35 years ago the Penn Central Railroad petitioned for bankruptcy. It was the 6th largest corporation in the United States and was the largest bankruptcy in history (back then). The New York Central and the Pennsylvania had always been the two dominate railroads in the United States and were fierce rivals. They merged on Feb. 1, 1968 and the trouble began. Saunders, Bevan and the rest of the PRR “Red Team” in Philadelphia took control and many of Perlman’s “Green Team” in New York left for other jobs.On Dec. 31, 1968 the bankrupt (since 1961) NYNH&H was added to the system as part of the merger conditions. This bankruptcy turned out to be a blessing for railroads. It led to the 3R, 4R and Staggers deregulation acts and changed government attitudes that freight railroads should be forced to operate money losing passenger trains.
The March 2003 Trains magazine has a 1974 Penn Central and a 1998 Conrail tonnage map. By the looks of the Conrail map, I would guess 70% of Conrail’s traffic was on former NYC lines. The New York Central came out on top.
The Water Level Route…
I had no idea my 13th birthday saw the end of the Penn Central!
the next day june 22 my sister turned 13 and I was born!!!
stay safe
joe
That day will be forever burned in my mind, not for the Penn, but the day I left for VietNam, the Republic of.
The Pennsylvania still was the Standard of the World, not to mention America’s favorite.
Don’t know about Standard Railroad of the World, it was already Penn Central and had been for two years and I recall it as starting to turn into a rough, weed-eaten property, sadly enough.