In this case, there was no gold mine for PRR. NYC was clearly the company with the superior management, from Al Perlman on down. They had an actual marketing dept with several clever traffic initiatives including Flexivan and FlexiFlo. They had done their best to modernize the physical plant, including new, efficient yards at Elkhart, Avon and Selkirk (completed just after the merger). In contrast, PRR was firmly rooted in the 1950's, and had done little to upgrade the property which was replete with antiquated facilities. It was supposed to bring Buckeye yard (Columbus) into the merger, but it wasn't completed until 2 years into PC. Perlman, the idea man who loved and understood railroads was shunted into a dead-end by the ex-PRR guys, who were more interested in the country club than figuring out what was on the balance sheet. To bring this back on topic, EL clearly saw little future for the ex-DL&W into Scranton. The ex-Erie could easily handle the traffic, and had not only the Maybrook interchange, but Ford-Mahwah. Another operational problem with the ex-DL&W was Kingsland tunnel, which couldn't clear the tall trailers that had begun to appear by 1963. Paul B This brings to mind the PC merger with NYC getting the shaft. Ed The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List http://EL-List.railfan.net/ To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
This HTML page is © 2000-2009 Blue Moon Online System and The Railfan Network
This page and the data contained therein may not be reproduced
for any form of commercial use without the explicit permission
of J. Henry Priebe Jr. or his duly authorized agent.