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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by drephpe [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by talbanese My question is: Did the failure of the eastern roads play any part in Rocks failure? [/quote] Not really any more than with anyone else. The RI was not in particularly good shape except maybe for a few years right after WWII, and even that's debatable. One of the biggest factors contributing to its demise was the SP's taking and running off with it's longest haul freight traffic by using the SSW and the Flatonia connection to run around it by connecting to the east at the Memphis and East St. Louis gateways. It didn't matter that the run was over 400 miles longer. By diverting the vast majority of the connecting transcontinental freight off the Golden State route they could get all the cookies. Word on the street was that SP would do anything to get the RI line all the way into CHI, including bankrupt them by starving them to death. Eventually, of course, they did just that. Keep in mind that on all the other RI lines that were actually set up for volume freight, they actually got short-hauled. The SP craved that line as much, if not more, than the UP craved the Council Bluffs line, but the SP could make a much bigger dent in RI's bottom line to get what they wanted. [/quote] Thanks for the good info.
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