Re:(erielack) Re: The EL un-merger

[Mike Spinelli <idrsspin_@_yahoo.com>]

Very good points. It would have been tough even for a
rich western road (ATSF) to stay afloat with that.
Considering the amount of interchange the EL did with
PC.

As for the ATSF-EL merger, what he said is about all
there is to it. The book "Erie Lackawanna, Death of an
American Railroad" is a very complete history of the
EL, and only has two sentences reguarding the ATSF
offer. I believe it was a quote from Greg Maxwell
himself, saying that if the Santa Fe had came to him
earlier, he would have been very interested. What
could have been. Silver warbonnetts pulling stack
trains right past my house...

Mike

- --- Janet & Randy Brown <jananran_@_mymailstation.com>
wrote:

> Any non-Conrail solution would have depended on
> revision of the per diem rules to allow set-offs of
> payments to PennCentral  against payments due from
> PennCentral.  With PC protected against debt
> collection, the other northeastern roads could not
> have survived, no matter who merged with whom.
> 
> If that change had happened, ConRail wouldn't have,
> and a competitive structure would have fought for a
> diminishing traffic base, threatening to become a
> financial black hole, dragging solvent railroads in
> and releasing nothing -- not even light.  No photos!
> 
> We made the choice.  We chose federally supported
> highways, airways, bargeways and seaways while we
> taxed the railroads out of existence.  There is no
> "they." Pogo's words were never more true:
> 
> "We have met the enemy, and he is us!"
> 
> Randy Brown
>
- --------------------------------------------------------------
> I love to speculate on what the picture might have
> looked like if the DL&W and Erie went separate ways
> instead of merging. . . .
> 
> Curtis Brookshire
> Manassas, VA
> 
> 
> 
> 	The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
> 	Sponsored by the ELH&TS
> 	http://www.elhts.org
> 


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