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Re: (erielack) Beginnings of Mergers
For more than you want to know about this topic, you might want to scare up
a copy of a book I found (can't recall where this thing came into my
possession, but probably in some used book shop somewhere) entitled:
Railroad Consolidation Under the Transportation Act of 1920 by William
Norris Leonard, AMS Press, 1968.
It a reprint, and on the publication information page, it ways "The Series
was formerly known as _Studies in History, Economics and Public Law_.
Reprinted from the edition of 1946, New York. It's LofC number is 68-58602
Now, believe me, any conceivable combination of railroads into larger
systems that you can imagine (and many that you cannot imagine) was
conceived of and proposed in those days. This book considers the efforts of
the Federal Government to foster mergers of railroads into larger systems to
the end goal of efficiency and economies of scale. I can't read the thing
continuously, because the mind (at least MY mind) glazes over with the sheer
number of alternatives considered, and the reasons why they did or did not
get anywhere.
One thing that becomes clear to me is that Leonor F Loree, he of the D&H
Presidency, was a man of incredible energy, nerve, and financial acumen, if
not, apparently, blessed with an ability to get people to go along with his
ideas. If you want to have your mind expanded about possible combinations
of railroads, this book will give that to you. This book has made me wonder
(haven't had a chance to explore this) if there is a decent bio of LFL out
there. If there isn't, there probably won't be, because of his
"footnote-ish" position in railroad history as perceived today, but I think
it would probably be a very interesting read.
But, y'know, Bill K, O&W plus RW&O, I don't think that one was in there
(probably due to the NYC ownership of the RW&O by 1920) but, hmmm,
interesting . . .
SGL
- ----- Original Message -----
From: <Njricky2_@_aol.com>
To: <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2002 4:33 PM
Subject: (erielack) Beginnings of Mergers
> I know this topic has been discussed in one form or another in the past
and
> if what I'm asking has been done, accept my apologies.
>
> Going back to the dawn of the merger era, just before Virginian-N&W, I'm
> curious to know what everyone thinks could have been better combinations
than
> what eventually evolved, including EL. For example, would DLW been better
off
> joining with NKP, Erie with D&H, B&M, and NYO&W with anyone for example?
> These are just examples and again, if this topic has been discussed in
this
> form, please accept my apologies.
>
> Rick
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