I got this from the Penny West mail list. While they have a different version of why the merger never went through, it is still something I had never heard before... ======================================================================= A recent discussion with someone at another group that worked in Santa Fe management just before Conrail revealed something rather interesting. He said that the Santa Fe actually studied using the TP&W and then the Eel River from Logansport to Newton, Indiana and to acquire and operate on the Erie Lackawanna to the East Coast! (Newton was where the Eel River crossed the Erie.) The Eel River could have made history and become part of a coast to coast railroad! Reportedly, Santa Fe nixed the idea mainly as to not interfere with the Conrail plan. I was always suspicious the main reason the PRR affiliate acquired the Eel River was to keep it out of someone else's hands, especially someone from the west end. (The Eel River was projected to continue on its own rails to Detroit as it did via Wabash rails until the lease was dropped about the turn of the century.) He also said the Santa Fe engineering department was impressed by the bridge loadings and heavy rail on the Eel River on this section of the route. Craig Berndt, Eel River Historian, confirmed with me that the line from Logansport to Columbia City was rebuilt for the WWII oil trains. Interesting. Victor Baird Fort Wayne, Indiana The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List http://EL-List.railfan.net/ To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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