Penn Central 1974: The Movie

[Anonymous]

Interesting Penn Central movie from 1974...on why they need financial
assistance...Sound familiar????

 http://www.lubetkin.net/blog/2008/12/penn-central-1974-movie.html

[Redwards]

Great find - thanks for posting!  I think the thing that got me hooked on trains was watching a Penn Central switcher, gondola and caboose creeping along decrepit branchline trackage behind my house in Olean, NY in the early 1970's.  I shudder to think how much money they must have lost on each run.  The few glimpses that I got of the former PRR yard in town were of a sea of mud, standing water, broken rails and ties.  I was heartbroken when the trains stopped running and the tracks were ripped up - watching that video underscores just how dire the situation was and why things couldn't continue the way they were. 

 --Reed

[trailer-jet]

I grew up across from the old PRR 59th st. yard in Chicago, and things always seemed prosperous to a naive pre-teen.

It didn't take long after Conrail till that special place and indeed almost the entire Bradford side were gone.

Jimmy

[West Coast S]

Wow A movie based on the book. Does anyone remember  " The wreck of the Penn Central"? Didn't think so, at least the title was accurate!

On the plus side, the Penn did provide my only sighting of de-throned E units lugging tonnage over Horseshoe Curve. 

 

Dave 

[Redwards]

Great book.  I think by 1974 the major players covered in the book (Stuart Saunders, David Bevan and Al Perlman) were all out of the picture.

--Reed   

[blownout cylinder]

My wife and I saw the movie---it reminded me of times I'd be seeing the wobbling trains going through PA and wondering how far back do we stand------deferral of maintenence really didn't do much good in their case---

[AlcomanRSD]

 If you haven't got your PC-fix yet, check out the Penn Central 5-disc DVD set from Green Frog from the camera of the late Emery Gulash.  There are some shots of PC freights at Toledo, OH that look like the cars are going up on 4 wheels and will decouple at any time.  As wretched as the merger was, the PC for a time was a major player in my area of the Great Lakes and offered some great-looking freights with a wide variety of motive power missing from today's railroads.