I am reading Richard Saunders Main Lines for the third time (it is that good). Early in the book Saunders goes into detail about the creation of Conrail, basically the political scene in Washington. There are similarities to today’s Chrysler/GM restructuring…believe this has been covered on the forum prior.
Saunders references the Preliminary System Plan and the Final System Plan. My modest library actually has the Preliminary Plan (two volumes). Does anyone know if the Final Plan was ever digitally saved and is available at any of the government or transportation agencies?
Or, alternatively, do these ever show up for sale?
I am still looking/waiting for a good book on Conrail history. There seems to be several about the failure of the PC, but nothing covering the USRA and the history of the railroad.
Conrail, wich stands for Consoladated Rail Corp. I belive, was formed, like you said, bacause many major eastern railroads had closed or went bankrupt due to the lessened demand for rail transport . Then govt. relised how much we needed rail trasport, and got together with the USRA to form Conrail, because there wern’t enough current R.R. operators to cover the tonnage. When Conrail was all set up, thay found some of their ex-shortlines were un-profatable. So they “spun off” some of these lines. Then in 1994,I BELIVE, NS and CSX split conrail in a joint merger. Plese correct me if I’m wrong.
Now with that aside, I imagine that you might be able to find it in the Natnial Archives. Maby CSX or NS may have it. Maby thay tore it in two pices?[:D]
You should contact the author, Richard Saunders, or his research assistant(s). They might just know. Are the documents you seek mentioned in the bibliography of the book Main Lines? That would be a good indication that Saunders has had reason to deal with them, even if they aren’t specifically referenced in the book. However, if they aren’t in the bibliography, that doesn’t mean that the author or his assistants don’t have any idea how to get the records. I’d sure try. Authors are generally pleased to hear that readers enjoyed the book to the point that it stimulated further research on their part.
Allternatively, you could contact the publisher, which I believe is the publisher for Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. They might point you in the author’s direction, or know some other way.
You are legitimately engaged in research, so don’t hesitate to contact the author just because he’s an author. – a.s.
Good point. I have actually talked to him in the past…rang him up at Clemson several years ago and he talked.
The Preliminary and Final Reports are no doubt in railroad libraries (possibly Northwestern University’s). I am going to snoop around Abe’s and Ebay. I would like to get a Final Report. Didnt find it online.
Conrail was formed due to the collapse of several major eastern railroads, most notably Penn Central. Something had to be done, and things were getting worse after a couple of hurricanes took out what was left of roads like Erie Lackawanna, which almost tried to reorganize on their own. The D&H was left out and given trackage rights to expand their routes, in the hopes of providing “competition” to the emerging giant railroad. Conrail wasted little time losing duplicate routes and trackage they felt was unneeded, much to the dismay of many train watchers. After a while they seemed to become a success story, at least saved the rail scene around here, but ultimately gave in to that wonder of the modern age, the mega-merger. Now they exist but only small portions in certain areas. Another forum member used to always act as though they would re-emerge someday, but not gonna happen. If anything, the existing railroads will continue to merge into larger systems, something I don’t think should happen since there are only four really large systems anyway, but I know opinions vary. I don’t know if the current economic downturn will have an effect on anything but time will tell.
I hope you enjoy reading it, and I look forward to your thoughts.
Some day I’d like to sit down and figure out which was the largest abandonment in US history, in terms of route miles never operated again. I’d guess it was the Milwaukee Road, March 1980. I’m not sure which would be next between the Rock Island, 1980, and the formation of Conrail in 1976. I think all three cases would be around 3,000 miles, with nothing else close.
That would be a very interesting project. Looking at the Penn Central map is like a bowl of spaghetti, particularly in the Pa. area. The Preliminary System Report provides analysis of each line with carloadings by station, revenue, etc. with a recommendation to retain or abandon. Dry reading, but interesting for the economic railroad set.
Hopefully the Final System Plan will have an report of the abandonment mileage.
As stated earlier (and often) there seems to be a real vacumn out there for a comprehensive history of the end of PC, et al thru the merging of Conrail into NS and CSX. The years between 1980 and 1990 were dynamic ones for Conrail, complete with corporate takeover bids, offering of stock, etc. Many of the main players are still alive, records exist, and USRA plans are available. Lets have a book!
Six, both Canadian Pacific and Canadian National own considerable track mileage in the United States nowadays so you really have to include them in the list of big US class one’s…