What RR in history has been divided up most after being sold or bankrupt?
I don’t know for sure but think it would be the Rock Island.
Mark
Rock Island was a good choice, but both the Milwaukee and Conrail come to mind also.
How about the Erie?
I think you mean the Penn Central rather than Conrail.
If the question means cut up/suld during/as an immediate result of the bankruptcy, I don’t think it can be disputed that the Rock gets the nod. However, if indirect results occurring 30 years after the filing count, I don’t think it can be argued that the Penn Central gets the nod.
Gabe
Do you actually mean the Erie Lackawanna? If you mean the EL, I’d say the vast majority of that line (my personal favorite fallen flag) was abandoned when they wedged their way into Conrail at the last minute. My dear beloved EL’s main through Indiana and Ohio is mostly a grown-over ROW now, after the Erie Western tried operating some of it out of Huntington. As far as I know, most of the former EL trackage that remained was out east. West of Marion the ROW was yanked when CR decided that the PC’s routes were preferred (why I’m not sure in some areas anyway - the PC ROW was in awful bad shape in a lot of areas).
Based on what I’ve read here in the past, and my interpretation of the question, I’d tend to agree that CRI&P probably has the most track still active, and spread amongst a variety of operators.
The PC and CR predecessors lost a lot of track, but I’m not sure any one would get notice for having track still active and being run my numerous operators. Many of the roads that were folded into Conrail would today be considered no more than regionals.
It proably doesn’t top the Rock Island, but another one which wasn’t cut up much but pretty much got obliterated was the bankruptcy-headed regional Chicago Great Western. Since being merged into the Chicago & North Western in 1968, it has mostlly ceased to exist. There are a few stubs here and there, but not much else.
Boy, I am not so sure.
Penn Central–
(1) Norfolk Southern;
(2) CSX;
(3) Conrail Shared Assets;
(4) Ohio Central;
(5) Louisiville & Indiana;
(6) Indiana Southern;
(7) RailAmerica;
(8) Was the Susquehnanna part of Penn Central?
(9) North East Corridor/Amtrak;
(10) KBS;
(11) I assume the Reading is former PC trackage?
(12) a buzillion short line/regionals I can’t think of–many of fairly substantial size and importance.
The Rock certainly was carved up. But, I would almost have to bet any amount of money that there were considerably more short lines and regionals out of the PC than the Rock–both in terms of number and mileage. And, NS, Conrail, CSX, and the North East Corridor have to stack up against the Rock’s list of larger operators.
Gabe
I wouldn’t agree the CGW was headed for bankruptcy. Their balance sheets were stable, making a reasonable, nominal profit and they were a well-run and well-organized operation. They were smart enough to recognize the trends in the industry and the writing on the wall, and knew a merger was needed (unfortunately that merger was really a takeover and teardown eventually).
It probably changes everyday…I am sure RI (CRI&P) is a very good candidate as is the MLW. But in more modern times IC certain has been built, taken apart, put back together and taken apart again. Conrail certainly has to be the biggest umbrella for the roads it took in (which in turn had been growth mergers and abandonments over the years) then were dismantled, torn up, sold off, or leased out and/or abandoned. The catch is that most all railroads as we have known them in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries have been the results of mergers and acquisitions, thus any further merger causes further abandonment or sell off. Your question is good, very good. But it needs defining, restrictions, as to year, size, region, etc. And then you will get hundreds of different answers!!! Well, quite a few anyway.
I think the Milwaukee Road left little bits of railroad everywhere it went.
Erie was part of EL then Conrail, not so much cut up or sold as having whole stretches of mainline abandoned. The lines around here survive because they are a large part of NJTransit commuter service.
Jersey Central
Lehigh Valley
Probably Conrail or Penn central also Great Northern
Great Northern? Isn’t that pretty much still intact?
Well then, based upon that criteria, I work on the a rarity. A combined Rock Island and CGW line. It don’t get no better than that
The Erie had little on-line business west of Marion. If it had survived somehow into the intermodal boom, things might have worked out to its advantage. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Today, there’s places you can’t hardly pick out where it was and other places where there’s still ballast.
I think a lot of the GN main lines are intact. The Minneapolis - Willmar - Sioux Falls line is doing plenty of business. The Minneapolis - St. Cloud - Fargo line was dropped in favor of the NP’s route to Fargo. The Hinckley Sub remains between Minneapolis and Superior. I think a lot of the feeder branches that looked like bones on a fish skeleton in North Dakota and Montana are either abandoned or sold-off now. The Grand Forks - Bemidji - Boylston line remains. It’s slimmed-down quite a bit but a good share of the old GN guts remains.
For whatever reason, I would guess the Lehigh Valley would be the Rock Island of the east.