Where did they go???

[Anonymous]

Could someone tell me what ever became of Conrail, Southern Pacific, & the Penn Central and how they dissapeared and why?

[dehusman]

How many years do ya got?

PRR + NYC = PC
PC goes broke along with EL, RDG, CNJ, LV, LNE, LHR, NH
Goverment bails northeastern RR's out.
PC + EL + RDG + CNJ + LV + LHR + NH = CR
CR recovers and becomes profitable.
NS and CSXT buy and split CR.

SP tries to merge with ATSF.
Goverment says no.
ATSF cuts loose the SP railroad (keeping the other assets).
SP bought by DRGW
SP + UP = UP

The northeastern RR's failed because they were unable to adapt to the changing economy and traffic base, limited by culture and government regulations.

The SP was hurt by the failed ATSF merger attempt and wasn't strong enough to last by itself after the BN and ATSF merged.

Dave H.

[Anonymous]

Oh, so what happened to Conrail?

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

NS and CSXT buy and split Conrail.

Mark in Texas

[eastcoast]

Unfortunately, these roads got EATTEN by Monopoly pushers
who only care about MONEY AND POWER. Someday these
still existing MONSTERS ( CSX, UP, NS, CN, CP,etc.) are gonna
get fed up with each other and attempt to merge into ONE GIGANTIC
system. Then all we will be left with is NORTH AMERICAN RAIL.
IT COULD HAPPEN. Mark my word.
ken_ecr

[Anonymous]

Hey fellas,
At least you could get a train from one side of the country to the other - all standard guage.

In Oz, there were more break of guage and bogie transfer stations than seagulls following a plough. We had five state systems, and 4'8.5", 3'6" and 5'3" main guages.

The economic rationalists in government created ANR, pulled up the rural lines, sold off the rolling stock to carpetbaggers from around the world. The current situation is exciting if you don't like stability.

[Anonymous]

What does Oz stand for?

[Anonymous]

I suppose the only real bonus to the BIG ones getting BIGGER is their lack of interest in operating the little out of the way lines. If you look around...there are more shortlines, regionals, and industrial RRs that are doing quite well than there ever were. And as more and more railfans and people who KNOW HOW TO RUN A RR realize that its a good business venture there will be more.

Another interesting thing is that a lot of small to decent sized Regionals are owned by the same company...take the Gen and Wy companies. Or RailTex (or whatever the Health it is).

As for the BIG ONES...well there really is only ONE that seems to be getting progressivly bigger and not screwing things up...and thats CN. But if you look at CNs past they are the "Innovators" of everything RR we have today. They invented the Widecab, the trainphone, and a whole host of other things. RRing would not be what it is today without the CN. Plus their management is above par and compares to no other. All i can say is even in this economy...CN Made me rich. GOD BLESS THE STOCK MARKET!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 4884bigboy

What does Oz stand for?

I'm a Canadian myself, but Oz is sometimes used as a slang word/nickname for Australia.

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dehusman


PRR + NYC = PC

Dave, I thought NH was part of this "equation", too. No?