I don't think any Class I RR has resisted PSR. Matt Rose was the last of a dying breed. ALL of the warnings about PSR and their drawbacks have been fully realized. Less is NOT more. Yet here we are today. Now it's no secret SP was in TERRIBLE shape in 1996 when it merged with UP but was actually recovering and providing them some much needed competition. Even a diminished SP would've kept BNSF and UP honest. All of the business that BNSF and UP pushed away because it wasn't "profitable" enough for them and their shareholders would've been swooped by SP with a quickness. That was the one merger STB should've denied. Even many shippers who complained about Southern Pacific's service are now starting to see that they were better than UP. At least SP went out of their way to do better and right their wrongs. Many people who dealt with them over the years before their demise always boasted about how courteous they were in their dealings with customers, shippers and people in general. I miss those days. Back when railroads actually cared about the service they provided, not how much we could make by screwing over workers, customers and shippers just to make their shareholders happy.
We saw the attitude change here when Guilford took over MEC and B&M. While the MEC was still profitable, thanks to the paper and lumber industry at the time, the B&M had just come out of bankruptcy and was showing a profit when American Filter Corporation got a hold of them and the MEC and formed Guilford Transportation. Guilford was named after the town where David Fink came from. Fink came from the PC and ran the company the way the PC ran its business if this says anything about it.
Both of these companies ran well maintained ROWs and locomotives and were courteous and considerate to their customers. I remember hearing how even in its poor state the B&M staff tried their best to ensure that freight was delivered to their customers. While neither company ran mainline passenger trains any longer, they still maintained passenger standards for their lines with 40 mph freight and 60 mph passenger-capable speeds.
When Guilford came along, they chased customers away by going through great lengths to ensure there was poor service or forced customers to pay for line upgrades. In the end, the system was down to 10 mph in many places along its 450 miles of mainline between North Maine Jct. and Mechanicville, NY because they barely put in a dime to keep the line operational.
In the process of focusing on end-to-end traffic, they lopped off the MEC Mountain Division and one of the mainlines out of Brunswick, ME. The good news is the Mountain Division is on a revival and is coming back under short line ownership with VTRS the line between St. Johnsbury and Whitefield, NH and the old B&M up to Berlin, NH. Currently St. Johnsbury to Gilman, VT is out of service, but Gilman to Whitefield is being restored. The Conway Scenic runs on the southern end and handles freight there and that company has plans to reopen the line between Portland and Intervale. Doing this will make the division whole again once St. Johnsbury comes back online.
I agree that PSR was never a good thing and still isn't today. It's a good thing that it hasn't invaded us up here in New England due to the steep grades and sharper curves. NS ran into issues with PSR when they took over the operations on the former D&H. The line has some steep grades that caused their trains to stall more than a few times. I think since then, they discontinued PSR on that route.
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