A friend sent me this intresting link to a movie made by the Penn Central
to appeal to congress for bail out money
http://www.lubetkin.net/blog/2008/12/penn-central-1974-movie.html
Thanks for sharing, I didnt know PC was that bad.
I started work on the PRR in '66 and things was bad then…After the merger in '68 things went from bad to worst…2 or 3 crews would be called for the same train,derailments was common as was break downs…Lost cars,misrouting of cars between PRR and NYC was the norm…I was called for a urban local that never left the yard because there wasn’t any locomotives available(this would last until a locomotive consist of 22 units was made from Logansport and 16 from Pittsburgh.) still a 5 men crew got their day’s pay for hanging around the crew shed.
The horror stories is endless and would make some very interesting modeling.
I was very young when Penn Central was around so I don’t remember all the particulars but at a modeling aspect I do like the paint scheme and the variations of locomotives they used.
This video reminded me of how vexing PC can be.
On the one hand, its dilapidated infrastructure, ugly paint schemes, assortment of mismatched and antiquated equipment, and occasional glimmer of modern efficiency never quite realized, make it an incredible modeling opportunity.
On the other hand, those very same qualities make it downright depressing. To think of the once mighty Pennsy and New York Central reduced to that horrible mess… almost brings tears to one’s eyes.
Thanks for sharing!
I have to agree with you Dave, and the icing on the cake was my beloved New Haven, which I’ve been modleing. As of late, I started modleing the Penn Central because the variety of locomotives (especially 1rst generation diesels) is really great and in truth that black, white and rust paint is really railroady. Nothing to gaudy on my rails. You can always do some adlibing on the how much trouble your railroad might be in, (well maybe a lot of adlibing when it comes to the PC).
Den.
Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.
I model the NYC in the 50s and 60s, before the merger. I knew things were bad but not as bad as shown in the video.
What a shame. The great NYC and later the PRR combined and allowed to disappear. Now even their legacy, CONRAIL, is gone.
Too bad all around.
What’s next? GM, Chrysler, and Ford disappear to be replaced by KIA and some Chinese company no one ever heard of?
What Dave said.
I was just a week shy of 12 years old when I got into model railroading, & 1 & 3/4 year old Conrail was running on the Chicago-Pittsburgh ex PC ex PRR main thru town here. Funny thing was that the main must have been one of PC’s better ones, as Conrail really didn’t have to do anything to bring the line up to snuff as it already was. As I learned more about railroading over the next few years, I found out what a mess PC actually had been. As I’ve gotten into more equipment modeling/weathering into my return to model railroading as an adult, I’ve found that PC equipment are great examples of grunginess. I’m currently working on a CR (patched) ex PC X72 boxcar based on a proto photo from July of 1976, the model scheduled to be completed (hopefully) in mid February.
I don’t think either the PRR or the NYC were “mighty” when the merger finally came to pass. Both lines, albeit the PRR more so, were headed towards disaster. While the NYC tried to reinvest funds back into the railroad, the Pennsy management almost knew it was a lost cause in the 1950’s and spent oodles of money on non-railroad investments. The Pennsy deferred maintenance when and wherever possible.
The PC had no chance of success.
And because of that I think it’s one of the more interesting lines. It’s decrepitness is ripe for modeling. 
Someone posted this on another forum a few days ago, and it’s a sad trip down memory lane for me. Not that I saw the Penn Central that often, but I do remember tracks and equipment in sorry shape, and litter all along the ROW. I remember the GG1’s in filthy PC black, still others in the Amtrak bloody nose scheme. I remember it as a time when America thought it couldn’t do anything right, whether it was car manufacturing or running a railroad.
I wonder if the derailment in the beginning was staged for the cameras, or caught accidentally. I doubt they were out there making a promotional film, since they were appealing for a government grant. If it was staged, I doubt the rails took much coaxing to throw those cars onto the ground.
Dave said:To think of the once mighty Pennsy and New York Central reduced to that horrible mess…
Dave,As a former P Company brakeman what I am about to say is blasphemous at best.
When I went to work on the PRR I found there was nothing “mighty” about the PRR.Track,locomotives was in disrepair and break downs and derailments was common.Those sweet looking cabin cars was rusty,worn and drafty.The NYC didn’t fare much better and both roads was in financial difficulties and like I said after PC came into exsistance things went from bad to worst.
Nelson asked: wonder if the derailment in the beginning was staged for the cameras, or caught accidentally.
Nelson,Stage or not that’s how bad things had become…It got to a point that riding on the side of a car in the yard was known as a “suicide rider”…Most prefered not to ride a car.
This past summer, I fully read for the first time The Wreck of the Penn Central. I’d had the book since I was a kid, but now as an adult, I was finally able to fully read and understand it. It was sad to hear how bad things were back then. It was even more sad to see those conditions in the video. Granted, I think they were trying to get things going the right way. Buckeye yard and the shops in Columbus were signs of that. But it’s like the one guy said. The whole railroad needed an overhaul because no more than they would get something fixed, something else would break. It was a snowball effect.
Kevin
I’ve spent some time reading the Pennsy corporate notes… And it’s clear that the road was hot-to-trot for a merger starting in the later half of the 50’s. I’m guessing the NYC was doing the same… C&O, B&O, Nickel Plate, NW… Combination after combination was considered.
I feel sorry for the PC, it never had a chance due to the dysfunctional “parents” that birthed it.
I will say, to this day I much prefer the PC color scheme/logo to Conrail’s.
Did you know that Penn Central still exists as a corporation? Of course it’s not known as Penn Central on anything but te corporate books since it gace up all its railroad assets in 1976 when Conrail emerged. But you can see what Penn central became whenever you go past amusement parks like Great Adventure in New Jersey and others elsewhere in the country.
Irv
It wasn’t so much the parents as the fact that both management and the boards of directors of both companys were no longer railroad people but professional money managers who knew absolutely noth about running railroads nor about how to make money for the stockholders without robbing Peter to pay Paul and when profits should be reinvested. They also had no idea anout what should be kept and what should be dumped. So instead of doing what was right for everyone involved, they chose to line their pockets at everyone elses expense.
Irv
Den, I believe the LV (Lehigh Vally) was in the same boat …I beleive the PC rolled a few east coast roads into thier final push to keep the railroad a float but it was too little too late ,
Wow…awesome video!! That merger was doomed from the start by the looks and sounds of that footage. Thanks for sharing…
Wow! After seeing that vid I now better understand why my late uncle Juan left the New York Central in the mid 1960s to work for the New York City transit system. He apparently saw the writing on the wall.
BTW: To those of you over 40 that were kids in the early 1970s, does the narrator’s voice sound familiar? I remember seeing plenty of educational films back in grade school. They were usually history or economics related. I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that I always heard this same exact narrator’s voice!
Guys, read my post again. “Once mighty.” I know the PRR in January 1968 was a basket case. The PRR of the 20s was not. Even in the 50s, although maintenance was being deferred, the PRR put on a great show.
At some point the PRR was able to lay a four-track main across Pennsylvania and between New York and DC which was the envy of the planet. At one time PRR’s annual budget exceeded that of the federal government. It was indeed mighty once.
Another Penn Central video: