Classic railway bus, truck, airline and marine subsidiaries

Classic Trains General Discussion
1

The railroads didn’t only run on the rails but also created intercity bus line, motor carrier, airline and marine subsidiaries, to better serve customers and investors alike. In some instances they were forced to terminate some of these services due to anti-trust laws. Much more liberal was Canada where Canadian Pacific was permitted to “Span the World!” (even hotels!) Other Canadian railways followed suit, Canadian National and Ontairo Northland, for example.

In the US, didn’t Jim Hill’s Great Northern build and operate the hotel resort that served Glacier National Park? Other than the excellent book by the late Duane Kaufman on Rio Grande Motor Way (bus and truck) have their been any other publications on the subject of non-rail subsidiaries operated by America’s railroads?

2

It’s fairly well known that Greyhound is the outgrowth of railroad-owned bus subsidiaries. Some of the smaller operators in the Trailways system developed out of interurbans that changed from rail to bus. North Central Airlines (merged into Republic, then Northwest, now Delta) was originally Wisconsin Central and was owned by the original Wisconsin Central Railroad. Northeast Airlines was established by the B&M.

Railroad-owned resorts include Sun Valley (UP) and the Greenbrier (C&O). There may be others.

3

The CN, as well as the CP, built hotels–and the Hotel Vancouver was owned by both roads.

4

And don’t forget CP Airlines!

5

Actually, the Great Northern built four hotels, three in Montana and one in Alberta, on the Canadian side of the Park. The US hotels were the Glacier Park Lodge, Many Glacier Hotel, and the Lake McDonald Lodge. The Canadian hotel, in Waterton National Park, was the Price of Wales Hotel.

I have always felt that it is not possible to take a bad looking picture of that place. Sadly, until the last of its many renovations over the years, the actual experience of staying there never lived up to the expectations generated by the photos, for a variety of reasons I won’t go into here. In the late nineties or early 2000’s both VW and Buick shot commercials on the hotel grounds. It was the buzz generated by the Buick commercial that created the right incentive for its most recent renovation. Here is a link to a picture of the hotel:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Wales_Hotel

Trans Canada Airlines, now known as Air Canada, was created by the government and set up as a subsidiary of Canadian National Railways in the 1930’s. It wasn’t separated from the CNR until the sixties, I think. Canadian Pacific Airlines was set up by buying several existing small bush airlines, as a response to TCA a year or so later.

In order for the government to convince Canadi

6

The question had to do with books about non-rail subsidiaries.

Though it owned a fleet of “express reefers,” The Railway Express Agency was largely a trucking outfit, which I think, was a jointly owned (by the railroads) trucking delivery service. A book exists.

Not a book that I know of, but a lot of beer went south from the Bay Area in trailers carried on the Zipper, which ran as a 1st class schedule. The trailers were marked for PIE, SP’s trucking subsidiary, Pacific Intermountain Express. Stein photo’s, a TRAINS article, the fifties?..

And late 1800’s, early 1900’s SP had a ship fleet running the Gulf to Atlantic ports; it was bought or otherwise acquired, not originated by SP (or whatever the corporate identity was then.)

7

The Fred Harvey Hotels were closely associated with the Santa Fe. The MILW had the Gallatin Gateway Inn. The Ulster & Delaware and the Grand Hotel had the same owners. I believe Flagler built hotels for the FEC.

The BAR had a bus subsidiary

In communications, SPRINT started out as Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony.

8

For marine subsidiaries (and US rail/marine interconnection) I highly recommend Where Rails Meet the Sea by Michael Krieger (Metro Books)

9

Not sure if this fits the criterion, but the Public Service company in New Jersey once operated Public Service Co-ordinated Transport, which comprised buses, trolleys, and in the city of Newark a subway system. Of the “steel wheel on steel rail” portions only the subway survives today as part of NJ Transit. The old bus lines became NJ Transit operations as well.

10

SP had their long distance coal slurry pipeline in Arizona.

11

Public service was simply typical of 99% of North Americas street railways, nearly all of which had bus lines or separate bus subsidiaries at one time. Before government operation became normal, one could find so-and-so street railway as the company name for many pure bus operations after wwII. Indana Railroad kept its name as an all bus system! Until merged into Trailways.

