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(erielack) Re: The EL un-merger



I love to speculate on what the picture might have looked like if the DL&W
and Erie went separate ways instead of merging.  Several people hit on it
already, but the albatross around both companies necks were the
prohibitively high New Jersey + Hudson County on top of that taxes and the
commuter traffic which in the 1950s both roads were paying 100% of the
costs.  Remember in 1972 the N&W said there should be a "firewall" erected
at Buffalo since no profitable railroading could take place east of there.

DL&W:
Should have merged with the NYC&StL (Nickle Plate).  This would have to have
been the pre-1955 DL&W, since hurricane Diane delivered the fatal wound that
forced Mr. Shoemaker to look toward the Erie.  Also merge with the L&HR to
take advantage of the Maybrook connection.  In a perfect world, this
combination with the New Haven would have given the DL&W a big place in New
England traffic.  The Lackwanna would have had to build a New Jersey
intermodal terminal at a strategic location.  Secaucus was close to a lot of
highways, but you had to deal with local streets and Hudson County
congestion.  Didn't they consider one at Port Morris?  OK then, if
everything clicked, and New Jersey took responsibility of commuter service,
they combined company would have become part of the N&W - Wabash and later
NS and you'd see black and white power on the cut-off.  Of course it could
have been part of Chessie too.  To complete the transcontinental route (and
we're talking 1950s conditions), maybe Rock Island/UP - SP or MP - D&RGW -
WP.

Erie:
I find the Erie a little easier since it was a "complete" New Jersey-Chicago
line.  I'd go for broke and merge with the ATSF.  Here's the
transcontinental intermodal route years that could have made UPS THE package
carrier (might have even prevented the advent of Federal Express).  Also
pick up the D&H and Boston & Maine - Maine Central for Montreal and New
England reach.  This carrier would still exist today and be BNSF's eastern
line.

It would have been interesting to see if this would have provided the
competition needed to keep Conrail from blanketing the northeast.  It also
would have been interesting to see how a larger transcontinental system
could have battled the demographic and market shift that doomed the EL.

Curtis Brookshire
Manassas, VA


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