Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
General Discussion
»
One reason the Pennsylvania Railroad went broke

Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote user="Firelock76"] Interesting, Sunnylands comment about Pittsburgh.  I've been to Pittsburgh twice on business, met and talked with some of the locals.  Certainly at one time "Pittsburgh" and "steel" were synonymous, then came the tough environmental laws forcing the mills to either clean up or close.  They closed.  The result was an economic catastrophe that took the area decades to recover from.  Although the area now is virtually smog free and the views from Mount Washington are spectacular, most of the locals I've spoken to aren't sure it was worth it, considering the cost.  If anyone from the Pittsburgh area's reading this feel more than free to correct me. Reminds me of something Mike Bednar wrote about in an article about the cement producing areas of Pennsylvania.  Cement dust was everywhere, and you could see it at night like a fog around the streetlamps, but nobody cared.  To the locals it wasn't cement dust, it was gold dust.  It meant jobs and a strong local economy. [/quote] I was reared in Altoona, which is approximately 100 miles east of Pittsburgh.  My brother has spent his entire working life in McKeesport, PA, which is a Pittsburgh suburb. It is a bit grimy. Johnstown is approximately 40 miles from Altoona.  I go to Pittsburgh at least once a year to visit my brother. The closing of the steel mills in Johnstown and Pittsburgh came about for a variety of reasons.  Sorting them out is a challenge. In any case, their closure had a devastating impact on both cities, although more so in Johnstown, I believe, than Pittsburgh because it had a more diversified economy.  The same was true for Altoona with the dramatic downsizing of the shops and the eventual elimination of Altoona as a crew change point. Most of the young people with any ambition got out of all three cities.  A significant percentage of them went to college and then on to better things.  The old timers (anyone over 40 to 50), however, were trapped.  Most of them were unable to find other work or work as good as they had in the mills.  They became embittered, and most of them remained so until they died.   My brother is an electrical engineer.  He worked for Westinghouse in East Pittsburgh for 25 years, only to fall victim to Westinghouse closing its T&D business. But he was able to start a consulting business, and he has done very well. Not rich, but well!  He believes that Pittsburgh is better off without the steel mills.  Other businesses have moved into the area, and he has told me that it has become something of a high tech center. It is also a major banking and medical center for western Pennsylvania.  The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are top drawer universities. Several years ago one of the retirement magazines touted Pittsburgh as a great place to retire because of the quality of life there. Altoona went through a similar experience with the downsizing and the outsourcing in the railroad industry. When I was in high school, the Pennsylvania Railroad employed more than 10,000 people in the Altoona and the Hollidaysburg shops as well as the over the road crews for the Middle and Pittsburgh divisions.  Today there may be 2,000 or so working directly or indirectly for the NS or an out-shopper in Altoona.  But the city is doing very well. Other businesses have moved in and taken up some of the slack created by the demise of the railroad business in Altoona.  In fact, who would have guessed it, Altoona now has a minor league baseball team.  It doesn't get any better than that.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag