Today I saw an SD60 in CSX, and notices a small plaque on the cab. As I got curious glances by the engineer from 2 units back ion the consist, I read that it said, and it was pretty much the following (Authough not word for word):
“This unit owned by the Consolidated Rail Corp. and is under lease from New York Central lines Inc. by CSXT”
Does this mean Conrail and NYC still technically exist? I know CSX and NS are currently working on final agreements on the split. any help is…well…helpful
Yeah, it has to do with accounting. I posted on a topic about this a while back with regards to NS using some really old and long dead rail names. I got a number of responses, however, nothing conclusive. What I am still not sure about is if new engines ever get old reporting marks…
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=-1&TOPIC_ID=17148&REPLY_ID=151055#151055
NYC and PRR were holding companies that were used to separate the ex-Conrail assets from the “parent” NS and CSX assets during the period after the merger. The reasons have been covered in the financial press, including the WSJ (but I don’t have an archive of the actual articles). Recently one of the parents, I believe NS, was reported as filing to dissolve the holding companies, as their purposes have been achieved; this may in fact have happened by now.
I still think, of course, that NS should use Tuscan red and Dulux gold and retain PRR, and that CSX should adopt the lightning stripe for its NYC power. In the NS case, remember, the red is actually heritage paint!
Ties back into railroads licensing reporting marks. Even though the “railroad” may not exist, the company may still exist as a subsidiary of the parent corporation and may still do business as some other type of industry. Just because they don’t run trains any more doesn’t mean the company is gone.
Dave H.