Recently I read here about how UP had control of Chicago nortwestern long before they assimilated them.
Historically, there are some interesting relationships of how PRR had control of the Wabash, NYC had the “Big Four” and the Nickle Plate, and even the story about how the dividends paid by N&W on their stock were the only profit made by PRR some years.
Are there any other instances where one big name owned another, where It was not made common knowledge to the man in the street, for whatever reason?
I’d have to go to the books on this one. There were any number of railroads who were controlled, openly or less so, by other roads. In the tycoon era a number of railroads were formed simply to create competition with another RR, often for nefarious purposes.
As for specifics, how about Pere Marquette. C&O even used a PM color scheme on some of its trains…
I think everyone knew who owned who. The clandestine parts seemed to be making the move to buy a railroad without the others finding out. Once purchases were completed it did not seem to matter.
In the UPRR/CNW case if not mistaken the UPRR only owned a quite large block of stock in CNW not even a majority. Because they were a large stockholder they may have been able to sway the CNW management BUT the CNW management was totally seperate from the UPRR management team until merger took place. I was in CNW Chicago HQs enough times to be sure of that fact[:o)][:D][:p]
The Nickel Plate (New York, Chicago and St. Louis) was under NYC control from 1883 until 1916 when the Van Sweringens got it. They also had the Erie, Chesapeake and Ohio, Hocking Valley, Pere Marquette and the Wheeling and Lake Erie. Robert R Young tried to merge them together but the NKP shareholders said no in 1945. Young then tried to merge his C&O with the New York Central and ended up with the NYC and without the C&O.
Less visible “control” would be among the various jointly owned terminal railroads such as BRC, TRRA, HB&T, KCT, etc. Illinois Terminal would fall in this category since it was jointly owned after 1954 for its terminal trackage in Illinois opposite St. Louis.
In the 1960’s and early 1970’s, N&W had indirect control of EL and D&H through its Dereco subsidiary.
The Union Pacific held a large block of Illinois Central Railroad stock at least as late as the 1970’s. Essentially a passive ownership, the UP didn’t excercise any direct managerial control and also didn’t favor the IC in any special way for Chicago-Omaha traffic.
What we are seeing today with just two owners of east of Chicago railroads is what happened when the Van Swergins of Cleveland consolated most of the railroads in there region
The Van Sweringen brothers amassed their empire on a shoestring with lots of borrowed money and the whole thing came unravelled in the 1930’s. The only merger that came out of that was C&O-Pere Marquette after World War 2. Today’s consolidations are on a more solid fincncial base and cover more area than the Van Sweringens ever did.
TheAntiGates,
Heres some reading for you, if you have the time
www.ripon.edu/faculty/bowenj/antitrust/NORTHSEC.htm
You could also look up Pennroad to see how the Pennsylvania owned roads that they were not allowed to.
I’ve gotta say a sincere thanks for those suggestions, MIGHTY interesting reading.
The fine toothed examination of the empires built by the old robber barons and greed barons of yesteryear has always been one of my favorite aspects of railroading[:)]
Canadian National controlled the Grand Trunk Western
N&W controlled the Akron Canton & Youngstown
C&NW controlled the Chicago Great Western
CP controlled the Soo Line
and thats about all the others.
“He who sells what isn’t his’n,
Must buy it back or go to prison.”
-Quote from Daniel Drew, who along with Jim Fisk and Gould, got into all kinds of nonsense, mostly on the Erie Railroad. www.u-s-history.com/pages/h874.html
Vanderbilt started buying Michigan Central stock in 1869. NYC leased the MC in 1930…
TheAntiGates,
In the 1980s the railways lost a billion dollar antitrust suit from the coal slurry pipeline guys . I could not find it on a google.