(erielack) Some more food for thought...

[Fish_76_@_webtv.net (Joseph D. Fisher)]

Gentlemen,

I just got done reading "EL: Death of an American Railroad"

All I can say is WOW...

But it does leave a couple of thoughts/quesitions in mind..

After reading this paragraph from the book, on page 207

"""The Friendly Service Route slipped during the final months before
"Conveyance Day" or "C-Day". Some believed that "track conditions had
just gone to hell," and no one denied that the property showed "plenty
of wear and tear," the result of reduced maintenance. A crude barometer
of the decline of the physical plant was the number of slow orders
issued for the main lines. Before the bankruptcy the percentage usually
stood at less than %3, especially during the drier months. But they
increased steadily after 1972, and then dramatically following the
trustees' decision to enter Conrail. For example, a memorandum to the
trustees from Robert Downing, manager of transportation, dated July 14,
197, reported that "there are 271 slow orders in effect on main tracks.
Mainline mileage affected amounts to 771.9 miles or %33.6 of total
mainline mileage." At one point in 1975, the number of slow orders
exceeded %40 of the main routes. The company also allowed its mainline
signaling system to decay. Conditions became so bad on the "West End"
that the Federal Railroad Administration levied a $70,000 fine (later
reduced to $35,400) in 1975, for "failure to correct signal circuit
conditions at several points [Lima, Ohio and Decatur, Indiana] on the
Marion Division.""""

After reading the above paragraph, I get this vision in my head that the
core of the railroad was just a few hairs over un-operable, visions of
SD-45-2's rocking back and forth along worn out R.O.W. at 15 miles per
hour.

So the question is, how bad was it really? Anyone got some photos of the
trackage right before "C-Day"?

Also, page 198-199 talks about Santa-Fe's interest in the EL, and
Gregory Maxwell kinda pushed them away in a sense. It was no hidden
secret that EL was not meant to be part of Conrail originally, and he
quotes that "we were to far along with our commitment to Conrail"...

Which leads me to this thought...

A.) What was the finacial condition of the Santa Fe at the time, and
could the ATSF properly rehabilitated the EL like John P. Fishwick and
Dereco should've done, but didn't.

B.) The impression I get from all this is that Maxwell and company were
just tired of trying to save the EL at this point. It was easier to
surrender, than to further explore the somehow possible control of the
EL by the ATSF. Interestingly however, at the time of the ATSF studies,
nothing was guaranteed in stone, so my feeling is the trustees in a
sense just wanted to quit, and letting the EL fail for the final year of
its life was easy.

Is it really just me, or was this the "final plan" to rid themselves of
the railroad?

And by the way, anyone who hasn't read this book yet, I suggest you get
a copy. Its worthy reading.

Joe,

New Jersey Transit / Norfolk Southern
Milepost B-21.4, Boonton Tpke
Mountain View, New Jersey

~Delaware, Lackawanna and Western~
"The Route of the Phoebe Snow"

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