Re: (rshsdepot) OT: one other thing on traction demise...

[Seth Bramson <sbramson_@_bellsouth.net>]

Paul Luchter wrote:

>In late 1920's the major railroads brought various suits to have the 
>traction concerns divest themselves of their own owned power 
>sources/distribution...I forget the reasons, I guess they were some sort 
>of octopus or something controlling a city's power and its 
>transportation....but they won and since this came about just as the 
>Great Depression started this helped kill off a lot of traction...made 
>local systems go under to where they had to be taken over by 
>municipalities or abandoned...I think this was meant to go after 
>competing interurban lines....I am vague on these details and am not 
>sure I know how to find this in a search...
>
>Others were involved in the law suits along with the railroads, I don't 
>remember who..
>
 >>>Your previous comment on this interesting thread was right on, Paul, 
but I must correct you (respectfully) here.  The U. S. railroads had 
nothing at all to do with the early or mid 1930's (NOT the '20's) 
anti-trust legislation.  (This was NOT a suit; it was congressional 
legislation).  But here is the interesting thing:  it was the big power 
companies, whose lives began, for the most part, as interurban or local 
electric railway operations, who went to congress and asked that a law 
be passed forcing them to divest the electric railways from the power 
companies. (Much of this was done due to the urging of the big 
stockholders, who felt the elec rwy operations were a drain on the value 
of the company.)  However, since some and several of the companies did 
not wish to be divested of their railway operations, the law was written 
so that any power company that wished to retain it's electric railway 
operations was specifically permitted to do so.

Among the companies that opted to retain their electric railway business 
were New Orleans Public Service; Public Service of New Jersey; Portland 
(OR) Electric Power Co; Potomac Edison Co. (retained the Hagerstown & 
Frederic and even changed it's name to Pot Ed); El Paso; and several 
others including Pacific Gas & Elec, which continued to run a couple of 
CA systems.

Hope that helps to clear this one up.

>  
>



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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #640
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org