NKP+DL&W

[J. Edgar]

 the lastest issue got me thinking........where would we be if......NKP did merge with DL&W???would N&W still become a powerhouse?....would the B&O still faulter and fail?...what of the Pennsy and Central?.... i always thought the LV would make a better match for NKP.....

[cnwfan51]

   Dont know much about that but I have read that the Chicago Great  wESTERN AND sOO lINE AND THE kATY where talking about combining and formimng a Major North / South corridor Runnmibng between the border with Canada and the Texas Gulf coast would have interesting had that happened   CNW HOREVER   Larru

[Anonymous]

Having read, "The Wreck Of The Penn Central" (tremendous book) I'm almost certain the Pennsy/NYC would've collapsed regardless of NKP going with DLW instead of NW.  The NKP was stable, orderly, well-managed and efficient, but could they have turned-around the failing DLW in its degraded state?

[J. Edgar]

agreed about PC....was doomed from the start.....thats another thread ............ but looking at the whole what if thing....if the NKP got to the shores of the Hudson before PC happened would the PC merger have happened??.....the NKP was very solvent at the time.....thats what made it eye catching to Saunders and really the DLW i think woulda been recoverable had someone (NKP) invested as opposed to scraping.....and what about the N&W??? would Saunders still have expanded north and west?......i guess i lust like wondering about the endless what if's of RR mergers.......

[YankeeDog]

Growing up in Buffalo as a kid I used to spend a lot of time at the Buffalo Jct roundhouse of NKP.  The DL&W line to it's passenger terminal at the foot of Main Street ran behind the roundhouse on an embankment and crossed over the NKP.  This was the interchange point for freight.  I can remember 0-8-0's lugging cars up the grade to the Lackawanna.  It was a natural as NKP and DL&W in the '40s were very profitable.  In the '50s Lackawanna started to run into trouble ending with it's merger with the Erie in 1960. 

Any interchange with the LV would have taken place at Tifft St. yards where both NKP and LV were parallel and had small frieght yards.  I never noticed any interchange in the area, but it certainly must have taken place. 

Whether NKP and a DL&W or LV merger would have taken place and prevented N&W from entering the scene is speculative.  At that time the talk of merger was NYC + C&O and PRR + N&W.  B&O would have been swallowed up piecemeal. 

rambling on

YankeeDog 

 

 

 

[J. Edgar]

i seem to recall an article few years back about the C&O+NYC seems i remember it was Perlmann who wanted the merger to keep Pennsy away from NYC and try to keep up with Saunders on the N&W...........about N&W...with the coming of the Railroad Revitalization act of 1972...Conrail....Erie opted out at first and was kinda forced into the N&W camp..under a holding company known as Dereco....the Erie was also offered to the C&O in the early 70's at which time Chessie said no thanks.......yet in 1999  N&W and C&O were fighting tooth and nail for Conrail