(erielack) A couple of items

["Montgomery, Edward T" <Edward.Montgomery_@_fcps.edu>]

It's taken me some time to collect my thoughts on this but in the recent
CLASSIC TRAINS there story in CUT brought up some interesting items I
had never thought of.  I had always thought Lackawanna management
dropped the ball when it came to acquiring the NKP early in the 20th
Century.  Well the article points out that New York Central had an
interest in the NKP back then as well as owning Lackawanna stock.  If
the Van Sweragin's didn't control the NKP, NYC would have probably
either shut it down or transferred some of their mainline to NKP's ROW.
I'm not sure who had the better grades.  NYC owning shares of NKP and
DL&W probably prohibited any thought of DL&W acquiring the NKP.
Lackawanna was effectively locked into the New York-Buffalo lines with
little or no hope of expanding west.  Possibly they could have
considered an end-to-end merger with the Wabash at Buffalo via Canada
but NYC would have probably opposed that as well.  I wonder what
Lackawanna Management thought of all that back then.  When the
depression hit followed by the loss of the anthracite business
Lackawanna was in a position where NYC didn't need it's interest and NKP
or any other Midwest carrier probably didn't want DL&W as a partner.

 

And then there is the MODEL RAILROADER article on the DL&W lightweight
coaches.  Very interesting.  Question:  I never rode in these cars.  I
have heard people complain about them.  Something about not being able
to effectively see out the windows.  Where the seats too low?  These
coaches are really unique.  Other lightweights have small windows at the
car ends.  The Lackawanna coaches did not.  It looks like a kind of
custom design.

 

Ed Montgomery

 

 

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