What was unique about Public Service was its use of “All-Service Vehicles,” the earliest bus application of dual-mode, gas-and-trolley-bus.

12

Right you are on the All-Service Vehicles" Dave! For the rest of you out there, Public Service’s ASV’s ran under trolley wire, then off gasolene-powered generators where trolley wire’s weren’t available.

Even earlier, the French St. Chamond tank of World War One vintage utilised a gasolene-powered generator to turn electric motors which turned the tracks. It was a lot easier than building a complicated mechanical transmission.

So there’s nothing really new about hybrid vehicles, is there?

Oh, as far as marine subsidiarys are concerned, do the tugboat fleets operated by the CNJ, NYC, Pennsy, Lehigh Valley, Erie, and Lackawanna railroads, among others, count?

13

No one has yet mentioned the Delaware and Hudson Canal company’s gradual transition to a railroad.

14

And car ferries, including the Sacramento Northern’s Ramon. But now there is an interurban that may never have had a bus subsidiary. Or did they?

15

While not exactly classic in their RR owned days, Container ship line Sealand Transportation (now mostly defunct) was a CSX subsidiary, Overnite transportation, an LTL motor carrier that is now part of UPS (and no longer branded Overnite) was owned by Union Pacific, and North American Van lines was once owned by Norfolk southern.

16

The Hotel Pennsylvania is probably the first building I ever saw in New York, upon exiting through the front door of Penn Station in 1955, because I scan a scene from left to right. I remember looking up! of course.

Excerpt from Standard Corporation Service (1917)

The “Record & Guide,” New York, Aug. 11, 1917, stated that the Prudential Insurance Co. of America had loaned to the Pennsylvania Terminal Real Estate Co. for five years at 5% $8,000.000 on the building now in course of construction, to be known as the Hotel Pennsylvania, which will occupy the entire block front on the east side of Seventh Ave., between 32d and 33d Streets, New York City, opposite the Pennsylvania Station. The Pennsylvania R. R. owns all the $3,000,000 capital stock of the Terminal Real Estate Co.

Excerpt from The Architectural Review (1919)

The sub-basement floor plan takes in the space which was partly pre-empted by the Pennsylvania Railroad and Long Island Railroad tunnels, which find their way into 32nd and 33d Streets at this level. There is an underground passage to the Pennsylvania Station at this level, reached from the hotel by a pair of elevators running to the main lobby, three floors above…

In designing the hotel for the same owners, the architects have studied to relate the two structures in scale and expression. Attention is called to the setting-back from the regular city building lines of both the station and the hotel to produce the effect of a plaza…

In order to r

17

Anyone remember that hotel’s phone number made famous by Glenn Miller?

OK, here it is: “PEnnsylvania 6-5000!”

18

I thought that was “TRansylvania 6-5000”.

19

Excerpt from Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton (1957)

“One did not, however, simply walk in and buy the Waldorf any more than one casually acquired the Territory of Alaska or called a real estate man and negotiated the Louisiana Purchase. She had two royal parents, both of whom had to approve any change of status. First there was the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria Corporation, organized to build the hotel, owner of the proud name and governor of her operation. Then there was the New York State Realty and Terminal Company. It was from them that the site on which the Waldorf stood was leased. This company also had advanced $10,000,000 toward the cost of the building and held a veto power over who operated the Waldorf. It was thus necessary to purchase control of the corporation and win the approval of the company as well.”

New York Central ‘investments’ listed in 1943 annual report:

230 Park Ave. - N.Y.C. Building

247 Park Ave. - Park-Lexington Building

250 Park Ave. - Offices

270 Park Ave. - Apartments

277 Park Ave. - Apartments

290 Park Ave. - Apartments

299 Park Ave. - Park Lane Hotel

300 Park Ave. - Apartments

301-315 Park Ave. - Waldorf-Astoria Hotel

320 Park Ave. - Apartments

340-350 Park Ave. - Apartments

420 Lexington Ave. - Graybar Building

379 Madison Ave. - Offices

385 Madison Ave. - Offices

109-129 E. 42nd St. - Commodore Hotel

33-55 E. 43rd St. - Biltmore Hotel

35-59 E. 45th St. - Roosevelt Hotel

33 E. 48th Street - Chatham Hotel

115 E. 48th Street - Barclay Hotel

20

Nah, THAT was some dopey movie!