New York Central - Santa Fe and perhaps Pennsylvania Railroad and Southern Pacific or Union Pacific.
In the 60s the eastern railroads were struggling, in part due to changing shipping patterns, the growth of trucking, and shorthauls that made rail uneconomical given the labor contraints of the day. Out West the situation was less critical.. nice long hauls, a simpler route structure, and perhaps not quite as much competition from trucking. A merger of a strong western carrier with a struggling eastern partner could have resulted in a much stronger combination.. a true transcontinental system as early as 1965. As it is, CN remains the only true transcontinental today, in 2015. Imagine the possibilities that a NYC - ATSF combination could have offered shippers. The water level route between the largest US cities and the Chicago to LA racetrack for the West! Both NYC and ATSF were ahead of their time with intermodal... ATSF with their Super C and NYC with their flexivan system. A meeting of the minds through merger would have resulted in further innovation and progress instead of the debacle that was Penn Central. NYC's flexivan expertise in containerization could have been extended to the western ports while ATSF's piggyback focus could have been extended east as an alternative to trucking, thereby further building on each systems's core strengths.
A NYC - ATSF merger would have resulted in a sweeping transcontinental trunkline with branchlines into the growing sunbelt states as well as direct access to Canada's manufacturing heartland, truly a system that would have been much greater than the sum of its parts!
Point-to-point merger of the New York Central to any of the 'roads that terminated in Chicago. The merger of the PRR and the NYC made no sense at all, at least Al Pearlman thought so.
In the same vein, a point-to-point of the PRR with any of the Chicago terminus 'roads.
BaltACD What is the economic reasons for the mergers you have suggested? Mergers don't happen because the look nice on a map - they happen because the make economic sense to the parties involved.
What is the economic reasons for the mergers you have suggested? Mergers don't happen because the look nice on a map - they happen because the make economic sense to the parties involved.
These mergers I suggested were more or less opening up new traffic sources/lanes and single line service to benefit customers. Call it economics? Probably not. But this is a topic I wanted to cover later. This is something I wanted to discuss later after everyone got their ideas in. Then we could look at each and see why they would make sense. My transcon merger was more or less single line service through Chicago with minimal interchange. With the intention of developing new traffic lanes. Grain from the Northern Plains could flow to; Midwestern, Eastern and Southern Ports seamlessly. Same for Automotive traffic from the Midwest to the Pacific and South. Forest Products from the Pacfic Northwest to Eastern destinations etc..The second merger I proposed was to give KCS access to Chicago. Allowing greater interchange to Eastern manufacturing, and vice versa. My third merger was to give UP greater access to new markets, also the NP inclusion was to give a better balance of competition on the Northern Plains essentially prepping for a future BN.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Not sure if this thread was created before, and not to beat a dead horse....This is a what past RR's would you have merged together? It can be from any time period. Some of the mergers thought of, could lead to a different rail map than we have today. A more balanced system? Possibly even more rail still active today. Perhaps some of the mergers discussed could have been contemplated by the RR's in the past, and never matured. Or the merger partner backed out for various reasons. Whether it be a; Class 1, Regional, and/or Shortline. It can be anything from a super coast to coast system. East meets West, North, South. Whatever. List some combos for each region or a true transcontinental system. I'll start with a few I would have merged together.
1) My Transcon System merger circa 1960:
Milwaukee Road, Illinois Central, Central of Georgia, Florida East Coast, Nickel Plate, Deleware Lackawanna and Western, Detroit Toledo and Shore Line
2) My merger for two Midwestern roads circa 1965:
Kansas City Southern+Gulf Mobile and Ohio
3) My merger for three Western Roads circa 1965:
Union Pacific+Rock Island+Northern Pacific
P.S. If you have the tools even map them out. If you would like too share them.
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