What RR was the worst ever planned/managed one?
Well, that’s a little broad to answer outright. What looks like a good move at the time to some, looks like a bad one to others. What works during one period doesn’t during another. Luck plays a big part, too. Was the Rock Island badly run as it slowly crumbled in it’s final years or well run to last as long as it did? If the Rio Grande?Western Pacific had become part of BNSF instead of UP, would that have been better or worse? Michael Sol made a case that the MILW’s diesilization of the Pacific Coast Extension (in the midst of the first oil embargo) was, at the very least, couterproductive to the MILW’s future. Was the PRR badly managed before merging with the NYC? Was Penn Central run as badly as possible or as well as could have been expected? Was the worst planned railroad the one that was built but shouldn’t have been (Fort Smith & Western, Colorado Midland, New York, Ontario and Western)? Or the one that should have been but wasn’t (pick your favorite might-have-been)?
Almost too much food for thought.
I’d say the Claiborne & Polk in Louisiana which was built by the US Army in WW2. But it was intentionally designed that way to train Railway Operating Battalions under the adverse conditions they could expect to encounter overseas. Derailments were so common on the C&P that every train was followed by a wrecking train. I remember reading an account of one train that derailed five times in its 50 mile run and the following wrecking train and big hook itself derailed three times.
Mark
It was the best and the worst at the same time: Consolidated Rail Corporation. Best because it took all the bankrupt roads in the east under its banner then minced them into a single system which was able to be sold off in two parts to two successful railroads. The NYC and PRR lines fared the best emerging as two seperate railroads once again while the other roads in the fold were broken up with large stretches abandoned or, at least, ignored. Thus there was a streamlined, money making railroad for sale to the NS and CSX. Worst because it minced the orphaned roads into oblivion, stripping whole corridors of mainline rail service, removing economical transportation from many communities causing many towns and cities to lose manufacturing jobs and distribution centers. The two remaining mainlines, the NYC and PRR were dominant lines in the east while those former DL&W, Erie, Lehigh Valley, CNJ, and Reading lines were confiscated for getting advantage use like the LV across NJ and the RDG from Allentown to Harrisburg while the others were downgraded or dismantled. It will be an arguement for all time whether the good out weighed the bad or vice versa. I kind of lean toward the worst overall in this case.
UP - for pure greed.
PC- Pure mismanagement, The officers of PC so mismanaged the company that it went belly up in just a few years.
PC suffered in that it had management that came form two formerly competing railroads that didn’t particularly get along, I don’t know how long it lasted though I had read that eventually most of the PRR people took over. Either way, with the mess they had then inclusion of New Haven into the fold, it was not going to go smoothly. As for Conrail, when you look at what they had to take on, I think they did alright. I know opinions vary but it was a huge task, though I will admit I live along one of those lines, the former EL mainline (Delaware Division, known in CR as the Southern Tier), that they took all trains off of for the most part and left to be carved up. NS isn’t even a factor over here except for local freight service.
Palatine, Lake Zurich and Wauconda Railroad (PLZ&W) lasted 12 years and its first train had the passengers get off and push because the used steam loco. didn’t have enough power to do the job!
Probably the Central Pacific. [xx(]
PanAm Railways…AKA Guillford.
PGR without a doubt.
Well gee, someone better inform the stockholders. Last I looked, Union Pacific is still making money, i.e. profitable. Not just that, we took a broken down property, SP, and made it viable again. It ain’t perfect, but a far cry from how it used to be run.
Greed? I’d like an explanation of that one, too.
What’s wrong with going out for business by absorbing other railroads and passing on the resulting efficiencies? Last time I looked, every one of the major railroads was comprised of at least a half-dozen former large railroads. Have any of these railroads really disappeared under the UP shield? No–their main lines are quite often very vital to the expanded railroad. Has the UP run roughshod over its employees? Doubtful–I think I’ve gotten more perks and more money as a UP employee than I ever would have as a CNW employee under the same contract. Have they lined stockholders’ or executives’ pockets at the expense of the railroad, limiting capacity and the ability to move traffic? Look at the infrastructure projects and locomotive orders and tell me that with a straight face!
I’d have to vote for Pan Am, too–bad public relations, bad labor relations, bad track, bad luck. If Ed can do it in that region, why can’t Tim?
Speaking just the management of class 1s, as I read many books about the history of various railroads, three come to mind. After read their histories and contrasting with other’s I’ve read, I thought, “how in the world does this railroad still exist”. The three I am thinking of are the Northern Pacific (contrast it to the Great Northern), the Frisco (contrast it to the Missouri Pacific), and the Katy (contrast it with the KCS). Their history seems like financial crises after crises, and bankruptcy after bankruptcy.
As for the worst run I think of the D&RGW. The bond holders (mainly J Gould) ran it into the ground not allowing it to put any money into maintenance. All income went to pay the man. It’s nick name was Dangerous and Rapidly Growing Worse. It was when it finally went into receivership under a Colorado judge who was rail friendly that it became a one of the most modern. The Judge told the bond holders too bad, and allowed the railroad to spend all monies on maintenance and improvements.
That is interesting. I would not have considered Phil Anchutez a we. Then again the only reason the D&RGW was having problems was because some stupid Judge allowed the WP and MP to merge with the UP cutting the D&RGW off from traffic on both ends.
I’d have to say Penn Central because it was a disaster from the git-go, and deprived so much industry of reliable service . . . commuters and passengers, too.
It still remains, the SP was heading to belly up when the UP breathed life into it, and continues to do so.
What is/was PGR?
Not bad luck…they’ve made thier own luck. Government, business, public, and other railroads all have been frustrated and made angry by Guilford management. They were non railoraders from the start, only playing the money game. When they had to spend money or offer service, they stood thier ground feeling that the customer was always there and so would the railroad and everybody loves a railroad don’t they? Other railroads have been frustrated trying to get Guillford cum Pan Am to do business as a railroad rather than as an investment firm. NS has to either be applauded or have psychiatric care as part of their health plan in thier joint effort with Pan Am from Rotterdam Jct and Mechanicville, NY into Massachusetts and up and down the Connecticuit Valley!
Tim hates his picture taken. Aside from that, all he has to do is look at the others who are making money, and take pointers from them. While ROA is low on most roads, you cannot help but think that the ROA on PanAm, is non-existent due to it’s poor condition.
A short line near St. Paul who has not a clue about real railroading. They plan loads (whatever that is), “scope out lines” (again what ever that means), allows their employees to ride shoves on the top of box cars (as seen by more than a few crews), leave tracks in their yard with no hand brakes on them (then demand UP to pay for the damage it causes and threatens to “play hardball” with UP), who’s radio equipment has trouble recieving a signal of a track rider five miles away, who has more than once “demanded” we stop our trains in the middle of nowhere, and have them switch out their cars on the main line, and other such foolishness. Who’s employees threaten certain “suspects” with “serious consequences” for reasons unknown.