I collect corporate annual reports for defunct railroads:
These are extracted from a report given by Perry Shoemaker DL&W in 1958 the setiments expressed apply to most railroads serving the northeast at that time.
The year 1958 began, continued and closed under difficult conditions. General business trends as reflected in transportation and the steady rise in wages and other costs had a material effect on our Company's earnings...
It is clear that 1958 freight traffic reflected for the first time the injury to the Port of New York being incurred by export and import tonnage being handled via the St. Lawrence Seaway to and from mid-west ports.
Our freight business will no longer support the confiscatory tax burdens assessed against our passenger facilities.
...We advised our commuters and the communities along the line, as well as the Governor and Legislature, on December 8, that the Lackawanna will move as quickly as a statistical case can be prepared early this spring to handle with public authority the discontinuance of suburban and commutation service on its electric line. Elimination of passenger service on the Boonton Branch will follow after a commitment to the Commuters Association in that territory has been met.
I hope to give an extract from George Albert, President of the New Haven in 1960 If I remember correct he got it off on a positive note in the first paragraph...
1960 was the worst year your company has ever had in its history....
These are extracted from a report given by Perry Shoemaker DL&W in 1958 the setiments expressed apply to most railroads serving the northeast at that time.
The year 1958 began, continued and closed under difficult conditions. General business trends as reflected in transportation and the steady rise in wages and other costs had a material effect on our Company's earnings...
It is clear that 1958 freight traffic reflected for the first time the injury to the Port of New York being incurred by export and import tonnage being handled via the St. Lawrence Seaway to and from mid-west ports.
Our freight business will no longer support the confiscatory tax burdens assessed against our passenger facilities.
...We advised our commuters and the communities along the line, as well as the Governor and Legislature, on December 8, that the Lackawanna will move as quickly as a statistical case can be prepared early this spring to handle with public authority the discontinuance of suburban and commutation service on its electric line. Elimination of passenger service on the Boonton Branch will follow after a commitment to the Commuters Association in that territory has been met.
I hope to give an extract from George Albert, President of the New Haven in 1960 If I remember correct he got it off on a positive note in the first paragraph...
1960 was the worst year your company has ever had in its history....