I surely miss the fallen flags as they were part of my childhood. Growing up in the Northeast, meant I'd see a fair number of boxcars from the New York Central, New Haven, Lehigh and Hudson River, Erie, Erie and Lackawanna, Central Railroad of New Jersey, and many others.
When the Penn Central came along, they took out the two biggest companies and destroyed the New Haven. As a corporation, they were too big to fail and they did by smothering in their own juice. Their corporate culture did not mesh well with each other and one former railroad company tried to dominate the other. This caused the PC to pull its self apart at the seems probably helped the push of freight revenue from the railroads to the trucks as they struggled to keep operating. This situation didn't help the other connecting companies as they also lost revenue from overhead traffic. This happened at the same time as manufacturing was less of a contributor to the economy as it was in the past. Let's face it, if a manufacturer or distributor can't get their goods reliably, they will look for better modes of transportation. So their mess helped form Conrail which was essentially the same company with the same management. The only difference was they now had to run their former competitors. In the process they lopped off the western portion of the Erie which today would be a fast route to Chicago. This was a wide and flat operation with fewer grades than those found on the NYC and Pennsy, but being who they were they favored their own lines over those of the the EL and the Lehigh Valley. Both of these lines became secondary to the old PC network.
So who do I miss and would like to see operating?
1) Boston and Maine --- the local company to me.
2) Maine Central --- a partner and connecting railroad
3) Delaware and Hudson --- another connecting road
4) New York Central
5) Pennsylvania
6) Erie Lackawanna
7) Lehigh Valley
6) Central Railroad of New Jersey
7) New Haven
8) Lehigh and Hudson River
9) Reading Co.
10) Bangor and Aroostook.
I would like to see these companies come back because each one offered their own brand of service. They were contributors to the local communities and to the regions they served. Today CSX and NS are not the same. They still run the trains on these lines, but the local pride is gone. The B&M and MEC are now Pan Am Railways (PAR). PAR destroyed much of the system after Guilford Transportation (same company old name) purchased them. They ripped up branch lines, main lines, discouraged service, disenfranchised customers, allowed the lines to fall into disrepair, and the track to rot. Their main purpose was to sell of real estate to developers which they did in many parts of their system.
The D&H was purchased by Guilford in the 1980s. Through their hack it all management, they forced the D&H into bankruptcy and today they're part of the CPRail system.
The New Haven, being a regional railroad, partnered with many of the areas lines and at one point had control of the B&M. At another point, they were controlled by the Pennsy. There is evidence of this on both systems. In Lynn, MA, there's a 4-track bridge where only two tracks is used. This was part of the NH expansion. They also had plans to electrify to Boston from New Haven then eventually electrify all of the B&M. Part of their plan is done now with the NEC up to Boston, the other part has never happened. The New Haven was one of the largest commuter operators in the Northeast with electric service to New York City and diesel service to Boston and Providence. They operated a unique fleet of early diesels and electrics which were the forerunners of many units we have today. The NH went through periods of prosperity and demise in part due to the stock market manipulations. They were failing when the PC purchased them, but the New Haven died when the PC allowed the Poukipsee Bridge to burn. This was a suspicious fire that was never resolved. The bridge is now a rail trail. Once this link was broken, the rest of the system fell apart, and lead to problems with the LH, EL, and other railroads that relied on this major link to their systems from points north. There were other links but they were roundabout with some requiring ferries to bring freight across New York Harbor. The bridge avoided the ferry link or a journey way up to Albany to cross the Hudson. If they had survived the Conrail break-up, I'm sure they would have been one great regional system again.
The BAR serves the far north of Maine from Bangor up to Canada. Today they are now run by another company whose name slips my mind. They too were ripped apart and destroyed by poor management and profiteers and only survive in a small portion of what they once were.
I'll leave this for now and see what others have to say. So for me I'd like to see these former fallen flags come alive again.
John
. The route I'm building will be in the time frame 1939.
My grandmother came from Brooklyn, but her relatives were long dead by the time I was born. Her uncle was a developer there and made a ton when the bridge opened in 1888. He built Benson Hurst and many other famous-named neighborhoods back in that time. My dad's grandmother lived in Manhattan, and his aunt and uncle lived in Queens. During one trip, I got a tour of the New York elevated. My aunt brought me on a loop-tour. The highlight of the trip was seeing a Goodyear blimp.