111 years of railroad history comes to an end.
At midnight last night the once proud and mighty Bangor and Aroostook Railroad of northern Maine, where I have been employed for more than a decade and where my father had worked for almost 40 years, ceased to exist. We have been bought by Railworld and are now the Montreal Maine and Atlantic.
The down turn started in '95 when a bunch of investors with very little railroad experience bought it and proceeded to run the old girl into the ground, finally reaching bankruptcy a year or so ago. It goes to show, just because you can afford something doesn’t mean you deserve to have it. Moral is picking up around here but it’s still sad to see the B&A go. Slofr8.
Maybe change will bring about time to accomodate altering business climates. For your sake, as well as all other BAR employees and stockholders, I hope so.
It is a shame when non-rail interests buy up control thinking they will either drain it dry and spin off the railroad portion, or worse yet, just run it into the ground before trusting experience.
A mirror of that are some of the professional sports teams. Regards and have a safe day. gdc
Hope things work out for the new company. I remember reading about the BAR in trains magazine. At one time that was a neat little railroad. Question: The new owner, is he the Guy that started the Wisconson Central?
TIM A
Yes. New owner is Ed Burkhart (sp)
Heard if anyone can make a go of it it’s him. I’m sure willing to give him everythig I have to offer. If your going to railroad where I live, their the only game in town. Slofr8.
Jerry Jones, Mike McCaskey, or…?
dlw
Don’t forget Daniel Snyder. gdc
While I agree that Jerry Jones has an ego that has hurt his team in recent years don’t forget that when he bought the team it SUCKED! He made the radical changes necessary that led to all those Super Bowls.
He sure did one heck of a job with the Wisconsin Central. Kind of hated to see the CN take over.
His best radical change was named Jimmy Johnson.
After Jerry ran Jimmy off, the team hasn’t been the same. The “Gunslinger” only won 2 more, but
essentially it was the team Jimmy put together.