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(erielack) Re: The EL un-merger



Tony and List,

Initially (1973), EL's trustees submitted a plan for independant reorganization of EL. The "MARC" or mid-Atlantic RR Co proposal was composed of LV-RDG-CNJ; MARC-EL was discussed but I don't think it was ever a concrete plan. By this time it was 1974, the recession was deepening and EL's trustees realized that with traffic declining the odds of EL emerging as an independent carrier were increasingly remote. Rather than cast their lot with another bunch of losers (MARC) they started thinking in terms of white knight. ATSF expressed some interest since their key PC connection was deteriorating but again, that one didn't go far, probably for some of the same reasons for N&W's lack of interest: NJ commuters and taxes. Also one important factor seems to be underappreciated: EL had the inferior curvy, hilly, long-way-around route. The 1975 Chessie proposal was more serious and negotiations were pretty far along when they fell apart on labor protection issues, resulting in EL's last-minute inclusion in CR.

The various "what if" combinations discussed here are interesting but all of them would have been doomed by one overriding factor: the long-term deindustrialization of the Northeast and resulting loss of traffic base. There was a group of railroaders back around 1960 who realized that the only viable plan was a "big two" of the Northeast built around the superior east-west alignments of NYC (960 miles NY-Chicago and flat) and PRR (hilly but only 900 miles). Each would be aligned with a profitable coal-hauler, C&O/B&O and N&W respectively, and the also-rans including EL, NKP, B&M etc would be absorbed by the big two and whittled down to viable feeders and secondary lines. A really sensible idea might be deferred but eventually it will come to pass, as it did in the Northeast.

Paul B

Curtis Brookshire wrote:
<snip>> 

> 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. 
> 
Wasn't there some interest expressed by the Santa Fe in the EL just prior to Conrail?

As I recall nothing happened because the EL folks indicated they were too far along in the process of their late entry into Conrail.
Does anyone remember any more about this.
Also, what about Marc/EL(???).  If this had occurred, what might the eastern RR scene have looked like?

Tony Horn


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