I know that the B&O had helped to finance CNJ’s GP40P’s and even sold 8 of its own SD40’s to them. The B&O also operated trains west of Philly on the RDG and CNJ. But was there ever any possibility of either or both of them joining the B&O as part of the Chessie System? Did the B&O have any stake in either of these two companies?
Did you mean east of Philly instead, as through Bound Brook, NJ ?
On your principal question, it’s a long and complicated inter-relationship story, with roots as far back as the 1890’s. Short answer is: Yes, there was a proposed alternate plan to ConRail that would have put those 2 into the Chessie System. My memory is too hazy and jumbled of all the twists and turns of those companies over those 80 years to trust without first confirming in some books or other documentation, though.
- Paul North.
Historically, the B&O controlled the Reading which in turn controlled the Jersey Central.
B&O financed the puchase of the last generation of CNJ engines. You will note that these newest CNJ units were in B&O colors. It was believed that if the CNJ had imploded before the creation of Conrail, then these CNJ units would be returned to the B&O and be repatched…no extra painting required.
Hope this clarifies.
Here are 2 links to parts of the saga:
“The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in New Jersey” at: http://www.jcrhs.org/B&O.html
“Chessie System Merger… The Prequal” [sic - should be “Prequel” instead] at: http://dieseldetailer.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=freelance&action=print&thread=10051
For lots more, do an on-line search for some combination of “Reading” + “B&O” + “CNJ” + “control”, etc.
- Paul North.
I believe that B&O had a 48% interest in RDG, who in turn had a similar minority interest in CNJ. After CNJ sank into Chapter 77 bankruptcy in 1967, most of its newer power was leased from B&O (SD40’s and F7A’s) and N&W (F7A’s). The GP40P’s were owned by the State of New Jersey and were financed by C&O, N&W and New Jersey. N&W and C&O were both interested in preventing the collapse of CNJ as it would have been the eastern terminus of the proposed N&W/C&O merger.
Oops…definitely east of Philly.
1954 Moody’s says B&O owned less than half of RDG’s common, less than half of their 2nd preferred and less than half of their first preferred. It says RDG owned 25.2% of CNJ’s class A stock and 69.3% of their class B.