Penn Central what a rail?

Yeah, I believe you may be right about it being the worst merger.  I can remember my father, a lifelong railfan, rider, and worker, shaking his head and saying, "I never thought I would see those two (NYC and Penn) merge."  The Penn Central does have its fans though.

These two Marx cabooses are the only PC items I have.  I have them only because I have a weakness for cabooses, whether there is a loco to go with them or not.

I've never read it myself, but this is considered by many to be the definitive book on the ill-starred Penn Central:

http://www.amazon.com/Wreck-Pe...aughen/dp/1893122085

I enjoy modelling the Penn Central for a number of reasons, mainly that my grandfather worked as a track man there. However I have focused more on my other love of NYC steam and have started letting go of the Penn Central rolling stock I acquired but will never use. Check the For Sale forum soon for a listing of those items if you're interested.

Here's a video of my PC passenger train:

Shortly after the merger, the PRR line that went through our town closed. I don't even like to talk about PC...

"The wreck of the PennCentral" is a very good source of information about one of the biggest failures in U.S. history. People should have gone to jail over that and didn't.

Pretty sure they didn't "let New Haven" in on the merger, but were required to include the New Haven by the courts overseeing the merger.

Jon

I model the Penn Central because its what I knew growing up.  The Ft. Wayne line ran behind our house, about a half mile away.  As a youngster, I would spend countless hours watching trains stretch out across the fields.  The merger took place when I was six years old.  Conrail was created when I was 14.  I was just old enough to appreciate trains, but young enough to not be distracted by other interest. (Girls, cars, girls, etc.)

The PRR/NYC merger was not something that happened overnight.  Both roads were in dire straits after WWII.  They realized that they could not survive alone and considered other roads to merge with.  The last thing they wanted to do was merge with each other.  Eventually they were the last two roads standing.  Merger talks began in the 1950's.  The actual merger didn't take place until 1968.

The merger was a recipe for disaster.  You had two major railroads that were on the brink of failure.  Add bad, no, terrible management, infighting, government regulation, union issues and computer systems that didn't communicate.  Bake for three years and TA-DA! The largest bankrupcy in history at the time. 

By the time Conrail was created, the government, unions and management had seen the light.  Many regulations were changed or dropped.  Management and unions worked together to develop a lean railroad that eventually began to turn a profit.

The Penn Central debacle was an unfortunate episode in railroading history, but I think it was necessary.  It changed the way railroads were run.  I believe that if this mess had never taken place, we would not have the successful railroads that we have today.  "The Wreck of the Penn Central" is required reading if you have any interest in this road.  I also suggest reading "The Men Who Loved Trains".  It follows Conrail from its inception to its sale to NS and CSX.

I model the PC as a tribute to the people that kept the trains rolling despite what was happening in Philadelphia and New York City.

Here are some of my locos and cabin cars.

Tom

How about these...................

In the early 1960's Trains Magazine ran several news items stating that the B&O-C&O-NYC were planning to merge. Why the original merger never occurred is a mystery.

Andrew

Probably because C&O realized that they didn't need the NYC as much as the NYC needed them.

Stuart