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The Penn Central Cassatt Conference
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<P mce_keep="true">In the latest issue of <EM>The Post</EM> (vol. 10, issue 4), published by the Penn Central Railroad Historical Society, the edited transcript of the "Cassatt Conference" held on April 11, 1973 is presented. Apparently the transcript is a very rare document (only 56 copies were ever produced)</P> <P mce_keep="true">The conference was held in a private hunting lodge in Cassatt, NM to try to work-out a means to deal with the Penn Central mess and was attended by several high-level governmental leaders including a member of the Nixon administration and a US senator, a general chairman of a RR employees union, management consultants, and the president of some major western railroad. </P> <P mce_keep="true">In the reprinted contents, <EM>The Post</EM> has changed the names of the participants and some of their titles. The name of the "mystery" railroad given is the "<STRONG>W</STRONG>estern <STRONG>&</STRONG> <STRONG>S</STRONG>outhern Railway" (since <EM>The Post</EM> didn't want to provide the real railroad name in order to obscure the president's real name). </P> <P mce_keep="true">In particular, the conference was held to see what, if anything, the "W&S" could contribute to help solve the massive problems facing northeastern railroads at the time, with PC being obviously the biggest mess of all.</P> <P mce_keep="true">I've read through the transcript and I was rather surprised to learn that the Nixon administration favored the creation of three privately-owned "national lines" which I believe would be transcontinental lines. </P> <P mce_keep="true">One of these lines would have been essentially a "W&S"/PC merger arranged by the federal government through a rather complex process, and which was estimated roughly to put "W&S" on the hook for $1.4 billion obligation to pay back the US Treasury. </P> <P mce_keep="true">Needless to say the "W&S" president didn't like that idea.</P> <P mce_keep="true">If anyone is familiar with the PC Cassatt Conference details, was it the Union Pacific that was the "W&S"?</P>
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