Re: PC: PC in the news...

["Nate Camp" <Campn@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I wonder what all of the mess about ConRail is. 
PC had really no chance to begin with. Corrupt from two Corrupt Corps. from the start. It all explains that bailing out was inevitable. If PC exec's really wanted it to survive, Dividends would have never been continued till the day it died, unprofitable and competing lines would have been cut or consolidated to meet regulations. I know it took ConRail for the Gov to see that the Regulation was to powerful on a dying form of transportation (at the time.) but you still must see that Bail out had to have been part of the plan. It appears to my outside view that the bailout was planned from the start of PC. A FEW key holders and controllers of the Corporations must have felt PC was the best way out for them and still be able to eat their piece of cake to. Unfortunately many small believers were hurt and ripped off in the end. Just like all bail outs in any other industry.
I am sad to see many of the lines and labels gone. In mich I grew up off the old AirLine which I remember the last Train I saw go by one fall afternoon, some steam engine, loudest thing we had ever heard in my elementary class room.  I was in 4th grade. I travel up Northland drive once or so a month to my in-laws and follow the old bed of the GR&I, I wonder about all of that history all around it. It's real sad to see all of this fall apart, I share your grief. But until we can convince public officials, and the Big Business that supports them that rail can be efficient and profitable Rail roading will continue to disappear and go away for ever.

My hats off to all of you and your interest. Keep up the spirit and lets keep these memories of great lines alive. Thank you.

Nate.

>>> ERIE-LACKAWANNA -AT- prodigy.net 08/27/01 10:23AM >>>
CR was the Gov't and no way proved themselves. They threw employees out on
the streets, forever destructed a system that would never return. They did
nothing to better what was once PC. The chopped a 44,000 mile system to
11,000 miles. No wonder everyone said they were making money. They had less
lines and employees to pay. That is why they needed to be bailed out by NS
and CSX otherwise they would have folded

----- Original Message -----
From: "weldon" <weldon -AT- fastol.com>
To: <penn-central -AT- smellycat.com>
Cc: "Lee Weldon" <lweldon -AT- crosslink.net>
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 10:18 AM
Subject: Re: PC: PC in the news...


> <SNIP>
> ----- Original Message -----
> > Conjob was a descendant or corporate
> > successor of the Penn Central.
> >
>
>
> Shouldn't we be beyond using derogatory terms for Conrail?  I think in its
> 23-year history it more than proved itself as a positive force in
> Northeastern railroading.
> While it is certainly romantic to wonder "what might have been" with Penn
> Central, the reality is that without Conrail, the industrial economy of
the
> region, weak as it was, would have collapsed altogether.
> If you want to consider something an outright Con, look at the dubious
> history of CSX, which was notorious for taking over perfectly viable
> railroads and ripping them up to squelch competition and protect their own
> pockets.
> As fun as it was to watch, Penn Central was a bloated mess, and the
> Anthracite roads were on a death watch as soon as the first oil furnaces
> were installed in Philadelphia and New York.  Conrail managed to pare all
of
> that down into a reasonable, sustainable, and ultimately profitable
> railroad.
> Please, let's not reduce ourselves to name calling.
> Lee
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
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