Meanwhile back in thoroughly defeated Japan the Bullet Train is being planned. That is what the Central should have been doing. A four track mainline could have been quite an advantage with that wide right of way.
Also not buying that Detroit or Michigan terminals could not have been leased or sold. They were eyesores and advertised to the public that the Central flipped the bird to the cities and the public not to mention that the whole NYC looked like losers. Fix them up! They were not that bad until years later Central let them go to the dogs.
As to the screw up in not saving a Hudson I've heard that same story about a half a dozen or more times involving all manner of locomotives all over both of our countries. Obviously it was not a priority or followed through or wink wink nod nod. When the CEO says jump you jump.
It is a bit puzzling that not one well heeled Wall Street type or railfan did not step up. Nelson Blount excepted.
No doubt I was a wee bit harsh on Perlman. Yes I've read DPM's account. Just get cheesed off and emotions take over. Pinheads, tiny little pinheads all over the place.
However, I'm still playing the Ghost of Railroading Future and I'm gonna blast those two pinheads. Make 'em see the light.
.
MiningmanIf he was that good the Central would be here today, intact and a household name. There is no New York Central. All those assets gone. All that history gone.
Suggest you read DPM's opinion of Perlman. He tried.
It could be argued that no one could have 'saved' the early-50s New York Central: it had so many problems, most of them particularly leveraged toward disaster as the postwar years went on. It is difficult to imagine NYC succeeding with the antique close-spaced four-track railroad they ran prior to Perlman's CTC conversion; meanwhile, the whole rationale for Niagaras being 'equal' to E units was declining almost before the ink on the reports was dry, with no one caring by the mid-Fifties. I give him points for Flexi-Van, but as with any of the other optimized-speed services the demand to make the trick work financially just wasn't there, and if the whole of the service didn't balance there was a problem with moving the special road carriages that I never quite understood how they solved.
Of course you have to recognize that had Young not shot himself there is almost zero likelihood we'd still have GCT. On the other hand, we'd have had one of the great unbuilt wonders in architecture, the Hyperboloid. Traditionalists are likely to sneer, but it was precisely what Young and Perlman were trying to get NYC to become, and it would have been interesting to see them get into the same game of diversification that so well served IC in the 1960s ... something at which Young in particular should have been both aware and adroit.
With the passing of the Great Steel Fleet there was no more need for the expensive castles of stations in places like Buffalo and Detroit, and as far as I can see no possible justification for paying huge sums of money to keep them maintained for the fewer and fewer grudging passengers still riding. The problem was that, just as there's 'too big to fail', there's also 'too big to succeed': there wasn't any way that those big facilities could be sold and leased back reasonably, and not enough private money stupid enough to waste it trying.
In this framework I'm not inclined to kill Perlman for fast-tracking anything that would wring working capital out of completely obsolescent steam, especially once I know he ordered a Hudson saved but the same sort of screwup that got rid of the EM-1 made saving 3001 the priority instead. As for preserving more private engines, consider the Railroadians, many of whom were brokers and such to whom scrap value of $5000 or so would be pocket change. And whose friends were often far more well-heeled and had places to store the 'result'. Then consider the history of Lackawanna 952 ... and the general mealymouthed commentary that results depending on 'where you sit' on the matter. Heck, nobody saved 774, and that engine was famous to railfans everywhere.
Well, repectfully I really can't agree that if Al Perlman was "...that good..." the Centrl would still be here today. Even if you're the 'roads top man, you still answer to the board of directors, and if they won't listen then you only have two choices, go along with the program or hand in your resignation. There's no other choices available.
David's right, as usual, the Pennsy did save some steam, maybe not as much as we would have liked, but not a bad collection when you come down to it.
One thing we have to remember, although I'm sure David certainly does, is back in those early days of the rail preservation movement railroads were willing to sell their old steamers to anyone who could come up with the money, but fundraising was extremely difficult in those pre-Internet, pre-"Go-Fund-Me" days. Unless you had a Paulson Spence, a Nelson Blount, or an Ellis Atwood in your corner you had a tough uphill climb ahead of you.
I'm reminded of the internecine feuding after the Penn-Central merger, the fights between the "Green Hats," the NYC crew, and the "Red Hats," the PRR boys. Not the key to success for an organization.
As Abe Lincoln (and Jesus long before him!) said, "A house divided against itself can not stand."
