(erielack) Erie, Lackawanna, and NKP 1881-83

[Wdburt1_@_aol.com]

No discussion of NKP and DL&W 1881-83 is complete without taking into  
account the fact that the Chicago and Atlantic was being completed during this  same 
time frame, while Vanderbilt, taking advantage of NYC's greater  ability to 
reduce operating cost through capital investments, more or less  successfully 
pursued a rate war intended to keep all these newcomers under  water.
 
I think of the deficiencies of the A&GW line  between Salamanca and Meadville 
during these years (to say  nothing of A&GW's Ohio route, or DL&W's Old Road 
or Clarks  Summit-Hallstead, or the NKP"s rollercoaster grades in NYS) and 
marvel at  how tolerant the market was of poorly engineered lines and the service 
they  produced.  All that tolerance gradually vanished, over about a  century.
 
WDB


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