or it would have been repaired.

Here's an interesting reprint of a Poughkeepsie Journal report on the fire:
http://www.inch.com/~ziggy/RREXTRA.HTM/pbpj741.Html

Apparently someone at PC thought the bridge was worth fixing at first, but
then changed their minds. I'm certain that at the time of the fire, they
thought they couldn't survive without it, but after operating without it
for a period of time realized it wasn't necessary. How NS feels about the
bridge is another story.

 > desire to use the line and thus PC did not waste the money rebuilding a
 > bridge that would not be used by the coming owner. NS as of recently has
 > been eying the bridge for reuse. Time will tell

So imagine if you will, NS coughs up the $$$ to buy back the bridge and
reconstruct all the track between Maybrook and Danbury. So what will NS do
with the line then?  You can't get to New Haven, Hartford or Boston from
there without getting on the mainline (Slim chance there) or some other
RR's trackage.  The Housatonic RR would love the chance to haul from
Danbury to Pittsfield, but have you seen the HRR's tracks between Cannan
and Pittsfield lately??? Besides, you just end up on the B&A line again.

If the local service is what you are considering to be the need for the
Maybrook line, I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.  HRR and P&W
have the local service handled nicely.  Big RR's don't deliver to your door
any more unless you are on their ROW between a really big city and another
really big city.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see freight traffic restored to the
Maybrook line.  I would also like to see freight motors hauling stack
trains under the wires through New Haven. (Try that with an AEM-7 :^) I'm
just not holding my breath...

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