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Railroad Mergers and You
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Discuss "among ourselves"? why? I'd LOVE to see another rehash of mergers past a present in the magazines. <br /> <br /> <br />there is so much 'behind the scenes' goings on that it is always fun to learn the things that made some merger strategies worth pursuing while others never had a candle of a hope. <br /> <br />And then there is always the "what might have been" aspect, that is always fun to bat about.. <br /> <br />Here in my local town (Fort Wayne Indiana), the way the mergers were looked at during thre period in question versus the way they panned out is kind of entertaining. <br /> <br />The 1964 merger of Nickle Plate, Wabash, And N&W was generally seen as a "bad thing", though there were far more colorful metaphors in circulation at the time, the general concensus seemed to be one of betrayal, and certain doom as that "southern coal outfit" ruined these fine industrial railroads. While the 1968 marriage of the other 2 major railroads in town PRR and NYC, was seen as such a GREAT THING,..so much was expected to come of it. <br /> <br />If you look at who the PRR and NYC had for trackside customers, it sure looked like they were gonna own this town. Everybody who was somebody was adjacent to their tracks. <br /> <br />Fast forward 40 years later, and NS all but owns this town, while most of the old PC right of way has been singletracked, abandoned, or pulled up entirely. <br /> <br />As Yogi Berra would have said "Who'da thunk it?" <br /> <br />The Penn Central merger (to me) makes even less sense if you contemplate all the affilliated roads that each namesake entity controlled (Big four, etc) which makes the entire ordeal look like a recipe for cutting ones own throat rather than a business plan having promise for success. <br /> <br />What I would have rather seen might have been NYC, Wabash, and Santa Fe tie the knot, with PRR, CNW, and uncle pete providing the competition. And maybe a Milwaukee- Erie Lakawanna merger for good measure and maybe a C&O-Great Northern merger, just for chuckles
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