Flintlock76 Pretty sad when you compare it to the western 'roads like the Santa Fe and Union Pacific, who were pretty generous in donating steam locomotives to just about anyone who wanted one.
Pretty sad when you compare it to the western 'roads like the Santa Fe and Union Pacific, who were pretty generous in donating steam locomotives to just about anyone who wanted one.
Both of those railroads were pretty prosperous at the time, and still are. Many of the eastern roads were already feeling the pinch. Not that donating a locomotive here or there would break them sooner, but the minds of those in power were probably occupied by those other matters.
I just wish the Rock Island had donated a Northern or a Mikado for display. At least there are 3 Pacifics.
Jeff
Michigan Central Terminal in Detroit
Buffalo Grand Central Terminal
CASO left to rot
Many many more.
Absolute disgrace all around. The NY Central looked like hell on wheels.
You know I could hoard money too.. don't cut the grass any more, sell the lawnmower, let it fend for itself, don't fix anything outside or inside for that matter. Sell the car, no more insurance, gas or maintenance. I can mooch rides from a vast pool of suckers at work and friends for this and that. Pay a % of bills so they can't cut you off. Slow road to complete loss of respect but I don't care.
If he was that good the Central would be here today, intact and a household name.
There is no New York Central. All those assets gone. All that history gone.
P.S.-- perhaps not fair but I'm mad at the guy for not saving NYC iconic steam.
In all fairness to "Big Al," and according to Rush Loving's "The Men Who Loved Trains," Al wasn't in favor of the PRR / NYC merger that resulted in Penn Central.
In Al's mind it made no sense, that is, merging two 'roads that essentially paralelled each other. Al advised an "end-to-end" merger with someone, anyone, that the NYC could recieve and exchange freight with. Very sensible.
However, he was overruled by the NYC's board of directors. He was given a position in the new Penn Central organization, but it amounted to a powerless "figurehead" type position. Stuart Saunders, the "Steam Assassin," ran the whole shebang and never asked Al for any input.
As it was, it worked out for Al in the long run. When the crash came the industry knew it wasn't his fault, and he emerged with his reputation pretty intact and went on to other things.
We all know what happened to Saunders. "Over-the-side" with his reputation in shreds.
Why didn't Al save any NYC steam? Well, more than likely that's not where his mind was, but I think that not coming up through the NYC organization, and coming in as an outsider, he just didn't have a sense of the company's history. Obviously no-one else at the NYC did either, I've never heard of an effort to save any NYC steam from within the company. I could be wrong on that though.
Alfred E. Perlman was brought in by Robert R. Young to turn NYC around. Steam locomotives and money-losing passenger trains were not conducive to that turnaround. After all, a railroad is in business to make money first and foremost.
Spectacularly depressing indeed. It's mind boggling how they did not save one Hudson, the pride and face of the NYC. Also a slap in the face to the employees.
I do not share Wayne's absolution of Perlman. He hated steam, hated passenger, participated in the Penn Central meltdown turning a blind eye to all the crookiness going on. Young was just nuts, depressed all the time and ended it all.
The employees, the New York Central and railfans suffered their nonsense.
Being a mill town, the NYC had a spectacularly depressing deadline at Collinwood yard of legends awaiting their turn in the blast furnaces along the Cuyahoga.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Had me in stiches there bro! Especially that "Ghost of Railroad Future" bit!
While it's true that Robert R. Young offed himself, no-one to this day knows why he did it. Maybe remorse in not saving a pair of Hudsons or Niagaras, or even a Pacific?
I don't think Al Perlman cared about the Xplorer being a bust, he'd have been happier to get rid of the NYC's passenger trains altogether. Not a bad guy really, he had his reasons, good ones, even if we can't agree with them.
New York Central boss Alfred E. Perlman, left, shakes hands with Chairman Robert R. Young, hanging out the window of the experimental Xplorer lightweight train in 1956.New York Central photo
Hey you two knuckleheads, it's 1956 and there is still time to save a pair of Hudsons and a Niagara to show your company pride. Get them in tip top road worthy shape , a bunch of spare parts and store them inside until a suitable candidate for ownership comes along.
No Titans of industry in my book. Knuckleheads. Oh by the way that Xplorer thingie you're in Mr Young is a piece of serious crappola.
Do something right for once!
Things will turn out much better for you.
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Get the Classic Trains twice-monthly newsletter