Re: PC: Thoughts on title of New Penn Central Book

[w8ln@xxxxxxxx]

> What do you guys think? Was PC the pioneer in 1968, or was the Land of Kudzu first off the mark in 1967? 

Some date the start of the modern era of class one mergers from the merger of the Pere Marquette into the C&O. I'm not a Chessie nut, but I think this was 1947.

Others consider the 1957 merger of NC&StL into L&N in 1957 as the start.

I tend to go with the 1957 date since not much happened for years after PM, but after 1957 merger mania kicked into high gear. Many of the mergers didn't actually take place until a decade or so later because of all of the delays from the ICC. (Of course, if it wasn't for the ICC we might have seen NYC-C&O and PRR-NS mergers instead of PC, which was an act of desperation by NYC and PRR after all other merger options had been denied by the ICC.)

Bryan Turner

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