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[quote user="gregc"] why doesn't it seem that western railroads were affected as much by these same issues? <div style="clear:both;"> </div> [/quote] There were a lot of viruses that plagued eastern roads.   1) Short distance of haul, competition from interstate highway system. 2) Declining hard coal traffic 3) Too many railroads in the east.  Many cities were served by up to 7 rail lines. 4) Passenger traffic that was not being subsidised by tax payers/regulated by government to the point that it was unprofitable (limits on ticket prices etc).   Tax payers were subsidising roads and air travel for the previous 2 decades.   This hurt freight traffic as well as passenger traffic. 5) Too stringent regulation of the rates that the railroads could charge for hauling traffic. NYC/PRR specific. Neither railroad was especially healthy at the time of the merger.  The federal government in their infinite wisdom thought it would be a good idea to force the bankrupt New Haven onto the PC.  This further saddled the new railroad (remember they already did not like or trust each other) with additional debt and NH's money loosing commuter traffic.  All three railroads had, by this time, a worn out fleet of first generation diesels, including many Alco's with 244 prime movers that were not all that reliable.   The mis-matched hodge-podge of every type of locomotive caused more red ink (you have to stock parts for all manufacturers (logistics nightmare)). Incompatible accounting systems.  PC pretty much wrote the book on how not to do a merger.  B&O/C&O/WM and future Family Lines took note.
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