1980 ; American Railroads' Greatest Year

[nanaimo73]

1980 ? Why ? Let's look back 25 years and find out.
1980 was not a good year for the United States. 52 Americans being held hostage in Tehran during the entire year dominated the news. 8 American servicemen died on April 24th trying to rescue them. Tensions with the Soviet Union were high after the invasion of Afghanistan in December of 1979. The recession resulted in thousands of railroad employees being laid off that spring.The Winter Olympics started on February 12th in Lake Placid, New York.On July 19th the Summer Olympics started in Moscow. The United States lead a boycott of these games and were joined by Canada, W. Germany and several other countries. The Engli***eam went after much debate and got 21 medals.There was a feeling that the United States had lost it's way under President Carter. On November 4th Ronald Reagan was elected President. Then on December 8th John Lennon was shot dead by Mark Chapman in New York City.There were many events that took place dealing with railroads.
Jan. 4-President Carter announces a grain embargo against the USSR.
Jan 8-9420 mile Union Pacific announces a merger with 11,277 mile Missouri Pacific.
Jan 23-Amtrak's first AEM-7, 900, begins trial runs.
Jan 25-UP announces it will buy 1482 mile Western Pacific.
Jan 25-Bankruptcy Judge says no to a Rock Island restructuring plan, leaving railroad to shut down when KCT emergency service period ends.
Feb 11-Conrail shifts traffic off of North East Corridor to escape Amtrak's high traffic rights fees.
Mar 15-Milwaukee Road's last train leaves Tacoma lead by GE 5802.Trustee Ogilvie's reorganization plan rejected. Judge says plans including service to Miles City, Montana will not earn sufficient revenue.
Mar 31-Last day of operations of Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific.
Apr 23-Connecticut DOT's first SPV-2000 enters service.
May-C&NW 5050, first GP50, enters service.
May 15-Southern Pacific and the AT&SF announce they will merge.
May 18-Mount St. Helens in Washington State blows up.Weyerhaeuser looses 15 miles of it's 42 mile logging railroad.Seattle to Portland line closed down due to Touttle river.Debris clogs Columbia River, closing port of Portland.In eastern Washington, BN changes air filters daily to protect locomotives while crews have trouble with visibility and breathing. Mountain is owned by BN, part of NP land grant.
Jun 24-Grand Trunk Western acquires Detroit, Toledo and Ironton.
July 1-Wisconsin and Southern starts on 145 miles of former Milwaukee Road.
Aug 3-Chicago to Detroit Turboliner extends to Toledo,renamed Lake Cities.
Aug 6-118 mile Adirondack Railway shuts down.
Aug 8-UP 3985 passes 375psi pressure test, allowing restoration.
Aug 10-Amtrak's Prairie Marksman begins service to Peoria.
Sep 7- Auto Train announces bankruptcy.
Sep 11-C&O 614, Lima's last 4-8-4, steams for first time since 1956.Ross Rowlnd Jr. announces plans for the Ace 3000, a modern steam locomotive.
Oct 1-Hoosier State begins service in Indianna.
Oct 14-Staggers Rail Act signed into law.
Oct 20-Southern Pacific purchaces Golden State route to Kansas City and St. Louis.
Nov 1-CSX is created between Chessie System and the Family Lines.
Nov 21-Merger completed between Burlington Northern and St.Louis,San Fransisco
Nov 29-PM 1225 removed from Michigan State University to be restored.
Dec 3-Nothwestern Steel and Wire ends steam operations.N&W recieves first SD50, 6500.
So why was 1980 the greatest year for American railroads ?
Reason 1-The Staggers Rail Act allowed railroads to set their own rates.The ICC had to rule on abandonments within 9 months.Railroads could no longer be forced to carry traffic they would loose money on.
Reason 2-There was too much track, particularily on the Prairies.The CRI&P and Milwaukee Road bankruptcys caused thousands of miles to be abandoned.
Reason 3-Mergers, BN and SLSF getting together pushed UP to go after MP or SP. Once they chose MP, it was natural to get WP as well.This in turn forced ATSF and SP to plan a marriage, which came close but was rejected by the ICC. In the east, the merger of Chessie and Seaboard pushed Southern and Norfolk and Western together.Conrail hired L. Stanley Crane to replace Edward Jordan.
Reason 4-1980 was a big year for the Powder River Basin. BN completed the 113 mile Orin line in 1979, with the first train running on Nov 6 1979. 1980 was the first time BN hauled 100 million tons of coal.Union Pacific and Chicago and North Western formed Western Railroad Properties, giving both companies access to the PRB.
The winner in 1980 was the C&NW which was scraping along in the 1970s. They lost their two biggest competitors, bought the "corn lines" and a much improved route to Kansas City and the money from UP to enter the Powder River Basin.

[BaltACD]

Reason 1-The Staggers Rail Act allowed railroads to set their own rates.The ICC had to rule on abandonments within 9 months.Railroads could no longer be forced to carry traffic they would loose money on.


The Staggers Act was the ONLY good thing about 1980....other than the birth of my son.

[DPD1]

Wow... Talk about flash back. I had forgotten so many of those things happen in the same year. I was still pretty young, but I remember seeing Iranians hating us on TV every day, and I of course remember the volcano.

Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the NEW TrainTenna LP Directional RR Radio Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

[Anonymous]

I was born in 1980 also...[oX)]

[Paul3]

1980? "Greatest Year?" Not even close...

IMHO, the American RR's "Greatest Year" was 1944. This was the RR's at their greatest possible efforts, as the "Arsenal of Democracy" was put into totally stratospheric levels of wartime production (in 1944, the USA made more warplanes than all other nations combined, IIRC). For example, the New Haven's Maybrook line before the war saw 10 trains per day. In 1944, that was up to over 50 trains per day.

I would even go for 1925-ish as a candidate year ahead of 1980. That's when the US RR's were at the high water mark of expansion...when the RR's had heavy, modern equipment and before even basic highways. Everything went by rail.

1980 only had deregulation, which took years for it to have real effects on the industry. Sure, it was a great shot in the arm in 1980, but the true results were long after.

Paul A. Cutler III
*****************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
*****************

[eastside]

In 1980 I was working for an investment bank and got put on the team restructuring the Rock Island. By that time, if I remember correctly, all its RR operations had been liquidated or hived off and what was left was a firm whose primary asset was tons of NOLs carryovers. It was then that I learned that much of a railroad’s assets were in funny shaped pieces of real estate in odd places. In addition, I remember the CMStP&P was in deep trouble.

The other day, coincidentally, I was cleaning out boxes of old files and came across my RI reorg working papers. During my lifetime, as I’m concerned, the ‘70s were the nadir of the US rail industry. Much of the heavy industry between Chicago and the East coast was dying and the term “rust-belt” came into being. The eastern railroads declined with the loss of their customers. Jimmy’s mismanagement of the economy of late ‘70s made the early ‘80s boom times for investment banking restructuring groups.

[nanaimo73]

Paul3 ;
How about "1980-A Great Railroad Year."
I agree with your post.